Really Long Post With A Lot of Pictures

I can't believe that after only 10 days I have so much to write about, but I do so here it goes. On the 22nd the Cannon's came for a fun Easter time visit. The Cannon's are Eric, Andrea, Sterling, and Kerrie Ann. Andrea is Dave's sister. They left their home in Virgina the afternoon of the 21st and drove straight through and arrived at our house around 1am. Saturday morning we had a yummy breakfast and got ready to go to the zoo. It was cold and a little rainy but still fun. A lot of the animals were not out and the train wasn't running, but we made the most of it and the kids really could have cared less.

Since the train was not running we went over to Riley (the children's hospital) to ride the People Mover that connects three of the hospitals in the area. It sounds kinda silly but the kids LOVED it!

Sunday was Easter and it was a great day. Dave didn't have early morning meetings which was really nice and I had a lot of fun getting the boys dressed in their Easter wear. Taylor and Austin have shown a recent desire to wear Dave's ties. So I decided to get them their own. I can't believe how a tie and a belt can make someone look so grown up!

After church we tired to get a picture of the cousins in their nice clothes. This is the best one...OK not really but I am not posting the "real" one yet. The "real" one is part of a gift for someone who is to go nameless, so I am going to wait until unsaid person gets it.

The next activity was coloring eggs, this didn't turn out like I had expected, but it was still pretty fun. Then we decorated craft bags with stickers for our Easter baskets. While we were doing this activity the Easter Bunny came and left tons of treats and prizes.

This is the kids acting like bunnies before they went hunting.

How cute is she?

Right before this, he was playing these "flutes" with his nose!! Now that's talent.

We had a great time and a yummy traditional dinner with Honey glazed ham, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, home made rolls, and triple layer lemon pie for desert. It was soooo good, if I do say so myself.

Monday Dave had to go to school, and Austin and Taylor went until 1, when we picked them up and went to the Children's Museum. I still can't believe how much there is to do there, you definitely leave exhausted but fulfilled.

Tuesday morning the Cannon's packed up and went home. The first thing Taylor said when he got home from school and they weren't here was "where is Sterling? I want him to play with us" I am so glad that they had such a nice time with their cousins, family is such and important factor of life. I am so grateful to be part of such a great family!! Oh and in case I haven't said it lately, I really do love living in Indiana. When I think of all the other places we applied to for school, I smile to think that we got into the school that fits us perfectly. Dave found this neat picture of our downtown.

OK, just a couple more things...I know this is really long. Saturday the boys got invited to a birthday party for one of their friends. It was a pirate party and it must have been fantastic because it is all they have been talking about since. They are still wearing their vests and playing with their swords.

And last but certainly not least. Caden has decided it is OK to wear underwear and go potty in the toilet. After so much resistance from him, and way to much putting it off. I finally decided it had to be done. There was a little crying and fighting when I first tried to get the diaper off and the underwear on, but now he tells me when he needs to go (he even told his primary teacher yesterday at church) and he gets sad when he has to take his underwear off at night. YEAH!! Good work Caden!!! No more diapers for you.

Whew! Did you make it through all of that? Thanks for looking!

What's That Smell?

In a nutshell yesterday was a bad day. We woke up to rain and wind and cold....again. Caden and I after putting the boys on the bus headed to the outlets to return a couple things and see if a dress I had my eye on might just work for Easter. When we got there it was so windy and raining so hard we ran into the store and were still soaked! The dress that I thought was going to be so cute, turned out to make me look 8 months pregnant, and I am not, so that isn't a good thing!! That really shouldn't have bothered me, but it was my second choice outfit for Easter, I could not find a skirt that would match this wonderful shirt I wanted so badly, so I moved on, with no luck. I had to stop at Target on the way home and had a very cute but very whinny 3 year old barking orders and demands at me. I hurried and grabbed what I could and promptly took him home, later realizing that I had forgotten all the things I really needed and only bought things I didn't really need. The boys came home from school and their day was pretty good, actually Taylor got a Star Student award for doing all his work so good, and for setting a good example for others. Yes, I said Taylor, I don't know what happened but he is doing so much better at school, and I am grateful. After snack the boys went upstairs to play, fine whatever, they do it every day. Then, I am on the phone with Dave and screaming Caden comes downstairs because Austin has hit him, then I hear screaming Austin because Caden had hit him. At this point my hands are up in the air, and I am about ready to give up my day. After calming everyone down I decide it is time to cook dinner (it is still pouring rain by the way) so I take the boys upstairs to watch a show so I can make dinner in peace. Well, remember the title of this post? I could not find it, I could not find the burning smell, where was it coming from? This clearly wasn't OK. Oh there is is up in the torchiet, a burning monkey. Yup you heard me right, a burning monkey. Apparently Taylor had thrown said monkey up in the air and it landed on top of the torchiet. It was on fire...I kid you not...flames!! I grabbed the one leg that was hanging over the edge of the lamp and ran to the bathroom to drown the monkey in the sink. Everyone and everything is fine, a little stinky, but fine and safe. It scares me to think if we hadn't gone up stairs what might have happened, but it didn't. After a very emotional talk with the boys and this and that I got tears in my eyes for the monkey, you see this monkey was made by Grandma Kerrie for Grandpa Rod probably 30 years ago. Austin and Taylor got monkeys made for them before Caden was born, so when Caden was old enough to realize he didn't have a monkey Grandpa gave him his. Caden was VERY sad at the sight of his bedtime friend, he looked at the black face and went into the other room and sulked on the couch for quite a while. I wish I would have thought to take a picture, it was really very sweet, but my mind was elsewhere. I did take a couple pictures today, Caden wouldn't hold the monkey because he says "it's to scary now." Understandable I guess.

On a brighter note...the sun was out today, the wind was minimal, and we had a great day!!

Spring Break

So, Dave is currently on Spring Break. Austin and Taylor however are not...Dave and I decided though that it would be no biggie if they missed a day of school so we could go do something fun together as a family. Now, I am not quite sure why but the boys all love to stay at hotels. We found this great Holiday Inn in northern Indiana that has a HUGE indoor water park connected to it, in fact you can't go to the water park unless you are a registered guest of the hotel. So that is what we did, on Monday right after the boys got home from school we packed up our bags and headed to the hotel. This place was really great. 3 big water slides, 2 of which the boys were to small for, but the favorite was a yellow one that you ride tubes down, they went again and again and again. Well, Austin and Taylor did, Caden was a little scared. The water park also has a lazy river that was fun to ride around in the tubes, a big pirate boat with 2 little slides, dumping buckets, a little sand (not real sand) island with palm trees, and a huge bucket that dumps from way up high every 10 minutes or so. Oh, and how can I forget the "bubbles" (hot tubs for those of you who don't speak Felt!) the boys love the bubbles!! We played from 4:30-7:30 the first night and then the next day we played from 11am-3pm. It was great and as we were leaving Caden got really sad and wouldn't talk to us in the car, when he finally did he said "I am too sad to leave." So fun, so great, we had such a nice time with our little family. The really neat thing is that we used it as an incentive for Austin and Taylor to be good at school. At school they have a red, yellow and green light system that they work on. Green obviously is a good day, yellow not so great, red...BAD!! We have been struggling with a lot of yellows and reds, so we decided to use this mini vacation to see if it would help them try and be better. It worked!! They both got green lights every day minus one yellow light from one of them for 2 weeks straight, pretty great!! Now for the sad news....I don't have one picture from this little adventure. We forgot our camera, and seeing as though the hotel is only about an hours trip, after the boys went to bed Dave went home to get it so we could get some pictures the next day. Guess what? He forgot to get it because he was getting a few other things and hurrying to get back. Oh well, I guess this memory will have to be in our head! We had a fabulous time though.