Busy, Busy, Busy

Seems that we've been moving non-stop since Thursday when Payton had his last day of school. The kids have been getting to bed late every night until Monday when they finally got to bed at 7pm as usual. I apologize for no pictures in the next few posts. I have some great ones too, but our card reader died Sunday. Soon I hope to have a new one and we can upload what we have.

Friday was a lot of fun, spending time with friends and then we went to the Good Friday service at church. They did an amazing painting during the service of the face of Jesus. The canvas started out blank, moved to words and pictures and then became this....all painted from the back side of the screen. The entire service was moving and enjoyable. Payton sat with us the whole time and enjoyed himself too.

Saturday, I spent the day prepping eggs and a few other dishes for Easter Sunday. We colored eggs in the afternoon and made cookies too. Sunday, we went to the early service and then drove to Toledo to spend the day with Matt's side of the family. Unfortunately, Matt had to work, so it was just me and the boys.

Easter Day with the Kobylak family is always a lot of fun. They hid 81 eggs in the back yard this year and the boys (and older cousins) had a great time finding them. I think there are still a few missing though. The rest of the day was spent eating and enjoying time together. I have some good pictures I'll upload when I get the card reader back.

Monday, we came home and I started to feel sick again. I'm not sure what's going on...I seem to get better and then 2 days later I'm sick again. I have a lot of pain, chills, and general soreness and I don't want to eat anything. Hopefully it'll pass soon!

I hope you all had a great Easter and I'll try to update with our fun Spring Break plans. But for now...we're staying home today. Momma needs a nap!!

Blooming

I'm just as confused as the last time I thought spring was here. Turns out I was wrong last time. I hope not this time. After 48 hours of snow, we ended up with probably 3" that melted off and on throughout those 2 days. All that remains is thin layers in the shade of the neighbor's trees. Matt and I covered our flowers from the snow and when I uncovered them today, there were a few little surprise blooms waiting for me.

In regards to the post last week about my confession, I've come to a new point in my thought process. I'm working to be happier in my skin and my mind. But I also am starting to see that what matters isn't what society thinks of me, but what my loved ones, my friends and God think of me. It's a slow process, I know, but I'm starting to bloom a little more myself a little I think.



P.S. Click on that photo to make it bigger. It's of the blooms out front. Not a bad picture if I say so myself.

A Day of Unexpected Events

Today was a weird day full of events that we not expected, but were mostly great!

The littlest of these was our dog's event. I was putting shoes on myself and Max to go get Payton from school and when I put our coats on, she disappeared. Usually that means she's laying in bed hoping I forget to crate her before we leave the house. But she wasn't in her bed. Nope, she had already crated herself!! She popped the door open with her nose and went right in and laid down. THAT ROCKS!!! She's such a smart dog.

Another surprise, the not so good one of the day, is that Maxwell has dual ear infections. He's had fevers off and on for about 10 days but he hasn't complained (more than usual anyway)or pulled on his ears or anything. The only thing that may have been a sign is that he asked for a hat when we were outside. But he's usually like that...so who knows. He's on antibiotics for 10 days. Better I found out now than the end of the week when we're leaving for the holiday weekend.

Other good news; Payton is losing his first tooth. It's pretty loose right now. I imagine it will be gone by Easter or over Spring Break. He wrote a cute story about it at school this morning. First, I'll type his sentence for you, than the "real" sentence.

Win I wint to swiming lesins I brot sum sareel and a appl.
When I went to swimming lessons I brought some cereal and a apple.
One time win I bit into the appl I flt a loos toof!
One time when I bit into the apple I felt a loose tooth!
I tld my Daddy and my swiming lesin techers.
I told my Daddy and my swimming lesson teachers.
I wus so icsidid!
I was so excited!
Then I wint to swiming lesins. It wint so quic.
Then I went to swimming lessons. It went so quick.
I got to go in the deep end!
He got that one right!!

The tooth, the story, the spelling and the writing are such examples of how my little boy is becoming a big six-year-old very quickly.

In not-so-sappy but equally exciting news, I was messaging my brother-in-law this afternoon about a new camera he's buying. He takes some AMAZING pictures and is looking for a new camera. I jokingly asked him to give us his old one and he said yes!! I seriously got teary eyed and was bouncing in my seat. I can't believe it! I've wanted a digital SLR camera for so long and he has a great one that's a few years old. And it's going to be MINE very very soon!! TEE HEE! TEEHEE!!!

I'm the happiest girl alive right now!!

Easter Events

This past Sunday, we went to a FREE event at a local community college for a great Easter Event. The kids did crafts, went down bouncy slides, Max rode the train and they planted seeds. There was even a dog agility course and we watched all the dogs try to make it through the course. It was really a lot of fun. I think we'll look for it again next year.



This week, we don't have a lot planned really. Friday starts Payton's spring break. And we'll go to the Good Friday service at church where (without Max) we'll have family communion time. Then Sunday, we'll go to the 9am Easter Service at church. Matt has to head to work after that and the boys and I will drive to Toledo to be with the Kobylak Family. Easter is a big event on that side of our family.

Next week, watch for lots of updates. I hope to have lots of things going on to keep the kids busy and out of each other's hair. WISH ME LUCK!!!

Family Letterboxing Day

Last Year, during the first weekend of April, we went on our very first letterboxing adventure. This year, we chose the same weekend to do it again. And we had a day FULL of letterboxing.

We decided to head to what seems to be the hub of letterboxing in our area, Ann Arbor & Ypsilanti, Michigan. We plotted 15 boxes to find. Starting with, The Brave Little Buckeye and moving to the Makidada Series, finishing up with a the Ypsi Kiss and Freaky Frog before heading back to the Detroit Zoo for The Peacock. In the end, we found 11 of our 14 we attempted and we were too late to try for the one at the zoo. We searched high and low from 10am until 5pm.

Payton's favorite was in the Makidada Series where the final location was a dam. The boys got to see the water rushing through the dam and we got to explain how it works. For Matt and I, our favorite was Freaky Frog, which was a bit of a rough trail that led to an amazing opportunity to walk through a nature preserve on a floating bridge through the marsh. Maxwell's favorite was that four of the letterboxes were planted near playgrounds and we let him play on all of them. The final box in the Makidada series was at an amazing playground in Ypsilanti that he loved! He could have stayed all day.

Overall, it was a day of fun, adventure, clues and seeking. We all had a great time, worked well together and accomplished our goal for the day. I'm sure our future holds many more years of letterboxing!!

Payton's Birth Month Begins

In our family everyone gets a birth month. Not a birthday. Not a birthday weekend. No, we celebrate all month long. Today was the start of Payton's.

His best friend of 5 years (that's most of his life!), Rose, turned 6 a few weeks ago and us two moms of the birthday kids decided it was time to share a party again. Last time we did this the kids turned 3.

I found a place called Arts & Scraps in Detroit that takes donated crafting items and builds projects and kits for kids of all ages to complete. Having the party there was only $100 for up to 12 kids. We also decided to serve pizza and cake at the party. It was a LOT of fun, even for the adults. The two birthday kids are really into pirates, so we chose that as our theme.

I worked on the cake most of the afternoon and being my first time with fondant, I think it came out pretty good!! I even made my own fondant!

When we arrived at Arts & Scraps, the host had set up 4 crafts for the kids...a pirate flag, a medallion, a little pirate they could make and a "treasure chest". The took all recycled and re-purposed things and decorated and made everything. So much fun!

Definitely a fun place to have a birthday!!