Truly her mothers daughter...completely distraught that I won't give her any more candy.Saturday, April 18, 2009
Three Days After Easter....
Truly her mothers daughter...completely distraught that I won't give her any more candy.
More Easter Pictures
Since we had early church and our kids are not early risers, we hunted for Easter baskets after church, and after naptime! Ella was really excited to find her basket hidden behind their play door.
Brody didn't find his basket quite as fast, but no one would be surprised that the Easter Bunny hid it in his train.
Ella carrying her basket and showing off her muscles
Black Jelly Beans! A girl after my own heart!
The Easter Eggs were hidden outside. Both kids had a great time finding the eggs and filling their baskets.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter Beagle Express
The train boarded in Palestine, Texas at 11:00am. We got there and boarded the open-air car. There wasn't windows. I wasn't too excited about that, but it turned out to be okay. Once we took off the kids loved it. Ella loved to hear the train whistle and Brody was taking it all in. The scenery was beautiful. You'd never guess we were in Texas. The land was green and lush, there was lilly pads. They had dogwoods and some pine trees. It really was pretty. Not that Texas isnt pretty - you just don't think of greenery in Texas, you think of dirt and tumbleweeds (which makes up most of the state). While on board Snoopy came to visit all the kids! Brody was excited, Ella wasn't. He came and said hi to everyone and then went on his way. At 12:30 we arrived at the depot in Rusk. We had camped there because it was better for tent campers and then we drove to Palestine to ride the train back to Rusk. At the depot we had a picnic lunch and the Easter Bunny made a special appearance. Brody and Ella got to color and Brody got a skin sticker (aka tattoo). By the time we boarded the train to go back both kids were worn out. They both slept most of the ride back. We got back to the depot around 3:30 and after a few pictures we hopped in the car to start the ride back home. We stopped somewhere south of Dallas at a Carls Jr. They don't have many of them in Texas so whenever we get see one we like to stop and get some food. It felt like a long trip home with two tired kids, but it was a really fun day. I think for most of the ride home Brody was in the back seat whining that we needed to go back to the trains. We got home after a couple of detours at 8:45. We rushed to color easter eggs and take baths before getting the kids into bed just before 10:00. Needless to say - everyone came home from church needing a nap.
A Camping We Will Go...
We planned a fun weekend for Easter! We found Texas Railroad State Park and made reservations on the Easter Beagle Express. So on Friday we packed up the car and together with Grandma and Grandpa we headed to Rusk, Texas (about three hours South-East from us) and set up camp. It was our first time camping with the kids so we weren't too sure what to expect, and I wasn't too sure how to prepare. I guess my mind was wandering because I forgot to pack certain essentials (i.e. plates, utinsels, bowls) But...I did make three batches of jam Friday before we left. Im weird - but the berries would have gone bad if I had waited. We arrived and set up camp at dinner time. The kids were thrilled to get out of the car and explore! Ella couldn't stop moving. She was hilarious to watch as she tried her best to walk on the uneven ground.
The tent was fun for them to climb in and play. We knew they were excited about it last week when we set it up to see if we'd all fit and they didn't disappoint on the trip. Putting them to bed was tricky though. It was late, Brody hadn't napped so I thought it would go okay. I was wrong. It wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't easy either. We put them to bed and they thought it was party time. Brody was pretending to be a monster and Ella was trying to escape. They laughed a lot. Finally we were able to get them to sleep (they had to be seperated first) but both kids whined during the night and Ella was up quite a bit. I have decided our tent is too small and I will not go again without some sort of matteress pad to sleep on. I was freezing all night and so I thought naturally Ella would be too (she didn't have her own sleeping bag) so I pulled her in with me and we cuddled all night. That was nice - she won't do that normally. None of us slept great, but it wasn't awful either. It was a learning experience for next time!
The next morning we spent some time exploring, we had breakfast and we cleaned up the camp. We were off to the train ride! The picture of the train was taken from our campsite - so we were really close to the tracks. Ella was probably too tired to be walking without help because she kept falling and hurting herself. The bruise on the right side of her head happened on Monday (she fell into the corner of my kitchen island) but then on Saturday she fell on the gravel and got a matching bruise on the left side. Its the dangers of being one year old. 
We started a campfire and the kids watched in awe of the flames. It was fun to see. Soon they got brave and started walking around though and we had to be extra careful they wouldn't get too close. Both Brody and Ella had their first smores with roasted marshmallows. Believe it or not, we had to push them to eat them. Marshmallow ended up everywhere of course, but they were yummy.
The tent was fun for them to climb in and play. We knew they were excited about it last week when we set it up to see if we'd all fit and they didn't disappoint on the trip. Putting them to bed was tricky though. It was late, Brody hadn't napped so I thought it would go okay. I was wrong. It wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't easy either. We put them to bed and they thought it was party time. Brody was pretending to be a monster and Ella was trying to escape. They laughed a lot. Finally we were able to get them to sleep (they had to be seperated first) but both kids whined during the night and Ella was up quite a bit. I have decided our tent is too small and I will not go again without some sort of matteress pad to sleep on. I was freezing all night and so I thought naturally Ella would be too (she didn't have her own sleeping bag) so I pulled her in with me and we cuddled all night. That was nice - she won't do that normally. None of us slept great, but it wasn't awful either. It was a learning experience for next time!The next morning we spent some time exploring, we had breakfast and we cleaned up the camp. We were off to the train ride! The picture of the train was taken from our campsite - so we were really close to the tracks. Ella was probably too tired to be walking without help because she kept falling and hurting herself. The bruise on the right side of her head happened on Monday (she fell into the corner of my kitchen island) but then on Saturday she fell on the gravel and got a matching bruise on the left side. Its the dangers of being one year old.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Catch Up
I have slacked off on the blogging lately...partly because of our ancient computer and partly just out of laziness - but here is the update, I will let the pictures tell the story. Oh - we did FINALLY break down and get a new computer - we've been working with Brandon's post-mission 2001 refurbished one since November. I started trying to make my blog into a book and was constantly frustrated by the computer telling me it had no memory. That, and I was afraid to erase memory cards because of the thought of losing all my pictures again. grrr....all is well now though - here are the pictures...
We decided to celebrate my "magic" birthday (28 on the 28th) by going bowling with the family. This was Brody's first time and he did great! Despite my 2 strikes I managed to tie my three year old.
Ella didn't bowl, but wished she could. She thinks she is older than she is. We are at the point where she knows what she is saying in all her babbles - but we understand about 2% of it. Her favorite word so far: SHOES! Her eyes fill with wonder and she says the word "shoe" as we walk down the shoe aisle at walmart - its like a dream come true for her.
Back to my birthday - Brandon and Brody made me a cake. So yummy!
This is what we were working on at midnight on my birthday. The nursery's bubble machine. We are the leaders of one of the two nurseries in the ward. We NEEDED this machine to get fixed. We have 14 regular attendees in a TINY TINY room. Its manageable, but we've had several new little ones lately that are having a hard time adjusting and the crying is LOUD. Put it this way...Sunday school is two rooms away, and we've had people (that aren't nursery kids parents) come in to check and see if everything is okay. It is LOUD. We needed the machine to work...it did by the next day, but only for a minute or two. The battery died. We had lots of bubbles and not one working bubble wand or machine or gun. We've tried them all. Wish us luck.
Brody's favorite - still TRAINS. He loves the retro little people train that my mom recently found with all our little people. It stays at Grandma's but he always knows where he "parks" it when we leave. I love little people! My mom has the ones that are tall and have tubes for bodies and no arms. We had a bunch of the playsets and accessories. They were so fun to set up towns and pretend. Now we have the newer playsets with the 'touch and feel' fabrics and squatty looking people. These will definitely be toys that I hang onto for my grandkids someday.
We decided to celebrate my "magic" birthday (28 on the 28th) by going bowling with the family. This was Brody's first time and he did great! Despite my 2 strikes I managed to tie my three year old.Ella didn't bowl, but wished she could. She thinks she is older than she is. We are at the point where she knows what she is saying in all her babbles - but we understand about 2% of it. Her favorite word so far: SHOES! Her eyes fill with wonder and she says the word "shoe" as we walk down the shoe aisle at walmart - its like a dream come true for her.Back to my birthday - Brandon and Brody made me a cake. So yummy!This is what we were working on at midnight on my birthday. The nursery's bubble machine. We are the leaders of one of the two nurseries in the ward. We NEEDED this machine to get fixed. We have 14 regular attendees in a TINY TINY room. Its manageable, but we've had several new little ones lately that are having a hard time adjusting and the crying is LOUD. Put it this way...Sunday school is two rooms away, and we've had people (that aren't nursery kids parents) come in to check and see if everything is okay. It is LOUD. We needed the machine to work...it did by the next day, but only for a minute or two. The battery died. We had lots of bubbles and not one working bubble wand or machine or gun. We've tried them all. Wish us luck.Brody's favorite - still TRAINS. He loves the retro little people train that my mom recently found with all our little people. It stays at Grandma's but he always knows where he "parks" it when we leave. I love little people! My mom has the ones that are tall and have tubes for bodies and no arms. We had a bunch of the playsets and accessories. They were so fun to set up towns and pretend. Now we have the newer playsets with the 'touch and feel' fabrics and squatty looking people. These will definitely be toys that I hang onto for my grandkids someday.Ella has a strong desire to feed herself with a spoon. She does OK, not great on the cleanliness side - but the food ultimately gets to where it should. She still will eat anything for us and we know she's done when she puts whatevers left in her hair. She is a funny girl!
Other news...the skin clinical trial was really really rough the first week. I looked awful and felt awful. Im still on the medication until next Monday and Im feeling much better, but after nights and nights without sleeping I cheated, only once though. And thats all Im saying.
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