Cold snap!

It was FREEZING today! When Mary and I were coming home from her school, we actually saw snow flurries. Mary had soccer practice this afternoon and we had to bundle way up to go. The soccer field is the weirdest place because it is always windier, colder or hotter, more humid there than anywhere else. Lisa and I were sitting in our chairs shivering while Ashlyn was out there in shorts! Mary at least had jeans on and a couple of layers under her coat. She was still cold though. I just noticed some of my plants had started to flower so I hope they don't freeze tonight. The Washington Farms people had covered the strawberries last week in anticipation of this freakish weather. Two days ago the kids were wearing shorts.

I took a few random pics at Mary's last game. Lisa and Joel brought breakfast to share - chicken biscuits from Bojangles. I cannot believe they prefer those to Chick-fil-A. But they do! I was grateful to have anything at all though.


Alex chilling before the game.



Ashlyn and Joel having a biscuit.


Lisa and her coffee.

The back of some of our team. Mary's team is the light blue. Lisa realized today that our girls are playing in the wrong age group. They are playing U6 and should be U5. That totally explains why most of the girls are HUGE compared to my little Mary. Of course that's true of most things and most people for her. They got slammed in their game but they did have fun.



After the game, we went to Mount Carmel's Easter Festival. There were over 800 people there! Wow! That has got to be an all time record. We had stuffed 9,000 eggs and that still wasn't enough. Mary just about got trampled and Alex didn't get very many at all either. But the kids enjoyed the day and played on the inflatables. I worked one of the inflatables for a while and then spent the rest of the afternoon serving drinks. We took Liv's friend Addie with us and all three girls won something in the cake walk. We are still eating Liv's brownies. They are good!






That's my Chase up there!


Addie, Mary, and Liv having lunch


Alex and I had a picnic in the shade.

The girls are watching the 9,000 eggs be "hidden" on the big hill in front of the church. It was a madhouse!

Olivia at Music for Mexico

Olivia sang at Music for Mexico. I took this video so I didn't get any still shots. I was so proud of her!

Check out my Slide Show!

Good Friday

Everyone was home today for Good Friday. We were able to sleep a little late and just relax. I'm glad that the kids did not have school today so they could realize the significance of the day. We talked a lot about what Good Friday means and they all seemed to really get it. Especially Alex. He sounds like a mini preacher when he talks about it. I am proud of how well versed my children are in Scripture and in Biblical history. They are so much more knowledgeable than I ever was at their age - even until I was an adult! We never even had a Bible in our house when I was growing up so I know no one studied it. I wish Alex and Mary could have had the benefit of going to a Christian school like Olivia did but I am glad that we are raising them to go to church and Sunday School every Sunday.

We treated the kids to lunch at McDonald's today. It may not sound like a big deal but we have not eaten at McDonald's for a LONG time. We have been trying to not eat out at all if we can help it - especially not at McD's. The kids were able to play and have a good time. We saw a couple of Alex's friends there and Ashlyn met us there to play with Mary. Olivia went to her friend Addie's house to spend the night. We will pick both of them up tomorrow after Mary's 9:00 game to head out to the egg hunt at Mount Carmel. Jay and I are both set to work some of the games tomorrow. I baked some stuff for the cake walk today. I made 6 chocolate chip loaves of bread, one large pound cake, and 6 lemon poppy seed muffins. I hope people will enjoy the baked goods - I made them with love!

Finally getting better!

Today is Friday and I finally woke up feeling almost normal. It has been a rough week with this really bad cold. Poor Mary has been bored silly because I couldn't do anything and really only wanted to sleep. Today everyone is home for Good Friday so she should not want for company - she'll have her Bubby all day long.

I missed going to the gym this week. I am only three classes away from reaching my Bodybucks goal and I would have reached that goal if I had not gotten sick. Well, I still have time but it would have been nice to get it over with!

Today I hope to get some baking done. We are having a huge Easter event at church on Saturday and I have to bring baked goods for the cake walk. I have been wanting to make this Easter bunny cake and have just not been up to it. Maybe today. We also have to dye Easter eggs and have some more general merriment today.

Otis woke me up at least three times last night. He wanted water twice and wanted to go outside another time. He has been so good for the longest time. But last night he needed extra attention. Ugh. And I slept wrong so my back is sore. So much for feeling good today.

I just finished reading another good book. It is called Mademoiselle Boleyn by Robin Maxwell. Excellent! I think it is the book that the movie "The Boleyn Sisters" was based on. I really enjoyed it. Next up...A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. He wrote The Kite Runner, which was also an excellent book. Can't wait to see that movie too.

Sick Again - Day 2

Today has been the longest day of my life. I've spent it being miserable with this horrible cold (I actually think it's a sinus infection) and trying to entertain Mary. She started the day being quite high maintenance but thankfully settled down a lot and I was able to rest a little. But the pain....the pain in my face is awful. And my poor little nose is rubbed raw from blowing it so much. Of all days, Jay had to work late and is still not home. But I have to say that the kids were well behaved tonight. They went to bed without too much opposition and Mary has only popped out of her room once so far. I did shower and get dressed today - and that is more than Mary did. She took off her pjs she had been wearing all day just to put a fresh set on to go to bed. No baths tonight. Just this blissful quiet that is surrounding me now....ahhhhhh.

My dad called tonight to let me know that my cousin Marcelo's baby had been born. We were all very excited! Congratulations Marcelo! Babies are such a blessing and we are so glad that yours has been born healthy, even if he is a tiny thing. His name is Javier. After his grandfather. There must be some serious celebrating going on in that house tonight! He is the first grandchild in that family. Congratulations also to my aunt Rina, my uncle Javier, and my cousins Javier and Enrique. Can't wait to hear more news about little Javierito!

Sick again

This time it's me. Ugh. I'm coughing, sneezing, crying, blowing my nose constantly. It started last night as I was madly folding laundry. I woke up this morning with it ON! Mary's preschool class had a field trip to the Grayson Library (like we don't go there all the time anyway) so we packed up and went, even though my head felt like it was going to explode. I stayed in the corner and sneezed and blew my nose the entire time. I came home and could only manage to lay on the couch before I had to pick up Mary. Luckily, when we got home, she wanted to watch a video so that kept her occupied while I slept. And slept. And slept. Jay is the hero of the day because he got home and completely took over. He took Mary to soccer practice (despite her opposition) and then took Liv to gymnastics. He's even going to bring me an ice cold diet coke! I don't think he even ate dinner. Bless him. I really appreciate it Jay!