A VERY NICE EASTER WEEKEND!

What a busy and eventful weekend it was! Saturday we had a Easter Egg Hunt put on by some friends from the Bayonne, NJ Branch. The kids loved every minute of it. We went a little bit early for lunch with everyone at the park and then took the kids to the nearby portico so that Easter treats could be hid for the children. This consisted of three different roped off areas for three different age groups. Hordes of candy and chocolate where thrown everywhere for the children to find. As you can see, my children did very well. Actually all the children did very well. You should have seen the amount of Easter goodies there were. Well done and a HUGE thank you to the Johnson family! After the egg hunt we all headed back up to the portico for a puppet show put on by the senior sister missionaries. Afterwards they let the children play with the puppets which Edyn loved.

We then headed home to get ready for a farewell dinner for the Scott family. A family we are very close to and are not very happy about them leaving at all. But we do wish them well and hope they know that they will be extremely missed! That night stayed up until 1:30 am preparing food for the Visiting Teaching Conference that was to be held the next day. Then much to my dismay was woken up by Ethan at 6:30am as he could no longer contain his Easter excitement. So the kids opened their baskets and enjoyed another Easter Egg Hunt. Went to Church, finished the VT Conference (which I think went very smoothly - thank you everyone who helped!) and then off to some friends for an Easter Dinner. Got home around 10:30pm and I'd say we are now officially POOPED!

Edyn! Edyn! Edyn . . . say CHEESE!

Edyn is such a stinker when it comes to taking her picture. You can never get her attention, she never smiles and she usually ends up giving you attitude. You'll see what I mean in this most recent attempt to capture a good picture.

Honestly! What is Wrong with Jersey Drivers!

So I picked Ethan up from school and we had pulled up to a red light. I needed to turn right to head home but was not able to turn because of a big sign that says "NO TURN ON RED". Not a problem so I waited. The light finally turns green and now I'm not able to go because I have a crossing guard stopping me and parents and children crossing the street. Not a problem either. However, the PROBLEM is the lady behind me constantly honking her horn because I'm not going. ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! Am I supposed to just ignore the crossing guard and plow everyone over! This is NOT a bowling alley!

But get this, after honking and not seeing me move she decides that she will pull out of the lane and go around me to turn right. By then I was totally peeved! Good thing she decided that she had to stop her car right beside me to stare me down for a bit. Well, really she had NO choice but to stop! So in that short moment, I took that time to aggressively point at her and then point at the crossing guard that she was about to run over. Hmmmmm, maybe I was being too nice. I hope she knows that she looked like a fool not only because she had to wait for me and a couple of others to go but remember, she had pulled out into the lane that was going straight and was now holding them up. I'm sure she didn't learn a thing and will do the same thing tomorrow.

Alright America! You ALMOST Got It Right.

Buh Bye, Danny! Finally! So glad to see this chap finally get booted. But tell me . . . Why is Amanda still here?







I really don't get it, especially the judges. She is NOT "Fantastic!" Simon. Yes, she can move and gives a good performance but where is the voice? It is AWFUL!

Now on to better things. Brooke White! I wasn't really rooting for anyone until Brooke's last performance. Oh my word, when she sang "Love is a Battlefield" I was goosebumped! It was incredible and I loved that she sang it only to guitar. Here's to Brooke as one of the finalists!

SORRY . . . you'll first have to go to the bottom of my blog and pause the music to be able to listen to this clip.

You Couldn't Get Ethan to School Fast Enuff!

If you know anything about Ethan, one of his favorite things is his pj's. He is well known for coming home and wasting no time at all changing from his day clothes to his pajamas. He even has meltdowns when it's time to go out anywhere and he is told that he has to remove the pj's and put on some jeans. Well, this week at school they have been talking about camping and sleeping outside. A note came home a few days ago informing the parents that the kids would be able to go to school on Friday wearing their pajamas because they were going to have a sleep out and cook S'mores. Ethan has been so excited about this day and has bugged me constantly with the question "How many days now until we can wear our pajamas to school." This question would even be repeated every couple of hours. So the day has finally arrived and Ethan woke up at 6 am calling out "MOM! How come you haven't gotten me dressed for school yet!". Ugggghhhhh, I don't think that boy is ever going to sleep in! So above is a picture of a very HAPPY Ethan heading to school in his pajamas.


That's about the extent of the School Yard, and the funny thing is . . . they don't even get to play in it.

IS "THE OFFICE" BACK YET?!

For all you OFFICE lovers, since "The Office" won't be back until April 10th, here's a clip that makes me giggle every time!

SORRY . . . you'll first have to go to the bottom of my blog and pause the music to be able to listen to this clip.

Can't live with out them!

I liked this article and I thought you might too, my wife not so much.

OUR QUICK TRIP TO PENNSYLVANIA

*** INDEPENDANCE HALL ***

Our trip started out early Saturday morning and headed straight to Philadelphia. We took a first stop at Independance Hall as we had missed seeing it on our first visit to Philly a year ago due to a lovely child, who will remain un-named, and his urgent need to go potty. You see, you enter a secure area to get into liberty square. This is where they make you take off all outerwear, belts, shoes, empty your pockets, and take your children out of their strollers. Then the task of putting everything back on and making sure we hadn't left anyone or anything. Oh, forgot to tell you that there was a huge line just waiting to go thru the silly thing. Uggghhhh, what a pain that was! So we got to see the liberty bell and when we had left that building, Ethan had to go sooooo bad. But guess what . . . No bathrooms located in the secure area! Yup, we had to leave and in order to come back in we would have had to go thru the security thing all over again. By then we saw the long line just to get into Independance Hall and decided we had had enough. So here we are again and made sure that all kids were empty before we headed in to try it all again. So this time we decided to only hit the things we hadn't before.

I loved Independance Hall! I just love old buildings and antique furniture. The Independence Hall is one of the most important historical landmarks in the United States. Major steps towards independence were taken here by delegates of the English colonies, amongst them George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence was signed in this building on July 4, 1776. The Independence Hall was also the site were the American Flag was first unveiled in 1777. In 1781, the Articles of Confederation uniting all thirteen British colonies were ratified here. And in 1787 the US Constitution was drafted in this building.


*** CONGRESS HALL ***

After visiting Independance Hall we headed over to Congress Hall in which they were right beside each other. The newly formed United States Congress occupied Congress Hall when Philadelphia was the capital of the United States from 1790-1800. The first floor was occupied by the House of Representatives. The upper floor was occupied appropriately, by the upper house, or the Senate. George Washington and John Adams were both inaugurated in this building. After Congress departed for Washington, D.C., the Hall reverted back to the Philadelphia County Courthouse, the purpose it was built for.

We hit a really neat marketplace which was called the Reading Terminal Market for a bite to eat. They had every kind of food possible but of course Chad had to have a Philly Cheesesteak and then we headed over to a mennonite booth for an apple dumpling and cream. Yummmy! Our last stop was at the Franklin Institute Science Museum. We had heard from Brian and BreAnna that there was a special "Star Wars" display and knew Ethan would love it. I'd have to admit too, that it was pretty darn cool! So it was definately a highlight of our trip.


*** FRANKLIN SCIENCE MUSEUM ***

The very next day we spent at Valley Forge. I can't even describe the feelings felt as we walked in this National Park. To think of all the men that died for other's to have their freedom. The thought that kept coming to me was "They lived without so much and so much we can't live without." I was left to contemplate quite a bit about what was really important. I think out of all that we did this weekend by far Valley Forge was my favorite. Valley Forge is the story of the six month encampment of the Continental Army of the newly formed United States of America under the command of General George Washington. Though no battle was fought here from December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778, a struggle against the elements and low morale was overcome on this sacred ground. Many men lost their lives. Ethan was found running here and there pretending he was a soldier. He even wanted to find out where he could get a soldier uniform. We found him a continental army hat and also found him some little soldier guys. Red soldiers for the British and Blue for the Continental army. He liked them sooo much that he told us he was done looking around and ready to go home. We knew better. It was only so that he could go home and play with his new toys. We headed out after a long day of site seeing and went to pick up the furniture I had purchased on ebay and then went straight home, we were pooped!


*** VALLEY FORGE ***

SORRY MOM! YOUR NOT AT ALL FUNNY!!!

Remember me telling you all, in my TAG post, how scared I am of the movie "Elephant Man". Well, I guess my mom read it a couple of days ago and decided to give me a phone call today. I knew it was her calling (thank you caller id) so I thought "hmmmm, wonder what my mom is up to today!". So I answer the phone and say "Hi Mom" and what is her reply?! A raspy John Merrick's (the elephant man) voice! My heart started beating a little faster and I quickly scolded her. She immediately started laughing, to which I most certainly did NOT join in with her! After she finally stopped and told me she had read my post and thought it would be funny to give me a call and rub it in, I informed her that our phone call was now over!

Of course it wasn't, but still MOM . . . quit doing that!!!!!!! And yes, I still love you!

WHY ARE WE GOING TO PA THIS WEEKEND?

Well, it all started with a harmless search on EBAY for a drop leaf table. Not any drop leaf but one that was very distressed, worn and farm like. And I came across this and it was located in Hatfield, Pennsylvania.


I immediately did a mapquest search to see how far of a drive it was from here to there and it was just under 2 hours! I was mainly thinking more of going straight there and heading back and Chad came up with the great idea of visiting Valley Forge and Philadelphia while we were there and making a weekend of it. Really, he didn't have to say much more to convince me that this was an excellent idea! ROAD TRIP!!! So I placed my bid and won it for a whopping $26.00 bid. Yes, I'm one of those that sneak in at the last second and place my bid which really worked in my favor for this particular item. Well, a couple of days later I decided to just take a peek to see what this seller might also have listed. Well, to my excitement, a dresser was for auction.


Ok, I was as giddy as a school girl. Honestly, how did this ebay seller know that I had been looking, for quite some time now, for a larger antique dresser for my kids room. Well, what do you know . . . I placed a bid (at the last second, of course) and won it for $41! By now I am completely intrigued by this seller and his items for sale. Might as well make this pick-up trip well worth my time! I'm thinking I need to get my money's worth (as if I haven't already with the insanely low prices for these two items) and keep checking out what this seller has to offer. Lo and behold he now has this listed!


Hmmmm, where could I possibly make use of this? Ta Ching! Our printer is sitting on the floor right next to our computer table and Chad has often bugged me to find a table for it. Pulled out the measuring tape and it's perfect! And look, it's even got shelves for paper and things. There is NO way now that Chad could possibly say NO! Besides, he was the one that told me to find a table. Right?! So I placed my bid and actually was bid up to $102. Still not bad for an antique pie safe. And besides if you add them all together and divide by three each piece works out to be about $55. Where can you possibly get that good of a deal?! Now you know the REAL reason we are taking a road trip this weekend! LOL!