williamsburg

Fifth graders go on a 5 day trip to Williamsburg, Va. Since Allen went to Space Camp with Carter on the 4th grade field trip, I got to go on this one. There were 19 kids, 8 moms, and 2 teachers. It was great fun, here's what we did: Historic Williamsburg-go into the armory, blacksmith, court house, etc. Reenact a battle with authentic sticks. A ghost tour at night. Jamestown and Yorktown-see how the early, early settlers lived. Toured a battleship in the ship yard and went on a lunch cruise to view everything in the harbor-like the SS New York, made out of steal from the Twin Towers. Saw an imax film, spent the afternoon at Virgina Beach, and played in the pool every night.

Carter's favorite part: the beach (it was on our last day and as we were getting off the bus, he asked me, "mom, is there going to be any teaching on the beach or do we just get to play? I guess he was toured out)

Julie's favorite part: any time Carter would hug/kiss me and thank me for coming-which happened a lot

back order

We have been pushed back a week. The reason is the same as the first delay. Back order. First our carpet was on back order and now when our stove arrived, it was damaged, so they ordered a new one, which of course was on back order. So, I took a bunch of pictures to share. New move in date: May 28th!

basement fireplace

pavers around pool deck-so nice!

basement bath

Boy's bath with the cool faucets they wanted

great room fireplace

Oh, and meet our new neighbor. We have been told it is great to have a harmless black snake around to eat all the mice, etc. I told Allen we need to name it so I can start thinking of it as a pet. He suggested Satan.

Claire standing in Carter's closet showing the door to the hideout

kids computer area off kitchen

the mudroom

laundry room with laundry chute (will have door)

Pros and Cons

Con: we were told it would be another month before we could move into our new house.

Pro: the same day Grammy/Grandpa offered to watch kids for our anniversary, so we jumped on this and planned a trip for the very next week-make our wait a little more bearable. (Mimi and Grand Dad ended up watching the kids some too-thanks to all of you!)

Pro: we got to go to Belize (thanks to bartering and frequent flyer miles).

Con: we had to ride a VERY small plane to get to our island.

Pro: I have reaffirmed my decision not to let Allen take flying lessons until the kids are in college.

Pro: we went on the best snorkeling trip to date (saw tons of different fish, turtles, stingrays, lobsters, and very large nurse sharks).

Con: I got sea sick and threw up over board.

Pro: this caused hundreds of fish to come over and eat my lunch, so at least I had something to look at during my pain.

The rest I will tell in pictures, they were all Pros. Take a look:

Easter

Easter weekend brought great weather for the egg hunts-the kids racked up on some yummy candy and cash. Grand dad came up with some fun easter games. Claire and Cameron put on a wonderful performance (on top of Mimi's bed!).

high heels

We all know that Claire loves all things girly. She loves make-up, she loves dresses (dress-up, casual or church), she loves fake nails, she loves finger nail polish, she loves jewelry, she loves pink and purple and glitter....and she loves high heels. I've written about one of her favorite activities being trying on and walking around in my high heels. Her favorite dress-up shoes are high heels. She loves them so much that even when she had a light sprained ankle she tried to hobble around in her high heel dress-up shoes.

Well, these bad boys are not dress-up shoes. They are the real deal. They are Claire's new church shoes. And she is in heaven. I gave in on our recent shopping trip together. All night she kept saying, "my first pair of REAL high heels, they are not dress-up, they are real shoes!"

Side note on high heels-when I was about Claire's age I had a friend that lived in the next cul-de-sac over. My favorite thing to do with her was to go to her house because in her garage was where they kept their shoes. And her mom had a million high heel shoes!! We would spend hours playing house, date, and shopping while wearing the highest, strappiest shoes. When we were done her mom would fix us a glass of milk and graham crackers.

Like mother, like daughter.

the wall

Since our rental had this lovely wall paper in the kitchen, we decided to add our own design sense to it by adding some of Claire's pictures, a few love notes, happy birthday signs and our "things we love about each other" Christmas count down chain to it during the last 6 months. I had to take them down the other day as part of packing/cleaning. I saved a few but most went away. It made me sad to take them down. As I pack up our rental I have learned something...I can live in much less, with much less. Our months here have been great and it will be fun to have this time as part of our family history, when we lived with only 30% of our belongings. Only a few times did I have to say, "sorry, that's in a box somewhere and the rule is we are not going through boxes."

As I have been packing and thinking of our time here and about my family in general, I have become even more sappy than normal. I've been listening to a new song these past few days and I love the last line..."always remember, there is nothing worth sharing, like the love that lets us share our name". Cool huh?

spring break

For spring break our family did a lot of little things that added up to a lot of fun. Monday the kids and I went to the indoor water park with some friends, Tuesday they built a dam in our back yard creek with the Cruze kids. Wednesday through Friday we spent up in our mountains with the Sextons enjoying: Magi Quest-something my kids have been dying to do ever since it came to our neck of the woods. First you get to choose your wand and then you go on quests and adventures through the forest, village and castle. And when you are done you take your wand home until the next trip to Magi Quest where you can start from where you left off. It is really well done and they loved it. Then we took a great hike, rode go-carts, and had unlimited arcade time. Then Friday night the boys went spelunking with the Sexton and Cruze men (they all enjoyed getting dirty squeezing through tight spaces like the "meat grinder" and the "birth canal") while Claire and I had a fun time at the mall buying clothes and eating cookies.