Fire station Field trip

Evan and I went on a field trip with his class to our local fire station. It is close enough to his preschool that we were able to walk there.  When we got there, some firemen took us on a tour of where they sleep, eat and hang out when they are on duty. 

After the tour of the firemen's living space, one of the firemen dressed up in his protective gear for the kids.  I like that they do this because it teaches the kids that if they were ever in a fire to not be afraid of the people that are trying to help them

Next came the REALLY exciting part!  The kids got to sit in the driver's seat of the big fire engine!  What a thrill!

Then they got to sit in and learn about a real ambulance.  That was Evan's favorite part!

We walked back to school just in time to have a little snack

and take a group picture of the kids in the fireman hats!  Evan's in the middle of the back row.

What a day!

Special meals with friends

Last Wednesday, Henry's CCD class got all dressed up to attend their Seder supper.  Don't Henry and his friend, Dylan, look soooo handsome?  (And can't you just hear Henry saying, "Mo--ommmmm!!!")  They had a delicious meal and learned a lot!

The other kids?  Poor them!  They only got to smell the food on their way to class.  On the upside, they did get to wear sweatshirts and jeans.  Seth and his friend, Will, did have a special meal that day though.  They got to eat their lunch in the classroom with their teacher, so it's all good!

What have we been up to?

During my little blog hiatus, Dave and I were pretty busy.  We painted our office!  It was a really big moment when it was all done because EVERY SINGLE ROOM IN OUR HOUSE IS NOW PAINTED!  Woot woot!  Yes, it has taken us nearly 6 years, but that's ok.  It's done!  We chose Putnam Ivory for the color, and it turned out pretty well.  It's kind of a neutral gold.

We worked outside a lot too.  We did the spring clean-up, and weeded like crazy.  The early warm up has been wonderful, but WOW there were a lot of weeds growing!  We got all of that under control and then had 6 yards of mulch delivered to our driveway.  We spread all of that in the garden beds, around the trees and by the swing set, and we pretty much did that all in one day.  I can't even begin to express how sore I was the next few days.

Then Dave replaced the wood slats in our garden bench because a few of them were broken.  It looks like new!  Great job, Dave!

Finally, Dave said I could order a wrought iron set for our front porch as a Mother's Day gift. It took me a while to find a set that cost what we were willing to spend, but I found it, Dave put it together, and we like it!

We have a few rust spots on the front porch that we will need to clean, but in the mean time, my mom lent us this really cool outdoor rug that was made from recycled garbage bags!  I'm looking forward to sitting on our front porch this spring and summer with friends and family.

Now, if I can get the spring cleaning done inside the house, I will be a happy girl!

Redbuddy

The kids were off of school today, so I took them to a local nursery to pick up some pansies to plant in our front and back flower pots.  Unfortunately we didn't find the kind of pansies that we wanted, but we did find chickens!  The kids had a ball feeding them.  :)

After that we wandered around the nursery looking at all of the plants and trees.  We found some Eastern Redbuds, that beautiful spring flowering tree that has those bright purple flowers.  Unfortunately, they were a little out of our price range, so I just thought, "Oh well...someday."

Then we stopped at Aldi on the way home, and what do you know but we found some Eastern Redbud saplings on sale!!  Considering the price of $15, they were definitely within our price range!  So the kids helped me pick one out, we took it home, and Henry and Caroline helped me plant it.  The four of them decided to name it "Redbuddy".  Hopefully it will thrive, but even if it doesn't, we're only out $15!

The boy's got game!

Evan's baseball season has started, and that means a lot of backyard practice.  Fortunately for Evan, one of his best buddies that lives right next door is playing baseball too, so the dads, their sons and older siblings help to fill in some teams for their games.

He's got a pretty good swing!

Good luck this season, Evan!

Easter Day 2012

The Easter bunny stopped by our house and filled the kids' baskets with all kinds of goodies, and then put them in really tough hiding spots for the kids to find.

We spent the day with the Nosek side of the family at my in-laws' house.  The kids had primo seats for dinner on the deck!

My sister-in-law, Tanya, and her baby, Truman were visiting from out of town.  He has gotten so big!  I thought this was a sweet picture of Aunt Debby holding Truman and Great-Grandma admiring him.  (I wish I wouldn't have forgotten my camera at home!  The resolution in these IPhone pics is not that great!)

Caroline got a little crafty...surprise, surprise!

Caroline also got to help feed Truman!

In preparation for Caroline's big day, Grandma Nosek gave her a white rosary that was blessed by Pope John Paul II!

It is beautiful!  Thanks, Grandma!

Thank you for a wonderful Easter, Denny and Jean!

Easter Eve

On Saturday, we got together with the Orton side of the family at my parents' house.  My mom and dad set up an Easter egg hunt in their back yard.

They have a magical yard...so much garden to explore, and lots of places to hide eggs!

 Love these two!

After the hunt, my mom and dad gave Caroline a cross necklace and prayer bracelet for her first communion.  It was so nice that they gave them to her now because now she can have them for the first communion pictures she will take next week!

Evan kept himself entertained after the egg hunt by collecting all of the Kentucky coffee tree seeds that he found in the yard.  I think he gathered about 100 of them, and he wants to plant them all in our yard!  We would have quite a forest!

After the outside fun, we stood around and watched the microwave for entertainment.  Just kidding!  We did the annual "Nuke the Peep" and watch him grow HUGE.  Its always good fun!

Caroline couldn't see, so I lifted my little girl up.  She is getting so big that I don't think I'll be able to do that next year!

Here's our kids with their cousin Robbie!

lkj

And one last picture...Robbie and Evan posing for a picture!

Thanks so much for all of the Easter fun, Mom and Dad!

I'll love you forever!

I am sorry that I've not posted in so long! I apologize if I worried you! I was just feeling a little overwhelmed, so I just took blogging off my to-do list for a while so that I could get all caught up. I'm not quite there yet, but at least I am closer than I was a couple of weeks ago. We should have the house and yard all under control in time for Caroline's first communion that is coming up in a couple of weeks. I missed my blog, and am looking forward to posting regularly again!

All is well here. After a fun Easter at my parents' house with them, my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and brother (which I will post about!), we came back here, cleaned, cooked and prepared for Easter tomorrow. We will sleep well tonight.

It's time for me to turn in for the night, so I'll leave you with a sweet song from Evan. It's the one I have sung to him almost every night since he has been born. I love that he continues to want me to sing it to him even as he has gotten older, and that, as he told me last night, it helps him to fall asleep. :)