Lukey's Kindergarten Performance

Luke had his big Kindergarten performance today!  What a fun thing for him!  For the last week or so he's been singing a lot of the songs, kind of practicing I guess, even at home, which surprised me.  It's so cute to watch Luke get into something like this! We told all the family so that he could have a lot of support out in the audience.  And that he did!  Daddy was not able to come because he was going to get checked out (!!!!!!! that post to come), so that was a total bummer, but we did have our video camera and I got the whole thing on video, so he will at least get to see it.  Plus, we did have quite the crowd out there, cheering for Luke.  I got us seats on the very front row (that's what happens when you get there a half hour early :)) and Aunt Jen, Aunt Sarah and the Hatch boys, Grandpa Hatch and Uncle Steve were there as well!  It was a lot of fun for me ;).  I almost cried a few times.  Could be the hormones, but it's just so crazy to watch my little Luke growing up.  There's just something about how fast they grow that makes it hard.  He looked so adorable up there, he knew most of the songs pretty well, with all the actions, very cute.  We celebrated at Dairy Queen afterward with those who could come.  It was a lot of fun.

Journaling

- We've had a crazy week.  I don't feel like anything was normal, and yet nothing is really standing out to me!  It's this memory I guess.  We did spend a lot of time with Debe and her kids.  Especially Wednesday and Thursday nights.  Those were interesting nights.  I guess I won't say much except that it is difficult to involve yourself with people and try to help them without involving yourself too much.  It becomes much to consuming.  BUT that being said, I hope and pray that all goes well for them.  I hope their kids can recover from it all.

- Thursday, Charity came home with a letter saying that she was one of the top two girls in her grade in the P.E. class and that she will move on to the district Decathalon!!!  I'm so proud of her!  That is just really cool!  4-12-12

Family Night Campfire

Tonight I had planned on cleaning the garage for Family Night.  It didn't really feel like the right night for it though, with the fighting we were hearing from the kids and how hard it was for them to work together on their jobs, so we decided to come up with something else.  Nate was grilling burgers for dinner, and Bradley was wanting to have s'mores for the treat, so it worked out that we ended up having a nice little family campfire night ;).  I was the lesson and I wasn't in the mood to have a fancy lecture, so I decided it would be fun to just go around the circle taking turns to ask a question of everyone.  There were some pretty fun ones!  I loved the answer, "cleaning up my whole room by myself" as the "hardest thing he's ever had to do" that we heard.  The answer Kelly gave for one of her favorite creations of Heavenly Father's being Charity, made me smile!  What a sweet sister!  Also, the question, "Who do you have a crush on?"  :).  Our kids are so funny about crushes.  Sweet little Noah said he has a crush on Kelly still :).  I love that.  Nate asked everyone to share a time when they have felt the Spirit and while it was still a little chaotic, it was a sweet moment for me to hear everyone's experiences.  I wish I had already known some of them, but I was so grateful to know that our kids think about those things and experience them.  It was just such a touching night and I loved hearing everyone open up to each other.  That will have to be a new fun tradition for our family nights.  It felt really good.  Erika was a little nut the whole time, whining for more chips, then a drink, then to go potty, then running out of the house to us, completely naked because she wanted to get her jammies on!!!  She was definitely a "handful" tonight!  But she's a sweetie and we love her.  It was a good night.  I just love my family!

Easter Sunday

Sunday was a very interesting day.  This Easter will go down in the books, I decided.  We got a call the night before from Debe saying that she and her kids needed a ward to go to and that they were coming with us to church.  I ran around the house going through all of our kids' clothes, past and present, for some Sunday clothes for her kids.  It was fun to feel like we could help someone.  That IS why I hang on to things.  I spent the rest of the night before, planning and preparing my Sharing Time lesson.  Then it was time for the Easter Bunny to come.
In the morning, the kids all spent a LOT of time searching for their baskets.  The Easter bunny got REALLY creative this year!  It was fun to see the kids using their baskets I sewed them last year, though Noah had lost his during the week sometime and chose to use the Halloween, pumpkin bucket instead.  It worked.  They got spoiled pretty good!  Kelly was really excited about the "Ice Cubes" gum, rather than a bunch of candy that she can't eat.  They got these really cute "eggs" that were shaped like bugs and turtles, instead of egg shapes :), with candy inside, I thought those were cute.
After the baskets, it was time to hurry and get ready.  Debe and her kids showed up and it all got a little chaotic after that :).  I still feel bad I never did get a picture of Erika or Bradley with their baskets.  I don't know why, I guess I was just too busy.  Bumbs me out.  I never do that!!  Either way though, we had a good time with it all and I can rest at ease knowing that they had fun too.

Church was hectic.  I'm a nervous wreck when I have to teach Sharing Time, and while I think it went okay for Senior primary, I was only left with 5 minutes in Junior Primary and I was so frantic, trying to cram as much as I could into my 5 minutes, I am afraid I missed a bunch.  It was crazy!  But it's done.  I think it went alright overall.

Sacrament meeting was interesting as well.  I was pleasantly surprised to see Steve and Jauslin show up and they sat behind us.  I think I was extra frazzled because Erika was on one and I didn't want to distract Steve and Jauslin (or anyone else for that matter) with her shenanigans.  But I was also trying to stay in the meeting in case Debe needed to leave with someone, I would be there to watch her kids.  It was just different.  I was reminded why I don't like to have treats there for the kids.  I hate the wrapper noises and the constant asking for them and eating them.  It is not necessary for our kids anymore, so when it's there, it's a distraction. 

When we got home, we threw some stuff in the bread maker for rolls and then sat and visited most of the afternoon.  Nate and Bradley did his remote control car, and the rest of us played and talked.  I loved that Kelly and Ruby put on an egg hunt for all the kids, that was a lot of fun.

My Mom and Simon came for dinner along with Steve and Jauslin.  So it was a full house.  Which I loved!!  I love being able to have people there to celebrate the holidays with.  We were slow with dinner, but it was well worth the wait.  It was a nice time.  We visited a little more and then crashed when it was time for bed.  I couldn't believe how tired I was.  That's the first Sunday in a while that I haven't had a nice long nap.

I love Easter.  Not just for the yummy candy, but for the remembrance of the Savior's Atonement.  I am so grateful for the knowledge of Him and his sacrifice.  I'm so grateful that I feel His love on a regular basis and that I am able to go to Him with anything.  It's nice to feel His presence and to see the little miracles he grants me each day.  I really am blessed.  It's fun to know that those miracles come from Him and that they are witness of his love.  I have a testimony of the miracle of the Atonement and I hope that I am making the most of this life He has given me.

Last Day of Spring Break

Saturday was our official last day of Spring Break.  It was a pretty fun day, if I do say so myself.  Nate had worked the mid, so he got home at about 7:30 in the morning after working and shopping for some Easter eggs for the egg hunt.  He was pretty wiped out, so we tried to let him sleep.  I was surprised at how little he slept, but apparently it was good enough.... We let the kids relax all morning, then quickly did jobs, and morning stuff, so that we could have our Easter Egg Hunt.  We had invited the little neighbor girl down to have some fun with us, and then at the last minute we invited Stephanie and Sophie, and Sarah and her boys.  I thought it turned out pretty fun! Nate had bought over a hundred pre-filled (good one, Nate!) eggs, so there were plenty for the 10 kids participating.  It seemed like everyone had fun.  I was glad we had friends and family to share it with.

I think Bradley or Kelly had the camera... I will have to double check... but we got some fun pictures of everyone there...

Here's Buddy killing the duck...

and here's the duck... dead.

ooooh! A picture of Erika with her Eater basket... I may have to snatch this picture later for my Easter post.... I flaked out and didn't get one of her on Easter morning...

Kelly and Nate hid all the eggs since she couldn't really enjoy the candy... I'd say she did a pretty good job!  The kids were looking for quite a while.

After that, we played around in the yard, talked, it was very relaxing.

Everyone took a turn on the Teeter-Totter of death!  I'm so surprised no one has died from this (or at least had their face disfigured) in the year and a half that we've lived here!  Knock on wood...

We lost track of Alvin for a minute and look where we found him!!!  Crazy kid!  My favorite part was watching him later.  He would pull himself up to the next step and then use his chin to stabilize as he moved his hand up to the next.  Hilarious!

She's such a good dog trainer!!  He's doing really well!

If only I'd focused on his cute face better!

We then headed off to Kangaroo Zoo.  The kids were SO tired!!!  I couldn't believe how many times I saw one of them lay down on the ground, or just all the sweat that was dripping off of them.  It was nuts!  They kept coming over and sitting with Nate and I.  I kind of think they were just coming down from all the sugar.  Either way though, they seemed to have fun, minus the rug burns from the slides.

Nate and I spent most of the time reading through boy names on the internet.  This baby's name is just not jumping out at us.  It's kinda fun to read through all of them though.  Nate and I don't agree on most of the names, but there's got to be one we both like!  We'll find one!

I wish I'd gotten a picture of Noah's cute face when he saw this dragon one!!  He was so cute.  

 
After Kangaroo Zoo we decided we were hungry enough to go to Texas Roadhouse. I L O V E that restaurant!  The food there is so good.  It was a really fun time too, the kids all sat there with their manners showing and we all enjoyed it.  I do look forward to the days when everyone doesn't have to take 2+ trips to the bathroom when we're eating out.  But it was really fun.  We kept joking about telling our waiter it was Nate's birthday so that we could get them to come clap and cheer for him.  The kids get into that.  And we got some extra potato skins because our waiter screwed up on our appetizer :).  So that was nice :).  We left with 4 take home boxes though, so I don't think we were NEEDING the extra food :).  Good times.