Motor Cross Bikes

I have a need for speed. Not really, but I do think riding on a dirt bike would be so fun. Aaron took us to the track last week. I have NEVER seen Nathan so excited about ANYTHING in his short little life. He was enthralled and wants to know if we'll let him learn how to ride a motorcycle. Hmm.....as fun as it looks can I just say, DANGEROUS! Really it was kinda of fun to see Nate so excited though. Maybe we'll look into it. Or maybe we'll just hope he'll forget. I highly doubt it.

Champion

Hannah is a champion....and not just because her school tells her that. I really think she's a pretty spectacular little girl. She recently ran 3 miles so she could earn money to donate to her school. When she came home with the request for donations I just didn't feel good about her asking people for money without her doing something for it. So she decided to run 3 miles (one of the goals she set early in the year) and asked people to sponsor her $5 if she could do it. Well, did it she did. She and Aaron ran together and I think she enjoyed the one on one time with her daddy as much as anything. She's a determined little thing. Once her mind is set on something, she'll do whatever she has to do to see it through.

Some of her other goals for the year that earned her the champion of medal award.
- 2 months of perfect attendance
- 2 months with no tardies
- read 25 hours
- read and write 25 sight words
- Eat 2 fruits and/or vegetables daily for 100 days
- Run 3 miles
- Visit a museum or concert
- Share a musical or artistic talent in front of an audience
- Keep an area litter free for 1 month
- Help a family member 10 times

She's my little Champion! (thanks to all those who supported her in many of these areas).

Life as I Know It

April has flown by. I'm not ready for May. May means 4 weeks left until I have this little guy and I wish I could say I'm ready. But I'm not. Hopefully I will though in 5 more weeks.

April means funny spring weather. We've enjoyed both ends of the spectrum. Hot and cold days. This week looks like no exception. We are in the 80's for the start of this week and drop down in the 50's by the end. Weird stuff. Anyway, I have enjoyed my almost daily bouquets of dandelions that Hannah collects for me. (Am I the only one who thinks she has an eye for lovely bouquets?)

And Nathan started soccer again this month. It was so fun to watch him last week.

My belly is GROW-ing. Here I am at 7-1/2 months. Phew! My back hurts non-stop. I officially am to the waddling stage. Sleeping is sporadic at best. I find myself making sure I know right where the bathroom is before I do any type of shopping. On the bright side, well.....on the bright side I will be happy to hold this little guy in my arms here shortly, instead of in my belly.

We enjoyed a fun afternoon at the park with my dearest friends Mandy and Julia. It's been far too long that we've seen each other. I got so caught up chatting with them that I didn't take advantage of how cute our kids played together. This is all I got.
Corbin and Hannah - (a love connection in the making)

 Nate climbing trees.

Nathan also had a fun day at preschool this month. He was the science kid, which means he got to choose a project to present to the rest of his classmates. It just so happened that they celebrated his summer birthday on the same day.

This was really one of the funnest things for Nathan. He absolutely LOVED trying out different science projects.

So goodbye April and Hello May!

Our Week of Spring Break

A whole week to have my kids home. A whole week to do whatever we wanted. A whole week to try to be creative (not my talent). Somehow, I pulled it off and we had a fun week.


Monday: Library and picnic at the park. Then over to Grandma and Grandpa's for some jumping on the trampoline and popsicles.

We took every advantage of the beautiful weather we had at the beginning of the week. The kids love picnics and they love parks.


Tuesday: Thanksgiving Point Gardens and picnic. The flowers were spectacular and the crowds were small.

Wednesday our plans changed because I overdid it the day before. So, it was a play with friends in the neighborhood kinda day. Fortunately, the weather was still so nice and they enjoyed swinging, and monkeying around.

Thursday we had Gracie over with us and it was cold outside. We made cake pops, that were sent to us from Grandma Lombardo for Easter, and watched a movie and colored masks.

Friday was our big surprise for the kids. We booked an over nighter at a hotel just down the street from us. I know, kinda weird to pay money to sleep over somewhere so close, but we knew the kids would love it. I kept telling them that we had a fun surprise for them and they were DYING to know what it was. We packed up their things and headed over to the Marriott hotel by Thanksgiving Point. They were SOOOOO excited! Especially when we told them there was a pool. (Beware, picture overload). There was plenty of jumping on the beds and pillow fights.

 We had fun cuddling and playing games.

 But who am I kidding, nothing could compete with their excitement for the pool.

 Abigail was so afraid of the elevator.

 Aaron and Hannah had fun taking pictures of them self under water.

 With time to spare after swimming we headed over to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. An absolute favorite place to go!

 Then it was off to get ice cream and cuddle up to watch TV.  A luxury we opted out of at our house a long time ago. There was NOTHING on worth watching, so Abby and I curled up and went to sleep. We were pooped!

Today we ate a yummy breakfast and got one more swim in before we had to check out. It was so worth it to have this fun little family time. We ended our weekend with "The Lorax" at the theater. Hannah was telling us that she can't wait until we do this again.
Me either!

Easter Week

The kids were beside themselves excited for Easter. They had multiple parties with school, friends, neighborhood, and family. The curse with not having much candy or goodies in our home very often has caused some slight contention and I'm about ready for it to be all gone. Thank goodness it almost is. But the kids have had a ball, except for when they were being disciplined for naughty behavior, which was often.

Our Neighborhood Egg Hunt: a very cold and windy day. Nathan's basket was full to the brim with eggs.

Nathan and Hannah each enjoyed Easter parties at school as well and came home loaded up with candy. They both were so sweet about sharing.

One of my favorite family traditions is the Eyre family Easter egg hunt and traditional egg-ala-golden rod breakfast. It never disappoints! It is a favorite of Aaron's as well. Good thing since I forgot to make it for him before we married, as it is a pre-requisite that one must LOVE this dish before joining our family. (j/k) The Easter egg hunt is of course the grand kids favorite part. My parents split their yard up according to ages. This year they added money to some of the eggs and had a special prize for whoever found the golden egg.

 Nathan found some money!

Nathan also found one of Dad's famous Easter eggs. None of us have ever mastered this art like he has.

Mom does such a good job decorating her house for each holiday. Not one of my strengths for sure. The tables were so cute. Each grandchild had a little toy at their spot. With 30+ people, we managed to squeeze in and enjoy our scrumptious meal!

The rest of our time together was enjoyed by dad talking to us about the true meaning of Easter. It's always a challenge to keep the children quiet, but this time more of the little kids wanted to hear what grandpa had to say and joined us for his lesson.

With all the fuss over the Easter Bunny during the week and the fun that that side of Easter brings, Aaron and I were excited to have a more meaningful Sunday. The kids woke up to their baskets with a little candy, but mainly they were full of underwear, socks, tights, and a new dress clothes for Sunday.

 Our morning was rocky at best. Poor Abigail has a splinter in her foot and was bawling this morning as we tried to get it out. No success! Of course, I wanted to get pictures of them in their cute outfits and it was positively beautiful outside, which was making Nathan cry because the sun was in his eyes, and Abigail wasn't finished crying from her foot either. So this is a much more realistic picture of how our morning went.

Fortunately, with the threat of no more candy if everyone didn't smile, we got some cute pictures. Hallelujah for candy!!!! (did I just say that?)

We had a combination of happiness and off the chart naughtiness all day. To end our day at church Nathan screamed bloody murder at me because he couldn't have a sucker that some of the 3 year olds received in their class. Wow! On the bright side, Hannah pulled a talk together last minute for primary. She wrote the whole thing by herself. It was positively darling! And she read it by herself as well, with very little help from me.

 

 

After church we had a yummy Easter meal and divine strawberry pie. Then Aaron shared the Easter story with the kids using plastic Easter eggs that each had a symbol representing the last week of the Saviors life on Earth. I wish I had taken pictures of it. The eggs contained a cloth, nails, thorns, bread, stone, and wood. I was so impressed with how well each of them understood what each one represented. You never know just how much they listen and then they show you by repeating everything we've been trying to teach them about this most important holiday.

Unfortunately, the night ended with Nathan having to go to bed early, but the few sweet moments we had during the day will be what we'll try to remember. I'm so grateful for Easter and for the Resurrection of the Savior. For the possibility that we can be together forever because of Him, and that we will see our loved ones again.