Emmett Easter Egg Hunt

Here's some pictures from the 2nd annual Emmett Easter Egg Hunt on March 31st.  Last year's hunt benefited baby Emmett Rubus who had a rare liver disease (update...he is well and didn't end up needing a transplant because of Young Living Essential Oils!!).  This year's hunt went to benefit Roxy Nelson who had a recurrence of cancer that was hitting hard.  Roxy is the grandmother to my cousin Wendey's kids.  Unfortunately, she passed away a couple of days before the benefit.  Still, the benefit was a huge success and tons of fun!  They had planned for so much more than last year.  They had carnival games, basketball, bouncy house, sno-cones, popcorn, pictures with the Easter Bunny, hair extensions, crafts, hamburger/hot dog lunch, cake walk, face painting, and tons of donated raffle prizes.  Adam missed the hunt because of work, but showed up in time to have lunch with us.

Best friends Soren and Kade.  Even though they are 1.5 years apart, they just can't get enough of each other!

Overfilled...

Synnove standing next to Katelynn and Carlie waiting for the go-ahead

All finished

Tina, Rena, and Tembir (Bible study girlfriends) did face painting at the event. Grace (Rena's daughter) and Synnove pose with pretty faces.

Synnove was beyond excited to get a REAL purple hair extension like so many of her friends.  All for a good cause I guess :)

Heather's Bridal Shower

Daniel (my cousin) and Heather got engaged on February 29th...and long story short, decided to get married on April 9th. That's 5.5 weeks to plan a wedding (pics to come)! Lori, Heather's mom, was on top of it, and managed to get all the invites out on time and helped to plan a bridal shower for her too.  The shower was on March 25th, and there was a huge turnout!  I took quite a few pictures, but here are just a few...

See the mountain of gifts?! I bought her and Dan a big cooler to take camping...apparently that was Daniel's favorite gift...go figure :)

Synnove and Miss Evelyn

Elise and Sarah holding Evie (Evelyn) and Avie (Avyrie)...they are about 4.5 months apart.

Aunt Alice has been saving charms for Daniel since he was little, and Alice gave the bracelet to Heather in a very heartfelt and tearful exchange.

The Moms...Lori and Alice.

Dedication, Birthday, and Student of the Month

On March 11th, little Miss Evelyn Colleen was dedicated at Hilltop Church in Astoria...the same church my little sister was dedicated at 25 years ago.  Afterwards, all the family that came (Grandma Balensifer, Grandma and Grandpa Thompson, Uncle Jack and Aunt Jeanne, Henry, and Adam and I and the kids) headed to my parents' house for a Mexican feast.  We had a nice afternoon of visiting :)

Parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents

Evie is a mama's girl and started fussing soon after Pastor picked her up...then fussed the entire time.

Adam turned 32 on March 15th and the kids were excited to throw him a mini-party.  Weeks prior, Synnove and Soren had made pictures/gifts for their dad and wrapped them in painted pictures.  I made some red velvet cupcakes and Synnove made some decorations. 

Synnove received the Student of the Month award for February at school.  She was very excited! Unfortunately, Adam couldn't get out of work to attend the assembly, but Grandma Suzi was able to come!

More January Photos

On the evening of January 21st, I attended the Annual Astoria/Warrenton Chamber dinner to celebrate my dear grandma. She was completely in the dark and was told that my little brother was receiving an award from the Chamber for community service. Fortunately, she never suspected, and was shocked to tears when they announced her name to receive the prestigious Richard Ford Distinguished Service award for her lifelong service to the community and the City of Warrenton.

The next weekend, the kids and I attended J.R.'s 5th birthday at his house in Olney. It was a quiet birthday, but the kids enjoyed games and playing with friends outside in the surprisingly decent weather!

The next day, we had a big family party celebrating Synnove's 7th birthday. As always, it was a great time with family, friends, and food. She chose a Disney's "Tangled" theme and passed out fancy bracelets and purses to all her girl cousins and friends that came...the boys got binoculars :) She got lots of clothes, accessories, trinkets, and toys including a new bike! So spoiled!

At the Movies: January 21st, 2012

For Synnove's 7th birthday, almost 4 months ago, my friend Andrea and I decided it would be fun to take our girls and a small handful of their friends to Beauty and the Beast 3D. Andrea's daughter, Katelynn, and Synnove are in the same grade and were both turning 7 the same week and were both having family parties at a later date. I really didn't want Synnove to be flooded with gifts from two parties, so this was a great compromise. We let each girl choose 3 friends from school but only 5 were invited because the girls chose some of the same friends. Most of the girls, including Synnove, had never been to a 3D movie. It was absolutely laugh-out-loud hilarious to watch the girls during the action-packed previews screaming at falling helicopters and dinosaurs popping out of the screen!

Our friend Sarah also came with her kids and a few others, so along with some siblings our crowd totalled about 16 people!

Synnove was the only one in a dress. She loves wearing dresses...and a birthday is a perfect occasion!

Intense!

Front: Brooke, Katelynn, Carlie, Synnove, Grace, Emily, Raelynn

Back: McKaylin, Madelynn

Andrea and I with our birthday girls.

It's on it's way...but Adam isn't here to set it up...

The day I've been longing for is finally here! I just checked Fed Ex tracking, and our new computer is set to arrive on my doorstep this afternoon! I hope to start blogging again because it will finally be easier...take MUCH less time!! It's gotten so bad, that I can no longer load pictures on my computer from my camera...and I've NEVER been able to load videos from my new camera. I rarely check Facebook on the computer because the page format is all messed up...not to mention the fact that I can type an entire paragraph before a single letter will show up on the screen. Lately, I've been doing most of my Internet surfing/business on my phone. No, we don't have 3G service at our house, but it's still often faster than the computer and certainly much less frustrating. It's hard to believe, but Adam and I bought our current computer in March of 2003...NINE years ago!!! It's been a good computer, despite 3 or 4 complete wipe-outs. Thank goodness for back-up hard drives! Anyway, I'm hoping that Adam will be able to carve out some time in his very busy schedule to set it up sometime within the next couple of days. We don't see him much these days. I wrote this back in October...

"After an incredibly busy September, we were finally able
to breathe a little bit in October. Although, Adam has been busier than ever at
work. In late September his boss resigned and Adam was put in charge in the
interim. So far, he's been doing two very important jobs at the mill for 6 full
weeks...with no end in sight. He works 12-hour days and comes home to work on
the computer after the kids go to bed. Too bad he's not getting paid for two
jobs! We miss him, but he has still found moments here and there to spend
quality time with the kids."

Well, he hits the 6-month mark this week. He's been doing two jobs since September, and 3 jobs since January when another manager quit. We know that God has a plan for Adam at work, and we're hoping that plan will reveal itself soon. Our lives have been put on hold until things get worked out. As always, in situations like this, things are complicated. I'm so very proud of Adam and his accomplishments in his career. He has done very well at climbing the ladder at an expedited pace. In fact, the company has put so much confidence in his work that he has been put in charge of the entire mill on the "weekend duty" rotation. This is a high accomplishment that he, unfortunately, is not recognized for or compensated for. Like I said, it's a complicated matter that continues to frustrate. This cannot go on for much longer as it is taking it's toll on Adam, or marriage, and our family. It's easy to grow apart when you are apart. Please, PLEASE don't take that as an indication that we are on the verge of disaster....that is NOT the case at ALL! We are merely a family feeling the effects of an overworked Adam.

It Must be February...Cause we're all SICK!

Sorry for the long hiatus, but along with some technical difficulties with my computer, we've been very, VERY sick for the better part of the last month. Despite my prayers for health, the bugs have overtaken our house and we're having a hard time getting rid of them. We started back in mid-January when Synnove got a wierd tummy bug that lasted 6-7 days...then we were all healthy for a few days and then Soren got the tummy bug (his was much worse) for 6-7 days. Who gets a week-long tummy bug!?!?! Sheesh! We were all well for a week or two. Then, Synnove got a sore throat that turned into fever and other cold symptoms. She missed a week of school, was on the mend for a week, and now she's back to similar symptoms. Soren got the same bug (way worse) a week after Synnove and had a 6-day fever with bad cold symptoms and a tummy ache. I have also been sick with the same for almost two weeks now, and Adam is now battling it as well. I'm frustrated, exhausted, and tired of being stuck in my house with sickies.

When I find the time to have some patience for my computer (picture download issues) I'll get around to finally blogging about Synnove's 7th birthday. As for now, I'm contemplating a nap.