Easter

**I can't believe I'm just now blogging about Easter!**
Drew came up to visit before Easter and we colored eggs. Zoe seemed a little confused the whole time, as you can tell by the look on her face :-)

  

 
I have made it a tradition to leave eggs throughout the house as a "path" to help Zoe find her basket. She loves going through the house and picking them up while she makes a big deal about the Easter Bunny leaving our house so messy.  It is quite cute to see and listen to. As a side note: yes, Zoe is wearing Christmas pajamas for Easter (pick your battles) and Jack looks like he spit up all over himself!
The first thing Zoe found was their baskets. She had a bike helmet, a game, and some candy in hers. Jack had a radio and a new toy in his. 

Zoe then had to follow more eggs into the basement.  It was cute once she got down there because she didn't think to really look around in the bathroom to see if there was anything else.  We really had to encourage her to look around.  She finally looked in the bathtub and said nothing.  Just turned around like it was no big deal to have a bicycle sitting in your bathtub.  We finally asked her what was in there and her response was a very nonschelaunt "oh, just a bicycle".  Too cute!

We then all cleaned up and went to a new church (which as since become a place that we really enjoy!). We made an attempt at a family picture :-)

After church, Kathy, Bob, Ern, Stacey, and Keyairra came over for lunch. We had ham, cheesy potatoes, salad, eggs, rolls, and I know I'm forgetting a few other things....We finished eating and had an egg hunt before the rain started (AGAIN!)

I made a very brave attempt to take a picture of the cousins after the egg hunt....as you can see...it could have been disastrous if I would have moved any slower...

We hadn't been outside in forever due to all of the rain, so we really enjoyed being able to have an egg hunt, playing on the playset, and letting Zoe try out her new bike. She got very frustrated with her bike because she couldn't figure out how to keep it going without pushing backwards on the brake. She hasn't been on it since because she says "it's hard" - she's such her father's child!

Failed!

I have 100% failed at blogging this year! I feel like I haven't had time to breathe since February.  Just one thing after another after another and when I would finally sit down around 8:30 every night to nurse Jack, I would end up falling asleep myself.
It has been so long since I've been on here that I can't even remember the last thing I blogged about! Not sure if I ever blogged about my class this year, but boy, were they rough! Individually, I could find something to love about each of them, but as a whole, they were a terrible combination of kids! Overall, the girls were great.  A few of them were a little quirky, a few others could really get under my skin, and yet a few others just plum drove me nuts! The boys on the other hand were a completely different story! I began each day with the "today is a new day" attitude and by 3:00 I felt just the way I had at 3:00 the day before.  I spent most of the year feeling like a failure.  Feeling like I was failing at teaching them the needed academics.  Feeling like I was failing at teaching them proper behavior.  Feeling like I was failing at teaching them manners. Feeling like a bad teacher :-( Each day, I think I spent more time correcting behavior, breaking up fights, calming students down, playing mediator, etc. etc. etc. than I did actually teaching. In the end, I guess I just have to look at it as another year gone by and brush the rest off.  I can only do so much!
Now, I'm home with my babies for 2 months and hope to enjoy every second of it (...as I type this, they are both in their rooms screaming because they need to take a nap and are refusing to do so...ahhh!!! ).  I have a ton that I want to accomplish in my time off, none of which has been started.  The garage desperately needs cleaned, the kitchen/dining/living room need painted along with our bathroom and what will someday be Jack's room. My cabinets need cleaned out and straightened up. Jack's room needs an overhaul. My closet needs cleaned and organized. The basement needs rearranged. And the list goes on....
What I will actually accomplish will probably be just spending lots and lots of time with the little monsters! Jack has grown way too fast and the past 10 months have flown by not to mention that Zoe will be starting pre-K this Fall! My babies are no longer babies and I must eat up every second I have with them this summer!

Jack's Dedication

We dedicated Jack on April 9th.  We decided to do the ceremony at our house for a few reasons.  First, because it's pretty centrally located for everyone. Second, because it was extremely important to us that Ryan's Uncle Ronnie perform the baptism and he is now retired.  We figured it didn't matter where we did it, as long as we did it. :-)  It was a pretty pewney day outside, but everything else went beautifully!
We had a delicious meal of BBQ pulled pork, cole slaw, green beans, mac & cheese, and a veggie tray. YUMMO!

Here he is getting ready for his big day!

 

 We decided that it was important to inclue Zoe and explain to her that it was also going to be her job to help us raise Jack so that he could know God. We gave her a daily devotional for kids and a necklace/bracelet/ring set. She loved it!

 Here are some pictures from the actual baptism.

It was so nice to have everyone here visiting and to join us in the celebration.  I'm going to try to list everyone that was here and hopefully I don't miss anyone! Dad, Jessie, Mom, Grandma Bert, Ken, Lynn, Vertie, Deb, Ronnie, Carol, Kathy, Bob, Nettie, Greg, Tammy, Al, Ted, and Glinda.

Oh, those houses!

At Donna's, the kids are always "making houses".  Zoe would talk about it and I would try to picture what she meant.  I sure wish I still just "pictured" it and didn't have to "live" it - it makes my house a mess! I don't know how Donna deals with all the girls making them every day!
This is an example of a "tiny house"...

Notice how she surrounded herself with toys....well, she will do this with, what seems like, every toy she owns and take up an entire room!