Support your Local TEA - Taxed Enough Already - PARTY!

On April 15th (Tax Day) I loaded up the car, got the kids out of school and went to our local tea party. Tim met us there during his lunch hour since we were just 10 minutes away. Yes, I have really trained him well - he has even admitted to listening to a little talk radio now and then.

After watching the local news and reading political blogs I realize I may need to clarify a few things. Our news gave about a 20 second sound bite on the whole thing. The comment made by the anchor man was, "These people are tired of the rich getting richer and the poorer getting poorer." WHAT?! This was a testimony to me that the media says what they want and don't care what the facts are. If they can't get this story right do they get ANY of them right? So, if you aren't aware - which some of you may not be because the media refused to even make mention of it - there were tea parties all over the country that day. Millions and Millions of people joined together to show how much we are all sick of the government spending money they don't have that we as tax payers will have to pay. Every day I hear about more and more areas the government will be taxing us. It has nothing to do with rich or poor people - it has to do with standing up for what is right. And if it doesn't stop it will have EVERYTHING to do with losing our freedom.

Another clarification I have to make is that some of the so-called press were talking about how those that were at the tea parties were FORCING children to hold up signs. (Insert laugh here.) Let me share my own experience. The girls helped make our signs. The night before we talked about what we were doing and why we were going. They understood what their signs meant and were excited to go and hold them up. After the rally we were walking towards the car and saw some people holding their signs up out on the street. I asked the girls if they wanted to go or if they wanted to hold up their signs. Alexa and Maya wanted to stand on the street. Since Livie didn't want to we just stood behind the girls while they waved and held the signs (see pic below.) After a few minutes I told them that it was time to go. Maya turned and said, "Oh, I don't want to go. I want to stay and hold up my sign." So, I guess there was force after all. Me FORCING her to leave.

All in all it was a great event. It was nice to be with a group of people that stood for the same thing and doing it in a peaceful manner. No radicals, just normal citizens practicing their First Amendmant rights. It was a great thing to witness.

At the Rally! The night before Alexa was running around holding up the sign chanting, "If you're not outraged than you're not paying attention." Over and over again. I tried to get her to do it at the rally but for some reason she refused. (Not enough FORCE, I guess.)

We loved reading everyone's signs. I hope Obama did also.

One of the speakers.

Maya and Alexa holding their signs up on the street. I don't know who was helping Maya, just a nice lady.

Make sure to check your local area and see when your next TEA Party is. Winston Salem, NC will be having another one on Saturday, June 6th. Can't wait!

Also, there is one in the works for the 4th of July!

Easter 2009

I am happy to say that I have accomplished my goal. I was wanting to get Easter posted before the end of May. Just by the skin of my teeth. My sister, Maren and her family (Andrew, Will, Hyde, Ivy, and Nate) came out to spend Easter Saturday with us. It is a tradition in my family to have an egg hunt the saturday before easter. It is always a great time when the Bosley's come to visit. Although I get less sleep (so much late night chatting), it's definitely worth it. Here are some pictures of our fun day. I wish I was a better photographer and would have thought to get pictures of our families but maybe next year.

The tradition includes the men hiding the eggs but for some reason, this year, they got out of it. Here's Maren and I filling the eggs.

We made the kids wait at the door until the dad's could get outside to "capture the moment." Check out how fast Will is. He's ready to go.

Cute Alexa is was so considerate - Here she is last to come out after all the other kids. She sure is growing up fast.



Check out this darling Hyde.


Here are the boys looking in the "woods".

Finding places to hide eggs in a new yard is pretty difficult - the trees are so tiny and just lots of grass.


Alexa


Livie and Maya - They are serious about their egg hunts.

Maya

All the kids patiently waiting for their picture to be taken so they can DIG IN!


The babies were sleeping during the egg hunt so we had a little one for them when they woke up. Here's McKenna and Ivy making sure that the other isn't taking their eggs. I wish I knew what they were thinking.





The next day was Easter so the girls, of course had to dress up and pose for a picture. After church and McKenna wasn't too thrilled about getting her picture taken. She just wanted a nap.

When Maren came she made a YUMMY breakfast casserole. Not to be out done, I had to try my hand at a recipe I found in a magazine. Since church is at 9am we had a late brunch. Tim had to capture it and told me to post it on the blog - I think he wants documentation that I actually can cook every now and then. Yes it has strawberries and bacon on the top. Sounds strange together but it was actually pretty good.

Last Day of Spring Break!

Since Tim had to work all week and the girls were wanting to do something with him so badly we decided to venture out on a hike Friday after he got home from work. We found a neat mountain (I use that term loosely) called Stone Mountain to hike. One side of it was just a huge piece of granite. We made hobo dinners (can you call them that or is that not pc?) and took them up with us. They had covered picnic tables with fireplaces so after the hike we built a fire and cooked the food. The girls loved the hobo dinners. Especially Alexa since that is one of her favorite words. (We found that out when we were driving through down town Winston Salem and she said, "Why are all these people walking around, they look like hobo's? I know it shouldn't be funny but at the time, I didn't even know she knew what that word was. So when I told her we were having hobo dinners she was pretty excited.) And of course it wouldn't be a campfire with out s'mores. McKenna loved the marshmallow's.

The girls have a Pooh book that we've read a billion times where Pooh plays a game called Pooh sticks. The idea is each person (or in Pooh's case, each animal) takes a stick and drop it off the edge of the bridge at the same time then you run across and whoever's stick comes out the otherside first, wins. When we came across this bridge the girls were so excited the HAD to try the game. They all grabbed sticks to float down the creek. Here's Maya's choice, a little overkill, but if it wasn't, it wouldn't be her.

Here they are running across to the other side.

Can these girls ever take a bad picture?

Poor McKenna, she never gets a pic with her big sisters but lucky her, Daddy carried her the whole way.

We came to a waterfall that was beautiful. I am generally pretty fearful of heights, but my fear gets even worse when one particular child (her name starts with M and ends with aya) is around because she has no fear. There were some uncomfortable spots that she just tried to run through. The thought still makes me nervous.

Here's looking up the waterfall. Everything was still wet from the rain at the beginning of the week so we had to be careful with the ground being slick - but not Maya, of course.

And it wouldn't be a hike with out seeing some deer. We had a great time and can't wait to go back. Only if our schedules would permit it.

Spring Break!

Does this look like spring break to you? I don't know if you can tell but it is raining in those pictures. The first few days of Spring Break were spent in doors because of the showers that were so needed around here. But it sure put a damper on our fun.

Not to mention it was only 3 days long since the kids had to make up 2 snow days. We made the best of it though. The first day was spent at our friends house having pancakes and letting the kids play up in their play room while us ladies sat and visited. It was so nice, I wish I could do that more often.

The next day it still rained. What do you do with 4 girls on a rainy day?

Pedicures, of course.

Check out these teeny tiny baby toe nails.

McKenna ALWAYS has to get in on the action.

The last day we spent heading over to Costco for their Choc. dipped ice cream bars with crushed almonds. YUMMM! I let each girl get their own (since I'm such a big spender.) They are the biggest ice cream bars, EVER. Next time we are all sharing.

Surprise Visit

First, I just have to say that right now I am sitting in a beach house on the Atlantic Coast. It is beautiful and VERY relaxing. I'll post pictures later (when I'm all caught up.) The kids are in bed, Tim's making dinner for us and our friends (owner's of the beach house) and so I am just sitting with absolutely NOTHING to do - so why not blog? I almost don't even know what to do when I finish this post. I might actually pick up a book and sit and read with no interuptions, no phone calls, nothing. I think I could get used to this.

So for the real reason of this post - We had some exciting visitors come to our house. Our dear friends (well, we really consider them our Arkansas Family) the Smith's came to visit. Karl, Angela (his fiance) Randy and Colleen. We didn't tell the girls they were coming and let them answer the door when they showed up. They were so excited (and surprised.) We only had a few days and we had so much fun that I forgot to take very many pictures. The weather wasn't great but we made do. The girls and Karl played Wii golf. We went and played mini-bowling, went to the mall and spent time at Costco (it's a must for anyone from AR since they don't have it there.) Here's a few pics of our time with them.

Maya (wearing Karl's hat) and G'ma Smith

Alexa - isn't she just getting more beautiful everyday? I can't believe she's going to be 12! YIKES!

Karl, Angela, McKenna and a little of G'ma Smith

Sorry, I didn't get more pictures. Y'all will just have to come again for a visit. We LOVE having visitors and have plans for a few this summer - we can't wait!

Alexa's Piano Contest

Back in March, Alexa participated in a piano contest. She had to play 2 pieces, one she picked and one that was chosen by the judges for her ability level. She had to have them memorized, go into a room with just her, the piano and the judge and play for just that judge. (We could only listen from outside.) They sat with the piece of music and read it while she played. She was pretty nervous but she did a great job. She recieved a Superior which is the highest score you can get. She's only been playing for a year but thanks to her teacher she is getting to have great experiences like this to keep her motivated and challenged. Here is a video we took of her playing her songs about a week after the performance.

Snow Day - AGAIN!

This year we've had a few more snow days than I'd have liked. We have already had to make up two during spring break and we still have 2 more to make up at the end of the year. Our last snow days were great though. It was beautiful and it lasted for a few days. Since I never grew up with snow just falling right on my house and yard, it's a whole new experience that I get to share with my girls. They love it and can't wait to play in it. It's so fun to watch (from inside, of course.) This day I tried to convince Tim to stay home from work but he wouldn't have it. He had to practically dig his car out.

Alexa and Maya at the neighbors behind our house (I took this from the kitchen window.)

The first day they forgot to make a snowman so this is them a few days later before it melted with their TINY snowman.

Life with the Little Ladies

I'm sure most of you could care less to see some of the things on this blog but I know a few grandma's who eat this stuff up so the rest of you either can suffer through it or just skip it all together. (FYI Grandma's, if you want to see the picture up close, just click on it.)

Since I'm so behind on these post some of the pictures I had to really look at to figure out what was going on. Here are a few of them:

Do you give up? Alexa HATES lotion. When I say hates, I mean HATES!!!! One night after reading scriptures the girls were complaining about being itchy (it was winter at the time) so I told them to grab the lotion and put some on. Alexa refused, of course. But her sisters wanted to make sure that she got some on. This is them "helping out".

These next few pictures are of the girls once again playing on a Sunday afternoon. You can see that the books are set up like tents in the wilderness. All the blue books are water and Lehi and his family are traveling in the boat. Seriously, I don't know how we got to be so lucky. These girls remember more scriptures than I do and I am WAY older than them. I NEVER would have played like this. I count my blessings everyday that they make my life that much easier. I just don't want them to grow up.

For Aunt Roberta

Aunt Roberta was so kind and gave my girls a small gift before they moved. She's just thoughtful like that. Anyway, she never got to see the girls in their cute valentine shirts. So here you go! They try to wear them almost everyday. (It's the girliest shirt Alexa will wear - all because it's from Aunt Roberta.)