Tax Day Tea Party 2010

On April 15th (has it been that long since I've blogged?) we went to our local TEA Party.

We had a nice time.  It was located on a large lawn area that was so nice.  We enjoyed the speakers and looking at all the signs that people brought.  The only problem I found (besides all the hateful rhetoric that Nancy Pelosi says happens at the tea parties) was that it was on a campus.  Last year it was in downtown Winston Salem where there was a lot of traffic of people driving by and walking around which caused for a lot more conversation.  With it being on the campus it was more secluded.

Here are some pics of our evening.

Two of our young patriots.

Eating our picnic dinner!

Livie decided to take a little nap in the chairs but not without doing her part with holding her sign up.

I loved these people.  If you look close they are wearing Founding Father's masks.  It was a mom and her two children.

I couldn't pass up taking a picture of these guys.  So many thoughts ran through my mind:

"We are definitely in the south."

"These guys are here to keep hold of their guns and religion."

"These guys must be the bouncers since these Tea parties get sooo CRAZY!"

I am sure that my dear friend, Jean can come up with a few more!

Raising Children

I was out in the garden earlier today and thinking about my little darlings and being a mom.  I'm so not one to come up with analogy's but this is what I've come up with.  When we planted our garden (and I am definitely NO expert) we tilled the ground, sewed the seeds and watered.  Everyday I go out to see what's happening.  To make sure that they are protected - that nothing has disturbed my precious plants.  We water and weed constantly hoping that our hard work will pay off with beautiful fruit and vegetables.  We don't know what the outcome will be - we may be successful and get produce or we may not get anything but we still work at it.  We get little hints of our success by seeing the blossoms develop or the vines grow larger or even see little tiny 1" cucumbers pop up.  Well, as I was tending the garden today I realized that it's just like raising my children.  I try hard to protect them, to keep the "weeds" away, to nurture them but don't really know what will come of it until they are grown.  But I am lucky to see some of the fruits of my labor every now and then.  With all that said, I have 2 little stories that make me see some of those fruits. 

1.  Olivia has always been our child that we have to try and keep motivated while doing chores around the house.  She really dislikes it and will hide in her room to try and get out of it.  Or she will take as long as possible to do the job all the while trying my patience.  A while back she had to clean her room (it was a Saturday so that meant she had to dust and vaccuum also) and GOOD clean the bathroom along with a few other chores.  She came bouncing down the stairs after doing those 2 chores (in a timely manner, I might add) and said,  "I worked really hard to get my jobs done, and I tried to do a really good job and I don't know why, but I just feel so good."

I loved hearing that.  I told her she was feeling pride in her work for a job well done.  I was so glad she could experience that and after all those hours, weeks, years of getting her to do her chores, she finally got out of it what I wanted her to.  Now, It's not like that EVERY time but I'm sure it will happen again. 

2.  We try to make sure and eat healthy meals around here.  We always have whole grain everything - pasta, bread, bagels, muffins, pancakes, rice.  If it can be whole grain, that's how we eat it.  We don't eat processed foods and Tim, of course, thinks it's a sin to buy sauce or anything like that bottled - it's got to be from scratch.  (Healthy eating does go out the window usually when there's company, then it's pretty much whatever tastes the best that Tim wants to make.)  So, all this background to tell you this little funny.  The other day, I went to my favorite grocery store, Aldi.  They always seem to have a screaming deal on just about anything.  A few weeks ago when I went shopping they had white bread for 25 cents a loaf.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I battled with myself whether I should buy it or not.   "It's not healthy, but it's only 25 cents."  What to do, what to do.  So, I decided I would by a few loaves (10 to be exact) and put them in the freezer.  The girls could occasionally open a loaf or have them for french toast or something.  So  that night at dinner I told the girls I bought a little surprise for them.  They were pretty anxious to find out so I had to tell them it wasn't that big of a deal - I told them the good news.  Alexa and Olivia immediately started showing their enthusiasm.  Then after a minute or so, Maya pipes up and says, "What's white bread?"  After we picked ourselves up off the floor from laughing so hard I realized that she probably hasn't had white bread in YEARS and made me feel good that we have been trying to eat healthy for a long time now. 

It sure is fun being a mom with little experiences like this.

Busy Girl!

This little Girl is quite busy these days.  We can hardly keep up with her. 

Here are some pics of what she enjoys doing.

1.  Getting into the 5 gallon bucket of flour

2.  Putting on mommy's lipstick

3.  She's so busy that she can't even get all the way in bed when she falls asleep.

Easter Part 3 - Are you sick of it yet?

If you decided to still open this blog after seeing the title of yet another Easter post, I just want you to know this is the last one.  It was a marathon of a week but sure fun.  Lot's of memories for our family.

On our way back from the Outer Banks we stopped at my sister, Maren's house to have the annual Easter Egg hunt and a bar b que.  The kids really enjoyed the hunt and we enjoyed the visiting.  My mom enjoyed the fact that she is past the stage of her life where she has to fill Easter eggs, hide them, and prepare all the food. 

Here are the kiddos all waiting patiently for the hunt to start.

This little guy is my nephew Nate.  Don't you love that smile?

Here are the 2 sassy cousins.

Will and Livie

(Their Dad's sure did a great job hiding those eggs.)

Is he focused or what?

All that fun and the next day on Easter, itself, I didn't take one picture. 

Thanks for all the fun, family.  We are sure lucky.

Easter Break - Part 2

So, the Smith's left Tuesday morning and that night Tim's parents came to visit for the week. We went over to the Outer Banks and stayed a few days. It was so much fun. We stayed at a really nice house that had a fun game room, a pool, and we found some bikes to ride including a "bicycle built for two." We went over and did some touristy stuff (like the Wright Brothers Museum), flew kites, ran and played on the beach (it was too cold to actually go in), swam in the pool, and ate at some great places. We had a fabulous time and wore ourselves out. It was beautiful there. It's so different from the Pacific Ocean. I can't wait to go back again. Thanks so much Abuela and Grumps. We so enjoyed spending the week with you and can't wait to get together again. Here are some pics of our fun trip.

GAME ROOM:

The Wright Brother's Museum

(This is the view from the top of the hill where they would start the gliders.)

Top of the hill. - Quite a nice little climb!

McKenna, Casey, Maya, Grumps, & Livie

McKenna, Casey, Tim, Maya, Livie

(no pics of Lynn and Alexa - they stayed back for some R&R)

Kite flying on the Sand Dunes

Livie's turn.

McKenna trying her hand at it.

I love this little Maya.

Tim and McKenna ready to run down the side of the dunes.

Alexa

McKenna

(She said she was making dinner - oatmeal)

So far, I haven't found a single picture with Abuela. Hope I find some soon.

How did she manage to stay off the camera radar?

McKenna taking a breather after all this fun.

I can't remember the place we went and spent the day. (Lynn, if you remember will you please put it in my comments.). Somewhere in the Outerbanks. The girls did an Easter Egg hunt, we got to go on a replica of an old ship and see some old Indian Native American stuff. The girls really like all that stuff. Then we ate at a yummy restaraunt. I think the service was better than the food. You know, that Southern hopsitality - I can't get enough of it.

Here's a little video of the girls impromptu "rain dance".

Beware:  I don't think this is politically correct.

Egg Hunt!

Alexa

The Ship

Alexa really wanted to eat here since she thinks it's named after her.

Mommy and McKenna

The Ladies!

?

The whole gang waiting for our grub!

The girls "playing in the waves". It was still pretty cool that week.

Although, I think they would have gone in if we let them.

On our way out of town we stopped for breakfast at a GREAT place called

Pancakes and Such. The Pancakes were huge and the Such was excellent.

Here's Maya after eating her choc. chip pancakes. The whole plate was

covered in pancakes and choc. chips. Notice the left over chocolate. WAY

too much for me.

McKenna - not having such a great time at Breakfast.

Here they are, Abuela and Grumps. Can you believe we had to wait til the last day

to get a picture of them together. What is amazing is that they are smiling after spending

the week with our little circus.

I put this picture in originally because it was of Alexa and myself, but

after looking at it, I love Livie in the background. She must have gotten a

little tired after all those choc. chips.

Thanks Abuela and Grumps for a fun week. We all so enjoyed ourselves and will have many memories of our fun time in the Outer Banks.