Typical April Weekend!

 It was a pretty typical April weekend for us! This means....crammed full of stuff to do and fun things too!

Ellie's best friend was baptized this weekend. It was a very sweet ceremony and we are really happy for Karma on such an important day to her. I'm happy we went to show our love for her! The girls both looked so beautiful.

 

Then it was Ellie's party after that (with a birthday party in between the baptism and Ellie's party). She decided to have it at the ice rink she takes skating lessons at. It was such a fun party! We had an instructor there for the first 20 minutes to hep the kids get on their feet and be safe. They all did great actually. 8 is a good age to have a party like this.

 

I ordered blue iced cupcakes and added some cute touches: marshmallow clouds and xtreme rainbows! They turned out cute and the kids loved them.

More action shots:

 

Then we had an outdoor photo session for the kids. I picked the river trail where I spend a lot of time because I love it there and it's so green and pretty right now. The kids did so well and looked so cute. Funny story: as we were just finishing up with pictures, we saw a mommy duck with her 3 tiny babies. We were all awwww'ing over them when Ellie piped up "we should go over there, get them and have a little snack"! This girl has a little evil streak :) I think the photographer's eyes bugged out of his head!

We also had playdates and sleepovers all mixed in, as well as a couple of baseball games. Thank you Mum for helping me navigate all the craziness and to my friends who helped me this weekend!!

Craft Club April 2012

 Craft Club for April was at my place last night. We had a great turn out: 13! (14 if you count me!)

We learned how to make a variety of felt flowers to embellish a wreath.

 

This is how mine turned out. I especially love the dahlias and the little bunting in the middle. The hardest part was the burlap ruffle. Burlap + hot glue= ouch! But a little pain was worth the end result.

 

The dahlias are really easy but a little time consuming as you have to cut all the petals out individually. I made a little template which made things a lot quicker.

Life List: progress?

Revisited my life list today and managed to mark off some more things in green (and take one off the list in orange). Need to look at my list more often and make progress!

1) Get a Master's degree (probably in Social Work)
2) Own a dog
3) Learn to play the harmonica really well
4) Travel to Italy
5) Take a photography class: I am signed up for one in April
6) Set up a table at a craft fair
7) Have my own business: Check!
8) Create my own website on my own domain: Done!
9) Be a Big Sister
10) Get published in a scrapbooking magazine
11) Travel to China
12) Take a pottery class
13) Have a psychic reading done by John Edwards
14) Eat a piece of fruit every day for the rest of my life: I am doing a lot better on this
15) Build a composite backyard deck of my dreams (well, HAVE it built, not build it myself!)
16) Plant a vegetable garden
17) Learn operate a sewing machine and then to sew clothing
18) Run a marathon (did I really just type that??): I am on my way, I have a 5 k race in April
19) Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans
20) Go on a cruise
21) Volunteer at a soup kitchen
22) Go away with 4 best friends for an entire week
23) Recycle everything I possibly can
24) Re-finish an old chest of drawers
25) Keep my recipe book up to date so I can pass it on to Ellie one day
26) Take a hip hop dance class with Lucas
27) Be an advocate for people in need
28) Make sure my friends and family know how much I love and appreciate them: I am trying harder to do this and I believe I have been a lot more open about my feelings especially when it comes to my friends.
29) Take my Mum on a trip, just her and I, to the place of her choice
30) Drive across the USA
31) Have a consistent family game night every week
32) Take a yoga class
33) Take an anger management class
34) Go to Iceland
35) Sponsor a child in a foreign country: More news on this soon but it requires a whole new blog post :)
36) Do the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk <----off the list, never will support any Komen events, would switch to any other agency benefiting cancer care and research that respects women.
37) Have a flower garden that I can make beautiful bouquets from (dahlias, small sunflowers, daisies)
38) Learn how to use Photoshop
39) Make a quilt
40) Get a tattoo with a friend
41) Go to an event/evening where I have to wear a ball gown
42) Make sure I never tell people I love that I didn't call or keep in touch because "I have been Sooooooo busy": This one is easy
43) To get to know my brother better
44) Have a "summer home" or cabin
45) Go to the Oprah Show
46) Take graphic art/design classes

The Tooth Fairy

This morning, Dama was up early. Lucas came in the room and climbed into bed next to me. He said to me "I caught Daddy putting money under my pillow. I was awake and I thught it was you coming in to cover me up so I just lay there with my eyes closed. I saw Daddy putting the money under my pillow". Through his tears, he asked me if we were really the tooth fairy all along.

He was so....sad! I wrapped him up in my arms and let him talk about all that was on his mind. I felt tears welling up in my eyes too. I knew if I told him at this point, he'd be heartbroken. And to be honest, it was breaking my heart too. I asked him "if it really was us, would you want to know"? He said he did. So I held him close and we lay there silently. He cried and I cried too.

After a couple of minutes of silence, he said "can you go talk to Daddy about why he did that? Maybe he has a reason". So I left and talked to Dama. We decided to go with one more "explanation" that he had found it under HIS pillow and was simply putting it where it belonged. Dama and I came back in the room and told him that. He processed for a while and mentioned he had been up to the bathroom during the night, so maybe she was confused as to where he was.

I just don't know what the right thing to do is. I want to be honest with him but he so much wants to still believe. And I think I'm going to help him with that for a little longer.