Hunting for easter eggs

Jacob and Josh found the sand box.

Ready for the hunt

All lined up ready for games.

Emily's find..

Emily finished posters to hang up at school while she runs for Student Council President.  One says "Emily is out of this world ".....one says "Emily is Purrfect for pres." and the other "Happiness is Emily for President"
All her creations.  We'll see how it goes.

We've had a busy week while Gene was in Chicago.  We had 2 field trips.  Jacob went to Safety City and Tara went to the Amer. Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.  We had a baseball game, scouts , an easter egg hunt at the church, fed the missionaries, a very Good Friday (with no school) and a fun party at our friends the Copelands (pictured above.)  We love holidays...we hope you all had a good one!
Bradley and Sara had a baby boy on Friday.  Here's the new grandparents Gene's brother Darrell and wife Cherie with Jaxson Borden.

No words needed

Our trip to the temple

The grounds at the Atlanta temple are beautiful.  We wished our own backyard looked like this.

Jacob smiling at me after our tour inside the temple.  He said "Now I'm feeling my happy self"

So many people volunteered to take the picture for me....yay....I'm in the photo.  Thank you very kind stranger who volunteered to help!

Emily beside the pansies.....little purple pansies.  I can't help but sing that song.

We had a great trip to Alanta to visit during the open house before the temple is rededicated next month.  There has been construction for the last year or so...and it looks beautiful!  The chandeliers are breath-taking.  The furniture and paintings are wonderful.  The kids were so great and reverent...their eyes were wide open.  It was a super quick day trip, but so totally worth it.

 We wish all of our friends and family could have gone with us. 

fashions and baseball

Tara came out of her room one evening this week with a new dress for her Barbie.  She designed, cut and hand sewed a couple outfits together from scraps. Notice the red thread and the flower cluster (cut off from some silk flowers)  She says she has many more ideas and needed mor material.  So, some friends have donated....we will see what she comes up with next.

This was the biggest surprise of the week.  Gene's been out of town and we decided against planting a garden this year.....while the kids were out picking dandelions, they found these in the garden plot from last year.  Yay, we have food for the Easter Bunny!

Jacob and Jewel waiting patiently by the door to go outside before Jake's first baseball game.

On the Mets team.

Tara and Emily's preferred way of watching baseball (with an i-pod and Nintendo DS)

A smile for the camera right before his first turn at bat.

He has a pretty good little team.  They are all 8 yrs. old.  He tried hard and cheered for his teammates. 

Cupcakes we made this week for co-workers/friends.

Gene told the kids that he would pay them a nickel for each dandelion they picked.  So, they have been busy.  Over 800 were picked.

.All in all it's been a great week.  We've had alot of time outdoors.  The weather has been wonderful and all the hope of spring is around us.  TCAP testing is next week for the girls.  We have the Spring Fest at the school and then a trip to Atlanta to see the temple open house before it's rededicated.  The kids have never been inside the temple...so, this should be great. 

two down

 2 kids down, 1 to go......braces they are a wonderful help, but even more wonderful when they come off!

Well, I waited a day to post this blog of this week so you could see Jacob's new smile.  He got his braces off this morning.  He was nervous (because Emily said the scraping off of the glue was rough)  but, all went well.  He almost gagged on the purple taffy foam that made his mold for his retainer.  His feet were doing the jig of joy and he danced all the way out of the office.  He kept smiling at himself in the mirror.  I wish I would have had a camera there.  I added some pictures of our easter tree.  I tried using red bud branches this year but, as you can see the red buds are dropping off already. 
Gene went to Philadelphia and Baltimore on business this week.  He had extra time and went sight-seeing to the Liberty Bell (and all the other cool places shown on the National Treasure movie).  We cleared out the house this week.  The school had a clothing drive (3 garbage bags full) and Tess had a garage sale (jeep and van packed full of stuff).  I was so thrilled to have more space.  I rearranged the living room.  There are so many refreshing aspects of spring.  I love clearing out things I don't need and making changes.  It's thrilling. 
Tara tried out for cheer (I've never seen anything so crazy in my life!)  Mothers pacing the floor, girls in tears.  It was 45 girls trying out for 12 positions.  Some have been in cheer for years trying to be good enough for the squad.  Tara just wanted to try.  She was fine with the results, after 2 weeks of that, she wants to try tennis and golf next.  Eventually we will find something she loves.  Jacob finally had a baseball practice Sat. after all the week's practices were cancelled because of rain.  He's on the team the Mets now and is looking forward to a fun season.
Emily wants to run for Student council president.  She wrote a pretty funny essay and ended it with "I will wrap this up by saying 'this is my essay and I hope you except it.'"  I was dying laughing.  I will definately proof read and help edit this before it's turned in.