Can you make those in a women's size 8?

One of the many shops/sites I hope are still around when I FINALLY have a girl:

Bitty Chou Chou

The cutest little shoes I ever saw!!!

Audible Gratitude

Tonight for Family Home Evening, the subject we attempted to teach was that of following Jesus' example.

Jeff followed the song and opening prayer with an object lesson. He made the boys wait in our closet while looping string throughout the entire house. The string represented our Savior's example we've been given. Griffin and Kai held onto the string and were asked questions at various stops along the way.

Before the journey began, and again when we got to the end, it was explained that if we follow Jesus and stay on the right path, Heavenly Father will give us blessings. Our path/string ended next to a package of Oreos.

Griffin and Kai devoured their bowls of cookies and ice cream, practically in silence, enjoying every bite. Griff was done first and while carrying his bowl to the sink, he raised his chin and loudly said,

"Thank you Heavenly Father!!"

Senior Citizen

Have you ever wondered what your family members will look like when they get old?

I got to see my future on Saturday at my dad's birthday. He turned 55 this year and we wanted to make a joke of it.

This will be a picture overload because everyone looked so ridiculous. Sadly I didn't get many pictures of the guest of honor because he was the only one not dressed up. My dad had no idea about the "Senior Citizen" theme, and actually thought he had gone to the wrong park after pulling up and seeing "a bunch of old folks and no family". But here he is with all the guys, sitting in a wheel chair, making fun of himself. What a good sport!

The ladies......

THE FOLLOWING IS WHAT MY LIFE COULD BE LIKE IN 30-40 YEARS.

There will be wheelchair races.....

with victories........

Some will become wheelchair hogs who claim them, THE ENTIRE PARTY........

Others will grab anyone at any age to push them around.....

We'll see inappropriate muumuu-attired wheelchair poses.....

along with other wierd poses...

Also, in the future, there will be horeshoe tournaments. Those with perfect form.....

and others who take a more RAW (?) approach:

At these said tournaments, I'm sure we'll watch scrimages in the pits.....

hoisting up of saggy boobs.......

and victory shimmies for double ringers.....

A few times I glimpsed the possibility of scrooges, who refuse to let you help them up the hill.

We left Jason there for quite some time, for fear that he'd hit us with his weaponized cane if we came too close:

It's going to be a great retirement! All play and no work.

At the end of the party, reality came back and slapped us in the face.

A bad 'blow out' and tired kids sent us back to the present time.

The future will have to wait.

I'm good with kids......just not my own.

Park day for my ward was yesterday. My sister in law Amy comes over this way for Sadie's dance class and joins us most weeks.

Yesterday she swung by my house and picked up Griffin while I finished packing the lunches. I got there 5 minutes after her. When I pulled up there was kicking and screaming coming from a car where grandparents were trying to get their granddaughter, Sammy (I heard them say), into her car seat. The screaming had been going on when Amy pulled up and who knows how much longer before that.

I just figured these caregivers were too soft. Not remembering that it's possible to speak sternly without losing the child's love.

Another 8 minutes go by. Then we hear the screams closer as the Grandpa is struggling with her in the sand, near our kids. Not really sure if it was appropriate to look, the five of us moms traded off glancing (staring).

Out of pure exhaustion and defeat, the old man yells, "CAN I GET SOME HELP HERE!"

For some reason I was the first one to jump up, believing I could help this little girl without yelling (which is what my kids usually hear when acting that way).

When I reached the group, the grandpa said, "She's looking for an imaginary whistle."

HUH? Alright, well, "what does it look like?" "Where did you last have it?" I wasn't really sure which question I should ask because niether would help me find an invisible whistle. So I got her to calm down long enough to tell her, "I'll find it. My kids will help me, we'll look everywhere and I'll bring it to you."

Calmly she said, "But you don't know where I live."

Sammy, then let me pick her up, carry her to the car, and place her in the carseat. I told her once again that if we found her whistle we'd bring it to her, but in my mind I was saying.......'Go take a nap, Sammy. Sleep tight.'

Do NOT Read

The Meanest Mom is having another fabulous giveaway. There's hardly any chance that I'll win anything...... she JUST posted about it today and already she's got 480 comments!!!!! Are you kidding me?!

Maybe I'll have a giveaway just so I can know how many people are REALLY reading my blog.

Anyway -- you can find info on the giveaway HERE.

Shhhhhh, don't tell anyone.

TIE - DYED

I'm always fond of new ideas for dying Easter eggs, so when I came across this one, there was no turning back. It took a few tries to get the best result possible, but I was happy with most of them.

I found the idea here and here.

You take silk ties, wrap the raw egg pattern side IN, then boil and unveil.

Unbelievably easy and gorgeous!!

Easter with the Gardners

I feel bad that I didn't get more pictures. It seems like I was busy from the time we got to the church building until time to clean up. Fun it was, though!

Barros Pizza started the night off right. I was in charge of craft time where kids made washcloth bunnies, handprint lilies, tissue paper butterflies, and some ended up with homemade silly putty. I know most of those crafts won't make it to the end of this week, but I think they enjoyed making them.

After that, the kids searched for eggs all around the church building. By accident, we cleaned out two rooms that another family had hid their eggs in. Big mess. The usual games were played.... kickball, Big Bertha volleyball, and keep-the-kids-away-from-the-bunny-cookies-ball. In all, another fun night with family.

DEWITT EGG BASH 2009

April 13, 2009......

it FINALLY happened!!!

A female has won the title!!!

This being the fifth year, the ladies had been waiting.

To sum up our annual bash ...... each member of the family picks a colored egg they made to compete with. Numbers are drawn and a bracket is made. Opponents roll their eggs towards the other in hopes that theirs will not crack (only one will... always). Players move along the bracket until only one is left standing.

This year the winner was none other than:

KATELYN DEWITT!! -- She was very 'egg'-cited....

Katie's final round was against Jill (who was left heartbroken).

The egg hunt this year was at my parents' ward chapel. New hiding spots made it more challenging. Half the eggs were filled with numbers instead of candy.

Each number corresponded to one of the 35+ fabulous prizes!!!

Jeff and I, plus the boys, pretty much "cleaned up". I felt kinda bad......kinda.

The Ostrich Farm

Despite worries that our fun would be canceled by weather -- the Ostrich Farm was a success. It was sprinkling when we left Mesa and about 10 miles before we reached our destination, rain poured on us. The thought lingered that even if the down pour had stopped by the time we got there....... mud.

As we pulled up, the sky was clear and the ground, patchy with puddles here and there. HALLELUJAH!!!

Who knows how many times we've driven by the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch. I'm glad my parents finally decided to actually GO IN on their last trip and then take the whole family back this past Saturday.

You pay $5 per person (5 and older). This fee gives you a bug cup of feed for the deers, ostriches, and miniature donkeys....... along with a cup of nectar for the Lorikeets. The ostriches were pretty much impossible to feed by hand without injury, but the deers were very gentle and easy to feed. The Rainbow Lorikeets were both fun and scary. As soon as they see and smell the nectar..... WATCH OUT ..... birds with be swooping and swarming like you wouldn't believe landing all over your arms. Some unlucky visitors were pleasured with bird feet on their heads and left with more than just 'happy little memories' on their minds. We all had a lot of fun!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

Rambling

I'm not really sure what I'm going to post about today. I just know that I don't want to see my gross eye pictures each time my blog is pulled up. Disgusting!!! Why would I even post that? Uhg!!

So let's see....... what can I tell you about?

Maybe I'll redeem myself and post a really cute picture:

Ahhhhhh, this image is refreshing.

We conqured the Easter Pageant Wednesday night. I wasn't sure how the boys would do, but with cousins there, it turned out okay. Of course the favorite parts were the angels. Making those parts even more enjoyable was the fact that my sister, Jill, was one of them. I call her the center angel. You'll see her as the shortest, most important one, right in the middle of all the beautiful formations.

Afterwards I told her that I was so proud of her!! I'd always dreamed about being one of the angels and she is living my dream. Jill's answer was, "Well, I've always dreamed about being married and having a family, so I guess we're even."

That same night, before the Pageant, we at dinner at Qdoba. A niece of a friend runs it and favored us with some free food. I liked it a lot. Jeff thought their salsa had amazing flavor. Anyway -- go try it.

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend. Tomorrow, we will be visiting the Ostrich Farm, and enjoying an Easter night with Jeff's family. I'll be sure to take pictures.

HAPPY EASTER!!

EYE - Carumba!!

Let me just share a little bit of what I went through this weekend..........

It all started Friday night when I thought I had bruised my eyeball. While closing my left eye to satisfy an itch is the first time I noticed the pain. Tender to the touch all along the top of my eyeball. Two hours later it looked like this:

Overnight, there was discharge (I know, gross!) and swelling:

By the next night it was looking and feeling a tad more normal:

I must not have been as careful as I thought because Saturday night and Sunday, my right eye caught the infection. It wasn't as bad. While inspecting both eyes on Sunday, I noticed a little gift to help me remember this unenjoyable ailment:

I have no idea how I aquired this vibrant ruptured blood vessel. During my short spout with pink eye (I think) there was no sneezing, coughing, or heavy lifting that usually causes these.

I appologize to those with weak stomachs.