Happy Easter!

We went to Lafayette for Easter weekend.  We helped Kent's parents clean up their front yard from the winter and then we went out to eat at Arni's. Mmmmmm...  I really enjoyed helping clean up their yard.  I just really love weeding, cleaning up spent plants and flowers from the previous spring/fall, and making a yard fresh and alive again after the long winter.  It was perfect weather, so it was really relaxing and energizing for me, even though I worked my buns off. :)  Once I start a clean-up, I don't like to stop until I am finished.  Kent calls me a slave driver. :)  We got it looking really nice for everyone coming over the next day for Easter.  They had Stake Conference that weekend, so we were able to hear President Davies from the presiding Bishopric, who was a great speaker.  Afterwards, everyone came out to the house and we had a yummy dinner.  I had decided to make deviled eggs and these yummy raspberry/almond cupcakes.  I have quite the story behind the cupcakes!

The Easter Bunny must have decided to make the presents useful and not have so much candy this year. ;)
 

 

The boys both needed new ties, so I figured Easter was the perfect time to get them.  Of course they had to be matching!  And Callie loved picking out a fancy Easter dress out of the many she could choose from at "Morgan's Boutique".  I got a great deal at Kohl's too for Morgan's shirt, so I was happy with their outfits!

OK, so here is the funny story.  I made the cupcake filling (almond cream) and filled the cupcakes the night before so that I wouldn't have to do that in the morning.  It took a while, but it all turned out well.  Then after church, I decided to make the frosting b/c I didn't know if I could let it sit out all night since it called for fresh, sieved raspberries and I had tried refrigerating the frosting before and it just got all runny and melty, so I didn't want that to happen this time.  The recipe called for 8 ounces of raspberries, ran through a sieve to get all the seeds out and then to add that pulp to the butter and sugar all at once.  Well, I wasn't thinking and usually I add the powdered sugar and butter together then see how much liquid I need to make it the right consistency.  The recipe said it made 12 cupcakes (it had the cupcake recipe and frosting recipe together), and I knew I had to double that, so I decided to double the amount of raspberries I used.  It seemed like a lot of pulp, but I figured I would just double the frosting recipe and be good.  Well, after I put all the butter and sugar in that it called for, it was like SOUP!!!  Seriously, it was WAY to runny!  After searching frantically for more powdered sugar, we finally found some and I think I ended up using like 2 BAGS of sugar and it STILL wasn't the consistency I wanted it to be!  I gave up and frosted them anyway and hoped the frosting wouldn't melt all over the place and be able to keep it's shape fairly well.  It actually did and everyone LOVED them!  The frosting wasn't smooth and creamy, it looked like butter when it starts to melt really fast - kind of separated, but it stuck together OK, so I was satisfied enough.  Anyway, I brought a ton of frosting home and made cupcakes the next weekend to take to my mom's house, but they weren't as big a hit b/c 1)they weren't cream filled and 2)there weren't as many adults there to appreciate the gourmet cupcakes that they were. :)  I finally threw away the rest of it after we ate it on graham crackers or other stuff here and there.  I thought the frosting was super yummy - it kind of tasted like raspberry sherbet, but after awhile I got tired of it.

We had another big Easter egg hunt with the grandkids.  They love finding numbers in the eggs that correspond to prizes and of course candy too!  That burley man in the picture is Clark, Kent's brother - he would fit right in with the Duck Dynasty crew and is proud of it too! :)

Let's Go Fly a Kite . . .

Between General Conference sessions, we decided to go over to the grassy area near the school and fly our kites.  It was pretty breezy, so we were able to keep them up most of the time.  Morgan's flew the best because hers was the right shape, a triangle.

 

Callie decided blowing bubbles was more fun.  She kept putting the wand right up to her lips.  I told her to just blow towards it with the wand close, but not touching her lips but she just didn't seem to get it.  I think all kids that age do that - it kind of grosses me out!

 

 

The sun was bright, as you can see.

 

A little help from big sis and she was ready to go!

 

 

 

The pro at work

 

What a beautiful, relaxing afternoon!

 

March Highlights

Why does time have to fly by SO fast???  Well, I will try to sum up March with a few pictures.  And hopefully I will still feel like updating to April and what is left of May!

The Odyssey

 

Tyler's language arts class put on the play The Odyssey.  I was impressed with how well they all memorized their lines!  Tyler was a "suitor" to the queen and Posidean.  It was pretty entertaining sometimes. :)  His class seems to be a pretty good group of kids from what I have seen of them.  He has some good friends, but most of them will be going to a different middle school next year.  It is kind of weird how they do it here.  Even though you live in a certain school district, you can choose which middle school and high school you want to go to.  Tyler will be going to the middle school out of our assigned district, which means I will have to take him everyday and pick him up, but after a lot of thought, prayer, research, and visits, I think it will be the best school for him.

 

 

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had lots of yummy green food, Irish soda bread, and a green Brazilian lemonade to drink.  I have been finding new recipes for Muddy Buddies and these were mint flavored.  Yum! The kids asked why the leprechauns didn't come this year, and I told them it was because they didn't make boxes for them to hide treats in.  I guess they were just too busy to come this year! ;)

 

 

Spring Break

We went up to stay with Grandma and Grandpa von Harten one day and then met up with Kelly, Grady, and Leon at the Children's Museum the next day.  I decided it would be worth buying a membership, so that was our first visit.  We have already gone twice since then as well! If we go as many times as I am hoping, we will be able to make it so that each trip costs us about $3-5 dollars instead of $15-20!  The kids had a ball and loved hanging out with their cousins.  Too bad I forgot the camera. :(

It wasn't very nice weather until the end of the week, so on Friday we planned to visit a state park called Clifty Falls State Park.  It was pretty neat, but my camera shots don't do the scenery justice.

It was so nice to get out and enjoy the weather.  It was a bit on the breezy side at first, but the sun was shining and it warmed up by the afternoon.  We went with a few friends of ours from church.

 

This was taken way up on a ledge (where the kids are standing in the next picture) looking down, so it is pretty far down and big, but it doesn't really look like it in this picture.

 

  

I was a little concerned about them getting too close to the edge or looking down because it was a LONG drop to the bottom.  Heights kind of freak me out.

 

 

 

The Rugged Path: (we didn't realize that until on our way back and saw the easy route that we decided to take back.)  One friend was about 7 months pregnant and the other was carrying a 7-month old baby as we were going down!  We were very careful though and made it up the path just fine. :)

 

 

 My "twins"

 

 

Cutie-patootie

 

 

 The energetic one

Well, that is all the pictures I have from March.  It was so nice to not have snow anymore and we were so anxious for warmer weather, but we didn't get a whole lot.  But I guess that is how March is.

Seriously???? . . .it's been 4 months since I last blogged???

I wish I would blog more often, but I have so many other things that seem *more important*, so I feel guilty taking time to blog.  Anyway, here are a few pictures from the last couple months.

January

Kent turned 37 this year.  He loves coconut cream pie, so I always buy one of Marie Calendar's when they go on sale near the holidays.  They are SOOOO good!  I just have to say how grateful I am for Kent and great husband and father he is.  He works so hard to support our family and does a great job at keeping me in line with our budget. :)  His boss loves him and has proven to be a great asset to his team and company.  The kids adore him and I think little Miss Callie has him wrapped around her finger. :)  We didn't get to do a whole lot for his birthday since it was on a busy week day, and then we just haven't taken the time to go out yet for his birthday dinner, so hopefully we can do that soon!  I feel bad about that!  He ended up having to work really late on his birthday (and the night before and after as well!) and then I had to leave as soon as he got home to go to a meeting.  He took it so well though.  He deserves a nice birthday dinner.  His choice would be Red Lobster.   He is so good at telling me how much he loves me, thinks I'm beautiful, and is appreciative for all I do.  He does a great job at keeping our home full of fun and laughter.  Happy Birthday, Kent!

Jammie Twins -

Morgan's friend gave her these pj's close to when we first moved in and when I looked at them, they seemed familiar.  I remembered Morgan had a pair similar to them when she was younger.  So when I recently started going through all of Morgan's old clothes for Callie to wear, I found the pair that now fits Callie.  And to my surprise, they are the EXACT same as the ones that fit Morgan now!  They were so excited to have matching jammies, so of course I had to take a picture of my twinners.

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We went sledding with some friends of ours after one of the big snows.  It had started melting, but there was still enough to get some good sledding in.  I love sledding on winter days like this one - sunny and bright and right around 30 degrees.

Our cute little neighbor Mason.

Kent and Callie with Morgan, Jason and Mia.

Morgan and Lexie - I love their expressions!  Perfect action shot!

 After Harrison biffed it at the bottom.  It didn't seem to bother him at all!

 This cutie refused to go down the hill.  She just wanted to be held.  She also refused to wear her snow pants.

 Sporting the adorable hat my sister-in-law, Staci, made!

Towards the end, she finally decided to explore in the snow a bit.

Not quite as fun as Slater Hill at Purdue, but still a good time.

Tubing on Lake Monroe

Our good friends, the Thompsons, were going to be moving to Wisconsin in a couple weeks, so we all wanted to do one last fun outing together.  Plus it was another friend's birthday, and she loves all water activities, so we decided to go over to Lake Monroe and do some tubing, lounging on the beach (more like muddy sandbars), and hanging out on the pontoon boat.  It was an awesome day full of food and friends!

 

The lake was A LOT more muddy than Lake Michigan and the shore had lots of big, hard rocks to walk over, so I definitely prefer Lake Michigan, but we couldn't beat the company!

 

 

 

Getting ready to launch the boat!

 

 

 

This was Tyler's first time tubing and he LOVED it!  Actually, I don't think I had ever tubed like this before either and to tell you the truth, it was a bit too bumpy for me and they turned a bit sharp and we fell in!

My arms and shoulders ached the next day!  Morgan enjoyed it a lot too. 

 

 

Me, Alesha, Mikell, Amy, Jen

Captain Harrison!

Happy Birthday, Amy!