The Mice Will Play

David was in Arizona for the last 8 days. Caroline and I sure missed our man, but here's what we did to keep busy while he was gone:

-Babysat (of course)
-Went to the park
-Went to the Pink Palace Museum:

Their current traveling exhibit is all about chocolate - its origins and how it's evolved (sorry no samples)

Caroline's favorite part was probably the cat that hangs outside the entrance! He was just laying around watching people come in and out of the museum.

We also:

-Watched movies

-Ate pizza in the living room

-Went to Chik-Fil-A for "read and eat night"

-Hung out with Jeff, Joleen and the girls who gave us these totally cute aprons!

-We went to a youth musical production of "Charlotte's Web"

- Went to the library

-Had a delicious lunch at the Weiss' house.

-Had some fun playdates:

But it wasn't all fun and games!

We also:

-Sprayed the lawns for weeds

-Washed the dog

-Did laundry

-Cleaned house

- and Missed Dave!

Opening Night

We went with some friends to opening night for the Memphis Redbirds. We sat on the bluff again, enjoyed the beautiful weather and had a great time.

Cowgirl

Last week a real cowboy came to story time at the library and did some roping tricks for the kids. It was really cool! He could rope a kid's foot while they were walking! He brought his saddle for the kids to try out -



Afterward he let them try the ropes and equipment and Caroline loved it. The boys I sit for had mixed reactions - the older boy squeeled with glee every time the cowboy roped something, but the younger one cried every time! It was kind of funny.

On a completely unrelated story -

I made Caroline and I matching spring skirts. I think they turned out pretty cute - they remind us of the play clothes Maria made for the VanTrapp children out of drapes in "The Sound of Music"! Right?!

TOFW

I had a great time at "Time Out For Women" this weekend. By the way, Caroline never got tired of hearing that mommy and her friends were going to time out. To quote her "... and Sis. Sullenger is going to time out?! Hahaha! And Sis. Collins is going to timeout? Haha! And Lucy's mommy is going to timeout?!..." She thought this was endlessly funny.

We had a large showing from our ward which was great. We carpooled together, sat together, ate lunch together and really had a nice time.

And the tote bag is totally cute!

I was really so glad I was able to go. My favorite parts were singer-songwriter, Hilary Weeks, and presenter, Mariama Kallon. Mariama's story was both heart-breaking and inspiring - I will never forget it.

I really needed to hear some of the messages that were given. One that stands out in my mind was Sherri Dew who talked about the influence we each have. She asked us to think about the people in our lives who we have an influence on - family, extended family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, ward members, children, our children's friends and teachers, facebook friends, down to the bank teller you see once a week. It really made me think that there are literally hundreds of people within the grasp of my influence and I wondered about whether my influence has been postive, neutral, or negative.

Overall, it was just great to spend the weekend with friends and fellow women, devoting our time to learning and better ourselves. I loved it.

Hopscotch

Caroline loves to do hopscotch in the driveway. The other day I obliged and drew with sidewalk chalk "a really, really big one" for her. Not long after, we had a line formed by kids on our street!

I love this one of Caroline - She makes hopscotch look like a very technical sport!

Animals

Our library is really great about having extra activities for kids and families in the community. Today, our library had baby animals from a petting zoo there for the kids to pet and then story time was all about farm animals.

Caroline was in Heaven! They had bunnies, chicks, ducklings, turtles, and a hedgehog!
This second picture isn't the best of C-bear, but I had to capture the colorful chicks!


Due to recent (and horrible) dental work I had done, I really wasn't planning on getting out of the house today, but Caroline was SO looking forward to it. I'm glad we went and I'm feeling better - ugly, but better.

I want to take a second and say thanks to the friends who helped and offered help these last few days. Caroline got to have extra "play dates" lately while mommy was in the dentist office. We had dinner brought to us one night, and while I couldn't eat any, I heard it was wonderful (and it smelled amazing). So thanks for your concern, advice, and friendship. I hope to be back to 100% this weekend for Time Out For Women! (I'm pretty darn excited about this)

Easter

What a great Easter we had. Conference was wonderful, the Bunny came, had egg-hunts all week, Easter lunch with friends, and despite Mommy's toothache had a really nice weekend.

Easter kicked off when Caroline got a package in the mail from her Nana and Granpa Martin. They sent her a bunny with a sucker and chocolate eggs for all 9 of her invisible siblings! Awesome!


Thursday, Caroline had an Easter Egg hunt at school followed by a lunch date with her buddy, Graham. And Friday we went to an egg hunt at our library where we met the Easter Bunny!

On Easter Caroline found her basket from the bunny that contained a Zhu Zhu pet, books, and treats. We had an egg hunt in our backyard and then settled in for Conference. Caroline played conference bingo and was really good.

So needless to say, Caroline had a fabulous week. Next holiday - Susan's Birthday! (ok, not for a month, but these things take big-time planning ;)