Meet the Nephew!

I drove 12 hours to Oklahoma to visit my baby sister. I only brought Rylee and Delaney with me. We came because we like Miranda lots, AND she has produced a most amazingly adorable second offspring. Meet my new nephew, Ethan!

Somebody has some seriously adorable genes going on!

He's gearing up to howl here. Still, isn't he cute?!

Oh, now he's mad! (And still cute!) Quick! Hand him off to his mommy!

Van Follow up

Last week this would have been a vicious diatribe on the van. However, this week, it is old news and I can write a follow up without feeling angry. So, here is the story-

The last Monday in March, the transmission went out in the van. My beloved Toyota Sienna with 52500 miles on it. It is a 2007 and the warranty expired in Jan, so it was 2 months out of warranty. The quote was $4466.21 before taxes. It should be finished getting a new transmission Friday night. I called corporate Toyota and complained. The nice lady said she'd look into it.

The van was not ready Friday night. I heard the explanation through Dan- they had to break something to get the transmission out and now we have to order a $250 part, wait for it and get it fixed too. Fortunately, it was General Conference weekend and we had no need to try to stuff a family of 7 into Dan's car, which seats 5.

The van was suppose to be ready Tuesday, but it wasn't. Wednesday afternoon, I carted the 2 little girls the quarter mile to the front gate to meet the shuttle van, which took us to the dealership to pick up the van. They were able to give us a minor discount and the total was $4544.78.

On the plus side, corporate Toyota eventually called back and is offering us a $1000 reimbursement (which will take 8-10 weeks!).

And that's what happened to the van: 10 days with no van, gobs of money, and a new transmission.

Easter Eggs!

My girls adore egg hunts. I'm not sure if it is the hunt itself, or the candy inside. When I was a kid, there wasn't candy inside the eggs. We had a marvelous time hiding and finding eggs at Easter. Now it seems that candy is the main part of every "holiday" and the egg hunting for the sake of hunting has disappeared. Sigh. We had 2 egg hunts this year. The first was at Rylee and Delaney's preschool. They had a cute little egg hunt in their playground. I liked it. They even hid eggs in the equipment, although there were still plenty just scattered along the ground. Afterwards they had a luncheon.

Rylee was too cute! There was a 16 egg limit and convincing her to stop grabbing eggs was tough!

Delaney had a good time, but refused to look at me. She was too busy hunting eggs!

Check out their super-cute shirts! The yellow chicks are actually their footprints!

I did make them eat good stuff before cupcakes. Delaney was excited to get this one with lots of frosting and sprinkles.

There was also a base Egg hunt, and I took all 4 girls to that. It was crazy It was a hot day and there was no shade and there was lots and lots of waiting. They also had it so the kids went in one age group at a time. So Marian was totally finished before Delaney and Callie (the 5-6 group) went in. And they were all done by the time I accompanied Rylee in. The toddler group was out of control. The number of parents was probably greater than the number of kids. The eggs were just tossed in the grass on the baseball field, and with the toddler group, you couldn't even race to the end because the crush of doting moms and dads was too great. Rylee made a break outside the fence line, so that's how we got to the front! Oh, and there was no egg limit. As a matter of fact, the object was to collect the most eggs! The one with the most was the winner and golden eggs got prizes too.

It went better than I expected. There were LOTS of eggs. Marian and Callie both said they got 59 and neither was a winner. They also said it was worth it. The girls all had a good time, despite the wait and the heat. And they've been snacking on candy for the last 2 days!

They were on the far side of the field, so it was hard to get a picture. Here's Callie with her collection of eggs. They herded the kids off the field to the bleachers to count eggs. That's where they are headed here.

Delaney was a straggler, and was the very last person out of the field! She got a little lost at the end. She enjoyed herself though!

Rylee thought she was pretty funny! Fine, she was!

The first couple eggs she picked up, Rylee would shake. She didn't hear any candy rattling inside, so she threw them back down! Funny kid! I finally convinced her to keep them. She ended up with a whopping 32 eggs. Check out the press of humanity behind her.

My girls and their loot haul.

Gratitude Challenge Day 8 & 9

I have been grumpy this week. Granted, I have had good reason. But I need to remind myself that life is pretty dang good and I have a lot to be happy about. So, I'm going to knock out 2 lists of things I am grateful for! Oh, yes, I am!

10 Modern Inventions I am Grateful For:

1. Computers! I'll even include the internet and great stuff like blogs and blurb.com and skype in this one. I love how it allows me to keep in touch with family and friends.

2. I'd normally say my van, but I'm not feeling the love right now. I am glad we have cars and can travel vast distances so much faster than the Pioneers could!

3. Refrigerators/Freezers. Can you imagine trying to plan menus and feed your family if you didn't have a fridge or freezer? Yikes! I love my freezer meals and my fridge is usually at max capacity unless I'm overdue a grocery trip.

4. Digital Cameras! I love love love taking pictures! I love looking at pictures and having pictures. I love that I no longer have to take a roll of 36 pictures and mail them off and wait a week to see what my pictures are. I love that I can see them right away and delete what I don't need. I love that I can upload and share them in minutes. (That's a lotta love!)

5. Washing machines. I am on my 6th load of laundry today. Whew, am I glad I don't have to wash my hand!

6. DVR- We just got DVR capability in January. Wow! How awesome it is to not have to worry about when a show is on. Church meeting that night? No problem! I can DVR Survivor and watch it later.

7. This is less a modern invention, and more a delight in what modern inventions have given me. I am so grateful that we can see General Conference this weekend. When I was a kid, sometimes we could hear it on the radio. We could go see it at the chapel most of the time too. But now, I can sit in my own home and watch all 4 sessions! We use to get it on TV, but here we have to settle for the internet. Still, how awesome is that?! People all over the world can listen to it live, or whenever they want!

8. Kindle. Now, nothing beats holding a book in my hand, but it is awfully nice and convenient to have several things to read all ready and waiting for me in a small, easy to carry device. It is especially good for those times I have to wait at the drawbridge or somewhere else.

9. Electricity. Living here in hurricane central has given me a renewed appreciation for electricity. I live in fear of it going out, partly because it is annoying, party because the temperature is well beyond what normal people should ever consider living in, and partly because I never know how long I'll be without it.

10. Which leads me to something I am incredibly grateful for being invented. Air Conditioning!

10 Foods I am Grateful For:

Um, I could totally do 100 things right here. To make this an actual challenge, we're going to make this list 10 CHOCOLATE foods I am grateful for!

1. M&Ms- Regular, peanut and peanut butter kinds. Yummy! I like to gross Dan out by putting a handful in my mouth and letting them all sit in my cheek till the chocolate is melted and then cracking the candy shell and eating the melty chocolate before crunching the rest. And I like them a lot on long drives when they help me stay awake!

2. Almond Roca Candy. Oh the tastiness! My dad use to give my mom a can of the stuff for Christmas or her birthday or Mother's Day and after she got tired of sharing, I'd sneak in and steal some. Sorry Mom!

3. Chocolate Truffle Pie. Oh the way it melts in my mouth...

4. See's Candy. The Scotchmallows, the caramel squares, the chocolate truffles.... the deliciousness!

5. Harry and David mint chocolates. Oh, so yummy. Their candy bars are rather addictive too.

6. S'mores. Does that count as chocolate? It does for me!

7. Cocoa Pebbles cereal. A great evening snack when I want something chocolaty, but want to pretend it's kind of healthy!

8. Hot cocoa. I haven't had much of it this year; it's way to hot down here. But Grandma has a tasty homemade recipe and I really really like (and really really miss!) Safeway's brand of white cocoa.

9. Blue Bunny's Triple Chocolate Cake ice cream. Oh. My. Goodness! I discovered the Walmart here carries it and now I can't shop there anymore!

10. Brownies. Either Miranda's dark chocolate homemade recipe or a good box mix. And then one must add chocolate chips and chopped up chocolate bar to the batter before cooking. Ahhhhh..... heaven!

I'm having a Day.

I'm having a day. And not a good one either. My positive attitude can only take so much!

Yesterday my van died on the way home from picking Dan and Joshua up from the airport. That all worked out okay, and Dan waited for the tow to take it to the dealer. Today the dealer called to say they couldn't find the problem. Actually he didn't say that. He said it was an "internal issue" which really means they have no idea what's wrong. And since they can't fix what they can't figure out, I need a whole new transmission. And that's going to cost $4466.21, plus taxes.

Awesome.

Then I called to try to sort out my allergy shot issue. They say I can come in this morning. I'm happy. Then they call back and say so sorry, your allergy shot stuff is still in downtown New Orleans- about an hour drive away. I'll have to go there. I should have clarified if they meant I'd always have to go there or just this time? Either way, it means a lot more time and hassle for me and I'm grumpy about that. Whatever it is out here that I'm allergic to, is killing me.

Double awesome.

I stepped outside to see how hot it was. Sadly, there were 2 more baby birds on the porch. Yes, dead. There's a nest under the balcony and those tiny featherless corpses are the 4th and 5th casualties. So sad. I need to dispose o them before Callie gets home. She insists on proper burials.

That's just sad and depressing.

I headed off to Walmart because we are out of wet wipes, and hey, way more fun to go all by myself while the girls are at preschool. Plus there are a bunch of other things I need. As I arrived at the store and was just walking in, my cell phone rang. Preschool was calling to tell me that Rylee had puked up all her lunch and was feeling quite warm.

Yeah, I'm so having a day today. (On the plus side, I did not have to clean up all the vomit!)