Visit with Uncle Bob

Uncle Bob came to town. We had a picnic lunch with Grammy too, then the girls ventured out shopping with Grammy and Uncle Bob.

Caramel and Camellia loved viewing all the toys at Toys'R'Us.

 

Camellia finally decided on a baby and car carrier she was carrying around the store.

Caramel got a remote controlled dog, she was super excited about.

Cruising around the town and having some frozen yogurt to end the day.

Camellia was super hyper and loved her day out.

 



Rhett Grammy Day

Going to the races and getting some awesome light up glasses.

Picking out birthday gifts so difficult.
Thanks Uncle Bob.

One huge penguin to go with his Peng Peng at home and a remote control car.

Camera Time

Caramel got a fun camera that prints the picture right when you take it from Grandpa Neil.

Everyone wanted to play with camera just like Caramel.

Lots of photo shoots of toys.

Caramel's 9th Birthday

Caramel loves getting older. Caramel decided to go roller skating for her birthday. She was allowed to invite 4 friends to her party. Two friends from school and two from church is what it ended up being. The girls gathered at Caramel's house for some finger foods, cake, and opening presents. Then we took off for the skating rink.

Camellia went to Grandpa Dan's house. Anthony drove the girls and I took Rhett and Myles. The girls had fun improving their skating skills. Caramel brought her skates and tried roller blades near the end. I was going to have Myles try skates but he did have any interest in doing that so he hung out with Grammy. After skating the girls explored the house for a little then parents picked them up.

 

Early that day Caramel and her friend Riley went to a Fancy Nancy Ballet with Grammy. It was a great show with a very fancy audience. 

Myles Grammy Day

A little construction for Myles on Grammy day.

Myles loves songs about construction vehicle.

We listen to in the van and watch the videos at home.

Resting his curly top.

High 70s at Seahurst Beach

Spring break and beautiful weather. We headed to Seahurst beach for a few hours. We all got a little too much sun, but enjoyed friends and Grammy Pam. So much fun shoveling rocks and water. We found a tiny crab and took him for ride in a toy boat.

Ocean Shores

The kids and I packed up for a 3 day trip to Ocean Shores during Spring break.
Exploring the coast with friends.

We went on a fun mossy walk through the woods and looked at Duck Lake a couples times. We spotted lots of deer near the road when we were driving around.  

 

At the beach the older kids built a shelter while the younger kids played in the sand.

It was windy but we enjoyed the outdoors at the North Jetty.

 

 The best beach we went to was Damon Point. Lots of sea creatures with discovered.

 We brought home lots of shells, some with living creatures inside. Caramel found a cute tiny starfish.

 The most demanded event was going to Sharky's.

 The kids wanted to shop inside the shark's mouth.

Special treasures included a stuffed dolphin, tiny bottle keychain, shark teeth, rubber crab, rubber turtles, and toy van with gum balls.

 

On the way home we stopped and eat at Cabela's in Lacey. The kids enjoyed looking all the animals and eating ice cream first then hot dogs and fries.

Anthony's Toys

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is a show Anthony enjoyed when he was young. A couple years ago Anthony's mom gave us the Jayce and Wheeled Warrior toys Anthony played with growing up. The boys have enjoyed building different looking vehicles with the toys. Rhett used almost all the pieces making this line up one Saturday. Rhett's dog friend Brock (purchased by Rhett at a garage sale last summer) even made the photo shoot with his air fresher collar (found at the park).

Easter

 

 

We did egg hunting a little different this year. Each kid had a color. There were 10 green eggs, 10 blue eggs, 10 pink eggs, 10 purple eggs, and 8 hard boiled eggs. The weather was good so the kids hunted in the backyard after church. They were very entertained and helped each other out. For their Easter presents they found knew spiral notebooks and watercolor set or large crayons in their baskets. Not too fancy but they have enjoyed using them.

We colored eggs which was a huge mess with four young kids. They have enjoyed picking out the decorated hard boiled eggs to eat.

Night out with Daddy

What the kids do with Daddy when I go to a baby shower -go to Menchie's for frozen yogurt.

Kent Family Fun at the Showare Center

One Friday night we headed for the Showare Center in Kent. The kids got animal balloons, played some bean bag toss games, colored, watched different dance teams on stage, walked through a model of a heart, ate hot dogs, and looked at fire trucks. Interesting night out!

Palm Sunday

Anthony and I spoke at church on Palm Sunday about the Atonement. We were given the topic the Atonement and 2 talks given by church leaders and 15 minutes to speak. I very much dislike public speaking but usually you don't get ask to speak very frequently. Here is a little I learned about Palm Sunday from my talk.

Palm Sunday is the anniversary of the occasion nearly two thousand years ago when Jesus of Nazareth entered the holy city of Jerusalem as the promised Messiah. Riding on a young donkey He fulfilled Zechariah’s ancient prophecy. His pathway was lined for him with palm leaves, flowering branches, and some of their own garments, thus carpeting the way properly for the passing of a king. He was their king; these were his subjects.

In Matt. 21:9 is reads And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And in John 12:12-13 it reads, "Much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." A simple tradition could be reading those two scriptures on Palm Sunday to remind us that Easter is coming.

I found interesting information about palm trees in the Friend Magazine an article called Palms for the Lord (By Dorothy D. Warner) it teaches about palms. Many people think that palm branches were used because there were so many palm trees in that part of the world, but there were more reasons than that for choosing them. The palm branch was the emblem of Judea and appeared on the coins of that land, thus symbolizing one of the riches of that country. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, it was when the trees were in bloom, so in covering the way with palm branches, the people were offering a symbol of luxury.

It was a symbol of necessity too. To the Jews, palm branches represented a gift from God because of its many uses in their lives. The palm was so important in that area that when countries there went to war, the first thing they did was cut away the palm branches, causing their enemy to suffer the loss of food and livelihood (jobs).

This important tree has many different species. The different species supply dates, coconut, coconut milk, sap is made into fine sugar, leaves as a vegetable, the trunk supplied a strong starch that was ground into flour, coarse fiber was used to make brooms, mats, and baskets; their fine fiber was used to make sewing thread, and their heaviest fiber was used to make strong ropes for ships. Palm oils have been made into both butter and soap. Flowers used as perfume and decorations. Spreading palm branches at Jesus’ feet was, then, a symbol of the giving up of worldly goods, both necessities and luxuries.

Palm trees, who knew!