Paris and Camp Tina

Monday was a day of total insanity - trying to get everything ready to go.  Bright and early Tuesday morning, I headed to the air port for a VERY long trip.  A 4 hour trip to Toronto - a 6 hour layover followed by a very long trip to Paris.  I got in in time for lunch with Dan.  I took a nap, went out to dinner with Dan and then went to bed.  By the next morning - I was ready to explore Paris!  I spent the next couple days exploring - I went to the Jardin de l'Acclamation, walked along the Champs Elyse - just window shopping.  I spent a whole day at the Louvre.  I went the the Opera House and the Sacre Coeur and Montmartre.  Weather has been drizzly but nice.  Each day has been spent by me enjoying one of my favorite cities in the world and each day has closed with dinner with my amazing husband! 

Today, I took the metro and headed to church!  I really enjoyed the bits I could understand - some amazing lessons and some amazing people.  :). My French is very rusty, but it's slowly coming back bit by bit as I have made every attempt to use it.  I'm rather proud of myself and my mostly successful attempts at communicating in a language that I haven't really used in 9 years at least.  :).

Tomorrow, I get to show off the city that I love to others!  Pictures to follow later since I'm not easily able to transfer pictures from my camera right now! 

The kids are doing well with Aunt Tina - apparently only Eileen misses us though.... 

Happy Easter!!

This week has been fun and busy!  Dan and I have been getting ready for our trip - which still feels a bit surreal.  Dan left this morning - I head out on Tuesday morning.

On Thursday morning, Evie had a preschool field trip - we went to a place called the "Great Plains Conservatory" The kids got to check out Teepees and see lots of animals and had a great time.  It was so funny to watch James hunched over trying to sneak up on a bunny - he was surprisingly stealthy...  There was also a fun sand and water area that the kids had a blast digging in and making sand castles.

Friday, Dwayne and Nicole came over to watch the kids while Dan and I went to my concert. Doug and Newell and Becky also came!  It was a fun evening!  

Saturday we had some friends over for an Easter Egg Hunt - the kids had a blast!  Nothing better than finding eggs, eating candy and playing with friends!!  

 That evening, I had my final Easter concert - Grandpa came - it was so good to see him!  This concert series has been so amazing - it's been so awesome to sing with these directors and this group!

Sunday morning - Dan took off, then I packed the kids into the car and we went down to Grandpa's church for a presentation in Grandma's honor - it's always amazing to see how many lives she touched.   Then we headed back to church so I could direct the choir for the Easter Program.  They did so well!!  It was a wonderful program with wonderful talks and music.

Icky Sickies!

We started the week off with 2 sick kids.  Anna was throwing up in the morning and so she stayed home from school, and Evie spent most of Monday throwing up too.  By the end of Monday, Anna was going crazy being stuck inside resting and was ready to go back to school the next day - even building this impressive block castle couldn't entertain her all day - both did get a lot of much needed sleep though.  

Evie was still throwing up the next day, so she skipped preschool.  By the end of Tuesday, Evie was mostly better - which was good, because cleaning up all that throw-up was making me sick!  At one point on Monday, Evie comes up to me and says that her tummy isn't feeling good - so I tell her to quickly run to the bathroom.  Does she run to the downstairs bathroom - which is very close?  No - she decides that she has to run all the way upstairs to throw up.  Had she gone to the close bathroom, she would have made it - but instead, she threw up all over the stairs and all over the upstairs bathroom floor - before finally getting a bit into the toilet....  Sigh....

By Wednesday, we were feeling better - no throw up (YEY!)  and getting back to normal.  We babysat a friends daughter Wednesday and Friday afternoon.  The weather was beautiful this week (well until today) and the kids all spent as much time as they could outside!  The little girl really took to Anna - so much so that when she got bumped and started crying, she wouldn't let me comfort her - she only wanted Anna.  James was really funny with her too - she's about 6 months younger than James and James was insistent on showing her everything and helping her do everything - he was very gentle - but kept trying to gently nudge her or lead her to where he thought she should be.  

Friday was so beautiful that we went to the park after I picked up the kids from school.  We spent most of the afternoon there and just enjoyed the warm sun!

Saturday we were busy and that evening was the Chorale's first Easter Concert.  It went really well.   Nicole came with me to watch the concert - it was a lot of fun!  It's been really neat singing with the choir this season - the directors are amazing and have done so much to make this choir incredible!!!

Family Fun

Well, we sent Sandi off this week with lots of long sad faces.  We got to enjoy Monday with her, then took her to the airport in the evening.  Since the weather has been generally good (with a few exceptions) we have been enjoying the outdoor weather.  I took James out on his little tricycle - he went SO slow that we only got about 3 houses away before we had to turn back because it was getting too late!  He walked himself along and stopped every foot or so to count things (1-2-3 rocks!  1-2-3 flowers!)  or to point things out to me (car mommy!  rocks mommy!  trees mommy!)  

Heather came over on Tuesday to console us for the loss of Aunt Sandi and to hang out with us for awhile.  Wednesday we went to the library - we have banned the kids from checking out books - but we still like going to story time and seeing our friends.  Tayanna was actually excited to see me when I got to her house to pick them up!

Friday night, Newell and Becky came over - we left the kids with Jacob and went out to dinner, then played games at the house for awhile.  I always enjoy seeing Newell and Becky - but especially so when we get to chat about our upcoming trip to Paris!!!!

Saturday and Sunday were General Conference.  We all really enjoyed it!  Eileen actually sat and watched/listened to the whole thing - knitting the whole time!  It was so cute to watch her.  :)

Between sessions, we took advantage of the beautiful weather - Anna tried to help Aaron learn how to ride a bike.  It was so sweet to watch her trying to help her brother!

Sunday evening, we had friends over for dinner - we all had a great time eating and chatting - then the kids ran amok - going crazy and climbing all over Nate.  James and the kids discovered horsey rides - and they all want to give him horsey rides - he holds on to their hair (ouch!!)  and says "giiddy-uuup!"  His balance on their wiggly backs isn't so great - so he doesn't stay up long - but it's fun to watch anyway!