Tornadoes!!!

Just a quick photo of how we spent the evening last night, with the kids in the tub, and Jason and I nervously watching the radar to see if a spotted funnel cloud would come our way. We have no basement, so our hall bath is our "safe place", since it is our most interior room with no windows. We were under a tornado warning for about an hour, but never did see any severe weather. We did get a lot of rain, and when the "super cell" was passing by our house we heard a lot of wind and sheets of rain. But, we were perfectly OK, with no damage at all to our property. I did see a tree across the road fall over as I sat on the porch sanding an Awana car this morning, but it was in a wooded area, not close to structures. Although Julian said he was really scared, I think both kids liked being in the tub!

(By the way, when they saw the camera, they posed like this. Most of the time they were sitting up laughing and playing (and of course bickering!))

Easter 2010

Easter dinner at Grandma Knight's house has become a tradition for our family. This year Julian's birthday fell on Easter weekend, so we did his birthday party with Jason's family at Easter dinner. The kids played outside, riding on the golf cart (their FAVORITE thing to do at Grandma Knight's house!), blew some bubbles given by Grandma, and then we squeezed in Julian's birthday party before dinner. Jason's cousins, Kaitlyn and Samuel, spent a lot of time with the little ones too. It made for great fun for the little ones (and I hope Kaitlyn and Samuel too).

Oy! My baby is 10. Happy Birthday, Julian!

For his 10th birthday, Julian had a sleepover with Evan and his BFF from school, Chris. They stayed up pretty late Friday night and had a good time playing around outside and in Julian's room. The PS3 was also a big hit. I was nervous about the sleep over (boys will be boys and all), but it went well, with only one incident involving internet videos the boys decided they would watch (they had gotten pretty quiet with only a giggle here and there). When I checked on them, they closed the window so I couldn't see what was on it, so who knows what it was. It was pretty uneventful after that...

It was a nice family party on Saturday. Julian picked all his own decorations and party favors, and I made the cake. Definitely not my best looking creation, but it tasted great!

Julian helping me decorate Friday afternoon:

The party Saturday with my family:

The boys:

And! Kathryn spent the night with Ronda. Kathryn loved staying over since it was all girls there. On Saturday morning, Ronda and Kathryn went for a manicure (Kathryn's first). She got fancy flowers on her thumbs. It was an experience for her, and she thought it was interesting that a boy did her nails. So she didn't mind too much that she had been kicked out because of Julian's sleep over!

Spring is Here!

It has not snowed in quite a while now (thank goodness!), so it's time for my last post to disappear. This winter was unlike any I've seen since we moved to North Carolina in 1987! I remember when I was very pregnant with Julian, we got 3 snow-storms within a few weeks and had measurable accumulation. BUT from what I remember, it was short lived, and soon the snow melted, and we were back to typical fairly warm winter weather. Not this time! It was cold and then colder, and I am glad to see it is over for this year.

Spring this year will probably be different than years past because I am not working this spring. The mystery shopping company I have contracted for since Julian was born, and worked in-office for a couple of years before that has been sold. I remain blissfully ignorant of how all that business-transaction-type-stuff works. All I know is all assets were sold, and my job disappeared. This is sad for me, because it had been such a perfect job for my situation. My priority has always been to stay home with my kids. Life is short. I learned this at a young age, and I wanted my kids to know they are the most important thing to someone. I wanted to show them that people will make sacrifices for them because they are important. I think Jason and I have succeeded in this, mostly because I have been home with them. I don't think we would have been able to do this without my pitiful extra income. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

For 2 years now I have had to balance home, work, school, and so many other little things that don't fit neatly into one of those categories. It is sad to lose the job I've depended on for so long, but at the same time, it is a blessing! I have prayed for God to relieve the stress I have constantly been under since starting school. I asked and asked, but at the end of the day, I wasn't doing anything to change the situation.. I can't give up school, I would never quit my job! And my kids, well, they're here to stay. So God answered my prayer by removing one of my stressors! Praise Him, He always does what is right for me, so I am thankful. All that to say, I have some free time that I didn't have a couple of weeks ago. Today was my first day with no work. No emails, nothing to read and edit. It was a bit strange, to be honest.

So, we've had a wonderful Easter weekend, seeing my family on Saturday for Julian's birthday and then Jason's family on Sunday for another birthday party and Easter dinner. Today, I took cupcakes for Julian and his class, and we had our small family dinner with leftover cake from Saturday and cupcakes from today.

I wanted to post these pictures from a couple of weeks ago. I visited the Natural Science Center with Kathryn and her class. I was chaperone for her and her friend, Grace. We had a great time. There were lots of pictures, but these were my faves!