here a little and there a little

chris and i took a week away from the internet last week.

all except email and a few things here and there for work or church.

it was refreshing!

i'd like to think that we will try to do that more often to help us use our time more wisely... we'll see.

some random events and photos from february and march:

jack and ellie received ukuleles from cousins quentin and leilani in hawaii!

they have had so much fun with these and ellie has been making up songs like crazy.

they were so anxious to see some real ukulele players. so we watched a ton of clips on youtube, which of course led to hula dancing and fire throwing. jack was quite taken by the hula dancers and asked, "how do they DO that with their hips?!". in fact, he was so taken by it, watching with his mouth agape and eyes wide, that i made chris turn it off. I'm a nice mom like that.

last month we took the kids to the royal scoop for ice cream on a friday night. those of you from the area know how busy the scoop is on a friday night in the middle of season. 

what were we thinking?!

while we were waiting for our ice cream, ellie said she didnt feel good so i sat her down on a chair. they handed me her cone and i turned around to give it to her and she threw up all down my legs and filling her lap. all i remember hearing is someone yelling from one of the tables, "OH MAN, THAT LITTLE GIRL JUST BARFED! HOLY CRAP THERE SHE GOES AGAIN!".

yes, 2 times.

so we left as quickly as possible and she rode home naked with the windows down because if i smelled it, is was going to puke too. i was not happy and certainly did not handle the situation well. just ask chris.

she took a bath and had a bowl to catch any more while i got cleaned up and the next thing we knew, she was asleep in her barf bowl.

last month, our wonderful friends the carpenters, came for a visit!!!

we sure have missed these two (and their sweet kids) over the past year and felt so lucky that they decided to come back to FL for a little getaway. 

so what do two crazy couples want to do when they have some time to play?

why, visit the wizarding world of harry potter of course!

we had to cut our trip a little short due to some pretty serious motion sickness for chris. remember that picture of ellie up there with the bowl? yeah, that was chris except he had a grocery bag in a parking lot. poor guy. BUT we had a blast hanging out with two pretty incredible people! and i got to ride front row on the hulk again. awesome.

i picked up some bertie botts for the kids to try while at harry potter world.

they decided that soap and cherry were their favorite flavors and vomit, worms, and black pepper were the worst.

my dad turned 60 last month!

he is not a die-hard party guy, so we tried to come up with something a little different to celebrate without going overboard.

after the meal of his choice (fillet mignon), we decided to surprise him with some chinese lanterns.

those things are HUGE and very difficult to manage!

we got some stuck in a tree, one landed on their roof and then after taking off again, it went down a few streets over and chris had to fetch it. they were very tricky! but nothing was damaged and it was certainly unforgettable.

this is not my picture.

we had no idea what we were in for, so no decent pictures were taken. i guess this was just practice for when mom turns 60 in a couple years :)

we have some silly kids and it seems like all of our wackiness explodes at the dinner table.

jack started soccer this past week.

how handsome is this kid???

first-goal-of-the-season cheer!

we asked ellie three separate times if she wanted to play again and each time she said she would rather dance around the field. so, dancing she will do! hopefully she will miss it and want to play in the fall.

 charlie-man, distracted by a tennis match.

not too much going on around these parts. 

chris is working working working. its hard to be upset about that with so many people wishing they had the opportunity to work, but it sure makes some days at home long, tiring, and boring. sometimes its nice to hear another adult talking, and 'sir topham hat' doesnt count! chris was late getting home last weekend so he and jack missed out on the stake father and sons campout. instead they set up the tent in the backyard and the whole family made smores on the grill. after charlie and ellie went to bed, chris took jack to see a movie and get ice cream. in the morning i made pancakes and eggs. i think they both probably thought that camping in the backyard had its perks and was just as fun.