Bathtime Buddies

Benjamin enjoys doing "projects" and when we looked in the Family Fun magazine he saw these and we just had to make them. They turned out pretty cute and they actually float! Our starfish floats horizontally instead of vertically but he is still pretty cute. I think we needed to use a bigger cork and apply it vertically instead of horizontally but we used what we had. Benjamin and Ada have gotten a lot of play time with these "animals". A great rainy or snowy day project. We did these when we got snowed in at the end of April.

Being Silly and Having No Fear

Benjamin and his cousin Harper are two little daredevils. They both had a lot of fun together and one would encourage the other to have no fear.

Ada's Turn in the Sandbox

Ada loves playing in the sandbox! She does not mind getting dirty at all. I don't know what she does in there to get so dirty but she sure has fun. Benjamin enjoys having Ada play with him in the sandbox except when she wants to use the same toys/tools as him; then there is a bit of a struggle. We can't wait for the weather to become a little more consistent and not be cold or snowy!

Sandbox Fun...

The sandbox was a big hit with my nieces, Hannah and Harper; my nephew, Ethan; Benjamin; and uncles Corey, Colin, and Matt! Grandpa even had to take his turn digging in the sand. The day of Ada's baptism we had beautiful weather so we were excited to spend some time outside. Since Ada was dressed all in white we decided not to let her join in the sandbox fun. She kept a watchful eye on everyone and kept trying to jump out of my arms and into the sandbox to play.

Busy, Busy

Here is the cookie preparation in full swing for Ada's baptism. We never did count how many cross cookies that this recipe made but I guarantee that no one had to go without a cookie!

Ada's Baptism

Receivng a Prayer at my Baptism

Me, my parents, and Father David
Father David, my Godparents-Carrie and Matt, and my parents
Me and my great grandparents

back row left to right (great grandpa Curt, great grandpa Delmar, daddy, and Harry)

front row left to right (Nellie, great grandma Velma, mommy, and great grandma Orriette)

My cake that mommy made

We finally were able to have Ada's baptism. I never thought trying to schedule one thing would be so difficult. We wanted to make sure her arm was healed before we had her baptism so we chose to wait. Between the church being booked up in December and my gallbladder problems we decided to schedule her baptism in January. Well I ended up having gallbladder surgery in January so that took me out of the picture. Then throw my in-laws into the mix--they ended up going down south to Arizona for three months so the earliest we could have Ada's baptism was in April. So needless to say, after many months of planning we finally were able to have Ada's baptism on April 19, 2008! We ended up having a beautiful day. The weather allowed us the opportunity to be outside and not stuck in the house. This is something that the adults and kids both appreciated.

Ada's godparents were my sister Carrie and my brother-in-law Matt (Carrie's husband). They were both honored and happy to be Ada's godparents. We had a full house with both sets of grandparents, Benjamin and Ada's Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, Great Grandma and Harry, Great Granpa and Nellie, Dave's sister Connie and her three kids, Ethan, Hannah, and Harper, my sister and brother-in-law, and my brothers Corey and Colin.

Following the baptism we had a meal. I cooked a spiral ham to have for sandwiches. The ham was awesome but I find myself wondering why I didn't just buy deli ham for the sandwiches? My mom made potato salad and my mother-in-law made a broccoli vegetable salad and a macaroni fruit salad. My sister made cross sugar cookies (Benjamin helped her decorate them) and I made the cake. Carrie was my right hand girl all weekend and helped with whatever I asked of her. Thank you very much for that--I appreciated all your help.

The Hunt...

If there is one type of candy that Dave, Benjamin, and I have a weakness for it is licorice (preferably Red Vines). Benjamin convinced us to share our treat with him so we gave in and shared a piece of licorice with him. We heard him move a chair and sounded like he was talking to himself. I went to investigate and found that he had put a two to three inch piece into the vent escape in my oven door. No problem, I thought, I will just grab it out. Nope, I ended up knocking it into the oven door. We could hear it a little bit but we could not see it (even though some were a little more insistent than others). In the end Dave took a wire coat hanger and fished it up through the bottom of the door and rescued the piece of licorice. As Benjamin would say, "Good Job, Daddy!).