April 18th

Not a lot has been going on lately, but I figured I should update.

Last Saturday we went over to Eddie's sister DaNina's house. We had an early Mother's Day present for his mom from us (Eddie, me, DaNina and her husband) It's a van. So now she has a vehicle. She seemed really happy. Hopefully she will enjoy it and not be a taxi for the grand kids.

Sunday Eddie's sister Amber and her family came over and we grilled some burgers and hot dogs. After we ate, we went to the park. Vallerie was mean and pushed her cousin off the playground. He stayed the night with us and then Eddie took him home Monday night.

While he was gone on Monday, I cleaned up the office/craft/moms room. I brought in his drawing table from the bedroom so he would have a place to draw. The "plan" is to put a tv and his xbox in there so he has somewhere to escape. We're still working on that part. I think everything will fit in there.

Vallerie's new thing is listening and dancing to the record "Mousercise". It's actually one of the records I listened to when I was a kid. The first time we did it (it's little exercises) Vallerie made us repeat it over and over and over (about 6 times) I was worn out! So now I limit it to only a few times and then she's on her own.

Tuesday Vallerie opened a letter she got from her grandma (my mom). It included pictures of her house and her cats. At the time, Vallerie didn't seem too in to it, so I pinned it on the bulletin board and set the pictures beside it. On Wednesday when I got home from work Vallerie was all excited to show me her pictures. So we went through them all and she was telling me what they were pictures of. My favorite was when she got to the one of her and my mom at the "pizza store". (Pizza King Restaurant) She remembered the train bringing the drinks. I told her that we were going to visit grandma in a few weeks and then pointed to her house picture. Vallerie got all excited and yelled "YAY!" and jumped up and down. It was great.

Yesterday we went to the store and got some egg dye. This will be the first year Vallerie will dye eggs. We don't plan on hiding them or anything, but I think she will like making them colorful. I am slightly concerned about the mess. And, I'm still not sure how to boil eggs. Something about 10 minutes...

We got the movie "The Nut Job" yesterday too. It's about squirrels. So, we had a movie night after we ate dinner. This time the movie was played in our room and we all snuggled on the bed. Well, that probably wasn't the best of plans because I think both Eddie and I fell asleep during the movie. I'm not sure if Vallerie liked it or not. I'll have to ask her.

My cousin comes in to town sometime today. Tomorrow we're going to hunt eggs at the courthouse. Well, I should say Vallerie will be hunting eggs. I haven't decided on an outfit for her yet. I don't think it's going to be really warm, but I don't think it'll be cold either. Sunday we are planning on going to Eddie's sister Amber's in-laws for the usual lunch and egg hunt. That should be fun. I like helping hide the eggs in good spots (up high in trees, burying them, etc)

I have to make a trip to the store today to get Vallerie's Easter basket stuff. I am thinking sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and maybe a jump rope. Maybe a little candy, but really she doesn't need much of that.

April 7th

Last week my mom made a surprise visit to us. We had a lot of fun while she was here. We went to the Children's museum in Indy, we took a tour of the house I always wanted to live in (an old mansion), we went to Pizza King and had the little train deliver our drinks. Vallerie liked that part. We had a movie night at home and watched Frozen. I was really happy my mom came. I know Vallerie liked it too.

Here are some pictures of our adventures:

Me...

Vallerie in the race car

Putting leaves on a tree

Carousel time (we went on it about 6 times)

More carousel fun!

Pretend ice cream shop

After Vallerie got hit in the eye with a hula hoop.

Digging in mulch. She filled the whole bucket herself.

Trains!

Pizza time

I applied for a new position at work. It's pretty much the same position I applied for last year. Hopefully I at least get an interview. I haven't heard anything yet.

I've been helping out with some other duties at work. They were short staffed in one dept, and asked me to help fill in. One of my coworkers (a manager) told me that in a meeting they had, I was the only one who had consistently finished the tasks I was assigned. Yay for me.

On Saturday Vallerie went on a bike ride. As we were headed home some kids saw Zooka and wanted to pet her. So we stopped. One of the kids was a little girl who is Vallerie's age. She wanted to talk to Vallerie. So they talked and then another little girl from across the street came over (also Vallerie's age) So we're just chatting away with these kids and their parents. Well, after a few minutes the girls want to all ride bikes. So we all walked a few blocks with the kids. It was pretty weird. Eddie and I aren't really social people anymore, so we probably came off as a little weird. Everyone we met seemed nice though. Hopefully Vallerie will play with them again soon. She seemed to have a great time.

We went to the park yesterday to play fetch with Zooka. She got tired quickly. Vallerie played on the playground. It was a good time.

Eddie is sick. Hopefully he feels better soon. That's about all I can remember for now...