daunting task

Libby started to look pale on Saturday nite at Maylee's reception...I mean ring ceremony. Sunday morning she was complaining about her throat and how scratchy/sore it was. We medicined her up in hopes that she would feel better. She was slow on Sunday...not her bubbily self. So Monday morning, when she got up, she was almost in tears, about her throat. It was red on Sunday, but bright red yesterday morning. I made an appointment to see the dr, as soon as we could. Our pediatrician ordered a strept test and it was positive. Dang strept throat! Libby was placed on antibiotics and ordered to drink as much as she could. Daunting task for a gal with strept throat. Our Dr. said that Libby could return to school today, but alas, she is still pale and miserable. One more day @ home...

On another note, my baby brother, Ty, is an amazing potter. I think that I remember hearing that he has been invited to study pottery overseas. On the 18th and 19th of April, here in the Emerald City, @ the Coliseum, there is a pottery show. I went to school near Seagrove, and with a slew of potters' children who have themselves become potters. I love the look of pottery. So earthy and thrown with love. I took pottery in HS. I loved the way the clay felt between my fingers as I was turning it on the wheel. I was no way near as good as my brothers (2 more of my brothers have a wicked throwing hand BTW), but I had fun doing it. I tell Clyde that I'd love to have a wheel and a kiln one day. {{wink}}

Here are examples of my baby brother's work.

erin's 1st temple trip

We learned a few weeks ago that our Ward had a youth temple trip planned for the same day as Maylee and Jared's reception...excuse me...ring ceremony. We were thrilled because it would be Erin's first temple trip. Neither Clyde nor I wanted to miss this, so Clyde has signed us up to go. We made arrangements to take the younger Wardlings to my parents house overnight, since we had a 9am session. It was amazing to see our daughter participate in this important work. She looked so little, but grown up @ the same time.

Our good friends, the Eshiets came along to the baptism as well. What a wonderful family they are!

Aren't the Beehives so adorable? Here are some of the Beehives from our ward and their amazing Beehive leader.

Once we were home and rested for about an hour, it was time to get dressed and ready with extra party clothes, to pick up the other Wardlings from my parent house. Bubbie had the Wardlings bathed and ready to be dressed for Maylee and Jared's reception...I mean ring ceremony...as soon as we arrived. We got the Wardlings dressed in record time, loaded the van and headed to Charlotte for the ceremony. The weather was terrible to drive in. Rain, rain, and more rain! We saw, within a quarter of a mile, 3 accidents. We were very grateful to have made it safely. We loved seeing all the family that were able to come and to meet some of Jared's relatives. Ed sang, children danced, Becki and Aunt Sandra cooked enough food to feed a Ward (ha ha). Plus-Clyde was a rockin' DJ! It was amazing. The Wardlings all had a blast! We were exhausted when the night was over. Clyde drove our van, with Papa Ed in shotgun, home with the sleeping Wardlings & I drove Aunt Sandra's Jetta (with Grammy Becki, Aunt Sandra and Libby Lou) back into the Emerald City. {{I just love, LOVE Volkswagons. What fun, fast cars! German engineering rocks!}} We didn't walk through the door of the Brown house until 12:30am. We were all totally pooped, but it was a good healthy tired. We were able to go to the Temple, visit with family, go to Charlotte for the reception...I mean ring ceremony... and just be together. All in all, a pretty spectacular Saturday!

bride maylee

reception

blue & gold

Wednesday nite was the annual blue/ gold banquet for scouts. Penny just had to get into the action during a skit and did just as the big boys did.
Apart of the banquet, the scout master showed the boys a new knot.

Here the scouts are trying to figure out a riddle with water. They are pointing to their scout leaders for some assistance. The banquet was beautiful and bunches of fun! Thanks Cheryl for all of your behind the scenes work!

I just forgot to post this on Sunday. Maylee came for a visit. She has asked me to make something for her reception, which is this weekend, and so she brought me the supplies Sunday. We had some wiggles so we walked the Wardlings around the block. Jacob was a bit pouty /tired and thus complained when we added in an additional 2 blocks. He lived, but he sweet talked Maylee into a piggy back ride for the last block and a half. We love Maylee's visits.

such personality

I have been going through the pictures on our computer and weeding them out and burning them to discs. I came across this one and wow- have our Wardlings grown over the past 3 years. These were taken in Myrtle Beach whilst visiting Grammy and Papa. Just look @ all those faces. Jacob was miserable; if you couldn't tell, Josh wasn't looking, the sailor hat...very Clyde. This was the picture that we sent out in our Christmas cards that year. I think that Penny was about 2 weeks old. I remember that her umbillical cord fell off while on this trip. :)

Then there was this gem from the same day. Such personality and Josh still isn't looking. I really love this picture of our babies.

Twilight fan

New Twilight fan.

(I love the blue around his mouth from the icee he slurped down @ Target.)

friday excitement

Whew- what a Friday! It felt like we were going @ mach speed. We thought that it would be fun to get the boys together, from our church scout troop, and have them work together on passing off some of their boy scout requirements. Friday was early release from school, hence the perfect time! We worked on safety...what to do if someone calls...how to answer the phone and made a list of important numbers to have on the refrigerator in case of emergency. Once our lists were complete and we had the boys practice answering the phone, then it was time for the fun stuff...tools. We learned about the saw and since we have a jungle that needs to be cut down, it was perfect for them to practice using the saw, with adult supervision of course, and cut down some of our little trees and twigs. {{I must confess that I was afraid that Treebeard would appear, and squash us for killing some trees. Treebeard is the king of trees from Lord of the Rings.}} Then it was all about learning to use the hammer and having the boys hammer nails into a piece of wood and then removing it. I had so much fun using the tools, that when our friends left, I continued cutting down some more trees in our jungle. I cleared of one side of our house and about 1/6th of our back yard. There will be so much space back there once all the twiglets are removed. There will even be a nice plot for a garden!! :) Thanks 'A' family for making the afternoon so much fun!
Once we were finished tree cutting, it was dinner time. After sawing down some trees, I was pooped. Jacob, with his sweet baby blues asked if I would make him some chicken pot pie. How could I refuse?! So, we all got to work making dinner. We made the crust from scratch, cooked chicken, mixed the ingredients, and baked it til golden brown. Oh so yummy! The Wardlings ate until their tummies were full. Mmmm...mmmm good! What an awesome afternoon filled with good friends, learning about tools, and chicken pot pie.

scouting tools

jacob's chicken pot pie

penny's view on things

I got a few surprises on my memory card, when I went to upload our recent photos. Penny has this thing about wanting to be like me and take loads of pictures. She apparently had swiped the camera and snap some shots when I wasn't looking (all except the one of me @ the computer). It was nice to see the world through Penny's eyes. My favorite pictures were her self portraits. Those pictures were a must to share. So, without further adieu, here's life through Penny's eyes.

penny's point of view

every 3 year old does it

How adorable is our little muggle? Who knew that the back of her hair looked like this:

When did I notice it you ask? I didn't notice it until we were @ the park today with some really good friends. It is true, every child @ one time has cut their own hair. Yesterday we visited some other really good friends and Jacob was playing with some plastic scissors. I think this is where she got the idea and I admit that I am to blame, because I have been known to leave my sewing scissors behind my sewing machine. And- there are scissors in our crayon/ marker buckets for homework and doodle-ing. And- I did just give Josh a haircut.

So after blending and re-cutting hair, we ended up with this hair cut:

It is just as it was before, just a smidgeon shorter. I am just so glad that her hair was already short. Otherwise I think I may have cried a bit...like I did when Erin was 3 and cut her hair the day after Josh's blessing.

no refund?

Josh has a field trip coming up. It was a bit on the pricey side for field trips...$11. I sent in the cash yesterday to pay for it. Then yesterday afternoon, I happened to stumble across a note from the 2nd grade team stating, that if money wasn't received by today (Thursday) then the field trip would be canceled and those who paid, may not get their money back. WHAT THE CRAP!! I could not take this. I wrote a note to the 2nd grade team today, telling them that I was going to get my money back if the trip was indeed canceled. I even emailed the principal in my disgust. Why should the parents that paid be held financially responsible for those who didn't. Are they (those parents) going to be getting a bill from the school for the money that they didn't pay? I did get a response from the principal telling me that she will look into it. Dang Skippy!

do not call registry

I have been getting loads of telemarketer phone calls this past week. (Find the perfect college for you, phone calls.) I couldn't figure out why the telemarketer calls have been returning, until I remembered that when I signed up for the "Do not call registry," last year, it was only good for one year. Needless to say, I signed us up again, which should last forever. I just hate to think that it will still take up to 30 days before it is official. Argh! Thank goodness for caller ID!!

all things yellow

Lately, we have noted all the things that are yellow in and around our house... the new yellow, red room (and living room for that matter).
my neighbor's new yellow daffodils...

Penny's new yellow flip flops...

And our new yellow VW Beetle, that we bought today.

This is one of my favorite parts about the car...a must for a VW Beetle.

This is us, driving it off of the car lot.

I have to get my drive out of it, before it is Clyde's official drive to work car. Clyde and I have been searching for months now for a new car. (Love Craigslist BTW) We debated on a Suburban, but thought that though the space would be nice, we'd be adding tons of miles to the van or doubling the money used for gas. We thought that a smaller, more gas efficient car would be the best bet for us. After looking at different types of small cars and doing some research, we were able to narrow it down to few cars...Volvo wagon, Subaru Outback, or the VW Beetle. Clyde spotted this beauty a few days ago. My requirement for the VW was the 5-speed. They just have more pep and they are more gas efficient, plus- way more fun to drive. We both did excellent for not having driven a stick shift in 4 years. Just like butter! Oh, I love this car! Clyde's requirement was the mileage for the price. Penny is in heaven, as are we, but yellow is her favorite color. All the Wardlings loved the Turbo engine. It was so fun to drive home today! The Wardlings were so very well behaved @ the car lot that we went to check the VW out. Thanks Wardlings!! We look forward to driving it more and more and MORE!! :) Good Job baby for finding us this rockin car!!

new duds

When we went to Duke on Thursday, Clyde stopped in @ the bookstore. He found these things for the wee Wardlings. He also found us all a little something. Isn't Clyde a sweetie?!!

we don't feel cold

Erin had an appointment @ Duke Hospital yesterday afternoon. Clyde was able to leave work early, to take us. We checked the other Wardlings out of school early and headed to Durham. The appt. went well...long, but well.

Libby was cold in this photo and wanted to wait in the van. Silly Girl, we are @ Duke...we don't feel cold!

Pet peeve...

So, Erin, Penny, and I are waiting for the Dr. to come in and when she does she shakes our hands and then washes hers. Not only does that throw me back, thinking , wow I must have been germ ridden, she gives us the 'sissy handshake' to boot. You know what that is...just the mere fingertips or so. Are we in the 16th century or am I just too much of an Ellie Mae to think that when someone shakes my hand, I expect a good handshake. I'm not saying break my hand, with a a surge of brutal strength, but shake it. I loathe the sissy handshake.

On our way home, after a debate for dinner, we ended up at this pretty cool Mc Donalds. Most of us ate our dinner. (Jacob had a tummy ache that magically disappeared after a trip to the bathroom and running in the play area.) Josh was such a monkey. He spent the majority of his play time hanging like a chimpanzee from the bar @ the top of the play area. I believe that he is even giving us the "L" (loser) for not doing it ourselves. There was something for everyone...big pianos to play Beethoven on, things to climb, dangle, a very long slide to slide on or drums to sit on. It was fun to watch the Wardlings burn off the rest of their Thursday energy.

out w/ the family