Thinking of London

I must admit, I didn't wake up at 3:00 AM to watch the wedding, but I watched the highlights of it the next day and I bawled the whole time. I thought it was magical and a perfect fairy tale. I know I'm not a guy, but I think Kate is beautiful. My favorite part was when Harry turned around to sneak a peak of her as she was walking down the aisle. She really was stunning.

Watching it made me think of our trip to Europe and our small stay in London. Before we left on our trip, I was most excited to go to London. Lucas was the least excited to go to this place because he had already been there and he didn't think it was that great. I was really excited to see Buckingham Palace. I had a lot of expectations for this part of the trip and everything came crumbling down when we were there.

We flew there from Prague and our flight got there in the middle of the night. We had to navigate our way through the streets of London in the dark to find our hotel. As we were walking down the street that our hotel was on I got very excited because all the hotels were so cute. We kept walking and we saw one that looked awful and it had all the windows boarded up. I joked and said, "That better not be ours." Well it was. I almost started crying. Our hotel was supposed to look like this...


All the pictures I saw of it when we booked it were great, but it didn't turn out that way. Since we already made reservations and it was the middle of the night we had to stay there. The owner apologized and said it was under construction. Lucas got mad and the guy gave us a few pounds back to make up for it. Since it was a Bed and Breakfast I was curious to see what we would have for breakfast. He gave us a hard boiled egg and tea. I asked him if he offered any other drinks besides tea. He made some "hot chocolate" but it didn't taste like that to me. It was awful!

So we decided to go sightseeing. This is what I was most excited about.

Lucas had been getting sick and that day he felt horrible. We knew that they had free health insurance there so we decided to go to the hospital to see if they could give us some medicine.

This is where we stayed most of the day....

Apparently they don't work very fast at the hospital. It took forever, but they finally gave Lucas some medicine.

I was really bummed because we were only going to be in London for one day and it was almost over. We decided to ride the double decker bus to see as many sights as we could. It was a cold and windy day. (typical for London) I thought I was going to freeze on that bus.

We tried to make the best of it.

I finally got to see Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards. This was my favorite part of the day!






Westminster Abbey, where Kate and William got married...


Big Ben...

That night we had to take a train to Portsmouth so we could catch a ferry to France the next day. We didn't make reservations for a hotel before because we figured we could just find one when we got there. We didn't realize it was spring break and every single hotel was booked. We walked around forever, but everything closes really early there. We ended up sleeping on a bench by the ferry dock. I thought I was going to freeze and pee my pants. It was the worst night of my life!

I really wish I had a better experience in London. I guess I'll have to save all my money and go back when I'm 60. I can always dream!

Soccer and Easter Fun!

Caden has been playing soccer for the past couple of weeks. He was really excited at first, now he just casually walks down the field.

Here's some action shots...(he is number 12)




Cheese!!

Muscle man pose...
He told us that we had to make a sign for him so Grandma Eyre was nice enough to make one for him. He was really sad when he found out they didn't show all his games on TV. He wanted everyone to be able to watch him.

Easter

The day before Easter we had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Hendrickson's house. We got to use GPS and walk around the neighborhood to find them.

Let the race begin...

Here's Caden...




And Halle..





Here's the kids checking out all the cool stuff the Easter Bunny brought them...



Caden was very excited for Luke Skywalker! He's a little obsessed.

Lego Star Wars shirt...




I think Halle was most excited about the candy.

Candyland! (notice she has a piece of candy in the other hand)



I love her bed head!


Halle in her new Easter dress...


Caden was not cooperating. This was the best smile I got from him.


We had a yummy Easter feast. The menu included: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, yams, rolls, and fruit salad. I think this is only the 3rd time that we've cooked a whole turkey in our 7 years of marriage. I know that's pretty pathetic. It was so good! I think Caden ate like 10 rolls.

The Easter Bunny left me a yummy treat too...mmm...my favorite!

Exciting News!

We found out yesterday that we are expecting a baby boy! He's due August 21st. When we told Caden and Halle that we were expecting another baby, Halle was really excited and Caden cried for an hour. I think he thought he was getting a new toy. Then all he could talk about was that he wanted it to be a boy. In my heart I wanted it to be a boy so Caden could have a brother. Now he is very excited!! We can't wait for the little boy to arrive!

Spring Cleaning

I guess since it is Spring now, Spring cleaning should commence. Every year I tell myself I'm going to organize my whole house. My house isn't messy, but if you opened my closets, I would be embarrassed. I decided I would tackle one project a day. Then I don't set myself up for failure. My first project was the pantry. That was the closet that was the worst.

Here is the before pic...

This is during the process. This is usually the point when I want to go hide in the corner and cry. Just ask Lucas, I don't deal well when everything is in chaos. I have a mini anxiety attack. I made it through it with no tears.

This is the after pic. Lucas came home and asked where all the food was. A nice "thank you" would have been appreciated. I feel much better about that closet now.


Last week Lucas entered the "old man" stage of life. (I can say that because I'm already in the "old woman" stage) He even has the bad back to show for it. We were at my parents house for his birthday and I forgot all the ingredients for his pumpkin pie on our counter at home. I didn't want to go out and buy all the ingredients, so I I bought him a frozen pie. Lucas is a pumpkin pie connoisseur so that was very blasphemous. I made it up to him and made him a homemade pie a couple of days later. Hopefully that didn't ruin his birthday. (I think the Aggies losing ruined it more)




Caden started soccer this week. He says he likes it. I think he likes to chase after the other kids. I don't think he fully grasps the concept yet. It's funny to watch the mob of kids surround the ball. They need to work on their strategy at the next practice.

I brought my camera and of course my batteries died. I'll have to take more pictures at the next practice.

Caden's number 12...

Eva Mae and More...

My new niece, Eva Mae, was born February 22nd! She weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz. As Halle would say, "She is so cute!!" My kids were very excited to meet her. They would ask me every day if she was out of Audrey's tummy. Of course I forgot my camera when we went to the hospital so I had to take pictures with my phone. They are a little blurry.





Halle was very excited to give her a present...

We got to watch Jason give her a bath in the nursery. Caden made a few comments that made me proud to be his mom. He was watching her and said, "She sure has a funny looking penis!" Yes, that's my son. He was also very confused why she came out of Audrey's tummy naked. That's just how it happens! (Lucas was really embarrassed that I put that, but I don't care. Sorry if you're offended.)

We got to go visit baby Eva again after she came home from the hospital. Luckily I remembered to bring my camera this time. Halle kept asking me when she got to hold baby Eva. She was very excited when it was finally her turn.

She didn't want to give her up. She kept saying, "I have to hold her because she is so cute!"

Caden is a proud cousin also...



Now onto Valentine's Day. I know it was over a week ago. I'm a little slow.
My kids were very excited to open their Valentine's present from me and Lucas!


They got cool books and their favorite Veggie Tales movie. Now we can stop checking it out from the library constantly.


Caden got his Valentines ready for preschool...



Caden got invited to his friend's Birthday party. He was very excited it was a Harry Potter party and he got to dress up. This was our best attempt at Harry Potter.

Of course Halle had to have her picture taken too...



I'm going to try really hard to take more pictures. I've really slacked off. Hopefully I'll remember!