He has risen!

Hope you and your families had an amazing Easter! Though the weather wasn’t the best it doesn’t change the reason we celebrate. Tom and I decided to go to church with my grandparents at their little community church. I told the pastor sorry because the Hanna zoo came to church. Anywhere we go it is kind of a fiasco. We sat in the back so we would be less of a distraction, but with a church of about 20 people it was hard not to be. My parents came to try to help with the children, but I could tell they we getting a little stressed out. Tom and I spent most of the service sitting in another room so out little hooligans could run around. Heheh.
Our family dressed in twos. Nick and Nathan wore matching blue and white sweaters, Marchel and Hailey wore Pink and green dresses and tom and I wore matching cream shirts. It is easier to keep track of everyone if we all have a matching partner.
After Church we ate at the Cattleman’s association. The buffet was amazing. I ate like I was pregnant again. Three plates of food! Kind of scared myself… Don’t worry, I’m not pregnant. I was really nice sitting there with all my family and not being in any sort of hurry. We sat and visited, ate and sipped on coffee for quite some time. It is not very often we aren’t rushed.
After the restaurant, my cousin Mary, the kids and I went to eat some more at my aunt Kristie’s while Tom went to go work on the Van (his new hobby is working on cars) replacing its brakes. I reminded him that all his kids ride in the van so he better make sure they work!
At Kristie’s, the Nick, Nathan and our other cousins had an Easter egg hunt. The older kids were good about helping the boys find the eggs. Nick though it was really cool. Nathan just went with the flow. The family was really good about entertaining the kids. I had some business to attend to… heheh, the Daycare nominated us for Extreme Home make over and I had to do my part of getting the pictures in order. The daycare is such a blessing to us! (thank you daycare)
Our Easter was a day filled with family and rest. Just what we needed! The brakes turned out good. Tom did a fabulous job. What a man! And the Extreme Makeover Application was successfully mailed. I’ll keep you all updated if we hear anything. Hey you never know. It could happen
See you all soon with our next adventure!

Papa Meekens 80th Birthday

The family took an adventure up to Bellingham for my grandfathers 80th birthday. 80!!! Wow! We drove up there the night before the party and stayed in a motel next to my parents. (Babysitting purposes) heheh! My mother thought she got such a good deal because she booked on Priceline the night before. But, low and behold, when I showed up that evening requesting a room I received the same price she got and a deal because we have triple A! AAA! (Thank you Grandpy Jim) I found it more comical than my mother. ( = we love good deals
That night, We put all the children to bed so my parents could sit and watch tv in our room instead of theirs so we could go out… ya, that lasted about 45 min. the children realized that nana and papa were there so bed time flew out the window! So much for a good time alone! The moment we walked in the door, all the kids knew the “LAW” was back and went back to their sleeping routine. Funny how they can recognize a sucker ( =

The next day we went to my grandfathers 80th birthday. It was a lot of fun and he enjoyed the kids so much. Quite a few people showed up to celebrate. We were able to see and meet a lot of family. The boys thought it was really exciting because they were able to help set up the soda’s in the coolers. What big boys they are!
The trip home was really quick.. the kids and I slept. poor Tom. He is such a champ!!

Spring Break

College was out on spring break. Tom and I decided to take the boys to the aquarium in Seattle. The girls are just too small so we left them at daycare. Thank you daycare!! We went with our good friends Matt and Bonnie and their little girl Evelyn that is Nick’s age. They have been friends for quit sometime. Not as long as bonnie and I (since Kindergarten) but I’m sure someday they will get there!
All three kids thought the fish were really cool! The aquarium had some special guests that Nick was really looking forward to seeing. Dory, Nemo and Marlin had a special exhibit for all the kids who are Finding Nemo fans. It was really cool to watch Nicks face light up when he realized who they were.
Nathan found the whole thing really exciting! He rode in a backpack on tom for half the tour. He liked walking a lot better even though the exhibits were higher up. We stopped and had a snack “under the Sea” . We saw sharks and all sorts of neat fish.
After the aquarium, we stopped at a nice restaurant on the Wharf. The view was spectacular! It actually wasn’t raining! We could see the mountains along the sea line and watched as the ferries came back and forth.
It was our first spring break vacation.. Well day vacation! Still counts!