What a great Spring break the kids have had. Like I have mentioned before, Tuesday Riley had her very cold birthday party at the park. Then Thursday Joel and Riley got to got to Monkey Joe's with Mrs. Barbara Rogers from church. She had her 2 grand kids in town who are about the same age as Joel and Riley. So she invited them to go to Monkey Joe's with them. They had a blast. I wish I had some pictures but didn't think to have them bring a disposable camera. Oh well. After Monkey Joe's they went back to Mrs. Barbara's house for lunch. After that they got back into the car and got to go to the new McDonald's here in the town of Lexington for some ice cream and play time. They had such a good time. Mrs. Barbara said they got along so well and they were already talking about having a sleep over and playing together again when they are back in town.
Then yesterday Jesse got picked up by Bo & Tirsah Rhodes and they the boys to Monkey Business. They had a blast too.I played for a long time and then came back to our house for lunch after Mrs. Tirsah droped Bo off at their apartment. We had hot dogs and Mac & Cheese. Because the Rhodes family are moving back to Tennessee next week we thought it would be nice for Jesse and Jackson to have a sleepover together. So Jackson stayed over here and had dinner with us and then had a sleepover. Daddy made them a club house in the bedroom and they felt like such big boys. It was very cute. I am just so sad that they are moving. It is amazing how well Jackson and Jesse get along. It is kind of funny, because this is actually Jesse's first "boy" friend. He has all kinds of "girl" friends but now he finally has a little boy his own age to play with. The really neet thing is that they actually share a birthday too. We are going to miss them greatly. Maybe we can come and visit them sometime this summer.
It seems like I have been away from home all morning long so when Josiah and I got home this afternoon I needed to take Nellie to the back yard to do her "business" and let her run around so she can get some energy out. Well, while we were out there I thought it would be kind of fun to turn the water on and see what Nellie would do. Well, only because I got her from a good friend of ours I believe she is a labrador but you would never had thought she was if you saw her in the yard today. She did not want anything to do with that water. She kept running away from it. I am planning to get her a little "kiddy" pool pretty soon and see how she likes that. I am pretty sure she will "grow" to like it. On the other hand, Josiah had a BLAST! He grabbed the hose and had fun spraying himself. It was fun to see:) He did get pretty cold after a while and we went in for a nice warm bath. We had fun though:) I am looking forward to seeing how he will do in Mrs. Flo's pool this year:) We are hoping to maybe go next week for the first time. I can't wait and the kids can't either. I made the mistake to tell them that Mr. Joe and Mrs. Flo's pool is open and they have been asking all week long. I told them that we will plan to go next week sometime. When we do, I will take pictures and post them. 
So after the park we took Merry to Olive Garden. It was SO good. We had a lot of fun. Of course Terry went ahead and told our Waiter that it was Merry's birthday so they sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her a cake. It was a lot of fun. The kids thought it was great :)
Joel was invited to have a sleepover at Noah's house last night. So for dinner we had Jody and Malia over for dinner and when they left they took Joel with them. So, since the boys were having a sleepover I kind of felt bad for Riley so I invited her friend Samantha over. So she stayed and had a sleepover with Riley. It is just so funny to see the difference in boys and girls. The boys went straight to sleep (probably because they were SO tired). The girls however talked and giggled for about an hour. But they finally went to sleep around 10:30pm (I think.) 
So this morning for breakfast we had sticky buns and Mrs. Tirsah's specialty: Chocolate milk with whip cream. It was GOOD!!!
So, right now it is 11:30am and every body has been picked up or dropped off and things are back to normal (as normal can be). I believe a good time has been had by everybody!!!
This afternoon I decided we needed to go play in the yard a bit. Josiah LOVES to play in the yard and I was feeling a bit "grumpy" so thought it would do us some good. The kids (including Lilli) were playing hide and seek while Josiah was finding rocks (learned that from his big brother) and Nellie was running after a ball and chewing on sticks. It was works great because now she is fast asleep in the closet upstairs. I am still trying to figure out how to "leash train" her because she really does not like it. My friend Callie told me that when her puppy was this little she let him walk around the house with the leash for about a week or so and this way he gets used to it. So I think that is what I am going to be trying with her today. I just feel so bad when I have to talk her because I just have to pull every where. I guess pretty soon she will be pulling us every where though. So... if you have any suggestions on puppy training, please email me or leave a message. I would greatly appreciate it (and so will Nellie, I am sure).
Yesterday was Riley's birthday party. What a day to have it. It was FREEZING!! You would think April would be pretty warm in the south. But "Oh my goodness", I think it was in the 30's or so (or at least it felt like it.). We went to the park and everybody brought their lunch and the kids had a blast. The girls were chasing the big boys and the big boys were chasing the girls. It was funny how the girls kept tattling but then started running after them again. We had some cake (thanks to Ms. Callie helping me make it) and opened presents and then RAN to the car to go home. I have never seen kids run to the car so fast when they were at a park. My friend Mari and her kids came over for a while to play. The kids had fun. Joel does not see Sal very much since he is homeschooled but they still love to play together. I think they played Leggos for about 4 hours together. I am so thankful that our kids like playing together. I really hope and pray that God will have a job for "daddy Sal" here in the Lexington/Columbia area. I would HATE for them to move.
