Busy

This has been a very busy month for us and it is only half-way through.  On April 3rd I looked at the calendar and was already surprised at how quickly the month had filled.  First up, Will has been working on his Advanced Reading Challenge.  All the third graders are challenged to finish 25 books and projects but they are only required to do 8.  If you do more you get a prize.  Will has finished all the books and some but still needs five more projects.  We've been working hard to get them done.  He was excited to make puppets for the book Bad Kitty.  He also worked on projects for a few books by Roald Dahl--his favorite author right now.  

 Mike set the alarm and woke up to get pictures of the lunar eclipse.  He was disappointed that his pictures didn't turn out better and overall, wasn't impressed that he woke up to take pictures and then couldn't go back to sleep for the next 1 1/2 hrs.  I slept through it all.

Grandma and Grandpa Richards came to Denver!  They were on a time crunch and we were so happy they wanted to see us before they had to keep on their journey.  They were driving a moving truck from Maryland to Utah for some friends.  We met them up for an early dinner.  

 The boys loved playing in the truck and Piper was super upset that we kept handing her off to someone besides myself or Mike.

 She did however smile for Grandpa when Mike was holding her.

My friend Michelle H. is having a baby.  She had gotten rid of a large portion of her baby clothes so I wanted to throw her a baby shower.  I was a bit worried and stressing out because I had contacted a nasty GI bug from Piper and Eli.  It was horrible and long-lasting and I was worried I wouldn't be able to pull off a baby shower.  Thankfully, my friend isn't really into the shower games and activities so I didn't have to worry about any of that.  My other friend Melanie came to my rescue and she brought some decorations and helped make food.  Mike gave me a blessing on Wed. night and I spent Thursday and Friday sanitizing the house, cleaning up from almost a week of being sick and not cleaning, and cooking.  I think it turned out really well and was pretty low-key.  Again, I'm so thankful she is not someone that cares for the games and such or I'd have been in trouble.

 Michelle is one of my best friends here.  I adore her and know we will be friends forever.  I'm so happy I was able to celebrate with her and let her know how much I love her!

These girls make me very happy

Finally, Eli had a birthday!  He has been waiting and counting down the days for months.  Literally (as Isaac would say).  He wanted brownies for his class so I cooked up two batches and took them in to his class.  He also wanted a cookie cake that he wanted to decorate.  I tried finding one but couldn't find one anywhere.  I could have made one but he decided instead on a chocolate cake.  He and Isaac decorated it to look like a dude that was killed by a snake with a cave, boulders, a snake, of course, and snake eggs.  

 He wanted a remote control snake, ice breakers, gum, and a little blanket (he lost his other baby blanket).

 He got to have friends over for a playdate. The noise in my house was deafening.  They had pizza and played and played for hours.

Besides all this, we have had piano, scouts, and have a temple trip planned, a photography class, a school concert, and another birthday party.  Lots to do and lots of fun to be had!