Leftover April

The unfortunate collision of cell phone cameras and lack of consistent blogging is the random collection of funny/cute/interesting pictures that end up floating in the nothingness of technology without being appropriately acknowledged or enjoyed. My solution has become a monthly picture dump, in which I include all of those otherwise unblogged photographic gems. Without further ado, I give you the leftovers of April.

As a parent of multiple children, it is not uncommon to hear crying coming from another room when someone is hurt, mad, or stuck. It is slightly less common, however, for the stuck and crying one to be the six-year-old. So, we chuckle to ourselves, take a picture, then help her down.

I have always loved the view out our living room window in this apartment, but I don't think it was possible to fully appreciate it until spring. Months of still-green winter set quite the stage for the REAL green of spring. This is my happy place.

I will eventually chronicle in greater detail the struggles involved with being pregnant and facing childbirth after my past traumas, but for the moment you can get a glimpse of how much it's on my mind based on the stack of books in my "Currently Reading" pile. All excellent, all tremendously helpful.

We had a quiet morning this day with Audrey at school and Megan having preschool at Annie's house. I let Ben have the rare treat of a bubble bath all by himself, and he most thoroughly enjoyed it.

Don't really know what was going on here...

One of the things I've come to love about Georgia is how many different license plates we see on a regular basis. I have long been one to have an ongoing license plate game running, whether or not we're on a trip at any given time. There are a handful that are still particularly significant to find, though, even out here. And some most definitely have to be documented or no one would believe me: that's no less than Rhode Island, man.

Using the birthday money I received from parents and in-laws, I bought myself the complete blu-ray collection of Indiana Jones. We've been slowly working our way through the four movies. On this particular night, Ben joined us for a bit of The Last Crusade. It was good choice, really, since that's the best movie of them all.

Last but not least, I want to show off the cute labels I made for the kids' laundry hamper. It has been a HUGE fight to get the kids to sort their clothes out themselves after getting everything washed, so now we've moved the sorting to the dirty clothes stage. It's been working much, much better. Hooray for the Mom successes.

They had a tiny turtle...

I was gone this evening at a Stake Relief Society training, and came home to discover that my family had acquired a new pet.

They found it wandering around near our windows, and Chris brought it onto the patio for the kids' (and his own) enjoyment.

Mean Mom that I am, I made Chris set it free after I got home and saw it. Let's let animals stay where they belong.

But it was certainly fun while it lasted.

Happy easter day

I've probably said this before, more times than I remember, and I'll probably say it again, but I have serious issues with off-date blogging. I don't like back-dating something like I posted it on that day when really it was written sometime completely different.

So, I start this post with a confession. As I write this, the date is July 24. I haven't blogged anything in roughly four months--thank you pregnancy, the ultimate brain and energy sucker. To follow are all the posts I've meant to have written and am just now getting around to. This will be my only mention, but something in my personal code of ethics says I have to admit that I'm "lying" with the date published. Now you know.

Moving on.

Happy Easter!

Our Easter festivities this year, in lieu of the tradition Baker Family Reunion, was a ward brunch and Easter Egg Hunt. A few Sundays prior, Audrey Jane had drawn a picture during Sacrament Meeting that she gifted to the Primary president. Her wonderful artwork made it onto the official announcement poster displayed in the church hallway. She was quite pleased.

Brunch was delicious, followed shortly after by the Egg Hunt. Chris was gone for a separate Stake Youth Activity. Oddly enough, I wasn't actually capable of tracking all three kids by myself during the hunt, so I only have pictures of Ben.

We did eventually all make it back together in the gym for the requisite consumption of egg innards,

to be closely followed by a surprise appearance from the Easter Bunny himself.

Said Easter Bunny made an unusually timed visit to our house that afternoon as well. Traditionally speaking, the Easter Bunny drops off the baskets on Saturday morning, thus leaving Easter Sunday free to focus on the true spiritual celebration of Easter. This year, he was just a tad late and showed up during quiet time on Saturday afternoon instead--with a note to explain.

The kids had fun finding their hidden baskets. Audrey was especially impressed that her basket was hidden outside and she still managed to find it.

The haul cleverly included new church clothes in place of that stringy Easter grass that sprouts both roots and legs and always seems to hang around post-holiday. No grass for us this year!

Sadly, I neglected to take any pictures of the kids in their new church clothes--oh, well. I also neglected to take any pictures at our fun Easter dinner at our neighbor's house. There were several friends/families in attendance, and I even perfected my deviled egg recipe just for the occasion. My, but they were delicious.

Visitors!!

One thing we knew we were giving up when we moved to Georgia was visits from relatives--we're just too far away. Amy made it in December because, well, she's Amy and she couldn't possibly survive not seeing us for the entire time we live here. But honestly, that was the only visit I expected for the duration of our Georgia residency.

Surprise!

Michael has accepted an internship on a ranch in Florida, so he and Amanda and their kids stopped by Atlanta en route to their new summer abode. Yay for visitors!

It was a pretty low-key visit, lasting only Wednesday evening to Friday morning. With Michael and Amanda sleeping the living room and the kids waking up much earlier than the adults wanted to, Chris spent quite a while entertaining them in the bedroom. They built this lovely creation to pass the time.

As per tradition--you know, with our one other out-of-state visitor--we went to the zoo. And somehow, unbeknownst to me, I managed to take NOT ONE SINGLE PICTURE of Michael, Amanda, Ivan or Charlotte. I promise, cross my heart hope to die, that they were there...I just have no photographic proof. Sigh.

This was my "in case you get lost I can give the police a recent photo and accurately describe what you were wearing" picture.

Animals!

We had an awesome lunch spot right next to one of the monkey enclosures. Nothing better than food and a show.

We finished out the trip with a stop at the playground. Again, I have no idea why I have so few pictures of us and none of the other Wamplers...

All told, good day. It was the very first--and only--time that Audrey Jane missed a day of school her entire kindergarten year. She skipped just to come to the zoo with us all, and I think that was absolutely the correct choice on this day. I was also able to take Amanda with me to our ward Relief Society activity that evening, and she was welcomed into the ward multiple times. Can't say us Mormons aren't friendly to strangers.