The (Cooler) Mitchells

Happy Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:57:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just a little house update

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:07:00 +0000

Just a little update....
http://youtu.be/_Bl1hL85liw

and if you don't remember what it looked like before....
http://youtu.be/lflGYZKKClQ

Taking A Breath

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:42:00 +0000

While the older children are entertained for a moment & I have one hand free for typing, I thought I'd post a few pictures.

These were taken with my fantastic new camera - thank you Jay and Sherrie. You are the best friends a gal could ask for. More to come on that later when I have two hands.

New Baby & New Crib

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:44:00 +0000

IT'S A GIRL!!!

I went in for my c-section early January 2. Things didn't go quite as smoothly as they usually do, but in the end it all worked out. My spinal block didn't block, so as they were scrubbing me preparing for surgery I realized I had an itch on my foot and was wondering about asking someone to scratch it for me when I remembered that I shouldn't be having an itch on my foot. I tried wiggling my toes and they wiggled. I said, "I can feel what you're doing. And I can move my feet." Everyone just stopped and after some testing they concluded that, yes, I could still feel and move my feet. So, back to my room to wait another hour so they can try again. The second time worked like a charm and a few short minutes later we got to meet our little girl.

****WARNING**** Some of the following pictures might be a little graphic of the c-section delivery.

Look at all that hair!!

Anastasia Sophia

January 2, 2012 10:32 am

8 lbs. 21 inches

Exactly a week before she was born, though, we were able to move in to our fabulous new house with the amazing help of some pretty WONDERFUL people. The day after Christmas Tyler's entire family plus a good friend of ours and HIS brothers, dad, and father-in-law helped finish packing our house, loading everything on a truck, unloading everything off the truck and setting up furniture. I am so blessed to be loved by so many people.

There are some "after" pictures coming, I promise. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us get so much done in so little time! We are so grateful!

Pigs, Paint and Pretty Cabinets

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:40:00 +0000

In the brief moments before I go pass out in bed from exhaustion, I wanted to post some more updates!

First, the day has finally come to take our pig to the slaughter. For the last two weeks he's been escaping from his pen, ever on the search for more food. We decided it was time. Originally we were planning on having a gigantic Christmas party where we roasted him out on a spit and had everyone we know come and share in the feast, but apparently we forgot how much we have going on right now and decided it would be best for everyone's sanity if we just took him in somewhere and then picked him up ready for the freezer.

So, here's a before shot of the day we got him:

Tyler and Mario. Their family wanted to go in on it with us to get the "farm" experience since their yard is too small. :)

Shortly after this day Cade decided he was a vegetarian. He did not want to eventually eat this cute little guy.

And then that cute little guy got really big and loud and stinky in 6 months.

It took just under an hour to get him into the trailer. We thought he would be easily coaxed in with a bucket of food...

Then he got smart.

We tried tying things around him, we tried wrapping him in a tarp, we tried bribing him with carrots and apples. The only thing that eventually worked was trapping him in a cow panel (fencing) and scooting him to the trailer and chasing him in. If only someone was there to video it all.

So, we're all pretty happy now. And we'll have some awesome ham for Christmas dinner.

Now, more house updates. As of now, all of the rooms except the kids' bathroom are painted. We still have some work to do in there, so I've moved on to painting door frames. I attempted the base boards for about a minute and a half and decided my 36 week pregnant body can't handle that.

On Monday we got our kitchen cabinets in and it's looking great! We still have the crown molding to go on the top and the countertops to come in hopefully next week sometime, but I'm THRILLED with how it's coming along!

Here are a few shots of the living room:

I'm doing a board and batten look on the bottom half, so that's why it doesn't look finished yet. We'll hopefully be starting on the floor tomorrow!

PAINT!

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:19:00 +0000

Finally! We've been able to start painting the house. I say "finally" like we've been waiting an eternity. It's only been 3 weeks I think since we bought it, but I haven't been able to help at all and finally have a chance to get to work on something in the house.

First I took the kids to pick out colors for their rooms. Of course, the girls got pink. Chantilly Lace to be exact. Cade picked green. Since he is color deficient (color blind - he sees colors differently than the rest of us), I let him pick out every single green sample card he liked, then I narrowed it down to the top 4 I'd be OK with, then let him pick out the final color. He went with Safari Green. Mainly because he knew with a name like that, it must be perfect for an animal-themed room.

My AWESOME grandma flew out for two days to help me get started.

She did all the trim to save me from having to bend over and climb so much. She also kept me company, helped round up children and babysat while Tyler and I ran to Lowe's and Home Depot several times without having to load up the van full of children.

I just love Eliza's picture smile. :)

We wrote their names on the floor so that one day far, far, far into the future if carpet needs to be ripped out and replaced, we can see them and smile.

This is how the kids looked most of the week. Actually, she looks pretty good in this picture. Their faces were covered in a combination of dirt, juice and other sticky messes that I'm unsure of how they came about. Not to mention snot (and dirt) running out of noses, plus a nice scrape on the face from one tumble too many down the oh-so-awesome concrete ramp we have out the front door.

So thank you, Mems for coming out and helping SO MUCH. Love you!

Remember that black entryway? And the nice '70s wood paneling? Here we are all primered and ready for paint! Isn't it amazing?! Actually, I do have all this painted now, but I haven't taken my camera back up to the house for some pictures. Soon, I promise.

So, for two days I had some help painting from my grandma and was able to get the kids' rooms done. Then, the last 4 days I've been able to do the master bedroom and bathroom, the hallway, the kitchen and dining room and the living room. I'm pretty thrilled considering I'm 7 and a half months pregnant.

OH! I almost forgot. In all the excitement, Cade has been working on a few of his loose teeth and we finally got one out! Thank goodness for Aunt Lorrie the dental hygienist who enjoys doing that kind of thing.

New House Update

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:47:00 +0000

I know you're all dying to know how the house is coming along. We were able to close 2 weeks earlier than expected and so work has begun!

We are so blessed to have such awesome friends and family who have come up to help a ton. I kind of feel useless because I can't do anything right now in the house, but we should be painting sometime this week, and then I can actually contribute something.

Here are some shots of the house after demolition and before primer.

Standing at the front door looking in. Where the paneling is is where the kitchen is.

Standing by the fireplace looking back at the front door.

One of the bedrooms

Master bedroom looking in from hallway

Standing in master bedroom, looking at bathroom, closet, door to hallway

Looking back down the hallway

A few trees down in the backyard just around the house. We have to clear out a bunch to get gutters up.

A few more trees down. :)

Kids entertaining themselves in the front yard. They don't usually play on the dumpster.

Now for some after shots:

The same red bedroom pictured above, only this time with Kilz from ceiling to floor.

Master bedroom

Master room again looking at closet and door to hall

Looking down the hall to the bedrooms. What a difference it makes to get rid of all that red!

I know Tyler appreciates me posting this, but I just want to say how lucky I am to have such a hard-working husband. After using the paint sprayer it looked like he was wearing white mascara. Not to mention all the paint everywhere else.

But, seriously, he has been stopping at the house every night until 10 or 11 to work on it and all day both Saturdays since we bought it. I can't believe how much work is done. Thank you so much to everyone who has come to help. Especially my father-in-law who has been driving up and staying in his camper to help my wonderful husband get our house ready for us. I really married into a fantastic family!

More to come soon!

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:15:00 +0000

Here's a quick run-down of our Halloween festivities.

First, we picked out a pumpkin and did some school-related activities with it. Then it was time to carve. All the kids picked their own tool to help them get the goo out.

Including ladles

and a garlic press.

Ali has always enjoyed this part. She just digs right in there while Cade asks, "Is there any way I can help do that without getting dirty?" He has issues with texture. Sorry, bud. Sometimes we just have to get down and dirty.

Unfortunately I didn't take a single picture of the finished pumpkin. What kind of crazy mom am I? One that is pregnant and missing some brain cells I guess.

Then it was time to dress up and go trick or treating. We had a little lion, an Indian (with real feathers from our turkey) and a princess.

She LOVED wearing the hood on this costume. That made me happy. :)

Yes, Mom. This was my Halloween costume from about 20 years ago. Don't look closely at it, because it's pretty worn in some places, but Ali was thrilled to wear it!

Can you see the eyelashes on this girl? I know I'm a little biased, but I think we have a future knock-out for a daughter.

Here's Cade displaying his awesome bow and arrow skills. Without the arrow. Because I told him that was not a good idea. He is good at shooting them, though.

I didn't get any pictures of all the cousins together because my battery on my camera died right after I took the kids' pictures. And my back-up was dead, too. Again, I'll blame it on pregnancy.

Halves

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:31:00 +0000

Did you know that right now, my children are all half of each other's ages? How cool is that?! And it will never happen again!

6...........................3.......................1.5

Our soon to be new house!

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 02:27:00 +0000

So - here it is! Any volunteers to come help us make this liveable? :-)

Ever Feel Busy?

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 02:13:00 +0000

But feel like nothing has really happened? Yeah, that's been about the last month. We've had plenty happen, maybe I'm just too tired by the end of the day to post pictures about it. But, here we are again - mostly for family so they can see our family's goings-on.

First, we had a wounded goat. We're not sure how it happened, but it did and good thing Dr. Tyler and his trusty assistant Collin were there to patch up a cut on her leg.

Then, we started school. Eliza is getting quite efficient at coloring and will be all set for Nursery on Sunday (she's 18 months already?!). Now, hopefully we can get her to keep it on the paper.

My dad was able to fly in for a quick weekend visit while he was on some business and the kids loved making up their own verses to silly songs.

Then the lady we were borrowing goats from wanted them back. We've had them since May and learned a lot. Everyone had gotten pretty attached to those gals, so we were sad to see them go.

But then, good news. The next day the lady called us back and offered Lola to us to keep (the white one that looks like a camel without a hump). She is our main milker (gives us up to a gallon a day), so we were quite thrilled!

Just a few weeks ago we got to play in the snow. Yes. The snow. In Georgia.

In our house, actually. For school we were learning about polar bears and I remembered that I had saved some snow from December when we had that strange stuff falling down here. I figured that it was the perfect day to pull that out. The kids LOVED it. They gathered all their arctic and polar animals and played in the snow with them until it all melted. Which actually took a lot longer than I expected. About 3 and a half hours, actually. Their hands were quite cold when they were done, but they were happy. And so was I.

These next pictures are the kids with their breakfast. I have to brag on them a little. Every morning they come in at exactly 6:50 and catch me reading my book. So they bring in their own, we read until about 7:30, then get up, dressed, make beds and then they make breakfast while I get my makeup and hair done. Usually they are very nice and tidy about breakfast, but on this particular morning I don't know what happened. I couldn't quite capture the chaos that was the table, but here they are with their bowls.

Everyone's bowls were full to the brim and there was cereal all over the table. It was great. I love these kids.

And, last but not least I'm sure my family would like to see my growing belly, so here it is. This was at 23 weeks (last week).

Big as it may be, I think this is the smallest pregnancy I've had. I started showing QUICKLY. Like, no one was surprised when we announced I was pregnant. No joke, most people said, "Yeah, I figured." But then 2 weeks ago at church someone asked how far along I was and she said, "Oh! You're so small!" That's when I realized that I have never EVER heard those words during any of my pregnancies. Everything is still going well and I'm feeling great. I'm getting growing and stretching pains now that baby is growing faster and it's getting uncomfortable to bend over to get things, but otherwise I can't complain.

So, to wrap it all up, here's Eliza to say:

Well, nothing I guess. She's too pooped.

Utah. The Rest of It.

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:39:00 +0000

Ok, I think I'm ready to finish my story.

We were able to fly out thanks to my grandma. She wanted to put together a family reunion and wanted EVERYONE there. Since Tyler just graduated and we had $100 to our name (but no debt!), there was no way we could afford to come out otherwise. So, thanks Grandma!

We mostly stayed with my dad, but spent the first weekend with my mom. We took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo:

Then went to a breakfast/parade the next morning.

My mom bought all the girls matching dresses.

This was during the parade. I love that my kids love each other so much. :)

Then we headed back to my dad's house. My awesome sister stayed the night pretty much wherever I was so we could have lots of late night chats. Thanks, Micah for letting me steal her!

The kids wanted to build bird nests. And then put birds in them. These 3 are complete with a chicken, a robin and a sparrow. They stayed for a day, then apparently flew off to find food or something.

We went to the local aquarium and had lots of fun looking into giant crystal balls.

I think this was actually jelly fish.

Then Papa got to share his love of music with the kids. Cade especially loved it. He would be the first one up every morning and the two of them would sing, "I Wish I Was A Fuzzy, Wuzzy Bear..." and make up their own lyrics as well. It's a song my grandpa used to sing with us and I'm glad my kids get to experience it as well.

We were going to miss my niece's birthday, so we did a little pre-party party at Jungle Jim's. It's a great place my sister and I always went to when we were little. It hasn't changed a bit. They have little rides for the kids like a carousel, bumper cars and roller coaster. The roller coaster is my favorite. :)

Here are the yungin's enjoying their cupcakes.

And then, of course was the big reunion. I haven't seen some of my cousins for at least 10 years, so it was great to get together again.

My grandma is very patriotic. Very. Her entire house is red, white and blue. Inside and out. So Eliza's cute outfit for pictures was this little beauty:

And she's all wet from running on a homemade slip-n-slide.

We had cupcakes in celebration of everyone's birthdays that we all miss every year.

Who knew the icing would stain your teeth?

My cousin, Rachel showing off her beautiful smile.

And Grandma, who made all of it possible. She had a blue cupcake.

And here's the whole group together!

Thank you everyone for a fantastic time! Especially Grandma for getting us out there!

Utah Trip (part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:48:00 +0000

We were able to go to Utah last month and I'm just now getting around to writing about it. Who knew life was so busy with 3.5 kids? Whew! We did a lot, and I'm not going to bore you with a million details. I'm mainly breaking up the posting of our vacation because it's late and I'm too tired to post all the pictures.

So, for now here's our first day there. The kids and I flew out a week before Tyler. We were SO SO SO lucky enough to meet up with some of the best friends I've ever have. They were in Utah to photograph a wedding and their last day there was my first day there. OK, so I begged them to stay until I got there so I could see them. And they are so crazy awesome that they obliged. Thank you so much - I love you!

We just met up for dinner at the local Chuck-A-Rama.

Sherrie and I have both had another baby girl since the last time we saw each other, so this was their first meeting.

All our kids together.

Ethan and Ali. He was totally willing to hold her hand as we tried to get them to reenact this shot,

but Ali was a little shy. Look how tiny they were! They don't remember how much they liked each other. Oh, well.

Anyway, it was a fabulous meeting and I can't wait to do it again. Only maybe next time, Eliza won't have a blow-out diaper all over her clothes and mine. That part was not so fabulous. Memorable, but not fabulous. We stayed out in the parking lot talking until probably almost 9:00, not getting the kids in bed until after 10:00. Salt Lake time. That's after midnight our time. Thankfully, no one was super-super cranky and it was well worth the craziness.

Now I've got to get to bed. More to come on our trip. Soon, hopefully.

Graduation Congratulations

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:19:00 +0000

This is the Brown School of Radiology Class of 2011. Only 7 students accepted into this program this year, and all of them graduated. Most importantly, Tyler graduated. (He's the 2nd from the left)

Two years ago I read this scripture when he was accepted into the program because I thought it applied to us at the time:

"And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness, and they fasted much and ^aprayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them... And it came to pass that the Lord did ^avisit them with his ^bSpirit, and said unto them: Be ^ccomforted. And they were comforted." -Alma 17:9-10

But now reading it over again, I realize how much more it applies to us. The past two years have certainly felt like passing through the wilderness. I spent most of the first year pregnant with two small children at home to take care of while Tyler was gone on average 14 hours a day. Most weeks the kids would only see him 3 days of that week because he was gone before they got up and home after they went to bed. I went by myself to a lot of things.

Then the second year he was able to start working at the hospital doing x-rays, but working later hours. Again, he was gone an average of 14-16 hours a day. Add that up. He was literally only home to sleep. Now I'm dealing with two young children and a newborn. Mostly by myself.

Yet, somehow, the burden was not too heavy. Tyler was able to do well through school and keep his grades up. I was able to quickly adapt to 3 kids (much faster than I did to 2). Many, many nights I felt the Lord did visit me with his Spirit and said to me, "Be comforted." And I was.

We made a lot of lifestyle changes that we would not have otherwise made that have brought us so much joy and a deeper understanding of this life. I am thankful for the lessons I have learned, for the strong woman I've discovered myself to be and the opportunities that have presented themselves for us. I am thankful for the unending help I have received - both the seen and the unseen.

Thank you all for your support, your prayers, your fasting, your faith, your inviting us to dinner (Johnsons especially- so the kids and I didn't have to eat alone every night. Gosh, I miss you all), your love and encouragement, your financial help (so we were able to make it through debt free), your phone calls, your babysitting, and for letting me use your shower (and curling my hair), Cari, because our power went out the day of graduation. We owe you all so much and hope that somehow we can repay you all for all your kindness.

Now, for some pictures. I sadly discovered when I pulled out my camera to start clicking away that I had no memory card. I took it out after my last photo session and forgot to replace it, so all I have are these pics from my mother-in-law's blackberry. If any of you who were there have some others, I'd love to have them, please. :)

Tyler and his dad

Tyler, Kirk and some of the kids

Eliza grabbed for his boutonniere right as she took the picture.

Can you tell Cade's excited?

My Latest Photo Shoot

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 02:29:00 +0000

I went in and had some pictures taken today.

Baby #4 expected to make its big debut January 2, 2012.

We can't wait. :)

Father's Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:24:00 +0000

We had a really fun Father's Day yesterday. I don't have a ton of time to share all the details, but I did want to post some pictures of the presents we gave.

I had each of the kids who could draw something recognizable draw a picture of themselves with Tyler, then had my in-laws put it on a shirt. The results? Fabulous.

This is Ali's. Her big brother taught her how to draw real people. Not like a 3-year-old draws them with the legs and arms coming straight out of their heads, but giving them bodies. Apparently the two of them are flying together. And they have bug bites on their faces, she told me.

Here is Cade's. Can you tell what's going on here? They are milking a goat together. And I was going to make Cade correct "Dabs," but dang, I like it that way.

Additions to Mitchell Acres

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sat, 21 May 2011 01:59:00 +0000

We've been quite busy down here on our little farm. This week has been especially exciting.

On Monday, Tyler's birthday present came in the mail.

The queen is inside this candy-coated container. The drones (male bees) will basically eat her out of there to ensure that they will accept her since they had to fight for her. Almost romantic, isn't it? Almost.

The guards are getting set up and establishing their new home. You can't get a feel for it in the picture, but bees were flying everywhere. It was crazy awesome. Mostly crazy. But a lot of awesome, too.

Then this morning as we were getting ready to eat breakfast we saw this little site outside.

One of our hens went broody (or, got those motherly instincts and laid on her eggs without leaving them except for a rare bite to eat or a quick drink) a few weeks ago. We've had ducks go broody before, but nothing ever came of it, so we weren't sure what to expect. Hallelujah! Eight brand new little chicks! The best part? We didn't have to run the incubator and we don't have to run the heat lamp. Mother Nature is taking care of it all. And we have enough other hens that kept laying eggs for us to gather while she's gone all motherly (when they go broody they stop laying for a couple months).

After we saw the chicks we ran inside to finish our breakfast when a truck pulled up in the driveway with our two new sheep in the back! We were up to 11 goats and couldn't afford to keep feeding them so when the opportunity to trade some of our goats for sheep came up, we took it. Sheep just need grass, a salt lick and water (unless they're pregnant or you want to get some great wool from them). So this will save us a bundle and we get to still have some cool animals.

The brownish, patchy one is the female (a katahdin). She has hair, not wool. She's shedding. The black and white one behind her is a Jacob ram. He's a wool sheep. We are quite excited about it! Next year he should be ready to shear, so we'll go get a lesson or two on how to do that.

But not to worry - we didn't get rid of all our goats. We still have our 4 kids (for sale), plus 3 adults (2 of which are for sale). And one of them actually gives us milk. We couldn't get close to any of our original nanny goats to milk them, but a few weeks ago an amazing opportunity came up for us to get a Lamancha (a dairy goat breed) for a GREAT price from some great people, so we did it. Not expecting to be able to milk her right away, we were very surprised when we picked her up and told the people our plans for her. They said, "Well, we actually just sold her kid a while ago and even though he was probably too old to still be nursing, he was, so she still has some milk. You could probably try milking her right away!" So we did. And she did.

I did have a picture, but it's gone. Sorry. Anyway, since then we've been milking her twice a day. Tyler in the wee hours of the morning before he goes to school and, yes, I milk her, too. Most nights because Tyler doesn't get home until very, very late. He's better at it, though. I'm getting there. We get about 1 to 1 1/2 cups a day from her.

So - if anyone wants to come take a field trip and see this cool factory of life we have going on over here, just let us know!

April in Review

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sun, 01 May 2011 02:25:00 +0000

April is a very busy month for us. Three of the five people in our little family have birthdays this month. Not to mention all the extended family birthdays. And Easter. So, here are a few of the highlights.

First was my birthday.

I made our traditional cheesecake that Tyler and I share every year. His birthday is just a few days after mine, so we eat half of it on my birthday and save the rest for his. You can think we're lame for that. We don't care.

My wonderfully awesome father-in-law got me a GUITAR. I am so excited. Tyler and I had talked about wanting to learn to play, but knew it would have to wait until he was done with school, but Tyler's dad was so excited about it he went and got one for me! I have been building up the callouses on my fingertips and can play a few little children's songs. Not very fast, mind you. I usually only play at night after the kids are in bed because I can't play fast enough for them to enjoy it yet. Except for "Are You Sleeping?"

(Frère Jacques). It's only one chord.

Next was Tyler's birthday.

Yeah. 30.

Most of my friends' husbands are turning 30 and everyone seems to be throwing big parties. I thought and thought about throwing a party for Tyler, but then I thought, "Is that really something he'd want?" What he really loves is our time together. So instead of a party, the kids went and stayed the night at Uncle Layne's and Aunt Lorrie's while we rented a hotel room and spent the evening out. It was SO FUN to just get out, go see a movie, go to dinner, go shopping, get dessert - and not have to worry about what time it was! There was no rushing back to get kids to bed. Or to wake us up in the morning. And we realized we hadn't had a night alone together since Cade was born. It was amazingly refreshing to get to know each other again and I highly recommend it to everyone.

The next festivities - Easter.

I'm lame and forgot to get dye for eggs, so we just colored on them with crayons instead. It was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but still fun. And memorable.

While we colored the eggs we talked about why we have eggs at Easter. Eggs symbolize life. We dye them because, traditionally, they were dyed red to remember what Christ has done for us.

The week of Easter we learned about the last week of Christ's life and did some sort of activity to go along with it (like making palm leaves when we talked about the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, making oil lamps out of clay when talking about the parable of the ten virgins, etc.). This Easter has been my absolute FAVORITE. It was so Christ-centered. Easter morning we read a book about the Resurrection then made Resurrection Rolls. I had made each of the kids a little bunny out gloves (sorry, no pictures of that) and got them an egg of M&Ms, so we gave them that as kind of an afterthought. We don't do the Easter Bunny (or any other mythical being that mysteriously leaves surprises for small children), so they knew it was from us. Just a gift for a special day. There was no shouting or ungratefulness. It was a nice, quiet, reverent morning. I hope that we can continue that kind of feeling in Easters to come. :)

Here are the kiddos in their Easter outfits. They've actually been wearing them for a while because they're so cute.

Later we did an Easter egg hunt at Aunt Lorrie's. Eliza took off and ran after this giant egg. JACKPOT! Oh, wait. That's a softball.

Checking out their loot. Eliza's basket was tiny and could only hold about 4 eggs, so Cade and Ali helped her. And then she helped them eating their jelly beans.

A few days later was Cade's birthday.

Here is another reason I love homeschooling. We didn't have to rush in the morning and send Cade off to school (where they had a bomb-threat that day, I might add), wait for him to come home and spend a little time singing "Happy Birthday," eat a piece of cake and send him off to bed.

Instead, we had chocolate pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles for breakfast. We sang "Happy Birthday" and then watched the video of his birth (like we do with all the kids on their birthdays).

We found a turtle (actually the day before) and played with it.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese.

We had green eggs and ham for dinner. Yes, he picked that. We make our eggs green by blending them in the blender with spinach. Add a little milk, cheese, salt, pepper and tarragon and you have one delicious recipe for green eggs.

My grandma even flew in to see the kids for his birthday.

Not every day is a party when you homeschool. But the nice thing is, is that some days just are. And most of the other ones just feel like it.

Today we went to "Local Fest" which is a big festival for all things local. Food, bands, art - whateva. We got to pet this llama that came from a place here that does yarn from their wool. It was unbelievably soft.

After Local Fest, we had Cade's party with a few friends. He wanted an Amazon Rain Forest party. I tried my hardest, and the M&Ms weren't my original idea for the leaves on those Kit-Kat trees, but it worked and Cade liked it.

We had chocolate icing for the forest floor, the blue M&Ms for the Amazon River, green ones for the giant lily pads in the River and the understory and Kit-Kat bars for trees. The other kids didn't really care what it looked like, but I heard no complaints about all that chocolate candy on top.

To top it all off, we got to see this 13-Year Cicada. They only come around every 13 years. Who knew by the name, right? If I remember correctly, they only live in this part of the country. So, a rarity in deed!

Eliza's 1-year-old Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 03:06:00 +0000

I finally did Eliza's pictures for her first year. Check out some of my favorites!

http://aprilmitchell.blogspot.com/2011/04/eliza-one-year.html

Perfect Storm

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:57:00 +0000

What do you get when you take your kids to a huge, beautiful field when it's moments from a thunderstorm?

Some pretty awesome pictures.

(A little overexposed, but I like the golden color contrasted so sharply against the black sky.)

It was absolutely gorgeous light. The clouds were big and dark, but the sun would still shine through at times. We were only hit with about 3 raindrops. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but alas, Super Cade wanted to go shirtless to show off his stunning physique and got a little chilly in the wind.

We will be seeing a lot of this field in the future.

Thanks to those of you who came to photo group today. If you're interested in coming next time, please let me know!

Atlanta Temple Open House

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 03:25:00 +0000

For those of you who don't know, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is having an Open House for the Atlanta Temple. Normally, only members of the Church holding special recommends are allowed to enter these holy places. There are a few times that everyone is invited to come and take a walk through these beautiful places, however. Before a temple is dedicated when it is first finished is one of these times; another is if it needs to be rededicated for some reason - like after major renovations.

The Atlanta Temple has been closed for almost 2 years for renovations and is finally ready to be opened again! We took this rare opportunity to take the kids down so they could see what a temple is like on the inside. It was beautiful. The chandeliers were the most captivating to me.

They did have fun, I promise. The grass felt good on bare feet, but it was a little more scratchy when you sit in it.

I want to get each of their pictures in front of the temple printed to have in their room to remind them of their experience. We sat down yesterday and I asked them questions about our trip to the temple so I could write it down for them to help remember. I'll share it here because I thought it was cute.

What was your favorite part of the temple?

Cade: "I liked being in that Heaven Room. It was my favorite one. It was the most beautiful room." (The Celestial Room)

Ali: "All the pretty parts."

How did you feel in the temple?

Cade: "It was good. Very, very good."

Ali: "The things on my shoes. They hurted. And I was sad because I couldn't go in that water." (They make you put little plastic slippers on over your shoes so you don't dirty the carpet. The water she was talking about was the baptismal font. I reminded her when she is old enough she can go in the water and asked how that made her feel. She said, "Happy!")

Is there anything else you want to remember about the temple?

Cade: "Yes. When I went in. It felt...mmmm.... good. And when I went out of the temple. I felt bad because I was leaving the temple and I wanted to stay in it."

I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who gives us a way to be a family forever and not just until death separates us. I am grateful I could take my children there and let them feel the love and the Spirit that is there and the spiritual experience we had together there.

Happy Birthday, Eliza!

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:05:00 +0000

My baby is one. Cade says we can't call her "baby" anymore, but she's still my baby.

She was not sure what we were doing, but she was pretty curious about the cake with fire on it.

It took her a little time to get into the cake, but once everyone else was finished with their dessert, she dug right in. We did a combined birthday party with her cousin, Samantha who had a birthday the week before.

We opened presents and she just loved her baby. She's patting its back.

My mom flew in town for the big occasion and we decided to drive up to North Carolina to visit my great-grandparents who recently moved there from West Virginia. It's been a few years since we've seen them and wanted to take the opportunity to have a 5-generation picture taken.

Me, Eliza, my mom, my grandpa, my great-grandmother and granddad, and of course Ali and Cade in the front.

They moved to be closer to one of their daughters to help take care of them and for help in taking care of their home. It was heart-breaking for them to leave their (BEAUTIFUL) home of 44 years, but their new back patio is very similar to their old house. The kids liked climbing the gate.

We stayed with my aunt Nicka. I love her house. It is full of history and fun antique things with a story. The high chair we used for Eliza was my Uncle Tom's grandfather's chair he used as a baby. She wasn't positive on the date of it, but guessed it to be from the 1880's. Wow.

We drove home on Tuesday just in time to open more presents and go out to Fatz for a birthday dinner. They even gave Eliza a strawberry sundae. 3 scoops of Breyer's ice cream and strawberries... Yummy.

She really wanted it, but turns out the ice cream was just too cold for her liking. So the rest of us were obligated to help her finish it.

Thanks to everyone for making her day so special!

Easiest Decor Ever

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:25:00 +0000

I am so excited about this "wreath" I just made and HAD to share it!
Materials needed:
-one old frame
-scraps of fabric
-hot glue gun
-paint (optional)

I have wanted a springtime wreath to hang on my front door since forever. I'm just too cheap to spend money on one. I was reading a crafting blog and she made a "wreath" out of paper and it inspired me to do dig out some of my old stuff and give it a new life.

First, the kids helped me throw some paint we had leftover from the living room on an old frame I've had sitting in the closet just waiting for something like this. Then I cut some strips of fabric, rolled them and glued them to look like flowers, glued them on the frame when the paint was dry and then cut some more fabric and wrapped it around the frame to hang it up. Viola!

The only problem now is that I can't decide where to put it. I made it to go outside,

(please ignore the ugly door with chipped paint)

but I love looking at it so much that I moved it inside for a little while and it looks great there, too!

Don't you just love it?!

Valentine's Day and a Visit From the Tooth Fairy

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 04:22:00 +0000

Valentine's Day was great this year. Tyler took a half day off clinic so we could do our annual breakfast at IHOP (long story how that tradition began). Then the kids and I went to a party which was fantastic and helped us get to know some of the new people in our ward a little better. We rushed home to put up the hearts we made for Tyler before he got home (early!), went for a walk and had a nice candlelit dinner of spaghetti with meatballs.

"Wen you get to stay home"

We wrote reasons why we love Tyler on hearts and covered our bathroom mirror with them. These were some of my favorites from the kids.

Spaghetti dinner...

The kids loved it.

Except Eliza. While I was making dinner she crept into the pantry, snuck out an apple and started eating it with all 4 and a half of her teeth. She actually ended up eating most of it.

We had homemade fudge for dessert. Unsweetened baking cocoa, coconut oil and honey. Easiest thing I've ever made. And yummy, too.

Now, I don't know if I mentioned that Cade lost his first tooth recently, but he did. And he lost his second one today. And I lost four last week.

I actually didn't lose them. I had my wisdom teeth pulled out. 3 of them had grown all the way in and the 4th was trying, but it was getting to be a pretty tight fit in there. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Lorrie and the wonderful dentist she works for, I was able to get those removed. It wasn't too bad (other than throwing up all day any time I stood up) and I didn't even swell up like everyone said I would. The biggest bummer is not getting to chew big hearty meals. Oh, well.

When I woke up the next morning the kids heard some rattling under my pillow so we investigated and found a container of gum from the tooth fairy! I can't chew it, but the kids are really enjoying it. And I thought it was pretty cute and nice of the tooth fairy to come visit me.

And, for those wondering the size difference in a baby tooth and a giant, adult molar, check this out:

Of course, these still have the roots on them (and some blood, I know), but that is INCREDIBLE!

Sweet Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (The Mitchells) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:19:00 +0000

For anyone who hasn't asked yet, homeschooling so far is GREAT. I feel like our lives are so much richer. My kids have always gotten along pretty well, but they are amazing together now. They climb into bed with me in the morning and we spend 20 minutes or so reading, then in the afternoon we'll read for another hour or two. They like to surprise me by going and making breakfast (or at least getting all the food out). They beg me to teach them more and more about so many things. They don't ask to watch movies ( or TV shows) AT ALL. We checked out a Go, Diego, Go! DVD from the library last week, brought it home and have not watched any of it. And they don't care. Instead they play pretend. They like to be Jack and Annie from the Magic Tree House books, or Kurt and Gretl Von Trapp (from The Sound of Music). They like to sing songs from "Annie," like "Tomorrow" or "Hard Knock Life." I am so happy.

This week Cade wanted to open a restaurant. He wanted to call it the Sweet Pizza Restaurant because the pizza we make every Friday is so sweet, he says.

So Monday was the menu and sign preparation. He wanted to label everything. He made a sign to go on the door of what the restaurant was called. He made a sign for the bathroom (Ali helped with that one). He made signs for the other rooms in our house where we didn't want people going. He made an exit sign and even a handicapped parking spot. He thought of these on his own. I had no idea children were so observant.

Tuesday we made the desserts. Chocolate cupcakes with star sprinkles and little mini cheesecakes. Cade thought up the whole menu on his own and we made sure we had the food we were offering. The pizza was made hot and fresh today.

Today was the grand opening. It was great. We had a friend come over and it was so fun to see Cade get in character to wait on everyone.

Can you tell which one Ali did? That girl is Rapunzel.

Our "do not enter" signs for the bedrooms.

If you notice, sweetest pizza, cheesecake with chocolate and chocolate cupcakes are all $1. This is so everyone can buy it because it is so yummy. The pickled pepper sandwich (which is actually a wrap and actually very tasty) was $20. He's never had it before.

Handicapped parking: