Looking Back April Edition

so i have occasionally done "What we learned....." with emily p. freeman here on the blog

i thought i would do a looking back on each month.

i am sure it will be filled with things i have learned and things i have done but i wanted to keep it a looking back post to try and start being better a blogging and writing and keeping track of what is going on in our lives at this time.

April started with Easter Sunday. I can't think of  a better way to start a month. 

Easter is my Hubby's favorite holiday to celebrate. We went to church and then took the kids out for brunch.

Easter 2017

Easter 2016

Easter 2015

before Christmas i bought a letterboard for my coffee bar

my sister sent me a text because she saw it on ig and was mad that i bought one because she had bought me one for my birthday in December. She said that she would just keep it for herself and has posted come pretty funny letterboards on her ig account.

in April this is the only one i posted and put on ig.

sometime i have some other funny ones at the #andyletterboard

but this month we kept it coffee related.

I got to attend a field trip to Montgomery with my oldest. We took a charter bus to the state capital and toured The Civil Rights Museum, Old town, The Capital and A museum. For lunch we did a river boat cruise.

Posted this photo on ig with this caption....."It's not kids moving but ripples.

Beautiful fountain memorial from the field trip i went on with my son. '....until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.' -Martain Luther King Jr. May our lives make ripples that affect others for good."

I had a friend call for me to keep her kids for her to attend a meeting. Her boys watched a new movie but her girls had a great time playing with Little Girls toys. Her youngest was fascinated with doing the dolls hair and getting them dresses. I noticed after helping her get her baby dressed that she put a pretend lip stick in the dolls pocket. she isn't wearing pants but she's got her rain boots, jacket and lipstick.  all a girl needs right!?!?

The school had Muffins for moms this month as well. We ended up holding up the wall this year with some friends. It was the most moms we have ever seen at Muffins for moms. it was great but very crowded, which seems like a good problem.

 The kids had a half day in April so we headed for the Lakehouse to see Honey and Bear

It was a fun weekend. Golden Boy caught a few fish and Mom did an Easter egg hunt for the kids even though it was a few weeks past Easter. We don't turn down the fun of an egg hunt though.

  

I have been communicating with a lady on Etsy about a weighted blanket for Golden boy. here is what i wrote about it on instagram......."There were years where I wondered if he could benefit from a weighted blanket. I would think about it but never really act. He doesn't seem to have a problem sleeping but likes pressure on him and night time can be an exhausting time where a weighted blanket could be beneficial. I am so thankful to have found the sweetest lady who communicated with me back and forth and answered all my questions and made this beautiful blanket. He picked the fabric after visiting hobby lobby and the colors."

Here is the link to the etsy page that i purchased the Weighted blanket from. Nancy was wonderful and very helpful.

We walked for my nephew and his daily fight with Type 1 diabeties.

Little Girl lost tooth #3

A field trip with Little Girl

And Camping with friends

Lastly the books that i read in April:

Miracle on the 17th Green by James Patterson and Peter deJonge

A Name Unknown by Roasnna M White

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Crossed by Ally Condie

If I Run by Terri Blackstock

The Christmas Wedding James Patterson

If I'm Found by Terri Blackstock

Wow 7 books. I had no idea. Yay. on my way to 52 in a year, i may even surpass it. I have a list of books that i have read every year since 2006 on the blog but i have been writing them down in a  notebook since 2004

If you want to see the list from last year it is here and at the bottom of that post there is a list from every year dating back to 2006.

April was a pretty eventful and GREAT month.

What I learned in July....

i  have only done this for the past few months but it has been fun. Check out more about the What i learned posts on Emily's blog and link up there.

1. how much i love all-inclusive vacations and can't believe it has taken me this long to go on one.
My hubby and I went to Cancun this month to celebrate our 14 years of being married. (yeah, we are weird like that, we celebrate strange years)

2. celebrating my sons birthday with a camping trip was fabulous and so much fun
the past few years we have been doing combined birthday parties for the kids but this year since we did a paint party for little girl we asked golden boy what he wanted to do. he said camping. he wanted us to rent a camper but we took my nephew and two nieces and we just weren't all going to fit in a pop up camper. (which was the only thing that our van could have pulled) it was a quick weekend but I think that the kids had a fantastic time.

3. i have good genes or so we have been told. I posted this picture on my dads 60th birthday and it was commented two or three time how they want whatever my parents are taking. this picture is straight off of my phone.  no editing. my parents don't look even close to 60.

here is a picture of the originals.
My little sister, mom, me and my dad
we got to spend some time together, just the four of us, the last weekend of the month. it was my dads 60th birthday

here are my other links:

June

May

March

What I learned May

That i can paint: my friend Kelly invited me to a paint party. I have only ever been to one other of these. it was strange going but overall i think we both did pretty good and now we can say we are painters.

here is the before. the instructor sketched a bit of a layout so we knew where and when we were painting

here are the two of us in different stages of our painting

here is another stage of my picture

trees added

i didn't like my swirls. they looked weird to me

the finished product

and both of us with our finished paintings

WE ARE ARTISTS!

that i could be a farm girl: I went on a field trip with my daughters class to a local farm. fully functioning farm and I love every single but of it. I even got to milk a cow.

that we can have chickens (we will see if that happens): In keeping with the above farm theme I found out that we can indeed have chickens. I am hoping that works out.

that camping continues to be my favorite: this was the second year that we went camping with my parents and had a lot of fun. we added another day to the trip so that made it nice too. we ate some great food and went on a nice hike. and of course when Bear and Golden boy are together there is going to be fishing.

I am still in love with steel city pops: last year when i found our we were getting a steel city pops i wrote this post about all of the flavors that I wanted to try. (really i just want to try them all) but this month i had my first Popsicle of the summer, Avocado. it was amazing and reminded me oh how i love Steel City Pops. my other post lists some that i still have not tried but to add to the list here are a few more:

Cherry Sour Cream

Blood Orange

Champagne White Tea

Lavender Lemonade

Mango

Raspberry Lemon

Strawberry Balsamic

this is the last month that I will have a five year old: how did we get to this point. I mean wasn't is just yesterday that she was born.

Adventure 44

So we took the kids camping this weekend but this adventure is not going to be about the camping trip, it is more going to be about a specific event on our camping trip.

while camping we made a trip into Gatlinburg. we were going there to trick or treat with the kids. we went trick or treating 6 years ago. I blogged about that trip here

we went trick or treating on the strip (we didn't even know that they did trick or treating there, and we had so much fun) my hubby has been saying that when Halloween fell on a Saturday again he wanted to make a trip there. this was the year. again that isn't the adventure that I want to blog about, but hopefully I will get around to blogging those pictures.

the adventure that I want to post is out adventure on the ski lift.

we honeymooned in Gatlinburg, we have been to Gatlinburg many, many times since we have been married, but I can never remember riding this ski lift. I texted with my mom asking her if we had and she thought that we had but my dad couldn't remember ever going on it so my mom said that maybe it was there when she was a girl and she remembers going on it from when she was little.

the kids wanted to go on it do badly. we were not going to go because the price was insane. $55 for all four of us to go.

granny and papa had given them $10 each so we told them that if they really wanted to go that they could put the $10 up for the ride.

there was no hesitation, they were ready to ride it.

we paid the money and got on. Little girl rode with me and Golden boy rode with Michael.

it wasn't until I got on and there was no getting off the I was a little freaked. to be honest going up wasn't all that bad but I had my arm wrapped around Little girl and she was gripping on to me as well.

we went over the river

and then after paying the $55 to ride it when we got to the top they wanted us to buy a photo that they took of us as we were coming up the mountain.

um, no thanks

but the view on top was beautiful

I put the camera round little girls neck and had her snap this picture of us

then it was time to go down. if I thought going up was bad this was worse

my hubby asked me if I could turn around and snap a picture of he and Golden boy.

UM, NO WAY!!!! not happenin'

I told him that when we got lower I would try and snap one.

this was my attempt to hold up the camera and try to get a picture of the two of them.

FAIL!

I had a death grip on the side pole

little girl decided that she didn't want my arm around her and that she didn't want to hold onto me either.

WHAT!?!?!

I was crazy scared, it would have been a comfort to have my arm around her, but I let her sit untouched.

she did occasionally reach up and hold on to the bar.

here we were pretty close to the bottom and I turned around and got his picture of the two of them

here are the ones from my phone