April Days . . .

April 1: It was my turn to drive the girls to acting. Henry and I went to get some Jeni's ice-cream and to hang out at The Factory to pass the time.

April 2: It was just a nice day at home hanging out together.

April 3: We had church and then Evie and I went to Ms. Hasting's wedding shower. Evie has loved this teacher although she is not her first grade teacher. It was a fun party to celebrate this sweet lady!

April 4: Henry's friend Matthew came home with us after school.

April 5: Evie showed her Master's pride with her bright pink shirt for PE.

April 6: Happy Birthday, Uncle Ben! Henry and Evie requested a "bowl" dinner. They love this and it is so easy for me. I just put different foods in bowls for them to eat: carrots, apples, strawberries, pieces of chicken, cashews, hummus etc.

April 7: Henry started his new month of swimming lessons with his friend Henry from church. We made dinner for a family with a new baby and then waited for Carl to get home. He had a delayed flight but he made it!

April 8: Eddie came over to play with Henry and then Evelyn came over to babysit. Evie was thrilled to have Evelyn babysit. She lives in our neighborhood and is the sister of one of our favorite sitters. Carl and I went to Fleming's to celebrate our friend Elizabeth's birthday. It was a super fun night!

April 9: We hosted a confirmation party at our house for three members of our small group that were confirmed last week. Carl grilled pork tenderloin and we had a chocolate cake from Costco. Everyone brought a side. It was an easy night of entertaining! 40 people but lots of fun!

April 10: Evie and I had a little date for some girl time. Of course, she picked Starbucks!

April 11: I walked the trails with my friend Wendy and caught up around the house after the busy weekend.

April 12: Henry had some warts frozen off and was super brave. Dr. B was impressed with my little buddy. Henry requested the appointment so I knew he really wanted these warts off his sweet little feet.

April 13: Phaedra and I went to Comfy Cow to sample ice-cream for our Earth Day Family Fun Night at Evie's school. That was a fun perk - we settled on chocolate, vanilla, cookies and cream, birthday cake, coffee and strawberry. YUMMY!

April 14: Henry and I ran some errands and then we went to Chick fil A. We saw the Oscar Mayer Wiener mobile at Kroger. Henry was a big fan but he does not care for hot dogs.

April 15: I went to a brunch welcoming a new family to the area. Evie has become fast friends with the little girl, Avery. They just moved here in March and moved in across the street from Evie's friend Sarah that moved to Alabama. Avery took Sarah's spot in their classroom. Avery's mom, Mindy, is so nice and it was a fantastic morning with sweet friends. I had to leave early to volunteer in Evie's classroom but could have stayed all day! Henry and I had a nice afternoon together while Evie was gone to acting class. It's such a long day for her because she is gone from 8:00 AM until 6:30 PM but she really enjoys the class.

April 16: We went to Comfy Cow for ice-cream! Everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Carl grilled out and we had a nice dinner outside enjoying the weather.

April 17: Church in the morning and then I had book club for the neighborhood. We read Wonder and it was a superb read. It will become one of those books that middle schoolers across America read as part of their required reading. We had a fantastic discussion! Give this book a whirl if you have not already.

April 18: I walked the trails with Wendy to celebrate her birthday! Then, I had tons of work to do for Family Fun Night at the school. We enjoyed dinner outside to soak in every second of this beautiful day!

April 19:  Henry had a dentist appointment and then we met a friend for birthday lunch and pedicures. Henry went to play with his friend Henry that afternoon too. Evie's friend Avery came over for a playdate after school. The two girls came out of the school holding hands - so sweet!

April 20: It was first grade lunch day! We met at a new restaurant and enjoyed our last lunch together. I will miss these friends but hope to continue this with next years class. It builds so much community within the classroom to really get to know the other parents and children in the classroom. I am going to be Room Parent Coordinator for the school next year so hopefully this is something I can get going within the school.

April 21: Henry and I had a nice day together - lunch at Chick Fil A then a bike ride to the park. Evie had her first grade program BUGZ. It was super cute and countless people have told me that Evie knew the moves to her "I'm a Lady" song - I agree! It was fun to see her embracing her role on stage.
Henry had fun with his friend Eddie during the play.

April 22: It was a busy day preparing for Family Fun Night. Phaedra and I were beyond thrilled for it to be over. It has become difficult to plan school functions because of the all rules and regulations with large school districts. We are one and done with big school functions. After dozens of certificates of insurance, food truck vendor issues, lack of volunteers and numerous change of dates - it just a lot for a couple of moms to put together. I will pitch in next year when other moms plan the event but it was way more work than we anticipated. We had a terrific time and the administration at our school were amazing to work with - the principal was our bingo caller, the assistant principal helped us with obtaining district support and the PTO president volunteered to help us decorate. Lots of fun that night but so glad to cross that off our list.

April 23: We enjoyed a relaxing morning at home after a busy night! Emily Anne came to babysit early that afternoon so we could escape for a long date. It was so nice to have lots of time away and the kids enjoyed having their favorite sitter. We went to the Waves of Grace fundraiser that night. It was a silent auction and we won lots of cool stuff. Carl gets excited at these things and wrote our name down on anything that looked interesting. We are the proud new owners of all kinds of goodies but the money supports respite care for cancer patients and their families. We are happy to support such an important organization and so proof of our friends Jenn and Katie for their hard work with this organization!

April 24: We had church and then walked through the Main Street Festival. Evie and Henry picked a smoothie as their treat and it was a gorgeous day to hang outside. Evie and Henry may have had to write some sentences for using potty words in the car when we got home. It worked though because there have been no potty words all week! Carl took the kids swimming while I worked out at the YMCA.

April 25: It was a super busy day! I met Olympia to discuss my new PTO role for next year then went to an essential oil class and then to church to work on the nursery project. It was a terrific day!

April 26: Henry and I had a fun day together. He went to Matthew's house for a playdate that afternoon and I had some quality time with Evie at Starbucks. See she really is obsessed with the place! Evie worked on her spy skills when Henry got home. She was concerned that our neighbors had something weird going on and she was out there with her spy notebook taking copious notes. Hysterical!

April 27: I did some followup work for Family Fun Night at the school and then caught up around the house. Evie and Henry had a playdate with the neighbors! I spent the afternoon reading my book club book.

April 28: Evie had a field trip to Gentry's Farm. Henry went to Let it Shine camp so I could go with Evie. It was a really fun day working on map skills, using a compass, hunting for bugs, hiking and planting flowers. We spent the entire day outside even once both kiddos were home. I was still trying to finish my book. It was book club night and I was down to the wire. Carl got home early and I finished my book. Book was What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman and it was not my favorite. Very similar to Gone Girl but I am beginning to tire of that genre. It was still fun to discuss the book and spend time together. I am loving this book club so much.

April 29: Happy Birthday, Ipop! It was my last day volunteering in Evie's class -only 13 days to go! Woo Hoo . . . I LOVE summer and am excited for a break from such a rigorous schedule. It was my turn to drive the girls and it was a doozie. Groups of three girls can be hard and it is a difficult situation because Evie has been friends with Leah since they were one and Molly is new to their crew. I need to figure out some strategies for dealing with all the drama! Henry escaped this week by going to Eddie's to play. We had family game night and pizza so the night was not a complete loss.

April 30: We went to the 25th Anniversary of Evie's school. The organizers did a terrific job and it was fun to see so many familiar faces and listen to the choir sing 90's songs. Everyone Dance Now was definitely a favorite! Then, we headed to Henry's spring program. Henry loves to sing and was so adorable. We dropped Evie off at Owen's birthday party and then took Henry to lunch at Chick fil A. He sure loves his chicken! We had time for a quick break at home before heading to our small group party. It was a blast even in the rain. The kids swam in the heated pool and the adults enjoyed catching up. It is awesome that my kids are big enough to entertain themselves and I am able to relax at these events. Henry can swim but we still keep his float on him unless our eyes are directly on him. It's so easy for accidents to occur and only one adult was in the water. Evie is a fabulous swimmer and had a ball in the pool because it was so deep. Chris prepared amazing barbecue and then we had smores around the bonfire since it stopped raining. We had such a terrific night! It was good way to wrap up the month of April.