Easter Dinner

We shared a delicious dinner with our friends, Lou, Brian & Michelle and the kids. I made ham, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rice pilaf and broccoli. Tom baked some yummy bread, and Michelle brought some gingerbread and chai.  It was a great night.

Michelle, Brian, Tom and Lou enjoy the meal.  If you look closely, you'll see yellow name cards on the table. Kelly wanted to make these.

The kids enjoyed their meal at the coffee table.

Dressed Up for Easter

Before heading to church Sunday morning I made Kelly pose for a few pictures. The sun was in our eyes, but the flowers were so pretty....

Praise Report

Many of you know that we have been waiting for Tom's new assignment, as his job in Coronado is coming to an end.  Well, today we finally found out that Tom will be assigned to Miramar. He will have to commute, but we will be able to stay in Oceanside!  God is so good and we are ecstatic about the news. Thank you to all who have been praying for us. God answers prayers!

Balboa Park

Tuesday was free museum day at Balboa Park, so we headed down to San Diego with our friends. Even though the Museum of Natural History was packed (spring break is in full swing), we managed to have a good time.  Tom was even able to "escape" from work for a little while to meet us at the park.  We also checked out the botanical gardens and ate lunch at the Spreckels Amphitheater.  It was a fun, though exhausting day!

Our little girl's getting so big!

Annie, Kelly and Emma are great buddies.

Couldn't help but post this picture of Tom pointing to the sign.

He sure is fabulous!!! (at least I think so!)

Tom explains how the swinging pendulum works when we were at the Museum of Natural History.

"Lemonade"

On Wednesday Kelly's second grade class performed the musical, "Lemonade".  It's a cute story about a bunch of fairy tale characters who are having a bad day.  Kelly played the part of Little Bo Peep and Jack's mother.

You can see Chicken Little and Little Red Riding Hood on either side of Kelly. There's also Mother Goose, Rapunzel and some piggies on the right.

Our Little Performer

Kelly did a great job with her lines, but our shy girl would not look up while she was speaking or singing.

The music teacher, Mrs. Ward told us how hard our little performers worked to learn their parts.

St. Patty's Day Feast (a few days early)

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day a few days early since the holiday falls on a weekday.  Our friends, Lou, Brian and Michelle, Rob and Kristin and everyone's kids came over Sunday night for food and fellowship.  There were 14 of us altogether!

You can't celebrate St. Patty's Day without some corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots! We cooked everything in a gigantic pressure cooker.  It took less than 2 hours and was still so tender.

We didn't have enough seating, so the adults sat at one table, the kids at the coffee table.  From left going clockwise-Tom, Lou, Kristin, Rob, Brian, Michelle, Mandi.  Maddie didn't want to be in the picture, so she was the photographer.

The kids' table-Kelly, Evelyn, Emma, Andrew (being silly, as usual!), Annie and Jedidiah.

Awana

Kelly's been attending Awana for about a month now, and tonight she earned her second jewel! For those of you who aren't familiar with Awana, it's like Bible club or vacation bible school all year round. The kids have relays or games and Bible class.  Each week they recite Bible verse(s) that they've memorized, and after they've finished a section of their book, they earn a jewel. Kelly's whizzing through her book and is constantly reciting verses.  Right now she's working on the New Testament.  Boy, I sure wish I could remember as much as this kid!

Here she is showing off her new vest.

The set of wings was the first thing she earned. Then she earned the red jewel.  Tonight she received the green one.

On Friday Kelly's school had Dr. Seuss Day. The kids in Kelly's class made foot puppets, played Dr. Seuss bingo and decorated hats with chocolate icing, cheese spray, pretzels and goldfish.  I helped with the activities.

I read The Foot Book and then the kids traced their feet and decorated them.

Here's Kelly tracing her foot.

Here's her finished foot.

This was the chocolate icing, cheese spread activity.

Kelly's teacher, Mrs. Gelvin read Horton Hears a Who to the class before snack.

Fishing on the Pier

On Sunday night we went fishing with the Selings on the Oceanside Pier. There weren't a lot of bites, but the kiddos (and the dads) had a great time. Little Annie was the only one to hook a fish.

Kelly was very excited to be going fishing.

She even touched the anchovy bait.

Tom had to give her a hand.

She's waiting patiently and she's cold.  The evening was brisk and windy.

A nighttime shot of the pier.

Awana Drive-In Movie Nite

Kelly just started going to Awana with her friends, Annie and Emma on Tuesday nights.  This Tuesday they had a special drive-in movie night.  Each of the kids decorated a box and made it into a vehicle so they could sit in it during the movie.

Tom and Kelly worked hard to make her VW.  Here's what it looked like while they worked on it.

Here it is on Awana night.  Kelly even won a prize for her car.

Here is a rear view of the car.  Notice the Maine license plate!

Tom even took apart instrument clusters to put in the car.

Here are all the Awana kids with their cars.

Tom surprised me with a new digital camera for my birthday.  It is the Nikon D40, and boy, do I love it!  I still have a lot to learn about using it, but I've already taken tons of pictures with it. Below are 2 shots I took for fun.

Valentine's Day

On Saturday we visited Bass Pro Shops up in Rancho Cucamonga.  The store is full of fishing, boating, camping, and hunting equipment. It is very similar to Cabela's, but bigger. We also celebrated V-day with dinner at their restaurant. It was a fun day!

This is the front of the store.

This is the restaurant which is attached to the store.

This is the second level of the front of the store.

We had to rest our weary legs after looking at the entire store.

Kelly sits at the pond and checks out the raccoons.  There were all kinds of stuffed wildlife throughout the store.

Kelly shows off the alligator she was eating.

It's a little blurry, but it's the only "couple" shot I have from the day.

Another Birthday Comes and Goes

Mandi's 32nd Birthday

On Friday night we celebrated my birthday with a yummy chocolate cake.

Happy Valentine's Day

Kelly went to school yesterday dressed in her Valentine's Day outfit.  They didn't have a party, but exchanged Valentines before the end of the day.  I did a craft with her class to make heart pins.

Here's Kelly making her heart pin.

Kelly loved her Valentine present from Mimi.  It was a pajama set that she and her American Girl doll, Felicity could wear.  Thank you, Mimi!