Spring Break 2012

This year marked our family's first-ever spring break. Since we knew the dates of the break well in advance, Matt was able to take his vacation for that week. Here's a break-down of how the week went:

Monday-went up to Arthur to eat lunch at Yoder's...yummy!

Tuesday-headed to St. Louis. We spent the afternoon shopping at The Mills. While I was paying for my awesome deals (FYI...you can use multiple "fast cash" coupons in seperate transactions) at Old Navy, my stupid purse decided to bust. One of the sides busted, thus taking out the zipper. Great. We were heading to the zoo the next day. I needed something, and didn't want to lug my 31 tote...the tote is pretty awesome, but much bigger than what was needed. So after dinner at Golden Corral in Collinsville, we headed to Wal-Mart. The purse selection pretty much sucked, so I ended up buying a $4 backpack in camoflauge. Score ;o)

Wednesday-We went to the zoo! We decided that this time, we would take the metro from Casino Queen to the zoo. Logan loved it! It was a nice ride, and we got to the station "near" the zoo. From there, we decided that instead of riding a bus, we would walk to the zoo. It turned out to be quite the walk for us, since we didn't know (or didn't pay attention) to a short cut. But, we saw some pretty neat sites that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Finally, we made it to the zoo. It was a great day to visit because the weather was a bit cooler. It wasn't busy, we weren't trampled to death by herds of rude school children, and we got to see a lot of animals. We even saw Logan's principal and our friend Christa from Charleston! The guys were pretty excited that I went into the "snake house" with them. We finished up at the zoo and then started to walk back to the station, this time on a shorter route. The walking was a bit much for Logan going back, but he had been a trooper the entire day, so we let it slide ;o)

Checkin the maps

Ready to visit Pete's relatives

Thursday-back in Mattoon. Matt and I decided to have a date night to see American Reunion. So, Logan went for an overnight visit to Poppa Ron and Nana's house. American Reunion was funny, but it made me feel old!

Friday-Matt & I went to Home Depot to purchase paint for the kitchen, along with some gardening things. Then we headed down to Pana to pick up Logan. We had supper at Pizza Man (yum!), then headed back to Mattoon. Considering that this was Friday the 13th, something crappy was bound to happen, right? Sure enough, while driving back to Mattoon, my dad called with the news that my Grandma Greiwe had died that morning. Yes. I was finding out much later because my mom, had found out much later. Surprising? No. Not really.

Saturday-We tackled the kitchen! It was a rainy day, so what else were we going to do, right?  I will say, it looks awesome! Sadly, I am having trouble finding some retro decor, so I think I will just have to order some things. That afternoon Logan and I headed to our friend Addie's 2nd birthday party. It was a rainbow party, and it worked out well that we saw a rainbow that evening! That night, Logan and Daddy decided to have a sleepover in the living room, which meant Mommy had the whole upstairs to herself!

Kitchen with the 2 colors

Sunday-Sunday morning Matt and Logan planted the garden. I finished up in the kitchen. When we left to eat lunch, we saw not one but two snakes in the yard. I seriously think this was a sign from the recently deceased grandparent, who LIKED snakes. I always knew she was weird...Matt took them both out with the handle of a shovel. Why not the actual shovel? Well, he tried...but it flew off. So now I'm on high-alert. That night, our family went to our friend Patrick's 3rd birthday party! It was at EIU's bowling alley and we all had a blast!

Aside from the expected/unexpeted death and all the "drama" it brought, it was a pretty good Spring Break. I had an awesome time with my little family. It was so nice for us to just all be together hanging out.

The blue :o)

Happy Easter

The England family had a very nice, relatively stress-free Easter this year!

The day started off with Logan coming into my bedroom, jumping up on the bed, and saying, "The Easter Bunny is here!" It made me laugh because we rarely talk about the Easter Bunny. I just can't play up the rabbit like I can Santa, and the Easter Bunny just isn't as fun to me. So, I have kinda just let Logan take the lead on it, and he doesn't seem to care as long as he gets something ;o)

Downstairs we went to see what the rabbit left. The basket was sitting on the living room floor surrounded by eggs. Logan pulled out each item and looked at it, then decided to open the eggs, which had dinosaurs in them! I think his favorite thing in the basket was an Imaginext Green Lantern...he promptly had the dinos attacking him.

Then we got ready to head to Mass. I took a few pictures of Logan out in the yard in his Easter-wear. We got to the church about a half-hour early, and Logan did pretty well during the service. It was actually the best he has done in a long time, and I think if we wouldn't have gotten there so early he would have been even better.

After church we headed down to Pana to my parents house. My sister and brother-in-law were there with their new baby Tucker, so we got to celebrate Tucker's first Easter with him. We had lunch, and then my dad hid some eggs for Logan to find in the backyard. Logan had a lot of fun, and insisted on opening every single egg as he found them. Lucky for us there wasn't that many! Then we came inside and Logan opened his presents from Poppa Dan and Grandma Laura and Tucker.

Then we headed into town to my grandparents house for yet another egg hunt! This time Logan had some competition with his cousins Josiah, Dante, Gigi, and Quinton. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or my aunts! After the hunt my grandma sat down at the piano and played awhile. Logan asked for lessons. It was nice to see everyone...I hadn't seen my grandparents and other family since Christmas.

Finally, our last stop was to Matt's parents house, where we visited with them and the GGs. Logan got even more treats. Can you tell this kid is spoiled? It was a good end to a good day!

Easter morning

Ready for church

Egg hunt at Poppa Dan's

Tucker's first Easter

Great-grandkids ready for an egg hunt

What's in Your Easter Basket?

What to put in your child's Easter basket has been a pretty popular topic around the Facebook world. It's hard to find a balance between not filling the basket with candy and useless junk, while not turning it into Christmas. Tricky business, these Easter baskets.

My plan, when Logan was a baby, was that Easter baskets would be filled with outdoor summer toys, like bubbles, sidewalk chalk, squirt guns, balls and maybe bigger gifts outside the basket like a T-ball stand, soccer net...you get the idea. His first Easter he was 6 months old, so none of that stuff applied. However, a few months after that I learned we lived in a snake pit and my good ideas went out the window as fast as I run when I see a snake. Sure, he still gets (or has gotten) those things, but we've kept it more "indoor" since.

There are some things that have been traditional in Logan's Easter basket. He usually gets sunglasses, a book, and a chocolate rabbit. I do not buy candy, with the exception of the rabbit, because I know that's likely what he will get from family. I have filled plastic eggs with fruit snacks, silly bands, and this year, tiny dinosaurs.

I am pretty proud of myself this year on the basket front. I *think* I spent around $20 (this could go up, depending on which book I give him). He's getting sunglasses, an Imaginext super hero toy for the Batcave, a book (title yet to be determined), a jump rope, yoyo, a knock-off spiralgraph thingy, and some outdoor paddle game. We are using a basket we have used before, and already had Easter grass and a ton of plastic eggs. Even the Easter outfit was relatively cheap this year. Score!

Eye Check-up

After two years, I finally went to the eye doctor. I never wait this long between appointments. My past doctors have always wanted to see me once a year, and up until now, I've kept up with it. However, I do have a "policy" not to make an appointment until I only have a pair or two of contacts left. This time was different because a year supply of contacts have lasted me two years.

The doc put me in a toric lense at my last appointment. They worked. For awhile. But I would have days where the stupid thing would not set correctly on my eye. Therefore, I was wearing my glasses A LOT. My issues with the toric lense got worse since February and I decided it was not only time to make an appointment but to make an appointment with a different doctor.

I got into the new doctor really quick, and decided it would be a good appointment for Logan to come along to. He is going to have to have an eye exam for kindergarten, so I thought he should come and see what it's all about. He did fantastic and was pretty patient.

I know each doctor is different and does different things, but I was surprised at how...little they actually did. They took pictures of my eyes, which I had never had done before, and then went straight to the "what lines can you read" test. Logan thought the eyeball pictures were pretty cool and asked the doctor a lot of questions. She even took the time to get out the model and tell him the different parts of the eye. Pretty cool!

The good news is, my eyes are fine. My prescription hasn't changed and there's no "damage" to my eyes. The problem was, of course, the stupid toric lense. My astigmatism is pretty minor and the lense I had was the lowest prescription they make. It's minor enough that I don't need to have the toric lense. She said I can still wear contacts, it's just going to be a matter of what brand and type will work for me.

We tried three different pairs in the office. The first two were not comfortable at all. And after doing the lense thing 3 different times, my eyes were starting to get irritated (they were irritated anyway due to allergies). The final pair I put in felt pretty good. When I mentioned allergies, she gave me a sample of the Dailies to try. She said they are really good for allergy season. I think my allergies are why I could only manage a pair of lense for 2 weeks as opposed for the month that they were designed for. I haven't tried those yet, but I am thinking that may be the way to go. I don't think I want to go the toric route again after all the problems I had with them. I don't have time to sit and wait for a lense to decide it's going to sit properly, or even stay that way. It's been nice just putting a lense in and being able to see clearly :o)