Easter/Anniversary Recap

Sadly, we didn't make it to church since I was up with cramps/braxton hicks/contractions for a few hours in the night. I drank alot of ice water (thinking I was a bit dehydrated thus causing an irritable uterus) and that caused me to need a potty break every hour on the hour afterwards. It was a long, lonely night, but I was SO relieved that things seemed to settle down.

So no church. :( I was greeted by a very romantic anniversary card when I woke up. Brandon and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary today as well as the resurrection of Christ! The kids checked out their buckets and treats.

We slowly got moving and dressed and then headed out to Williamsburg. Brandon found out that the same chain restaurant we ate at on our wedding day, also has a location in Williamsburg so that is what he planned for our Easter/Anniversary meal. It was WONDERFUL!

Before going into the restaurant, we used the beautiful grounds to take some pictures. They turned great!

We ate prime rib, crablegs, peel and eat shrimp, along with various sides and then had quite a few dessert selections to choose from. I had fruit fondue.. YUM!

The girls got a kick out of 'James Madison' coming to talk to our table. Lainey wasn't entirely sure who James Madison was but she still held a little conversation with him and asked him a few questions. She was tickled that he said he owned horses and rode his horse named Virginia to the restaurant.

Afterwards, I showed Brandon a historical resort that I thought he might be interested in. I met my friend, Angie, there the weekend we moved in and thought Brandon would like to see it. Then we drove to Colonial Williamsburg to inquire about the activities there. We are thinking about buying annual passes there (with a sweet discount for being homeschoolers!) sometime soon.

After checking out the information desk and a quick diaper change for Xander, we loaded back into the van and headed home.

Once we got home, the girls did a quick egg hunt with plastic eggs in our yard and a little while after that we colored eggs.

It's been a full day. But I'm SO very blessed to have a wonderful, active family to fill my day.

I hope your Easter was lovely and meaningful.

So loved... by my husband and the King of Kings!

~Steph

WOW! It's been a wee bit crazy around here!

Early last week Brandon got word from the place we were renting our moving truck from telling him that we could pick it up on Friday afternoon. So we added a days prorated rent on Wednesday when we went to our new rental office to sign our lease and planned to start our move Friday evening.

Friday afternoon, we picked up our cat, Paulie from the animal hospital. I had a dopey cat in a carrier box, meowing during our move and I've added Dr. Doolittle to my many titles and job descriptions since I am now a pro at giving the cat his meds and don't even have to hunt him down... he comes to me!

We were blessed with two coworkers/friends from the office to come help us when they got off at 7:45pm. The move went pretty fast and we got everything in on Friday night. Everything except my beloved IKEA pantry that was very torn up by the time they got all 220 lbs out of the apartment. Oh well.. people before things right?

Just in case you are getting the impression that everything runs smoothly for the Bee Family, let me fill you in with some details. LOL

1. The pantry fell apart in about 3 pieces AFTER they got it into the truck. It didn't fall apart before they squeezed it out of the tiny doorway... nope. It made it across the apartment, through 2 doorways, down the steps and up the ramp into the truck when it disintegrated.

2. Once they started unloading at the new place, we realized the bunk beds would have to be taken apart more in order to fit around the corner and down the hallway into the girls room. Of course the tools were packed. So the bunk beds were in the living room until Brandon could find his tools. I put sheets and blankets on the mattresses and the girls didn't have furniture in their room until sometime late the next afternoon.

3. Dish could not install our service here the next day. Since they contract out their installations, the Dish installation manager wanted to come make SURE that they couldn't get it in, and so they came by too. No go. We still have Comcast, SIGH!

4. The washing machine in our new place has a broken part. For a family of 5, soon to be 6, this is disastrous.


Okay.. so you get the picture. NOT a smooth move, despite our best attempts to plan ahead. But we were in.

The next morning, I went to Williamsburg (an hour or so away) with the children to meet up with a friend that was visiting from Texas. I had a lovely day with Angie and Cliff and her 12 children and our kids played together beautifully. The moms even got time to talk!

Brandon stayed home to supervise the dopey cat, wait for the Dish installer to try to install and then went to the old place to do a final sweep and mop.

Colonial Williamsburg is beautiful and very neat and I can't wait for Brandon and I to return with the children. A MOM's group that Angie and I belong to has a retreat in Williamsburg each year so we'll be praying over that for next year. We walked alot and the kids slept the whole way home. I was BEAT!

The kids and I returned around 7pm that evening and then Brandon and I tackled some boxes and rearranging some things.

Sunday, I spent the day vegging out. I was afraid I'd overdone it between Friday and Saturday and my body was definitely letting me know to slow down. So I did.

Monday, Brandon had taken a vacation day, so we ran a long list of errands with the children. ALOT got done including:

Sams- Bought a freezer, renewed our membership, and bought some odds and ends.

Food Lion- Bought somewhere around 70lbs of beef that was custom cut for free. A total steal at $1.78 a lb. Saved more than I spent and didn't use a single coupon. Yes, please! We have 10 more sirloin tips that are being ordered for us. We are set for a while.

Came home to unload.

Lowes- 2 extension cords and a nut to fix our table leg.

Walmart- A return

Target- A return, buy a shower curtain, shower organizer, a birthday card, a giftcard, and have an encounter with a Leprechaun... *Tee hee*

Moes- Dinner. Burrito, drinks and chips $5.55. Baby Solomon is in love with cilantro and Mexican. YUM!

Library- return 2 books. I support the library through my taxes and don't need to support them through late fees. LOL It's been a hard concept to implement but I've gotten MUCH better!

We came home and unloaded.

Put the kids to bed and then crashed ourselves.

Tuesday was another slow day. Brandon worked and I completed some paperwork/admin stuff that needed done.

Whooooooooooo! I'm beat but things are coming together!

~Steph

PS: I have a long list of things to write about. Can't wait to get the blog caught up!