April 2003

April Fool's Day
Guess what? We're having another baby! April Fools! Did I get you? Well, we (or at least I) had a fun April Fools Day this year. Madeleine joined in the fun and we froze ½ full cups of orange juice the night before. Right before breakfast we topped them off with a little more orange juice. So of course they took a drink and oops, the orange juice won't come out of the cup! We did it to the seminary kids first, but the mug handles were cold and they were suspicious. Later, however, we got it out of the freezer earlier (warmer cup handle) and Clark couldn't figure out what had happened to his orange juice. Elliot's comment in all seriousness was, "I guess that's why it was only 89 cents!" (I had bought it on sale!) Alan didn't suspect a thing, and the little boys had fun yelling "April Fools" at their Dad!
For lunch, I made inside-out sandwiches with the meat and cheese on the outside of a single piece of bread. I also switched the little bags of Doritos with the Cheetos. The final touch was a half a gummy worm coming out of their apples.
Dinner was dessert first -- meatloaf with mashed potato cupcakes and fruit salad ice cream! It was kind of silly I guess, but I was in a funny mood and the little kids loved it!

Clark's Class Assembly
Clark had his class assembly in April. It was called "Let Loose With Mother Goose!" They were all parts of the various nursery rhymes. Clark was Jack jumping over the candle stick. Sometimes I think there is nothing cuter than a bunch of Kindergartners!

Senior Art Show
Phillip and Loren each exhibited a piece of artwork in "The Best of the Best" show during Arts Week at Waterford. Prior to the final upper school instrumental concert, the public was invited to come and view the art exhibit. The artists dressed up and stood by their artwork to answer any questions that might come their way. Of course they were willing to pose for the newspaper photographer, but not for their mother...hmmm.

Waterford Prom
Phillip was asked to design the poster and tickets for the Prom. It was a little stressful, with all that he had to do, but he came up with a fun design he was happy with. Speaking of Prom, Phillip and Loren each asked a nice girl and Tess went stag (not 16 yet!) with some friends. We have the pictures I took, plus some pictures of them with their dates they took with disposable cameras. I thought they all looked very nice.

Las Vegas Trip
During Easter break, we finally got to take The Trip We Have All Been Waiting For. We gave the four older kids tickets to the Celine Dion Concert in Las Vegas for Christmas, and have had to wait four months to take the trip. Well, we all thought it was worth the wait! The concert was wonderful -- we had front row tickets (on the balcony, but still...). They were great seats and we had three sets of binnoculars between us. Where were Elliot and Clark? They spent the weekend with their grandparents. They were happy, and we were happy. Were Grandma and Grandpa happy? I think so.... Anyway, the next day was spent finding the Las Vegas Temple, having a flat tire fixed, eating marvelous Chinese food and walking up and down The Strip. We wanted to see the M&M capital of the world, the Chihuly glass exhibit in the lobby of the Belagio, the dancing water fountain to music and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum. We got to see an original Titian, Rubens, Van Gogh and Picasso; a great experience for our art students (see next paragraph). In addition to all that, we ate at a McDonald's with a mighty fancy sign. You can see we had a wonderful time, even if Tess did have a cold....

College News
Loren and Phillip have each been accepted to BYU. They both applied and were accepted to the Art Department. Phillip is in the Graphic Design program and Loren is in the painting and drawing program. To brag just a little, they both received academic scholarships and talent awards. See, doing your homework does pay off....

Madeleine's Birthday
Both Madeleine and Alan celebrated birthdays in April. Madeleine's was on Friday April 25th. We had a little family party, followed by her neighborhood friends coming over for a Hawaiian party. They had pizza, slushies, a piñata and a movie. Of course the party wouldn't have been complete without leis to wear and little umbrellas in their drinks. Aloha!

Alan's Birthday
Alan and Madeleine shared a Sunday birthday dinner. We had Halusky (Alan's favorite dinner) and a poppy seed birthday cake. The grandparents and Aunt Shirley came over to celebrate with us and we had fun watching video of brand new Madeleine and then hearing Pat and Wally tell about the day Alan was born. Unfortunately we were too dumb to video tape it, so they will have to do it again next year!
Alan's birthday was April 30th. We had a small family party and gave him just what he's always wanted -- new kitchen knives! It's true. He even ordered them himself. He even sneaked one out early. So that part wasn't a surprise, but he did end up with a rotating box kite and an M&M jigsaw puzzle (Las Vegas purchase) and two new DVDs of favorite old movies.

Good thing April is over -- I'm tired just writing about it.

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