Plastic Eggs, Plastic Bags

Plastic grocery bags are good for many things. They are good for when you forget to bring baskets to the Easter egg hunt. They are also good for throwing up into when you are driving home in the car. Of all the places I could have lost my lunch, the car had to be the worst. It was a long drive home.

Throw up aside, it was a pretty great day. With 10 kids their spouses, and their kids, the annual C. family Easter egg hunt is a big event. Mom and Dad C. really know how to pull it off. We started with lunch and then we were divided into 5 groups. The coolest part is that even the grown-ups are in on the fun. We had a blast racing for candy, chips, drinks, eggs and plastic eggs with $ inside.
Maybe next year we should add a 6th group: Mom and Dad C. --they could race to find plastic eggs filled with little notes and pictures from the grandkids:) Except that we'll have to mail them because they just announced they will be putting in their papers to serve a mission later this year. Yeah! and Ohhh....
Thanks for all the fun...especially the plastic!

Who is this Kid?!

"Samson," as he is affectionately called by the ward, lost his curly locks. Bud got his first haircut yesterday. Problem is, we don't recognize him anymore. He went from looking like a gentle cherub to looking like....this...a regular boy! Wierd.

Ready or Not

Blame it on the world news and the books I'm reading but we're having a bit of an emergency preparedness-a-thon over here. I'm in book 2 of the "Great and Terrible" series by Chris Stewart. It's an exciting fiction read about the war in heaven and the war between good and evil in the last days. It has made me think differently about things for sure. I like books like that. My book club is reading Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank.

Inspired, (or maybe alarmed) I hit the case lot sale today and loaded up things like apple juice and canned peaches. I spent the afternoon dividing up and freezing 40 lbs of raw chicken--yuck. Brandon has always teased me throughout our marriage that I always stock up big time on TP. He doesn't understand that it's a necessity right up there with food, shelter, and water. I ordered a huge box to keep the other packs in the basement company. It may come in handy for bartering...

Curiously, the items that have sparked the most drama at our house, are the red emergency backpacks I brought home for each kid last week. I thought I casually explained what 72-hour kits were. But it seems I mentioned the word "earthquake" and that word was NOT received casually.

How did each kid respond?

Adrie and Brynn went right to work packing theirs. Adrie put in her boots, her sketchbook, some lifesaver candies and crayons. She cried when she couldn't fit her ducky blanket and her stuffed cougar in her backpack. " I'M GONNA WANT MY DUCKY IF THERE'S AN EARTHQUAKE..." she wailed.
Brynn stuffed her pink princess sleeping bag in her backpack. She seemed satisfied that it left no room for anything else.
Kate didn't bother to pack at all. She turned all fatalistic and cried, "Why bother if we're all just gonna die..."
I had a little fun with her and said that instead of spending her last $10 on Barbie stuff she should have stocked up on water and flashlights.

Looks like we'll have to do some packing or re-packing of the backpacks soon. Any tips? We'll probably also need some trauma counseling and I think I'll leave that one to Dad.