Charlotte Turns 11!

Charlotte has been talking about her birthday for months, as usual, and how excited she was for her birthday to come. She really wanted her own Gabb phone like what the boys have but she also had a list of other things she wanted. I can tell you that she received all of the items she asked for EXCEPT the phone and phone accessories. We told her we weren't ready for her to have a phone yet and weren't sure when we would be. For now, the girls will still share the Gabb watch. We may even get her a Gabb watch if we find another deal where we can get it for free like last year. 

Anyway, to kick off her birthday weekend she was able to take donuts to school to share with her class on Friday the 25th of April (the day before her actual birthday). She chose to take Old Fashioned, which are my favorite. It also happened to be Hawaiian day at the girl's school. I wanted them to have something to wear for that occasion because it would be fun and I knew they could wear the clothes other days as well, so I bought them Hawaiian outfits. I found the clothes at Walmart and the leis at Dollar Tree.

Alice loves dresses!

I like to make a special breakfast for the kids on their birthdays and this time Charlotte asked for French Toast Bake, the recipe I got from our Christmas party. The night before Curtis and I prepared it in the pan so that all I had to do in the morning was add the crumb topping and put it in the oven. She loved it!

Enjoying her breakfast and getting ready to open her first gift, from Alice. Alice was really excited to give it to her and didn't want to wait until later.

The gift was a Lego set from Harry Potter. Hedwig the owl at Privet Drive.

We woke up early that morning so that we could do Charlotte's early breakfast and then the girls and I went to Richland to do the annual Clot-Trot. It's a free race to bring awareness to blood disorders. Bonnie and Sam Smith from our ward helped to put it together because the disorders run in their family. This was the 18th year for them to do it. We helped volunteer last year but this time the girls and I did the actual race. You could choose from the 1-mile or the 5K (just over 3 miles). At first the girls wanted to do the 5K, but I knew that would be too much for them and they didn't realize how long it was, so I told them we would do the 1-mile. And I'm so glad I did too because I tweaked my back that morning when pushing in the Happy Birthday yard sign into the dry ground (no sprinklers yet). I had to walk most of the way and the girls went way ahead of me. Alice did come back and walk with me for at least half of the race. I was able to jog a little bit a couple of times, one of them right at the end. Afterwards, they had prizes for the people whose numbers were circled on their papers and mine was one of them. I told the girls to choose for me, and they ended up getting these 3 little cute glass ladybugs. And I said that was perfect, one for each of us! And they would make cute little decorations all summer long. They're about the size of a dime or a penny. (I didn't get a picture yet)

While walking back to the car the girls saw this workout area in the park and had a little fun.

Of course this is not the correct way to use these, ha ha!

Bonnie knew that it was Charlotte's birthday because I had told her and she gave her a coupon for a free ice cream at the shop right by the park. It's the Amethyst Creamery; the same one Curtis and I went to for our anniversary two years ago. The ice cream shop is family owned, and they have many gems and crystals on display and for sale. Both of the girls went with strawberry ice cream, but Alice also got a bit of vanilla as part of her scoop. I passed on a cone this time because it was a little early in the day for me to want ice cream.

Charlotte did not have a friends party this year because she had one last year, but we did decide that she could invite a friend to go see the Minecraft movie with us. Charlotte really wanted to see that movie. Because we were going to the 1:00 show and Jack didn't get home from his choral practice until 12:30 we decided we needed to wait to do her birthday celebration after the movie. It was definitely not my kind of movie. It was made by the same director that did Napoleon Dynamite. I was probably the only one that didn't enjoy the movie. Even Curtis was laughing it up in the theater. I was only too happy to have an excuse to leave the movie when the girls were ready for a refill on popcorn and root beer, lol. 

After the movie we came back home and did the celebrating. We all filled up on popcorn, so that was our lunch. Ha ha! Charlotte wanted donuts for her cake also, so we bought two different flavors and I stacked them up. And when we had bought Hawaiian stuff at the Dollar Tree, we bought these little umbrellas and stuck them in her donuts.

Her gift from Gma Vernie and Gpa Tony. A cute card, some gum and money in a homemade paper purse. Her friend folded up the money, so it looked like a heart, I think.

Curtis was joking that she was opening his missing package because his name was on it from Amazon.

She received a Cirkul water bottle and a package of flavor cartridges to go with it. Also, the Lego set, a dark blue hoodie, a larger 3D printed dragon that's 18 inches long, a Harry Potter secret diary with invisible ink, a sign language book (since hers went missing awhile ago) and this year she wanted Tim Tams for her birthday treat/snack.

Charlotte's friend, Riley and of course Charlotte and Alice.

Curtis getting festive with leis and Garrett in the background.

A picture with mom.

The sign that tweaked my back that morning.

She loves her dragon so much that she had to have it in the picture too hanging on the B.

The missionaries saw the birthday sign in our yard and then texted me to ask whose birthday it was and what's their favorite drink. They brought her a root beer.

We were doing a silly picture and then Milo jumped up to lick Elder Webster. It was pretty funny.

Charlotte was a little disappointed to not get a Gabb Phone yet, but she was pretty happy about all the other things she did receive and said it was a really good birthday. We ended the night with watching a movie. We had multiple movies lined up as possibilities to watch and it ended up being Jurassic Park. Believe it or not, my girls like watching that movie. However, it was getting late and I was worried about them getting nightmares. Thankfully Alice fell asleep for most of the movie and Charlotte did not have any nightmares. 

And the very next day we had the elders over for dinner to have sliders and then all of us went over to the McShane's house to be a part of Dallin opening his mission call. Dallin is one of Garrett's closest friends here. Dallin wanted to go to Ireland, but instead was called to the Ogden, Utah mission! He'll start July 28th. It made Garrett more anxious to get his papers turned in. We're working on it! Anyway, it was a good birthday weekend for Charlotte!

Easter 2025

Easter celebrations started on Palm Sunday for us, a week before Easter. Our stake created a Holy Week experience commemorating the final events of Jesus Christ's ministry on Earth. They had different rooms set up for each day at our stake center. It was well put together. The only hiccup was the fog machine letting out too much fog and causing the fire alarms to go off. We had to go wait outside for a little bit while they figured that out, but it continued on just fine afterwards. We would go from room to room until we ended in the gym to eat desserts. Our ward was assigned to bring desserts and so I signed up and made lemon bars. I hadn't made those in years, but they turned out good. We filled up on desserts before going home to cook dinner. I felt so sick from eating too much. 

Lemon bars for the event. We actually cut these bars in half after I took this picture so that more people could have them. I'm so glad we did because I ate a whole one and it was a lot for a lemon bar.

This room was about Jesus going to the temple. 

The Last Supper

The crucifixion.

In the last room where the stone was rolled away and he wasn't there. He has risen and is alive! And because of him all of us will be resurrected someday!

Originally, Stillman's whole family was going to come stay with us through Easter weekend. Unfortunately, their family got sick from their friend's little boy who had come over sick to their house a couple weeks prior. Most of Stillman's family was better by last week, except Michelle. She suffered from a bad sore throat and other things so she stayed home. And since she stayed home, Stillman's family came just for Saturday so that we could still go to do baptisms at the temple, which was part of our original plan. It was Keaton's first time. We were able to do 5 names each, so 35 names! It was a perfect thing to do on Easter weekend, as baptism represents death, burial and resurrection.

I said let's get pictures before going in to do baptisms. Thankfully we got there in time to be able to do that.

The four cousins.

After the temple, we got some Papa Murphy's pizza and cooked it up at our house. Then we played Ticket to Ride and Bank. Stillman and the boys didn't head home until just after 9pm. I'm so glad they were able to come. It just would have been better if Michelle could have made it also. 

Charlotte made a little cross out of the yellow cheese in honor of Jesus and Easter weekend.

Here's a closer look.

Got a picture of us before Stillman left for home.

The girls got in bed early because they were excited about Easter and the Easter bunny coming. Alice is the only one that still believes in the Easter bunny, but Charlotte plays along for her sake. The girls set out a plate of carrots and Alice wrote a note. It was pretty cute. And I have to say, the Easter bunny is a lot healthier than Santa. Ha ha  I did tell Alice that the Easter bunny and the parents both put stuff in the baskets.

Baskets are ready to be filled and hidden.

"Dear Easter bunny, I know it's hard to go to a lot of houses, so here is some delicious carrots." 

I wanted to get pictures of the kids with their Easter stuff but that didn't happen. I was hoping to wait until they got dressed but then they disappeared with their stuff and started eating their goodies. This year, the only treat they got was one main treat that they would like. We're trying to tone down on the sweets. Garrett got a pale green tie, a book light, a temple recommend holder, a watch and a Reese's bunny. Jack got a pale purple tie, sunglasses, a temple recommend holder, a watch and a small container of Nutella. Charlotte got new white sandal shoes for church (which we ended up taking back because they were too tight by her toes), lip gloss, a 3D printed golden dragon and egg, a chocolate bunny and a necklace. Alice got the same white shoes (which fit her fine), lip gloss, a 3D rainbow colored dragon and egg, a box of gumball eggs, and a necklace. And I gave Curtis a new pale-yellow tie and bought a new outfit for myself. I needed some lighter spring/summer colors! I never thought I would buy a white skirt, but I found one that I love at Burlington. I bought two other skirts as well. One from Burlington and the other from Goodwill. This year I wanted to make sure we got a family picture on Easter, so we did it right after Sacrament services and Jack's friend Cam took the picture of us.

Garrett, Jack and Cam

Garrett needed a picture for his missionary paperwork, so we got individual shots as well. This is the one we used for his missionary account.

Wearing her new necklace and showing her long, beautiful hair. I only wish we would have had time to curl hers.

I did have time to curl Alice's hair. And she's wearing her new shoes and necklace.

I also never thought I'd buy a shirt with gems on it, but again I really liked this shirt, so I did!

It was a very good musical Sacrament meeting with one main speaker. Jack and I both got up to sing with the choir for one number, which was unexpected since he hadn't been to any of the practices. 

The rest of the day was fairly relaxed. I requested that we have smoked chicken thighs again with red roasted potatoes, salad and homemade rolls. Curtis took charge of the meat while I got the rest of the food prepared. I love that the kids love my homemade rolls. It makes it worth making them. Curtis also mixed up some lemonade. We did a simple dessert of ice cream later while watching a new documentary we bought at the church bookstore about Porter Rockwell. It was very interesting.

The girls received some bubble guns from Brother Brown because we had helped them with several parades from his judge campaign last year and they didn't need the guns anymore. So, the girls had a great time playing with those all afternoon. Then after dinner we played a round of croquet. Charlotte won. It was a nice Easter even though we were by ourselves again.

Playing with the bubble guns.

That's a high swing for croquet! LOL

Getting ready for a picture. I took a test one. I liked it because of their smiles. I set the camera up on the picnic table.

I had to crop this picture later so we could see us better.

Charlotte's golden egg and dragon.

Alice's rainbow egg and dragon.

I was able to get a picture with Garrett and his stuff (except the temple recommend holder). He ate his chocolate, but I had told him to save the box for a picture. 

The funny thing is that we didn't do any egg hunts this year. We also bought and boiled some eggs for coloring but didn't end up coloring any eggs during the weekend. The girls did color what was left (because some got eaten) on Monday, the day after Easter.