The Bright Eyed Brunette

On Friday some of the older kids in our Youth Group headed to Little Rock for the weekend! Makena had been looking forward to this for a month...Carlie, not so much. Carlie has turned into a bit of a home-body these days. She likes going and doing things with her friends, but staying over night isn't really her thing, so I didn't make her stay. Carl, Carlie, Trey, and I went to meet the gang to eat at the Flying Fish and drop Carlie off for a while. Carlie did end up having a good time. We picked her up around 9:00 that night and came back home. Makena stayed until Saturday afternoon and had a ball! I am so thankful for all the people that went and stayed with them too!

It seems as though my mind has been spinning a thousand times a minute today, randomly jumping from one thing to the next: paying bills, what I need at the store, which kid has what appointment, what we are having for supper...you know, the typical housewife stuff. While thinking on these things, I begin to think of family. How thankful I am for mine (yes, all of them). The things they have taught and instilled in me, how completely unselfish they are. I think about how much they love my kids and how incredibly blessed my kids are to have them in their lives. Then I start thinking about Carl's family and how my kids barely know their grandparents on his side. It is sad, but at the same time I get very angry. Angry about how much they have missed and hiw little effort is made to be an active part of their lives. I'll be the first to admit that relationships have always been strained where they are concerned. I have a lot of opinions that will probably come out on this blog at

Monday started off very hectic with me being the only helper at school today. Some days its just a lot for one person, but I had already promised Carlie I would take her to take the written part of her driver's test (again). So I kept my promise and we went. My stomach was in knots the whole time she was back there. I think I was more nervous than she was. She came out of the room with a huge smile on her face and said that she had passed! Praise the Lord, Hallelujah!! I am super excited she passed but riding in the car with her makes me crazy. Let's just say she and her daddy will have lots of bonding time driving this summer :) I am so proud of her though! We had our Awards Ceremony and Annual Blue and White game on Thursday night. This is Trey's first time to get a trophy, and man was he proud. He was cleaning it last night after church! The girls getting their trophies. Carlie is the one not in uniform. She didn't want to play, and that was one of those p

I forgot to post this on the last post. The kids were still excited about dying eggs. We did this on Saturday afternoon before Carl got home. Easter Sunday was ugly and cold, but really beautiful because we serve a RISEN Savior! Our Family at church. We had our family's Easter lunch at the Community Center. Of course Trey and Noah buddied up. This was hilarious in-person. All of the girls were bossing Trey and Noah. They had them backed in the corner! Elijah All of the kids that hunted eggs.

Of course we were out of school for Good Friday (at a Christian School that is pretty much a given). We didn't do a lot, it was kind of an ugly overcast day, we already had all of our Easter clothes and I finished up on the basket goodies on Thursday, so there just wasn't a lot to do. Carl has been pretty busy trying to plant rice before the rain comes but thankfully he got off early. After we ate we took a ride out to the farm. The kids wanted to drive, so they didn't complain about going! After they were done we took a ride around the reservoir and spotted a fairly good bullfrog. Frog season doesn't come in for another week or two, BUT Carl bet us that he could get out and catch it by hand, so we had to make him do it! He caught it but we released it (nothing illegal going on here!). Kermit! We had a bonfire/wiener roast Saturday after Carl got off. The boys were having a good time shooting their bows too. For some reason Makena didn't want to shoot hers.

My dad gave the devotion on The Resurrection Eggs. The kids really seemed to enjoy it. Trey and Jeremy making their own set of eggs! I didn't get many pictures because my battery was about to die. We had a lot of younger kids there that also made eggs. It was a fun night and I am proud to say that Trey answered almost all of the questions that were asked about the eggs (proud mama moment).