Fun Friday Night

We had a great day/evening today! The kids had the day off school for a PD day, except Anna. She was excited the kids got to see her get on her bus though. By noon, the kids I was babysitting were gone and it was such a quiet relaxing afternoon. We all just kind of hung out and there were no major catastrophies, yelling, screaming or tears! I felt a little bit like celebrating since we had done our taxes yesterday and we are getting a fair chunk of money back from the government, so we decided to splurge and take our kids out for supper. Now, splurging in the Hatch house is not such a bad thing - - it just so happens we live about 5 minutes away from IKEA and our kids LOVE to go there! So for $20 we fed all seven of us with a few fries to spare and then we went across the road to Wal-Mart and bought "Bolt" and a few treats ($30) for a movie night at home. So for $50 we fed and entertained our family and everybody thought it was the funnest night ever!

Catching up

March has been an unbelievably busy month for us with lots of fun things that happened in our family. Brendan turned 12 on March 4th and was ordained to be a deacon on March 8th. Anna also had a birthday - she turned 5 on the 7th of March. Mom, Dad, Roger and Mary Lou made the trek up here for the weekend and survived our crazy northern Alberta winter weather. The Saturday they were here we had a huge blizzard which made basketball games and shopping a little crazy, but fun at the same time. We had a big pizza party for everybody who had a birthday here on Saturday night - which included Matt's mom (March 1st), Brendan (4th), Anna (7th), Rachel (9th), Zach (26th), and we even included Cub (Feb 19th). Now if only Mindy could have come we would have had all our March birthday's up here! The kids had fun opening all the presents and spending time with their Grandma and Grandpa and uncles and aunts.

The next day we had church at 1pm, so it was a nice relaxing morning. Even though Brendan used all the hot water we still survived. Brendan was ordained just after sacrament meeting so Mom and Dad could get going on their long drive home. Brendan felt that he wanted his Uncle Roger to ordain him, so that is what happened. Roger gave Brendan a beautiful blessing and it was a very spiritual experience. How did I get so lucky to have two wonderful priesthood holders in my home???

The following weekend, Brendan and Anna both had birthday parties. Brendan had a couple of friends over on Friday night and they went to the Edmonton Rush (Lacrosse) Game and then slept over. It wasn't much of a sleepover since Brendan had a 9am basketball game on the north side and had to be out the door by 8:30am, but they still had fun. It was Brendan's last basketball game of the season and he went out with a bang getting fouled out - two of the fouls being technicals! Apparently they had a ref that was a little picky about playing "zones" and found that Brendan wasn't quite playing up to her standards. I don't think he even knew what she was talking about, but there are some fun memories anyway!

Saturday was Anna's day for her birthday party. She had 4 little friends over and she had a princess party. The girls had fun playing games, decorating crowns, eating cake and opening presents. We played "freeze dance" with the girls and videotaped them dancing and stopping, then we let them watch it afterward. They thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen! Anna really did enjoy herself and I think all the other little girls did too. Even though it was a "princess party", Anna insisted that she wanted a radio cake, so that is what she got!

Of course, another fun part of March is always St. Patrick's day. I hadn't ever given it much thought, but the girls really made a big deal of it this year. So I made them green pancakes for breakfast and they thought that was the best thing they had ever had! A few funny comments we got this day were:

Grace (all dressed in green): Anna, do I look like a leprechaun?

Anna: No, you look like grass!

Grace: Anna, we should paint our faces green too, then we would be green all over!

Anna: Just not behind my ears. It really hurts when mom washes behind my ears!

And my most favorite - - At school Anna got to make a wish on "leprechaun dust" and when I was putting her to bed that night she said, "Mom, can I have some hay?" So I asked her why she needed hay. She then said, "I made a wish for a unicorn, and my wish is going to come true, and it is going to get hungry!"

Just last week we had some friends that were hatching chicken eggs in their house so their kids could experience this and they invited us over to watch. The girls had a blast watching the chicks hatching out of their eggs. Luckily there were already some that had dried off a little so the girls got to hold them.

Anyway, other than birthday's, parties, ordinations, basketball games, multiple doctor's appointments, ultrasounds, dentist's pulling teeth, green pancakes, hatching eggs, a teething baby, and more puke that I care to remember....... that about sums up the March the Hatch's had this year. Hopefully, our April will be just as much fun???......

Time keeps marching on.....

Today is my son's 12th birthday. How the heck did that happen????? I have spent some time today thinking about the last 12 years and everything that has happened. I have to admit that the last 7 1/2 years were much more peaceful than the first 4 1/2, and I think very influential in Brendan's life too. Brendan has grown up to be such a nice young man so far. There are definitely moments when I am so totally frustrated with him that I would like to throw him out the window (not that I am physically able to do that anymore, but the thought is sometimes there), but then there are times when I am blown away with the maturity that shines through. Brendan has started babysitting for us and he does an amazing job with his little sisters. Especially his baby sister Sarah. They have a special bond and she adores her big brother. She gets very excited when he gets home from school and just about leaps into his arms to give him a big hug. On Sunday it was Stake Conference and Matt was working, so I decided to accept defeat before the battle and just stay home. Let's face it, me against five is just not fair, and usually very noisy! I told the kids that we were staying home because it was conference and Brendan asked if it would be on TV, but of course that is only for General Conference, so I said no. Brendan then asked, "What if they say something important?", to which I replied that we would just have to miss it this time and hopefully make it next time. Then my amazing son finished his breakfast, went up to his room, got dressed for church and came down and said he was going to church. I asked him how he was going to get there and he said he would walk. I kind of balked at the idea since we live about 4km away from the church. I did try to call my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to see if they had left yet, but it was already 9:20 and they were gone. So, I made sure he knew where he was going to go, told him to bundle up because it was cold and sent him out the door. I didn't really think he would go, but he left and made it there in one piece. He found a ride home with some neighbors who live just around the corner and was really excited to tell me that he didn't even fall asleep! I asked him what they talked about and he said it was all about temples, and I came to find out that all the talks besides one were all about temples! I don't know if I would have ever gone to church on my own if my parents weren't going and gave me the option not to go, but here is my awesome 12 year old son that totally makes me so proud of him! Brendan will be ordained to be a deacon this Sunday and we are so excited for this next step he is making in his life. What a lucky mom I am!