Royal Wedding

     I am sure all of us were fortunate enough to see the royal wedding on television.  It was so amazing to see such a “fairy tale” event.  I recorded it all, so I didn’t have to get up at 3 in the morning.  I probably didn’t even need to do that.  It was on all day!  They kept showing video and pictures of the wedding.  I must say, I was mostly excited to see her dress.  I didn’t realize she was going to change her dress three times throughout the day.  I probably liked her second dress she put on the most.  It was gorgeous, as they all were. 

     I was reading an article on the internet and the media was going as far as getting professionals to try to interpret what he was saying to her at the alter and different parts of the day.  I am assuming they are some kind of professional that can read lips.  Who knows.  I do think that is a little much.  That would stink to not even be able to keep that much of their ceremony private.  Not that I would mind to be a princess or anything.  Ha ha.  I just think it must get somewhat old to not have any privacy. 

     The build- up to the wedding was a special occasion itself and attracted so much media attention.  The service was broadcast live around the world.  It was compared, in many ways, to the wedding of William’s parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.  It was watched by a global television audience of over two billion.  A lot of the attention was focused on Kate Middleton’s status as a commoner marrying into royalty.

     Just hours before the service, the Queen granted Prince William the titles of Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickferfus.  Upon her marriage, Middleton therefore became Her Royal Highness Princess William Arthur Philip Louis, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness Carrickfergus, but is not styled as ‘Princess Catherine’.  

     This wedding was not a full state occasion; many of the details were left to the couple themselves to decide, such as much of the guest list.  There were about 1,900 people that attended the wedding.  However, this was a public holiday in Great Britain and featured many ceremonial aspects, including use of the state carriages and roles for the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry.  It was attended by most of the Royal Family, as well as many foreign royals, diplomats, and the couple’s chosen personal guests. 

    The couple is said to be staying on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, following their wedding.  This is where Prince William is based as an RAF Search and Rescue Pilot. 

    

    

My Week

     As it gets closer to the end of the semester I am finding it more and more difficult to come up with what to blog about.  Maybe it is because I am new to this blogging, I am not sure.  It is fun to read what other people write about though.  I really like the blogs about everybody’s week and what they do.  It is interesting to read about how we all have such hectic but wonderful lives!   I wouldn’t trade it for the worldJ. 

     We start our baseball games next week.  It looks like it may not be as bad as I thought.  We will only be at the ball field 3 nights a week.   I love this time of the year!  I am so happy that we won’t be down at the field so much that we get burned out.  It should be just about the perfect amount of days.  However, I was sad because this is the first year I will have to juggle my boy’s games.  My husband coaches my youngest sons tee ball team and my oldest travels to different towns, so it looks like I will miss 3 out of 7 of my youngest son’s games.  My oldest, Conner, will have to be out of town at his ballgame the same time my youngest, Evan, is playing.  Welcome to parenthood!  I guess this is what a lot of parents go through when you have more than one child in sports.  I don’t know how mothers do it with more than 2 kids.  They keep us so busy.  To all of you with more than two children, I admire what you do. :)

     To end this week, I have to also say how thankful I am that it is not raining today.  It has been a beautiful couple of days.  I was so sick of seeing the rain.  The back of my house was flooded so bad.  We normally use the back door to come in and out of, but this week there was no going through our back yard.  It kind of made it a pain for the simple fact that our garage is in the back of our house so it was a long walk to the front door.  I shouldn’t complain though, it could be a lot worse.  I am thankful to have a home period. 

     I hope everyone has a wonderful couple of weeks.  That is all we have left in the semester.  We are almost there!  I can’t wait for the summer break.  I am sure we are all beyond ready for it.  We leave for vacation June 19^th.  It is getting so close.  I am excited to be able to take the boys to the beach this year.   This is the first time they have been.  Have a great week and pray we don’t see anymore rain!

Easter Weekend

     I hope everyone has a wonder Easter weekend.  My boys are very excited about hunting eggs!  I wrote my first blog about the history of Easter.  It is nice to remind ourselves of why we celebrate this day:)  It was also very interesting to read about why we hide Easter eggs and where the Easter bunny fits in. 
     We plan to go to church Sunday morning and then head to my mother-in-laws house for dinner.  She always has a pinata for the kids and an Easter egg hunt.  They love going to grandmas house!  She also makes wonderful sugar cookies.  It's an amazing feeling to see your children and how excited they get about the holidays.  They love when the Easter bunny comes!  It is sweet.  They asked me this morning how many more days we had until they woke up to their Easter baskets.  They just make my heart melt.  There is nothing I love more than making my boys happy.  I hope it doesn't rain us out Sunday.  We normally spend almost the whole day outdoors.  We may have to make other arrangements this year, as everyone else will too.  That always stinks.  I am already so ready for this rain to end!  I am ready for the sunshine and warm weather.  I think it makes everyone in a much happier mood. 
     Have a great holiday weekend and enjoy the last few weeks of the semester!  We are almost done and can enjoy the summer.  Happy Easter!

Easter

     Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.  His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Sunday.  Easter makes the end of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.  The last week of the Lent is called Holy Week.  It contains Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. During Lent, many strict Catholics will give up eating meat on Fridays.  Meat is also not consumed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as well.  Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are obligated to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  In addition, all Catholics 14 years old and older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all other Fridays of Lent. 
      Easter is a holiday not fixed in the relation to the civil calendar.  It occurs during the Spring, either March or April.  The method for determining the date of Easter Sunday is based on the lunisolar calendar. 
     Easter customs vary across the Christian world, but decorating Easter eggs is common among everyone.  History.com says, "Easter egg hunts and egg rolling are two popular egg-related traditions.  In the U.S., the White House Easter Egg Roll, a race in which children push decorated, hard-boiled eggs across the White House lawn, is an annual event held the Monday after Easter.  The first official White House egg roll occurred in 1878, when Rutherford B. Hayes was president.  The event has no religious significance, although some people have considered egg rolling symbolic of the stone blocking Jesus' tomb being rolled away, leading to his resurrection." 
     Much like Easter eggs, the Easter bunny most likely has nothing to do with the religious observance of the holiday.  According to an article from Discovery News, the symbol of the Easter bunny hails from Pagan traditions.  The bunny represents the re-birth of life with the coming of the spring season and the blooming flowers

Mom Drove Kids into the Hudson River

I am sure most of you have heard about the mother from New York that drove her four children and herself into the Hudson River.  The 10 year old boy was able to escape the minivan and ran to a nearby fire station and alerted the firefighters.  He told them that his mother had driven the van off a boat ramp in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City.  When the firefighters and police arrived to the scene it took them about an hour before finding the van submerged in 10 feet of water about 25 yards offshore.  Everyone inside the van was dead, including the older boys siblings: two boys, ages 2 and 5, and an 11 month old baby girl.  The police chief said that there was some kind of domestic altercation that occurred about 10 minutes before the incident happened.  That was all the information they had. 

This story is so heart wrenching.  I do not understand for one minute how anyone could harm their children.  I do not for one second agree with harming yourself, but to put your kids in the car.  What do these people think!  I know they clearly have mental issues, I just don’t understand why these people don’t seek help.  I would think you have to know if you are mentally unstable.  I’m not sure, I am not a psychologist.  This would be interesting to maybe learn a little more about.  Why do people that are mentally unstable think the way they do?

My Week

What a week this has been!  I have been sick for the last 5 days with the stomach stuff going around.  I thought I was never going to get better!  I went through the pepto like crazy this week.  My mother-in-law ended up in the hospital because her sodium levels got so low it was dangerous.   Now my five year old son has been up for the last two nights with a horrible cough.  He grabbed his chest last night and said it hurt when he would breathe in or cough.   I seriously believe that when it rains it pours!  I sure hope this next week goes a little smoother.  I feel like I am so behind on school work so that is a little stressful too.  Not to mention, I really hope these spring storms are over soon.  I am terrified of them.  That is probably an understatement.  I don’t have a basement so when it is going to be bad overnight I pack up my family and stay at my sister-in-laws house because she has a huge basement at her house.  I love it!  I hate that I am so afraid I have to disrupt everyone but it sure does help to stay at a place that I feel safe.  I have always been afraid of storms but it got really bad when I was in the tornado back in 2001.  It was horribly scary.  To see what a tornado can really do is heart wrenching.  Now that I have children, I worry so badly about them too.  I need to relax a little because it is awful how scared I get.  My oldest son has to take care of me!  I know that sounds so bad but I literally get in a panic mode and lose track of everything.  I need help!  Ha ha.  My poor kids.  My family is always telling me that I need to go to the doctor and try to get something to help calm my nerves when it is going to storm.  I don’t know what else to do.  I wish I could just tell myself to chill out but that doesn’t seem to work.  If I could make myself not get that way, believe me I would.  It is not a good feeling, especially when you have two little boys to take care of.  I have made my youngest scared to death of storms.  That makes me so sad for him.  I am lucky that my 9 year old takes after his dad and isn’t scared at all.  He is so calm.  I haven’t traumatized him.  Thank goodness.  It isn’t a good feeling to know that probably a huge reason your youngest child is so scared is because his mom makes him that way.  If anyone has some good advice I’d love to hear it.  I’m up for trying anything! 

Japan

A huge earthquake has again rattled Northeast Japan.  A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Japan at 11:32 p.m. local time Thursday in the same region as the initial March 11^th 9.0 magnitude earthquake. It was the largest aftershock to date.  After the earthquake hit, Japanese authorities initially put out a tsunami warning and told people along the coastline to evacuate.  However, there have been no evidence of tsunamis and the warning was lifted.  The earthquake was reportedly 25 miles deep.  Japan has also shut down two more nuclear power plants. 

Buildings as far as Tokyo, approximately 200 miles from where the quake was, trembled for about a minute. 

In Ichinoseki, an inland city, buildings shook violently and items were knocked from shelves.  There was, however, no heavy damage reported. 

Two plants in Oginawa and in Aomori Prefecture were knocked out in the latest tremor.  Authorities did say there was no threat of a radiation leak.  The nuclear power plant in Oginawa went offline following the aftershock.  The plant served as an unplanned shelter in the wake of the March 11^th quake. 

There is so much tragedy from these earthquakes that continue to hamper Japan.  This is an awful tragedy that this country has had to face one to many times in the last month.  My heart goes out to all the families that have been affected. 

Busy with Baseball

All three of my boys started baseball last week!  My husband plays on a co-ed team from his work, he practices two days a week and will soon start to have a couple of games a week I am sure.  On top of that, both of my boys started practicing as well.  My youngest son is in tee ball and only practices once a week for an hour.  My oldest son started his first year of kid pitch so he is up to practicing two days a week for 2 hours.  Needless to say, we are at the ball field almost every night.  My husband also is the coach of their teams.  He loves it and so does my boys.  Thursdays we are there for a good 4 hours by the time my son practices and then we watch daddy play ball.  I love baseball but I can tell this is going to be a long summer! Don’t get me wrong, I love more than anything to watch my kids in their sports but this summer is so busy.  I think a lot of it is also because my son has moved up to kid pitch so their practices are longer and a little more intense.  He’s in the big time now!  They like to get all the practicing in that they can before games start.  That will make for even more time spent at the ball field.  I am sure before it is all said and done we will be there almost every night.  It kind of makes it hard to plan for dinner.  I really do enjoy it though.  Just a lot of running so it gets a little tiring.  That’s part of parenthood and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  It is just nice to be able to gripe a little as a mom.  I don’t know how women do it with several children.  I look up to them greatly.  My sister-in-law has 5 children all of which play ball.  I feel like I really don’t have any room to complain.  She spends her whole summer at the ball field.  She is there every night for hours, literally.  She has gotten to where she packs a cooler almost every night and they eat out of that for dinner!  It is too expensive to eat out every night for dinner.  I always tease her that she is super mom. J  I am thinking for me personally, I am good with my two.  I love for them to be able to play their sports and it would be so hard with 3 more than what I already have.  A lot of these practices go until 9 or 9:30 too.  It makes it hard when you have a bed time of 8:30 during the school year.  I have heard several moms complain of how late these practices can go during school.  I truly am blessed to have the two boys I have and am so thankful they are able to play sports.  I guess if the worst thing I can do is vent a little about how busy we get as parents that isn’t so bad.  Thanks for listening. J

Spring Break

I had such a good week off of school, it was hard to start back to classes this week.J  I wish it wouldn’t have rained so much though!  It makes me so ready for summer.  I really didn’t do much other than hang out with my family during our break.  We had dinner with my sister and her kids one night.   It is always nice to get together with them.  She has three boys and I have two.  Her oldest is 20, but her other two are around the same age as mine.  They are extremely close cousins.  We are so lucky they are as close as they are.  I hope it continues as they get older. 

My routine this week was pretty much the same as it usually is minus the homework, so that was nice to have that break.  The best thing I have done is go back to college, but I am down to my last year and I am starting to feel a little burned out.  I hear that is pretty normal though.  I have been in school for what seems like forever, however, it is only 5 years.  I have gone summers too, so it has been year round for the most part.  I decided this summer I am giving myself a break.  This week gave me a little glimpse of what that is going to be like and I can’t wait! I enjoyed spending time with my boys and really not having to worry about anything else other than the normal household chores.  Yes, I am blessed enough to not have to work so I really shouldn’t complain.  My day is coming though, I graduate in about a year and it will all be over. J  I have also been looking for a part-time job at least to help out as well. 

I hope everyone had a great spring break!  It was an awesome chance to spend some time with family and friends and not have to stress about deadlines.  We are down to just a few more weeks of our semester so let’s try to make it a good one!    

April Fool's Day

April 1^st is a celebrated day all around the world every year, known as April fool’s Day.  It is sometimes referred to as All Fools’ Day.  Although this is not a national holiday, it is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play jokes and pranks on each other.  This day is marked by the good humor of jokes and practical pranks. 

Unlike most of the other holidays that are not foolish, the history of April fool’s Day is not very clear to a lot of people.  There never really was an “April Fool’s Day” that can be pinpointed on the calendar.  Some believe that it kind of evolved simultaneously in several cultures at the same time, from celebrations involving the first day of spring.  

The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582, in France.  Prior to that year, the New Year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25.  The celebration ended on April 1.  With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX, the Gregorian calendar was introduced, and New Year’s Day was moved to January 1.  However, many people did not receive the news for several years being that they were in the days when news traveled by foot.  The more stubborn crowd refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1.  These people were labeled as “fools” by the general public.  They were subject to some ridicule and were often sent on “fool’s errands” or were the brunt of other practical jokes.

Over time this harassment evolved into a tradition of prank—playing on the first day of April.  The tradition spread to England and Scotland in the eighteenth century and was later introduced to the American colonies of both the English and French.  April fool’s Day therefore developed into an international fun fest with different nationalities specializing in their own brand of humor at the expense of their friends and families. 

April fool’s Day is actually celebrated for two days in Scotland.  The second day is devoted to pranks involving the posterior region of the body, called Taily Day.  The origin of the “kick me” sign can be traced to this observance.   Mexico observes their “April fool’s Day” on December   28^th. 

The pranks performed on April fool’s day range from simple to elaborate.  Practical jokes are a common practice on this day.  It is known as a for-fun only day!