Saturday Morning Fun

Chris got back from Canada late last night. He was out visiting the University of Alberta for a possible Post Doc. Hopefully the next few weeks will bring to light a solid offer from somewhere. Here is an aerial view of Edmonton.

Then we decided to have some fun to celebrate his being home so we all got up at 4:30 to drive 2.5 hrs up to Sacramento so I could run a 1/2 marathon! It actually went really well. My arches didn't hurt as much as they could've (I've been having a hard time with them) and although I was tired and beat beyond all belief, I didn't feel like crying at the end! Also we ran it under 2 hrs and 20 min. Success! Maybe another one in another 2 years.

Easter

We had a fun Easter. I tried to do some of the same activities as I did last year throughout the Holy Week, but forgot for some of the days. We had a ward Easter Egg hunt and breakfast on Saturday, and the kids were a bit overwhelmed by all the other crazy kids but they really enjoyed watching and finding a few eggs.

Then we dyed Easter eggs later that night in anticipation of my Mom's family traditional Egg Roll Competition.


I had made these Easter baskets out of cotton string wrapped around a balloon and starched with boiled sugar water earlier in the week with some friends. Chris' grandma Claudia gave me the idea and all the supplies. It was really fun, although it took longer than I thought it would. I'd love to keep it as a tradition. Its fun to have Easter-specific baskets that I don't have to store throughout the year.

At church the Choir sang this beautiful song called "Alleluia! Christ is Risen" by Andre Kopolyoff. It was quiet and staccato and so fun to sing. After church we got together with friends for a nice pork roast, salad, rolls, mashed potatoes and Roasted nuts n' Butter Chocolate Cake dinner extravaganza. Lastly, we finished the day with our Egg Roll Competition. This year, Chris made a bracket for us. The winner is...

GWEN! She actually seemed to understand some of what was going on because the only time she wasn't crying was when it was her turn to roll her egg. I'd hold her on my lap and hold the egg in her hand in my hand, swing it back...1....2....and on 3 I'd flick the egg out of her hand across the blanket. She never complained about having it flicked out! Really fun.

bunkbed love and a dance party

The boys LOVE their bunkbed. They both get excited to take naps and go to bed. Alec doesn't take naps usually, but he asked to the other day when I excitedly asked Charlie, "Who gets to sleep in the bunkbed for naps!?!" Earlier, Alec had offered to let Charlie sleep on the top so I was nervous to find out what would happen when Alec decided he wanted to take a nap too.

Well, they both just slept on the top! Or at least tried to. Alec didn't ever fall asleep but he lay there quietly for 30-40 minutes and woke Charlie up accidentally by climbing back up to the top after a bathroom trip. Despite the late night the day before and the interrupted naps yesterday, it was SUCH a good day. I was so full of happiness as I played with my children more than I usually do. I particularly enjoyed laying on my back on the floor with Charlie laying on his back on top of me while we tried to throw balls up to the ceiling and catch them again. Alec would patiently get the ball for us if he rolled beyond our reach and Gwen happily crawled around us babbling and smiling. Yesterday was also my turn to receive dinner from my good friend/neighbor, Amanda. We swap meals once a week. A yummy lasagna, salad and homemade garlic bread arriving at my back door at 5:30 was a perfect addition to a fantastic day.

Then we topped that all off with a dance party before Chris had to go to scouts. Charlie had some AWESOME moves... all slow and deliberate when he was trying to show/dance with Gwendolyn. What a cutie pie. Alec wanted to take a picture of Chris and I dancing and never seeing any flashes or hearing any clicks I thought he either got distracted or didn't take any so I continued to dance/move all out. Turns out he was taking a movie! haha. I haven't deleted them yet, but I'm definitely not posting them here. Here are some of the kids instead.

Ok the movie I was going to post is taking too long so here is a short one of Alec dancing with Gwen. My favorite part is the huge smile Gwenyrs has when Alec picks her up. He's so gentle with her!

Wait, I think I got the first movie ready. Here are Charlie's awesome dance moves in all their glory.

Bunkbed!

So our bunk bed saga comes to a close. After waiting all day for the UPS truck, it finally came around 4:30. Chris rushed home and we immediately started putting it together. No real instructions along with no pre-drilled holes for some of the screws made it a bit challenging. It started off like this:

All of us in their room watching Chris work. But it quickly turned to this:

The boys watching a movie in our room while Chris and I (half watching Gwen, half helping Chris) continued to work.

Enter dinner time. Luckily I had made chili and cornbread earlier, so it was just a quick break and then back to work. By this time Chris had half of it together enough to realize that the slats we bought at IKEA yesterday were barely too wide for the bed frame. (Actually, the bed frame was built too narrow) At least the mattresses were squishy enough to fit so all he had to do was cut down all the slats 1/4 an inch. 2 stores later, Chris came home with a circular saw and a ratchet wrench to get the job done as soon as possible.


By this time Gwen was past ready for bed, and the boys were tired so we put Gwen to sleep in our room and let the boys watch more movies downstairs. When the UPS truck dropped off our mattresses earlier we excitedly invited all of Alec's and Charlie's courtyard friends over for a PJ-Bunkbed-Slush party when it was done, so through the whole process we had Alec and his friends asking about "The Party" about every 5 minutes.

Finally around 8:30 the bunkbed was finished and Alec and Charlie were climbing into it for the first time. They are really excited to sleep without kicking or touching each other and can't wait to show it to their friends tomorrow. :) There was no way to connect the ladder to the bed frame but both Alec and Charlie can climb up without it.

It fits the room really well and feels very solid and sturdy and its not scary high off the ground for Alec and there still is plenty of room for them to stretch out. We're really pleased to have it! I'm not sure it was really worth the wait/stress/anxiety/hassle but I've learned a lot about patience and trying to think the best of others. It is very cute and I can see us loving it throughout the years.

Masters induced obsession

Ever since watching the Masters a few weekends back, Golf has firmly taken its spot at the very top of Archibald interests. I've had to go to the running store three times in the past month to work out a foot/shoe problem and right next door is a golf store. The boys (all three of them) out-lasted the girls during those shopping trips. In the end we came away with some new golf clubs for Alec and Charlie. ("Wait, aren't we sort of on a tight budget?" I ask. The answer: "but ... this is golf." ) At least, I insisted, we should have the boys earn their clubs. So we made a sticker chart rewarding obedience the first time, being kind, staying in their beds (meaning NOT climbing into Gwen's crib), and asking for food (meaning NOT opening the fridge and making a mess).

After a few days the boys filled up their charts. I think the concept was a bit beyond Charlie's attention span but Alec might have earned it all on the first day or two if we weren't trying to get them to finish at the same time.

In one word, Alec is obsessed. He constantly asks to go golfing or go to the driving range, or to get out his clubs and hit balls. He practiced hitting out back for hours on Saturday, and didn't even want to come in for dinner. And he's good. He's really good. 8 out of 10 hits are solid contact, he's averaging 30 to 35 yards and his longest drives are 50ish yards...all the way to the fence.

Charlie is doing awesome too. He reaches back and swings through. His longest drive was 15ish yards and straight as arrow. He likes to hit a few balls, watch Alec hit some, go play with some other toys and come back to hit balls again. Over and over and over.

Even Gwendolyn got in on the action. She got so excited about it all that she stood up to standing without holding on to anything and even took her first steps unaided today!

Memorial Church

The weather was nice last Sunday so we took a family walk to Memorial Church. Actually maybe it was too Sundays ago. Either way we all enjoyed it and we remembered to take our camera!

For any of you interested in our future, its all still up in the air and there are no new developments. Hopefully we'll know where we're going by the end of May. For those of you interested in our Bunk bed Saga. There IS an update. They sent two more packages and should arrive on Tuesday. The only thing they forgot in this set of shipments are the bolts and the slats for the mattresses to lay on. Instead of waiting another month for them to send those, we decided we'd just buy/make some here. So, if everything goes perfectly smooth (which I'm beginning to doubt) the boys could be sleeping in their new bunkbed Tuesday night!

Ogre Attack

Last week were we attacked by an Ogre. Well, it was only after little Gwendolyn. Actually, I think she was Princess Gwenyrs that day.

Lucky for the princess, she had two brave and courageous brothers to protect her.

The ogre was no match for their skills in archery, swordsmanship and overall destruction.

The cardboard box monster didn't even last 1/2 a day, but what a glorious few hours it was. I can't decide who had the most fun: the boys shooting, tearing, poking, and ripping or Chris watching his masterpiece give such entertainment and laughs to his children. Gotta love General Conference weekend.