Science Academy, Cilla, Grown Up Sons, Easter, Haley & Re-do

Here I am again (insert big cheesy grin)...

Is it just me or are these post just getting further and further apart?

Hayden's last day of Science Academy was in March. Chad and I got to go and see a slide show presentation and see all the work that the kids had done for the previous 6 weeks. All of the kids got a certificate with their names on it and they had pizza and ice cream to celebrate the end of Science Academy. These are two of the other kids that were in Hayden's group. One was not there for the last session. During the weeks of Science Academy the kids learned about forensics. Hayden's team was CSI Las Vegas. He had a great time and we are SO proud of him.

All of the kids from Oil City Elementary Magnet School that were invited to participate in Science Academy.
Chad and I have been talking for MONTHS about getting a dog. We had been looking for the "perfect" dog (not a puppy, house trained, fixed) when I found her on Craigslist for FREE. The same day one of my friends found the perfect dog on Craigslist and got her. They had the perfect dog for a few months and, because they work, didn't get to spend as much time with her as they felt she needed so they offered us...the perfect dog. We have fallen in love with this dog that we call Cilla. Her real name is Priscilla but, just like Elvis shortened his wife's name, we shortened hers.
She is NOT a small dog...I know she is not looking at the camera in this picture but you can see how big she is compared to the boys. About 45 pounds of sweetness...

We had a beautiful Easter (besides all of the rain)! We had church that morning and then a potluck at the church for lunch. My family came including my brother, sister-in-law and niece from Florida, who were in town for a few days.

Family picture...
Me and my love...
The boys got these tub crayons for Easter from their grandma, Nannie.
Uncle Scott did some artistry work with the crayons on Hayden...
and we see what Hayden will look like when he is a bit older.Uncle Scott was not done doing his magic...Parker is going to be a handsome dude, too.

Monday night after Easter we all were at my mom's house for a crawfish boil. Scott invited many of his friends over and all of our family ate LOTS of crawfish. I believe Scott got 105 pounds of live crawfish that his friend cooked. There wasn't too much left...mmmmm!My sister-in-law, Bridget, was under the weather during the crawfish boil so I got to spend time with my neice, Haley, while Scott was getting everything set up. She is SO sweet! We all love her and can't wait to meet her little brother coming this June! Sweet Haley...

Now for a re-do...Chad brought home this bookshelf a few months ago from the church and asked if I could make it look any better so he could use it in his office. Well, spray paint is my usual go-to for fixing things up but this had a couple of coats of chipping paint that I was having to contend with so I called in a professional...my father-in-law. He has worked with wood all of his adult life and loves me so it was easy for him to say, "Sure, I'll help."

BEFORE...

AFTER...

This was quite a project. I can honestly tell you wood working (taking bookshelf apart, stripping, sanding, stripping again, sanding again, staining, putting it back together, deciding to put molding on because your daughter-in-law didn't do a good job staining the edges of the bookshelf, staining the molding and putting the molding on) is not for the impatient. I'm pretty sure for about $60 I could have gone to Target and gotten something that looked pretty similar to this and that took one hour to put together but then I wouldn't have learned anything about stripping, sanding and staining or wouldn't have spent time with my precious father-in-law.

I've already got another blog post in mind so come check back soon. I'll probably be updating before next month :)