4/29 - 5/01/2011

I recently took a trip back home for my youngest sister's college graduation. It was too expensive for the whole family to fly, so Matthew stayed home with Alexa and Gavin. I took Tysen with me since he was free (lap babies under age 2 fly for free on most airlines). He was a great traveler! We left Columbus on Friday morning at 6am. Tysen slept through most of his first flight. That made it much easier on me! The most difficult part about traveling alone with an infant is just being able to carry everything that you need. My hands and arms were full with the car seat, the diaper bag, my breast pump bag, my purse, and Tysen. Getting through the security check point was the worst because I had to take my shoes, belt, and jacket off, plus take Tysen out of the front carrier that he was riding in. Then they had to carefully inspect all the breast milk and ice packs that I had in the diaper bag cooler. They even had to open the bottles and do a vapor test! Finally they decided that we were harmless and let us board the plane.

Tysen's First Flight!

My mom picked us up from the Omaha airport and we first went to Sherry's house (my mother-in-law). We all visited and then we were able to see Dezirae, my only niece. She's about 9 months old. It was fun to watch Tysen and Dezirae interact.

Dezirae is so close to crawling and Tysen was rolling all over. Soon, both of these babies will be into everything!

Saturday was Kara's graduation from Northwest Missouri State University. I am so proud of her! I wish that the whole Briggs family could have been there to support Kara, but it was much easier only having one little guy to keep quiet!

Kara and her boyfriend, Jared

Grandpa and Grandma, me, Kara, Calvin, and Mom

Kara with Grandpa and Grandma

This is Kara's new Golden Retriever puppy, Lyla.

Lyla was a graduation gift from Jared~ how sweet! Kara is so in love with Lyla (and Jared, too!).

Tysen got lots of attention at the graduation party at Kara's new house.

Tianna, Kara, and Gena

I love my sisters!

On Sunday, I went to church in Red Oak with my dad and Diane. Then afterwards we had a nice lunch and I got to spend some time with my nephews Masen and Hudson.

I love this picture of the boys!

My dad and Diane with Tysen.

Feeding the goldfish

Tysen's expression in this photo is adorable!

Hudson is too stinkin' cute!

The boys liked the stepping stones.

Then on the way back to the airport, I had just enough time to stop by and see my sister-in-law, Christina (she was working on Friday when I stopped by to see Dezirae). I had a short, but great trip and was able to see most of my family. I miss you all!

Rice Box!

For Easter, my mom mailed each grandchild a card and enclosed $5 with instructions for me to buy them a small gift. I decided that I wanted to get creative and spend the money on 50 lbs of white rice. Not to eat, but to play in! We have had so much rain recently and I thought it would be a fun indoor activity. I made the rice box from a long under-the-bed storage container. I added some sand toys (shovels and rakes), some dinosaurs, and a dump truck. I thought about placing the box on the hard floors, but worried that if they spilled some rice, they might slip and fall. I decided to put it on top of our storage ottoman in the living room over carpet. Before the kids saw it, I made sure that any spilled rice would vacuum up easily and it did. I secured it to the ottoman with a bungee cord so that they couldn't accidentally dump it. The storage container has a lid so when the kids are done playing, all we have to do is slide it under our bed and save it for another rainy day.

The kids were thrilled to see the "sand" box in the living room when we got home from school. They wouldn't even stop playing long enough for me to take their coats off!

They like to bury the dinosaurs and then try to find them.

I decided that it was a good thing that the box wasn't on the floor because they may have tried to climb inside the rice box then.

The rice was a lot cleaner than sand and I don't have to worry about them (or the dog) eating it.

The kids have already enjoyed several hours of rice play! Thanks, Grandma and Papa!

Spring 2011 School Pictures!