Mon 2/23 - Sun 3/1

So here I am on Wednesday thinking I'm not going to have very much to blog about this week until Lexi's birthday and baptism on Saturday. WRONG!!!!  I don't have pictures thankfully but man do I have an experience to share! Can I just start with EEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!?
To preface the story the kids had a field trip today to the Cocoa Cottages. (I guess they don't actually call it the chocolate factory like I had heard...) I stayed home all day and cleaned, baked bread and watched a show while Emma was napping. It was pretty nice. I picked up the kids at 3 and we were going to go to James' Store to find some ice cube trays (Mark just started making this really tasty peanut butter/chocolate/oatmeal smoothie in the morning but we only have one ice tray) and some nail polish remover (I'm in desperate need!). Lexi and Kari decided to fight over a bottle of water right as we got to the store. Lexi was pulling on it and Kari let go so it hit Lexi hard in the nose. Bloody nose... I bailed on James store and we started toward home.
IGA was on the way and no one was fighting so I decided to brave a little grocery trip. I had gone to all the effort of bringing the stroller (which so far is pretty rare. Iusually haul Emma around in a carrier on my front and anything else I need in my backpack or Ross shoulder bag.) I might as well put some heavier items in it to haul home. I don't know if I've ever made it out of the store without buying some sort of package of cookies. Usually Dominos cookies with fudge in the middle. They are a bit like Oreos and I'm pretty sure I'm addicted. Today, I decided we'd try some different ones. We grabbed a package of Fudge Stripped Oatmeal cookies. We survived the checkout and got out the door. We paused to get all situated and get Emma buckled back into the stroller. She started fussing and I remembered I was going to buy her a little snack like animal crackers. I decided to give her one of the oatmeal cookies even though it would make a huge mess. She'd love it. I opened the package and grabbed out a cookie which was extremely crumbly! Weird... Oh well. Lexi took some and said it was so yummy. I ate a little piece of Emma's as I was pulling some out for Kari and Isaac. It was DISGUSTING!!!! I was surprised Lexi was saying how good it was! (I think it was expecting them to be good) There was such a nasty after taste in my mouth. Then I saw Lexi's face look a bit more disgusted and she was hit with the after taste. I started examining the cookies thinking something must be wrong with them. Maybe mold. I saw a little white thing that could be part of the oatmeal (but wasn't!) and then out crawled a little BUG!!!!!!!!!!  YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK!!! I looked through more of the cookies to be sure. YEP! It was almost funny except it was SO nasty and I had just fed some to all of my kids including my helpless little 9 month old!! EWW!!! We started spitting and drinking water. Such an awful taste was just lingering. I wanted to puke. I wish I could have! We went back into the store to talk to someone in charge. They didn't seem surprised and let me switch for some Domino cookies. I told them to get those bug cookies off of the shelf!! I hope they did!! I am NEVER buying those cookies EVER again! I'll stick with my Dominos.

Here are some pictures others took on the kid's field trip today.

A few times recently the water has gone out. I am so grateful for running water!!! The other day after heavy rain I filled up my washing machine and the water looked quite brown (from dirt). Then there was no water at all and THEN the power went out too!! Ugh!! Thankfully the power came back on after a little while and I just put off my laundry another day...  I'm not sure what we'll do when it's rainy season. Maybe we just wash in dirty water.

Friday I went on a grocery shopping trip to Roseau to stock up on a few items. I was told the general rule of thumb everything is cheaper  in Roseau. I'm not sure if that's always accurate. It's hard to know when items don't always have prices on the shelf. There are more things available and in stock more consistently in Roseau. I found some streamers and balloons for tomorrow! Yay! Our shopping trips have to be quite rushed to get there and back by noon for the kid's lunchtime. 

Saturday was a big day! We (mostly Lexi) have been counting down the days until

Lexi's 8th birthday and baptism day!!!!!!!! I can't believe my baby is 8!!

Mark did a little photo shoot with our beautiful 8 year old in her beautiful white dress.
(Grandma Rashae' got it for her for Christmas)

Not sure why but her hair looks extra red here. I love this picture!

 Lexi is standing on Coconut Beach at the Caribbean Sea (technically not the ocean...)

We took the picture above then turned around, stepped back a few feet and took this picture. 

It was a simple perfect baptism. It was different not to be in a stake center but I loved it. My great grandmother was baptized in a horse trough. It doesn't matter the location. We sang "I am a Child of God" and I felt the Spirit confirming to me that that sentence is truth. I hope that Lexi's testimony of that truth will grow and be the most important thing she knows. 

 

  

Mark and Lexi changed in and out of their jumpsuits in this rundown restaurant. 

After the baptism we invited everyone to the family lounge on campus (which isn't far from this beach) to eat cookies with us. 

 Our primary president Holli gave this to Lex. This is extra special because donuts are rare around here. These came from a trip to Roseau (an hour away) on a shopping trip the day before.

 Later at home we did gifts. We didn't have any wrapping paper and didn't want to search around for other things to wrap gifts in. Instead we had the birthday girl close her eyes and wait until we placed a gift in front of her and told her to open her eyes. It worked well. 

 This heart shaped jewelry box is made of bamboo. She laughed because it was not a surprise. 

She got an island LIME (the phone company) cell phone for emergencies. It has one simple game and even plays the radio. 

 

That night right as the kids got into bed I spotted this creepy crawly on my kitchen floor near Emma's chair. AHHHHH!!!  I screamed and jumped up onto a kitchen chair freaking out with the heebie jeebies! ICK! Lucky for me Mark was home and smashed it with a shoe after he took this picture. Unlucky for me he left it twitching on the floor for me to clean up. 

 Sunday during sacrament meting Lexi was confirmed and received the gift of the holy ghost. After church as we walked home we stopped along the way and took a few pictures of Lexi Lou.

 Since we ate so many cookies on Saturday and went to another birthday party with lots of treats we saved birthday cake for Sunday. We basically ate this delicious cake for dinner. Yep. We did. YUM!