Easter

We don't do the Easter Bunny at our house.  Someday my kids may need therapy and blame me for sucking the joy and magic out of their childhoods. I'm okay with that.  I'm also totally okay with those who choose to do the Easter Bunny thing. 

Traditionally, on Easter morning, the kids get a Costco tub of jelly bellies to share, and individually get a church related item (the boys all get a new tie). Another long-standing tradition is to try (and mostly fail) to get a picture of the kids in all their fancy Easter duds.

 

Before you cry tears of pity, you should know that Aunt Deanna more than makes up for their minimalistic morning. 

After attending church in the morning and celebrating the Risen Son, we headed out to celebrate the risen Sun with our Bonus Family. 

Side Note: Nursery is hard for Nellie.  Her leader sent us this picture to show when she finally calmed down.  Clark is known as the "baby whisperer."  I'm not sure if this picture was taken before or after Nellie got bit (hard) on her arm and leg by a nursery chomper.

Not long after we arrived, it was time for the annual Easter Egg Hunt Extraordinaire.  My kids look forward to this event with eager anticipation.  This time around, Mark got to help hide the eggs for the oldest kids, and he enjoyed finding challenging hiding spots for them.

The hunt was divided into three age categories: Toddlers, Bigs (10+), and Middles(4-9).  All three groups took off simultaneously. This property is the best place to have an Easter egg hunt!

 

Mark stayed and helped Nellie hunt while I trekked up the hill after the big four to try to capture photographic proof of the occasion.  

It's a tough task to try to get a picture when they don't want to slow down for half a second!

When Bryce filled his bucket, he emptied it into Thane's bigger bag, then took off to find more.  There were hundreds of eggs, plus assorted scattered toys and prizes.

See what I mean when I say my kids need no sympathy?!

The big kids had money hidden in some of their eggs.  Those kids were persistent!

When I returned from chasing after the bigs, Mark explained that Nellie had no interest in picking up eggs.  Instead, she noticed there were Care Bears scattered across the lawn.  She picked up every single one and adores them.  Who would've thought?

She didn't mind the few treats she managed to snag either.

After the hunt, the kids spent hours outside playing with their new toys, eating way too much candy (and very little dinner), and having fun with their cousins.

One of the toys Bryce picked up was a blow horn. Yikes! Good thing they have lots of property, because he spent the rest of the afternoon constantly blowing it.  Thankfully he managed to lose it before we came home.  I call that an act of Providence.

At one point, the neighbors sent over the Easter Bunny for a quick visit.  Creepy, right?  At least Graham wasn't freaked out.

Aubree brought her violin, and once everyone had eaten, she pulled it out and put on a show.  She found a receptive audience in my cousins, who appreciate music.  She played for a long time, exhausting her repertoire of memorized songs. When she was done, she told me, "I need to learn more songs!" That girl loves to perform.

We had a lovely afternoon with family.  The only downside of the day was the ridiculous traffic on the way home that added an extra hour to our 50 minute commute.

Spring Break Battle

In the years that we've lived in Washington, we've lucked out with lovely Spring Break weather (I went back to old blog posts to make sure my memory was accurate).  This winter has been extra long, cold, and wet (with only a handful of mild, sunny days since October). We were all hoping that Spring would make her glorious appearance just in time for a few days off from school.  She made a valiant attempt, but Winter just wasn't quite ready to relinquish her power.  Spring and Winter battled mightily all week.  We had rain, wind, hail, and sun - sometimes simultaneously!

On Monday, we decided to make one last trip to Northwest Trek before our annual passes expired. It's always more fun to take friends who have never before visited, and this time we convinced the Morris family to join us.  We prepared for cold, pouring rain, but enjoyed mostly sunny skies.

The Park was not at all crowded, and since it was cool and early, all the animals were impressively active.  The kids were especially impressed with the wolves, who came right up to the glass viewing window and glared at them.

When the Park isn't busy, the tram rides are longer.  Generally that might be considered a benefit, but by the 45 minute mark, Nellie was DONE.  The last 15 minutes became Operation-Avoid-Meltdown.

The big kids enjoyed the tour, but were unimpressed with our driver/tour-guide, and also lost interest by the last 15 minutes.

Mostly, they were anxious to get to the kid play area.  That's their favorite place to visit.  I thought Nellie would be thrilled to get back to the slide she loved last time we visited, but this time around she thought we were trying to torture her.

She was more interested in following the big kids on their adventures.

 

Graham convinced Patricia to be his buddy.  "Patricia!" he would call, "Come play with me!"

Generously, she always responded with enthusiasm and willingness, even when he wanted her to sit on the cougar statues with him.

On Tuesday, we went up to Katie's so Seth could help Bryce with his Pinewood Derby.  Mark and I lack skills and knowledge (and tools!) in woodworking, so we are super grateful that Seth is willing to help us out.  Seth let Bryce help as much as possible.  Even better, Thane and Dallin made their own car from the leftover wood from Bryce's car.  They loved it!

While the boys played with their tools, the other kids enjoyed time playing with their cousins.

When it was time for us to leave, Anna jumped in our car and joked, "I'm going home with you!" 

I looked at Katie and asked, "Why not?"

Anna quickly ran back in the house to pack a bag, and came home with us to spend the night.  Aubree was very excited to have "another sister," and the two of them were inseparable for the entire time Anna stayed with us.  It turned out Anna picked a good night to sleep over.  Aubree and I had planned to go out that evening for her half-birthday date.  Anna got to join us at Red Robin.  Aubree thought the food was fine, but the bottomless rootbeer float was top notch.

Wednesday morning we met up with Katie again to visit the Museum of Flight. We didn't have a lot of time to explore, so we hit some of our favorite spots.  Of course, we had to take the to the shuttle replica, which is special to the kids because, "that's where Daddy worked!"

Bryce couldn't wait to teach his cousins the tradition of "flying" across the sky bridge.

Walking through the planes is always fun.

So is posing with the mannequins.

Our last stop of the visit was the kid play area. Nellie walked over to Katie and asked to be picked up.  Then, she wouldn't let Katie put her down (even when Jordyn got super jealous). Maybe she's starting to overcome her unwillingness to let other people hold her!

The lighting was great, so I tried to get a couple of the kids to stop playing long enough to snap a picture. I had moderate success.

Aubree's a little too old for the kid play area these days.

Thursday we had our regular mini-co-op during the day.  Despite our extra outings, I tried to keep up with a minimum of school work.  One of my kids (coughBrycecough) has a hard time getting back into school work after having breaks.

Thursday evening, Thane had a soccer game.  The game started out mostly sunny, and I hoped we'd make it through the hour unscathed.  I hoped in vain.

The heavens opened, and the boys looked like drowned rats.  Thane continued to play courageously, but towards the end, when a ref blew his whistle, Thane asked expectantly, "Is that the end!?" With a negative answer, he then turned to his coach, "Sub? Coach, sub?"

That was a cold, miserable game, and made indoor basketball look quite appealing.

Saturday we had a bunch of scheduled activities, but they were all at almost the same time. First, I took the four big kids to the aquatic center for "safety lessons." They spent the hour learning about hypothermia (they insist that station was boring), water currents, life jackets, and safe swimming practices. 

I'm not sure how much they got out of it, but it was a free event and it got them back in the water after a long winter hiatus.

We hurried from the swimming event, dropped Bryce off at his soccer game, and hustled home to make it barely in time for our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. 

 

Nellie had just woken up from her nap, and was a little disoriented and unsure of what she should do in the 2-and-under hunt.

At the very end of the hunt, when all the kids emptied the treats from their eggs and returned the empty eggs to the storage container, Nellie finally figured out how the whole process worked.  She was very excited at that point to grab the eggs and put them in her basket.

The big kids had no such learning curve.  In fact, most of them couldn't slow down enough for me to grab a picture.

I'm not sure which they prefer more - the egg hunt, or the post hunt candy swap. 

We can't wait till Spring fully returns Winter to her cage.

New Tidbits

Since I did a post about old tidbits, I guess it's only fitting a do another with more recent events.  If I'm lucky, I'll even be able to remember a bit more about what happened in these shots!

1. Right before Valentine's Day, an unexpected package arrived full of fancy chocolate covered strawberries.

We figured out they were a gift from Aunt Sue.  I told you she spoils us!

2. In March, Aubree was invited to New Beginnings because she'll be entering Young Women's later this year. I know!  I don't want to think about that either!  She loved every second of the night, and the only disappointment is that now she has to wait "so long" before October comes and she can officially participate.

3.  Aubree never lets me forget that it's a "tradition" to make cinnamon rolls for General Conference.  This year, when I went to make the frosting, I realized I had leftover frosting in the fridge from Bryce's pack meeting cake.  They may look strange, but no one complained.

4.  Graham and Mark went on a father/son outing recently and got the now-standard McDonald's ice cream.  Here's the picture I got while they were out.  Silly Graham!

5. Last month, Aubree and Bryce took their required yearly assessment. Their results came last week. Bryce did well for his first year testing, with most of his scores falling around the 70-80th percentile (with a few below and a few above). Aubree, with more years of testing experience under her belt, knocked her test out of the park!

6. On St. Patrick's Day, Katie and her kids came down to spend the day with us.  We like to make a special effort to remember our dad on St. Patty's Day because of his love for all things Irish.  This year, in addition to our Irish dinner, we pulled up some stories my dad recorded and saved.  The kids gathered around the computer and listened to him read. I'm so grateful he took the time to do that before he passed away.  It was a small thing, but it keeps his memory alive with his grandchildren.

7. I've noted before that Thane is intense.  This is especially apparent when it comes to losing teeth.  Once he notices a tooth is loose, he does not leave it alone, and within a few hours, it's out.  He usually insists on Mark or I pulling, twisting, or yanking it. He has no fear, no hesitation, just a single-minded determination to get it out! He once admitted, "It's the easiest way to make money!" These days he's looking a bit like a Jack-O-Lantern. 

8. Aubree entered an essay contest sponsored by a local Daughter's of the American Revolution group.  She wrote an essay about Yellowstone National Park and won the contest! She accomplishment was celebrated at a DAR meeting in February.  Aubree loves writing.

9. Stake Conference means two hours of sitting in one place.  With five kids, that's a daunting task! A couple years ago I stumbled upon a trick that's worked wonders.  For the first hour, we expect the kids to sit and behave reverently (as they are accustomed to doing every week).  At the one hour point, I pull out a sandwich bag for each of the kids full of an assortment of small snacks such as: a variety of cereals, marshmallows, small crackers, dried fruit, and/or fruit snacks.  Usually, it takes them 30-45 minutes to eat their way through the bag.  Sanity saving!

10. On March 7, we made a last minute decision to take advantage of IHOP's "National Pancake Day" free pancakes.  The kids loved it! Sometimes it's fun to be spontaneous (spontaneity is not one of my talents).

11.  Nellie loves bows.  Every time she walks in my room, she demands, "Bow, Bow, BOW!"  Her brothers sometimes take advantage of that bow loving...

12.  I got Bryce and Thane matching sweatshirts.  They were so excited that they coordinated their entire outfits so they could be twins. 

Shortly thereafter, I dropped them off at their friend's house.  When Brock answered the door, he exclaimed, "Hey! I have that sweatshirt too!" and shot off to get it.  Viola! Triplets!

 

 13. I require my kids to stay in bed until 7 am.  What can I say? I'm not a morning person.  Graham usually gets up before 7, but will come crawl in bed next to me.  One Sunday, he got up extra early, so he and I took a lovely and too rare Sunday afternoon nap. He looked so cute, I had to snap a picture.

14. For Valentine's Day, Aubree made all her friends personalized bookmarks.  Then she made bookmarks for all the ladies in my bookclub.  She's a thoughtful one!