Easter party

With all the political correctness in our country the kids can't even have Easter parties anymore. It's now called a Spring Party.
and instead of Christmas it's Winter party
and here's the real kickerinstead of Valentine's its a Friendship Party.
What? What's wrong with Valentine... I don't get it.
Well anyway this year at Trent's EASTER party they made kites.

And in keeping with all the political correctness we have to now account for everyone's food allergies. Now there are some allergies I understand Peanuts for example can really be life threatening. I'm OK with no peanuts but now everything has to be
peanut free
fat free
gluten free
wheat free
sugar free

FUN FREE

So 2nd grade decided this year let's just be Food FREE.....The party is kite making and flying..... OK whatever. Are they really too old to still hunt eggs? heck I still like to hunt eggs.

Trent's teacher told them, "there won't be any food at the party so you can bring a fruit break snack to have at your desk" Typically a fruit break is grapes, crackers, apple, etc.

When it was time, she annouced "go get your fruit snack if you brought one...."

And this kid, brought one. but when he unwrapped it at his desk....this is what he had....

A LARGE piece of chocolate cake with white icing.....fork and knife included. It was enough to feed his whole table.

That's what I'm talking about Sam.....Work the system man! Next year Tren't bringing a whole cookie cake!!!!

Even with all the rules the kids still had a great time flying the kites. And they actually flew which made the day so much better.

Your trampoline is where?

We have had a trampoline for quite a while now. In fact the first trampoline was the cause of Trent's broken leg. However when we moved 2 years ago the trampoline didn't last long. I had heard trampolines don't move well and I guess that's true. We tried for a while to salvage the old one. David even built a wooden 2x4 leg for one of them. But it finally fell completely apart.

So during spring break this year we decided to get another trampoline, because well with 5 kids it's something that gets WELL used.

One the way home from Academy, it began to rain and we were upset that we couldn't assemble it that day. I whispered to David, "we could set it up in the living room" Just joking.....
He leaned over and whispered, "they'd never forget that"

So when we got home everyone pitched in to move all the furniture to the side and they set the thing up right in the middle of the living room.

and jumped, avoided the fan, jumped, avoided the fan, jumped

and jumped some more... Then at night we all laid on it and watched Biggest Loser and the kids brought sleeping bags on it and slept there. Kaylee says it's much more comfortable than sleeping outside on the ground.

Cupcakes

It was Kaylee's turn to take snacks for her Girl Scout meeting. With it being so close to EASTER I thought we could try to come up with something cute. So I googled "cute easter cupcakes" (what did we do before Google?
Anyway this is one of the ones that popped up. There was another cute bunny one but Kaylee chose this one. (I think in part because she was counting on there being left over liccorice) I was counting on there being left over PEEPS!

Mia - isms

Me - Mia go get your PJ's on

Mia - Have you washed my one with the noodle strips

Me - The what?

Mia - The one with the noodle strips

Me - The One what ?

Mia - The shirt

Me - The noodle shirt? You don't have a noodle shirt

Mia - The shirt with the noodle strips...that I wear at night(gesturring toward shoulders)

Me - Oh The shirt with the SPAGHETTI STRAPS...

Yes Mom that one...

Sometimes it's like detective work around here....If I survive the next 18 years I'm considering applying to the FBI...I have the experience

What a life....

Oh to have the life of a bunny.....or to have the life of a princess....or to have the life of a bunny princess......

Ty

Mia

Trent

Kaylee

A few weeks ago I had portraits of all the kids done. This was Kaylee's session and she loved modeling for the pictures. I love this color on her. My baby girl is not such a baby any more.

The Ears have it...

Mia has wanted to get her ears piereced off and on for the last few months. She'll decide she's ready then maybe not so much. Well, one day before Christmas we went to see Alvin, the Squeakwel and after the movie I said, "Mia, do you want to get your ears pierced today?"


She said "YES!"


So we headed upstairs to Merle Norman......quickly.....before she changed her mind, (emphasis on QUICKLY)





She picked out a cute pair of CZ star studs and was all smiles and giggles. She loves the attention and everyone was focused on her.

And then.....Ear one.... and Oh my goodness Ear Two

I'm quite certain the picture above will show up in an edition of National Geographic under the heading...."Coming of age Rituals performed while parents physcially restrain them"

But we just couldn't go around with one earring. Sometimes they do both ears at once but there was only one lady working that day.

The tears were short lived. It was after Christmas and the clerk had brought in some holiday cookies and snacks and they were sitting on the counter. She asked me if she wanted a cookie and once she began eating it she forgot her ears hurt.

And it wasn't long until she was in show off mode. In fact she made me fix her hair in pony tails for a week so that Everyone could see her new earrings.

Brotherly Love

I'm so glad I have this picture. Not because of the reasons you think. Not because I'll have it forever or they have the best smiles or they look so happy......

NO the main reason is because it does prove that they really do Love each other.
Even with all the
fighting

bickering

picking

name calling

and

agitating

They really do love each other. Deep Breath. They really do love each other. Deep Breath

Here comes Peter cottontail

Kaylee has wanted a bunny for a few years now. I'm not even sure when or why she wanted one. No one we know has one. But somewhere or on some show she saw a bunny and fell in love.

When she turned 8, I almost caved and got one for her birthday. However, the ones I handled sent me into a full-on allergy attack. At which point I quickly called American Girl and ordered a doll instead. David was so relieved.

But then this Christmas I told the kids they needed to start making a wish list for Santa. Kaylee's list went something like this.
Bunny
bunny
bunny
bunny
littlest pet shop
bunny
bunny
bunny
bunny
toe socks
bunny
bunny
bunny
bunny

Anway, you get the idea, So we broke and got the bunny. And man was she overjoyed. She loves that rabbit and to tell the truth I think the rabbit loves her. Everyday after school Kaylee holds her like a baby and they snuggle all afternoon. Clara, the rabbit, is so calm and very very soft. She's a Rex(breed) if that means anything to anyone. It didn't to me a month ago. But apparently the rex has the softest fur of all the rabbits.

We borrowed a cage from our friends The Odoms and I thought we would use it for several months until the spring. I mentioned to Zane that maybe he and David could make a wooden hutch for the bunny to keep outdoors. Well that got him researching rabbit hutches on the internet. Zane came across a "Bunny Condo" picture. He drew the blueprints, decided on the amount of supplies.......

And the next thing you know he and David had constructed a two-story, bunny condo. Complete with two doors, stairs, and plenty of room to move around in.

Project time

I love it when there is a real "project" around the house that only the "guys" can handle. Well if you've ever tried to come through our back gate then you knew we had a real project. That old fence was so heavy and poorly constructed. But until recently it had not made it to the top of the priority list.

Finally the caster that was holding the gate together gave up and fell off. It was time to do something about it. So David and Zane started building. Living in the culture and "age of plenty" that we live it really makes me happy to see David passing on skills to the kids.

And Zane enjoyed the project as well. In fact they've recently constructed another project that was Zane's idea... pics of that coming soon.