We had a good spring break the end of March/beginning of April. I thought with all of our snow days that some of spring break might be taken away, but we didn't lose any days. At a PTA meeting the principal explained why we didn't loose any days. I didn't quite understand how it all worked, and I had to leave so I didn't want to ask a lot of questions.
Monday morning we headed to storytime at the library. I was going to be a guest reader at storytime as they were short staffed, but it ended up that they didn't need me. The librarian did ask me to read the last story.
For our family home evening game we play LIFE.
I taught Shanna how to make a frog-on-a-log over the break.
Lee found this duck just enjoying the parking lot.
Elden spent some work money on a crystal growing set.
Clark likes taking selfies.
Shanna started gymnastics. She was SOO excited to start and LOVES her classes. Haley was not interested in going.
When Clark went on his first campout he never did a required 5 mile hike. We found out that he could do it on his own and still pass it off. One night we went up to Shenandoah National Park to do the hike when Lee got off of work. We knew it would be getting dark soon, so we tried to hurry the kids along...that didn't work very well.
About 3/4 of a mile in I turned around with the kids and Lee and Clark kept going.
I wanted to get back before dark and get the fire started. We made it right on time and were able to get a fire started.
So it got dark pretty fast and we were the only people in the picnic area. I get a little creeped out at night. After it being dark for a little while I started to hear something walking the dark. I finally saw what was walking closer to us-deer. Whew! The kids had fun feeding them marshmallows...I am sure the park ranger would disapprove. The deer loved it! The kids and I sat around the fire for a really long time. I told the kids at 9:30 we would put out the fire, and wait in the van for Lee and Clark. About 9:26 or so, Lee and Clark made it back! I was starting to worry about them. I began thinking that my idea of Lee and Clark going on a hike at night was such a dumb idea. We were all so glad they made it back. Clark was glad the hike was over too!
As any homeowner knows, there are on-going house projects. The bathtub faucet is leaky, but our main water shut-off line wouldn't completely shut off the water to our house. Lee had the town maintenance people come by and turn off the water from the street so he could fix the water shut off. He did a great job, and not our main shut off works!!! I don't have an after picture, but here is a before picture.
At the end of spring break we got ready for Lois and family to come for General Conference weekend. Easter fell on the same weekend, so we filled Easter eggs for a traditional hunt. It was a lot of fun and took a long time. We will about 450 eggs! I think we had enough for 8 kids.
Shanna and Cal got sick during the break too. Blah.
Random, but Haley took pictures of dogs from a book.
The kids enjoyed having their cousins here. Rhett was the ever popular cousin!
Shanna's friend gave her a dog outfit. Some of them took turns wearing it during general conference.
The kids got ready for conference by getting LOTS of Legos out. Twice a year our church has a world-wide conference where members all over the world have the opportunity to watch and listen to messages from our church leaders and prophet. It's such a great weekend listening to the prophet and apostles!
We got a dog!
He's a keeper! And house-trained!
General Conference has two sessions on Saturday (one Saturday evening for the Priesthood men ages 12 and up) and then two sessions on Sunday. In between the two sessions Saturday we had our egg hunt. It took Lois and I quite a few minutes to spread out 450 eggs! It was fun letting the kids run around and picking up whatever eggs they could find.
Clark gathered the most eggs...over 100.
It was hard getting a picture of everyone looking!
The kids enjoyed lots of candy during conference.
The evening after the kids were in bed Lois and I hung out while Jeff and Lee were at the Priesthood Session. We have a tradition that when they come home we have a yummy treat. I wasn't sure what to make, but came up with a delicious idea. I made homemade brownies, homemade Oreo mint ice cream, and homemade hard shell chocolate topping. I assembled all of it together with whipped cream and crushed Oreo's on top. YUM! We watched the first episode of season 3 for Granite Flats. It was a fun season and we are sad that we are already done watching the episodes. I might re-watch them with Clark. Maybe I'll figure something out that I missed. I hope they do another season or more!!!
At some point on Sunday Rhett got ahold of a permanent marker and colored on the "bar". I try and keep at least one Magic Eraser on hand, and that did the trick.
Marker, what marker?
We enjoyed a Sunday Easter dinner together.
I made a yummy dessert, though the presentation is lacking. It's sort of a pseudo strawberry cheesecake. YUM!
Sunday evening Clark, Elden and Blake enjoyed putting massive amounts of gel in their hair.
We really enjoyed the talks and listening to President Monson. What a great weekend. I started re-reading the talks tonight and am looking forward to re-reading all of them! We also watch the talks again with our family. The goal is to re-watch the talks before the next General Conference rolls around. Normally we're behind, but we are almost done watching the talks from October 2014. So kind of behind, but not really.
Jeff left Sunday night to go back to work, but Lois and her boys stayed for a few days for their spring break. We hit up story time again!
And of course the park.
Another night we went to the park again, had dinner and played kickball.
Lois and I did a couple of stops at Sharp Shopper while she was here. The second time she was here she saw strawberries for $0.99! We both bought some. I froze some, had strawberries and cream with Lois and Lee, and then we made jam the next day.
Shanna's friend enjoyed Rhett too!
I took Reed to meet up with Cal at lunch one afternoon. They are so cute together.
More Rhett pictures. Who can resist this little guy!
The jam we made that afternoon! It was fun making it together. We drove to a nearby town to get pick up some jam jars.
On a Thursday I took Lois and her boys home. It was really fun having them here, and I'm glad they decided to use most of their spring break at our house! I got back in time from Maryland to go on a field trip with Elden...to the library!
That night Lee took Haley on a date. I found this note and snack the next morning. So sweet.
The next day Elden and Haley were playing outside. Elden came up to me and said: "Mom, Haley had a great idea. But it didn't work." Ha. I think you're right Elden!
They obviously had fun and thankfully I got all of the mud out of their clothes!
Spring is definitely here! I've been LOVING the warmer weather. It's been great seeing the beautiful blossoms on the trees too. So excited for summer!
Monday morning we headed to storytime at the library. I was going to be a guest reader at storytime as they were short staffed, but it ended up that they didn't need me. The librarian did ask me to read the last story.
For our family home evening game we play LIFE.
I taught Shanna how to make a frog-on-a-log over the break.
Lee found this duck just enjoying the parking lot.
Elden spent some work money on a crystal growing set.
Clark likes taking selfies.
Shanna started gymnastics. She was SOO excited to start and LOVES her classes. Haley was not interested in going.
When Clark went on his first campout he never did a required 5 mile hike. We found out that he could do it on his own and still pass it off. One night we went up to Shenandoah National Park to do the hike when Lee got off of work. We knew it would be getting dark soon, so we tried to hurry the kids along...that didn't work very well.
About 3/4 of a mile in I turned around with the kids and Lee and Clark kept going.
I wanted to get back before dark and get the fire started. We made it right on time and were able to get a fire started.
So it got dark pretty fast and we were the only people in the picnic area. I get a little creeped out at night. After it being dark for a little while I started to hear something walking the dark. I finally saw what was walking closer to us-deer. Whew! The kids had fun feeding them marshmallows...I am sure the park ranger would disapprove. The deer loved it! The kids and I sat around the fire for a really long time. I told the kids at 9:30 we would put out the fire, and wait in the van for Lee and Clark. About 9:26 or so, Lee and Clark made it back! I was starting to worry about them. I began thinking that my idea of Lee and Clark going on a hike at night was such a dumb idea. We were all so glad they made it back. Clark was glad the hike was over too!
As any homeowner knows, there are on-going house projects. The bathtub faucet is leaky, but our main water shut-off line wouldn't completely shut off the water to our house. Lee had the town maintenance people come by and turn off the water from the street so he could fix the water shut off. He did a great job, and not our main shut off works!!! I don't have an after picture, but here is a before picture.
At the end of spring break we got ready for Lois and family to come for General Conference weekend. Easter fell on the same weekend, so we filled Easter eggs for a traditional hunt. It was a lot of fun and took a long time. We will about 450 eggs! I think we had enough for 8 kids.
Shanna and Cal got sick during the break too. Blah.
Random, but Haley took pictures of dogs from a book.
The kids enjoyed having their cousins here. Rhett was the ever popular cousin!
Shanna's friend gave her a dog outfit. Some of them took turns wearing it during general conference.
The kids got ready for conference by getting LOTS of Legos out. Twice a year our church has a world-wide conference where members all over the world have the opportunity to watch and listen to messages from our church leaders and prophet. It's such a great weekend listening to the prophet and apostles!
We got a dog!
He's a keeper! And house-trained!
General Conference has two sessions on Saturday (one Saturday evening for the Priesthood men ages 12 and up) and then two sessions on Sunday. In between the two sessions Saturday we had our egg hunt. It took Lois and I quite a few minutes to spread out 450 eggs! It was fun letting the kids run around and picking up whatever eggs they could find.
Clark gathered the most eggs...over 100.
It was hard getting a picture of everyone looking!
The kids enjoyed lots of candy during conference.
The evening after the kids were in bed Lois and I hung out while Jeff and Lee were at the Priesthood Session. We have a tradition that when they come home we have a yummy treat. I wasn't sure what to make, but came up with a delicious idea. I made homemade brownies, homemade Oreo mint ice cream, and homemade hard shell chocolate topping. I assembled all of it together with whipped cream and crushed Oreo's on top. YUM! We watched the first episode of season 3 for Granite Flats. It was a fun season and we are sad that we are already done watching the episodes. I might re-watch them with Clark. Maybe I'll figure something out that I missed. I hope they do another season or more!!!
At some point on Sunday Rhett got ahold of a permanent marker and colored on the "bar". I try and keep at least one Magic Eraser on hand, and that did the trick.
Marker, what marker?
We enjoyed a Sunday Easter dinner together.
I made a yummy dessert, though the presentation is lacking. It's sort of a pseudo strawberry cheesecake. YUM!
Sunday evening Clark, Elden and Blake enjoyed putting massive amounts of gel in their hair.
We really enjoyed the talks and listening to President Monson. What a great weekend. I started re-reading the talks tonight and am looking forward to re-reading all of them! We also watch the talks again with our family. The goal is to re-watch the talks before the next General Conference rolls around. Normally we're behind, but we are almost done watching the talks from October 2014. So kind of behind, but not really.
Jeff left Sunday night to go back to work, but Lois and her boys stayed for a few days for their spring break. We hit up story time again!
And of course the park.
Another night we went to the park again, had dinner and played kickball.
Lois and I did a couple of stops at Sharp Shopper while she was here. The second time she was here she saw strawberries for $0.99! We both bought some. I froze some, had strawberries and cream with Lois and Lee, and then we made jam the next day.
Shanna's friend enjoyed Rhett too!
I took Reed to meet up with Cal at lunch one afternoon. They are so cute together.
More Rhett pictures. Who can resist this little guy!
The jam we made that afternoon! It was fun making it together. We drove to a nearby town to get pick up some jam jars.
On a Thursday I took Lois and her boys home. It was really fun having them here, and I'm glad they decided to use most of their spring break at our house! I got back in time from Maryland to go on a field trip with Elden...to the library!
That night Lee took Haley on a date. I found this note and snack the next morning. So sweet.
The next day Elden and Haley were playing outside. Elden came up to me and said: "Mom, Haley had a great idea. But it didn't work." Ha. I think you're right Elden!
They obviously had fun and thankfully I got all of the mud out of their clothes!
Spring is definitely here! I've been LOVING the warmer weather. It's been great seeing the beautiful blossoms on the trees too. So excited for summer!
