Easter!

Here was our Easter in a nutshell:

We went on a fun egg "hunt" (I'm using the term loosely because it wasn't really that much of a hunt as the eggs were just laying there - but the kids loved it). We also went on a train ride, hit up a petting zoo, and decorated Easter cookies. I photographed none of it though - it's hard taking four small kids somewhere alone (Justin was working) AND remembering to take pictures. I figured I'd forget the pictures and remember all the kids. 

We also dyed Easter eggs. Yes, shirtless seemed to be the theme this year for egg dying (except for Josie). As always, it was a blast.

On Easter morning my kids found their baskets (which I, again, didn't photograph). The Easter Bunny left each kid an Easter outfit, a book, and some candy. Simple and perfect.

I tried to get a good photo of the kids before church. Surprisingly, the younger three were awesome. It was Clayton who was giving me grief!! He's at an age where he's a little surly about having his picture taken. I think we're entering that "tween" phase. 

This is my favorite shot of the day. These two. They are on each others cases all day, but when they get along, it's magic. And now I have photographic evidence that they like each other!!

These next two crack me up. Clayton is trying to placate me so I'll stop taking pictures. Noah thinks he's Michael Jackson, Josie is dancing (gangnam style, in that bottom one), and Sammie is just in her two year old bliss.

Love these outtakes.

Then we moved indoors to try again. Clayton had a happier attitude, but Sammie had crossed over the line into silliness.

In this one, I'm just trying to get a good shot of my kids and Sammie's all, "Hey Mama! Do you see my bum!" (Literally, that's what she's saying.) Also, Clayton's mad that we're not done yet.

So we moved outside to try one more time. This one ended up being our winner. Love the shot of the girls. They are becoming so close. I love it. Also, even though he's a little grouchy, Clayton is oh so very handsome and grown up looking to me here. Finally, Noah. He's still got that little boy look to him that I just adore. Not going to be too much longer before my boys are men. Scary.

Love the way Sammie's looking at Clayton here.

Again, we crossed the line into silliness.

We had a great Easter this year. We went back to basics. We were less commercial with it and talked more about the Savior and why we really celebrate this holiday. My kids are at ages where it's really sinking in and we can have slightly deeper conversations about the atonement and resurrection. It was so special to bare my testimony to them and hear their sweet testimonies in return. Easter is always such a wonderful season and I'm grateful to my Savior for the blessings of the atonement.

It wasn't the best photographed Easter we've ever had, nor was it the most active one, but in my mind it's simplicity made it the best. I look forward to keeping our Easters simple and focusing on the things that really matter!

Rewind...The Air Zoo!

Over spring break, my favorite of our many activities was the day we visited the Air Zoo. The Air Zoo is this great museum/theme park in Michigan. You can learn about rockets and airplanes. They had rides, interactive activities, and some really neat restored planes to look at. We spent most of the day there and had a great time.

 

These pictures are a little out of order. I took pictures with both my iPad and my camera and they just kind of uploaded randomly. I don't care to fix it so we're going to roll with it. Here we go:

 

Here's Clayton learning how to navigate the space shuttle:

 The kids (mine plus my friend's two little boys) sitting in the airplane hangar.

 They had four rides that were free with the price of your admission. This airplane ride, a ferris wheel, an anti gravity ride, and a big hot air balloon swing ride. The rides were unlimited and my kids took full advantage! I was worried that they wouldn't let Sammie ride, but it wasn't a problem at all! Win!

The kids on the airplane ride. Also to note: Clayton is the sweetest big brother ever. He was so protective and good to Sam the whole time.

 Noah:

My kids with the Earth:

 Sweet Sammie.

 Josie (who was definitely dressed for clubbing).

 Learning to work in space:

 In the lunar module.

 Hanging out with the car of the future.

 Noah seeing what it might be like to take a shower in space (we never did find out why there's a vacuum in the shower...hmmm).

This was a game(?). It had a turntable that you stood on while those colored dots spun around. I suppose the point was to not lose your balance. I lost. That thing made me so dizzy.

Anti gravity ride (that's the only ride I didn't take Sammie on - not because they wouldn't let her, I was just worried that she'd wriggle out of the safety bar). Notice Clayton's hands up. Boy's doing it right!

Josie the pilot.

Sammie loved this little helicopter. (They had this whole toddler area with these free little grocery store rides - Sammie was in heaven here.)

Clayton and Josie learning to land a space ship.

Sammie's just adorable.

It was a fun day with this wild bunch.

My girls on the ferris wheel.

We spy Clayton and Noah!

The kids loved sitting in this helicopter and pretending to fly it.

Love this shot!

I feel a little sad that we haven't heard about the Air Zoo before now. We definitely would have gone more often (because although it's in Michigan, it's really not that far from our house). It was well worth the drive and the price. I'm trying to figure out a way to go one more time before we move! It was a great day with fun friends in a fun and new place. I've got some jr. astronauts and pilots on my hands now!

Rewind...The AG Fair!

Another rewind post. This time about the AG fair. The AG fair is one of my favorite South Bend traditions, for several reasons: 1. It's free. 2. It's fast (we don't have to be there all day, in fact, it takes an hour - tops). 3. It's highly interactive. 4. My kids love it.

 

This year is our last South Bend AG fair. I am pretty sure that Jerome will have, if not this exact same thing, something close to it. I hope they do at any rate...because the AG fair is my favorite. A few pictures of the day:

 

Josie "milking" a cow.

Sammie "milking" a cow.

Learning how to rope a cow.

Love Sammie's 'barely there' face.

Silly boys.

Riding the tractor.

Going fishing.

Okay, this was the cutest thing I may have ever seen. Bunnies on leashes completing jumping courses. Adorable!! I may have squealed like a teenage girl at a Bieber concert watching this. I now, of course, want to own little bunnies who wear leashes and jump over things on a course.

I love the AG fair and am going to miss it next spring. It's really low key and nothing fancy so there is no real reason why I should love it so much, but I really do. Count this as one of the many things I'm going to really miss about South Bend when we're gone.

Rewind...April Fool's Day!

I'm going to try to do some catch up posts here over the next few days. So much seemed to happen so close together and I'm behind (again)! So let's just dive right in, shall we?

April Fool's Day was fun this year. The boys really understood what April Fool's Day was all about and I just had to live that up.

I started the night before by toilet papering all of the kid's bedrooms. The boys were confused when they woke up in the morning but all the kids thought it was hilarious and no one wanted to take the toilet paper down!

Then, while everyone was at school, Sammie and I made "juice". Really, it was jello, but it looks legit, right?

The kids had some interesting reactions to this refreshing "drink". Once they got it figured out, they loved it though and thought it was a really awesome prank! (And you'll notice that Sammie's milk is blue, that was another prank. I dyed the milk blue in the morning. Again, my kids thought I was an evil genius!)

Noah and Josie snuck upstairs for a while. Then they told me that I better hurry to my room. They "toilet papered" my room! Hahaha! I may have created little monsters.

For dinner we had grilled cheese sandwiches...or did we?? It's toasted angel food cake with yellow/orange frosting. Man, I was on fire this year!

There were a few other pranks (I put toilet paper in the toes of the kid's shoes to make them think their feet had grown, etc.) and I think we all had a really good laugh this year. I made sure to let my kids know though, that a prank is only funny if EVERYONE involved thinks it's funny. We don't prank to hurt someone, physically or emotionally. I think they get it. Now I better start thinking of ways to up my game for next year...