Field Trip #2 - The Zoo!

To end our super busy week, I got to chaperone Eli's field trip to the zoo! Again, we had about a 2:1 kid:chaperone ratio, so it was pretty easy. Eli's best friend Ian had his mom there too, so Eli's teacher gave us two boys that were best friends so we joined up and took the four boys around. They had such a great time together and it was fun to see Eli with his friends. Their class had been looking at the zoo maps all week and planning out what they wanted to do, so the boys came with an itinerary they wrote of everything they wanted to do (complete with times). It was pretty cute. I think we were able to see just about everything on their list, plus a few extras.

Of course we started out the morning with a long visit to the Insect World. I don't think I'd ever spent much time in there. There were a LOT of bugs. The boys thought it was so cool and I tried to act cool with all the creepy crawlies...blech!

But then we got to see baby tigers so that was much better. :)

During the middle of the day, we all met up for an educational experience where one of the zoo workers brought out a few different animals and talked about their adaptations. They got to pet a skink, an armadillo, and to see a barn owl. The guy had the kids all sit in a circle with the armadillo and he let him go and he walked all around. It was so cute!

After that we booked it over to the "Cheetah Encounter". The boys were really excited for this. They brought out a few different animals, and then at the end they brought out the cheetahs and had them run! It was really amazing. Eli LOVES cheetahs so this was a definite highlight for him.

We had a little time left after that to see some of the African animals and then the manatees and then it was time to meet back by the buses. It was a fun day!

We had a little time left after that to see some of the African animals and then the manatees and then it was time to meet back by the buses. It was a fun day!

Eli is EIGHT!!!

I can't believe we have an EIGHT YEAR OLD!!! Wow. Eli's birthday was a busy one, but a fun one! He had his 2nd grade play that night, so we celebrated around it.

We had a quick dinner and opening of presents before the play:

Grace helped with the dustpan in hand, of course.

Binoculars from Grammy and Papa were a hit!

After opening presents, we dashed off to the school for the 2nd grade play. It was so cute! I was pleasantly surprised by how great it was. It was only about 20-25 minutes long, but the kids loved watching everyone up there and Eli did a great job! The play was "It's a Hit!" and he played one of the baseball players (hence the Reds t-shirt and baseball pants in the photos). He didn't have a speaking part, but he did have to run back and forth between 2nd and 3rd base during the "He's in a pickle" song. 

After the play, we came home and had cake! Oh yeah baby. This was a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. Chocolate cake on the bottom, then mint chocolate chip ice cream, then a ganache topping, and then some [homemade] peppermint patties (we had a few leftover in the freezer from Christmas without the chocolate, so it was easy to finish them up). A few bites could kill you, but man it was good.

It was a great day celebrating our favorite 8 year old!

Field Trip #1 - Sunrock Farm!

I was excited to go with Connor to his first field trip! They went to a farm in Kentucky, the same place Eli went two years ago on his kindergarten field trip (can I just say how cool it is that we've lived somewhere long enough for something like that to happen? yeah, it's awesome). Anyway, he was such a cutie and held my hand a lot and stuck close to me. I loved it! I was happy I could go and spend some one on one time with him away from his siblings, since that's something that doesn't happen very often.

Connor's class only has 15 kids in it, which is so great. They stayed together as a group the whole time, so it was really easy chaperoning since we had about a 2-1 kid-chaperone ratio. I pretty much just got to hang with Connor and help with a few of the farm tasks, like helping kids feed the goats and wash their hands and stuff. Super hard.

The kids all got to feed the baby goats with a bottle, milk a goat, brush a miniature horse, gather eggs, hold baby chicks, dig and plant in the garden, pet lots of animals, and learn about life on the farm. It was a fun day!

I was on week 3 of shingles and felt pretty miserable by the end of the trip, but I was still glad I went. I love this kid!

I was grateful for a friend of mine who watched the girls for me in the morning, and for Jeremy for taking a long lunch to get them home and down for naps until I got home.

Easter 2017

Easter this year was a bit unconventional. I found out the day before that I had shingles, and I was not feeling the best. I stayed home from church that morning and rested and Jeremy was a trooper and took all four kids to church himself.

I managed to snag one picture of the girls in their cute dresses before church, but that was the only Easter picture I got. Jeremy was incredibly blessed third hour when Grace fell asleep on his lap while he taught a lesson! I think it's been at least 6 months since Grace has fallen asleep at church, so that was pretty amazing. Of course Sacrament Meeting was a challenge, but we'll take blessings where we can get them!

We had already invited people over for Easter dinner, and Jeremy said he wanted them to still come and that he would take care of everything. Seriously, he's quite the guy. So I ran it past them (shingles can be a bit of a downer, but they were game), and Jeremy whipped up a feast! We had ham, amazing mashed potatoes with chives from our garden, broccoli cauliflower salad, carrots, another green salad and fruit salad brought by the Holbrooks and carrot cake for dessert (yep, Jeremy). Since I wasn't on my A-game, I didn't get a picture, which I'm sad about, because the food and guests were beautiful!

We had a great time with our friends too. We had a family in our stake over. I actually knew the girl, Morgan, in high school. We were in a performing group together. We were in different stakes and different high schools, so I didn't know her super well, but we ran into each other at Costco last year and found out that we both lived here now! We were both very pregnant, so we didn't get together until now, but we are SO glad we had them over! We had a great time with them and are excited to get to know them better. She is the sweetest person ever and her husband Johnny shared a lot of common interests with Jeremy, which was great (isn't it so hard to find couples you both like??). They have three kids; a boy Connor's age, a girl 9 months younger than Anna, and a girl a month older than Grace. Perfect! The kids had a great time and we're looking forward to getting together again sometime. That was our Easter!

Home Campout

Easter Weekend the kids really wanted to go camping, but Jeremy had been out of town and I wasn't feeling up to it (the next day I found out I had shingles, go figure), so we decided we would compromise by eating hot dogs outside, cooking marshmallows over the fire and letting the kids sleep in the basement in their sleeping bags. These days I really like this kind of camping, haha. Everyone had a good time and Jeremy and I really enjoyed sleeping in our bed!

Easter Egg Drop

This is the second year in a row that we have attended the Helicopter Easter Egg Drop at the Nature Preserve behind the boys' school. That's right, a helicopter literally comes and drops candy-filled eggs into a field and then the kids get to go grab them. Craziness. Last year, the boys came home with a flier about it (it's put on by a local church), so Jeremy took the three oldest since Grace was only a week or two old. It was really cold and gray as I recall, but this year we all went and it was gorgeous! We kind of forgot about it that day so we got there right as the helicopter was about to drop the eggs. Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture of it but Jeremy got some after. It was pretty exciting! Now I just need to dispose of all the unnecessary candy...

Also on Saturday, Eli had his first soccer game of the season! Connor's got canceled because the field was too wet from all the rain. Bummer. But I'm sure he'll play again soon. Eli's team lost but they did a lot better than we thought they would considering the practices! I always enjoy getting outside and watching the games together. I think it will be a great season for both boys!

And I had to include this last picture Jeremy took on Saturday. He is mowing the lawn with Grace on his back because his is a Super-Dad. Grace has been extremely clingy lately and if I'm around she wants me holding her which of course can be a little difficult with three other kids to take care of and a household to run. So Jeremy offered to take her outside since she LOVES to be outside and he mowed the front while I got the inside chores done with the other kids. It was very nice! He is the best.

Spring Break 2017!

We had a great spring break this year. The weather semi-cooperated and we were able to get a few fun outings in. On Monday, we went to the zoo! We got zoo passes this year because we wanted to see the Christmas lights and with our big crew we only needed to go 1.5 times to pay for the zoo pass, so we went ahead and did it! It was fun! We had a few drizzles, but other than that it was warm and wonderful. We saw lots of the animals and the kids did great. It's really fun having the kids get older! They have much more stamina and they are just a lot of fun. I am enjoying this phase!

The spring flowers were beautiful!

Monday night we had the Sisters over for dinner and Family Night. We played a game from the Friend and talked about things the prophets teach us in preparation for Conference!

Tuesday we stayed home and played. The kids and fun playing inside and outside and I enjoyed not having to go anywhere! We did have karate that night, but that was easy. Then on Wednesday we went to our church playgroup at a really fun park I had never been to. After that we went to Connor's 6-yr well-check, in which he was deemed perfect by the doctor (he keeps telling me now that he's perfect!). Then we came home and the girls had naps and the boys helped me plant some seeds! I decided to be brave and try starting things from seed this year and it's going well so far! I will post a recent pic soon.

Then went to the boys' last karate class. They did a 6-week special and really enjoyed it! (If they didn't charge an arm and a leg and make you sign up for a year at a time, we would probably continue.) After karate we went out to dinner at Smashburger! We'd been wanting to try it since we heard it was a celiac-friendly place, so this was a good chance. It was tasty!

Then on Thursday, we started off the day with breakfast on the floor! Haha. I told the kids that it was our 2-yr "anniversary" of moving into our house and Eli said, "Let's have cereal on the floor like we did the day we moved in!" I thought that was hilarious and also a fun way to celebrate. So we did!

After that we got ready and went to the Nature Center! Connor got some binoculars for his birthday that he really wanted to try out, so that was the perfect place. We saw birds, frogs, and turtles and passed off another hike on our "Hike for Your Health Challenge". It was a great day!

He is a nice brother to share with everyone. 😃

They were getting a little weary so I told them to go down to this creek and cool off. Worked like a charm!

Some wildflowers were beginning to emerge!

And nothing like a little bathroom selfie. Grace was being cute and smiley looking at herself in the mirror until I pulled out my phone to take a picture of course.

That night Eli had soccer practice and we all enjoyed being outside again for that. Friday we got a bunch of chores done in the morning so we wouldn't have to do too many on Saturday and then when Jeremy got home, we went on a date! Woohoo! I love half-day Fridays. We went out to lunch and went grocery shopping at Costco. Super romantic!

It was fun though. It's nice to have time alone together during the day when neither of us is half asleep! We went to a yummy hippie kind of place for lunch that I really liked. Those are few and far between out here in the midwest, so it was fun. Everything is made from scratch and all local/organic/etc. I got the special, which was a delicious cod sandwich (pictured) and Jeremy got some really tasty Asian tacos. I want to go again so I can order those next time! Yum!

Then we had a fantastic weekend watching General Conference! It is a highlight of the year for everyone. We get lots of snackies for lunch and eat and watch and try to keep everyone engaged for as long as possible. :)

I love this crew! (Grace was in her highchair not pictured, sorry Gracie).

It was a fantastic Spring Break!