Easter 2012

This Easter started off with three very good looking, very clean, very sweet big kids getting ready for church all by themselves. They just keep growing up...despite all my very passionate pleas for them to stay little. I am so lucky to have such great kids.

After church we all (including our neighbor Colin) colored some Easter eggs.
And when the kids weren't looking, Robert went outside to hide them. Anyone who knows Rob, knows that he would never make finding eggs a simple thing. No. Not only did he find hard places to find the eggs...he tried to camouflage all the eggs by putting them in places they would blend in. Like this:
I even think I saw one egg half buried in the dirt...

No matter. Our little kiddies were determined to find them. So, (with only a little help from Bella) they scoured the front yard until they uncovered all of them.






Happy Easter everyone!

Happy April Fools Day! (Ha ha! Gotcha! That was two weeks ago, silly!)

Well, we didn't do very much for the silliest day of the year. By dinnertime I was starting to feel guilty for wasting a perfectly goofy day and so I decided to mix things up when I set the table (I'm a wild a crazy girl!) I put out 5 very different kinds of spoons. A serving ladle, a baby spoon, a measuring cup, a tablespoon, and an ice-cream scoop. Next to each spoon was a number. After everyone sat down, they all picked a number from my hand and the spoon that matched their number was what they had to eat dinner with. OK. Not the most ingenious plan, but a little funny. Here they are with their spoons.
Jason thought I was clever.
Very clever, indeed.
And in other blog-worthy news...Robert made dinner. ~gasp!~ And...~dramatic pause~...he didn't make pancakes! ~jaw-drop~ (Apparently, I thought that all needed stage directions).

Anyway. When Robert decides to shake things up, he shakes things up BIG. So for dinner he decided to make homemade pizza. Why, you ask. Because princess Laina doesn't care for pizza because she believes it to be too unhealthy. (Who raised that child?!) As soon as she made that declaration, Robert responded with a enthusiastic, "Challenge accepted!" and swept Alaina off to the store to buy a million healthy options to put on a pizza. An hour later and quite a few pennies poorer, they came back and proceeded to make three very healthy, and delicious pizzas. Each kid put the final toppings on their pizza and we had quite the dinner. (for some reason, my camera turned everything a lovely shade of orange. weird.)



Jason approved.
And guess what? Princess Alaina has made the declaration, "Let them eat Pizza! ***as long as it is homemade!" Lucky us.

Gina and her family came to visit us a couple of weeks ago. The kids were so excited to show off for their big cousins. Here is Ethan trying to 'kick Thatcher's trash!' in a game of pool. (That is one pretty big grin Ethan is sporting there.)


Once Thatcher pulled out his video game, the boys were stuck on him like glue.

While Shaun took the big kids snowboarding one day, Gina and her little ones stayed home with me and Jason. Here is Shydon showing off her mad pinkalicious skills in ballet.

Robert was only there for the first day of their trip and the last because of a work trip he had to take during the week. So, while he was there, he made a lasting impression. What better way to do that than with a giant pancake?

While Shaun was snowboarding with the big kids, and my kids were at school, Gina got in some good time with Jason
Jason was just as happy to spend time with his Auntie.

He even got in a good bath-time with lots of adoring fans.
Who's a chubby boy now? (nicely placed leg...he's so modest.)
The kids got lucky and we got a snow day! That means no school and more time with the cousins. Gina let me sleep (love it!) and all the kids had a blast outside while the big kids went to check out the University of Oregon. Chey and Shydon are tackling Ethan.


We spent one afternoon going to Powell's book store in Portland where everyone ended up getting a bunch of books. When we got home we had a whole living room full of party-animals...all silent with their noses' in their books. I never knew that you could have so many people in one room and still not hear a sound.
So I thought I'd shake things up and bring in the life-of-the-party. Jason! Doesn't that poor child look uncomfortable with Bryant? He felt much better after the book was put down...in fact, Bryant was awesome at making him smile. Austin mugged for a couple of good picture with shydon and Chey.


And Laina loved having a few more girls around the house.

Somehow they were able to squeeze in a snowboarding day, a sledding day, a trip to the university, a trip to Powells and a two day excursion to Seattle all within 6 days! Next time we'll have to have them stay at least two weeks!