Celebrating Easter - Part 1

Jamie had been sick, and the kids and I were going stir crazy in the house. Why else would I venture out in the rain to attend a community Easter egg hunt? I hate being cold, being wet, and dealing with candy in the house. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and I didn't buy those raincoats for nothing! The egg hunt was divided by age groups, so Cailtyn helped her little brother get the concept of "hunting" eggs. Has anyone else noticed the trend of "egg hunts" being large volumes of eggs thrown into a field?

Unfortunately for me, there were "prize eggs" that contained golden tickets. Therefore I painstakingly opened each cheap egg in case we had won a big $1 prize. For my trouble I earned nothing but grassy knees and aching fingers.

Unable to resist the call of the bounce houses, Caitlyn took off her crocs and hit the slide. It was miserable. She cried the whole way down and was inconsolable for several minutes. Thankfully the slightly creepy Easter Bunny was there to cheer her up. Needless to say, neither of them bounced in the waterlogged bounce house. Caitlyn requested a pink butterfly from the face painting booth, so little brother wanted the same thing. That picture's definitely going in his wedding slideshow.

After finishing the craft, we decided to head home. The freezing kids jumped directly into the bathtub to warm up. It was a dreary morning, but at least I wasted a couple of hours. I mean... at least the kids had fun and made some lasting memories.

Thankfully the next day's Easter party at church was all indoors. Our teachers are fantastic. The kids sang praise songs with instruments, made a Palm Sunday craft, acted out the triumphal entry, listened to the Easter story, and of course had a snack. Enjoy a couple of videos from the morning:

More Easter pics can be seen by clicking here.

DIY Snow Day

My aunt and uncle always give the kids in the family the coolest bunch of gifts at Christmas. Last year's treasure trove included a container that could make fake snow. We saved it for this beautiful March day! I brought out all kinds of bowls, spoons, and dishes and turned our table into a winter wonderland.

We were out of town the one day this year it snowed, so I had to do something!

Here's how it works:

This was the first nice Saturday all year, so every single house in the neighborhood had people outside working in the yard. Our lawn is beyond repair, so instead of fertilizing we put together a playset our friends had given us when they moved to Montana.

Daddy and Elijah did most of the work, but I came over for the heavy lifting. Our neighbor offered to help. Jamie said no, but I overrode him when we connected the swingset and slide. There was no way two people could hold three giant playset pieces! When it was all assembled, the kids tested out the slide.

But really, what kind of test is that? To really test a slide, you need a 200 something pound man. Go Jamie, go!

For the record, the slide survived the test.

You can see more March pictures by clicking here.

Child labor

One reason my house is a wreck is that it takes .0000000001 seconds to dump out a container of legos or dog food and at least an hour to make a three year old clean up said mess. (Usually it only gets clean because big sister eventually takes pity on him and does it herself!)

Cooking dinner and cleaning the house seems to take forever, but I believe it will pay off when my children can clean and cook for me as well as be successful adults when they move out one day (*sniff). And could there be any cuter window cleaner than this guy? Usually he just wants to spray the windows... and the floors... and the table... and the couches... and his sister. But this day he was really into wiping. Anyone want to hire him?

The Great Tooth Fairy Experiment

Since their mom started working two jobs, we've missed our sweet "cousins". So we had them over for a sleepover to let their daddy surprise my friend for a child-free night out. Great. Now I have baby fever! Their little ones are so sweet!

Their daddy picked them up the next morning since it was a school day for us. On the way home, Caitlyn cried out from the backseat, "Hey, my tooth is loose! I thought I had a cavity!"

After informing her that any tooth pain should be reported to the proper authorities, I burst her bubble with the fact that it takes loose teeth a while to come out. I encouraged her to keep wiggling, and in a few days she would be rewarded with a snaggle toothed smile. Ever eager to prove me wrong, a few minutes after arriving home she deposited said tooth into my hand. In my defense, I think it had been loose for a while as another tooth had already begun growing in.

This momentous occasion was celebrated in true American fashion - placing a dead tooth under the pillow in hopes of obtaining cold hard cash. My analytical six year old kept questioning me. "Is the Tooth Fairy real? Is she rally going to leave money?" "What does she do with all the teeth?"

My strategy is to always dance around such questions with solid answers such as, "What do you think?" Her classical education showed through when in true CC Kindergartner fashion she pondered aloud, "I just don't know if the tooth fairy is real. I don't have a hypothesis!"

Thankfully, the kind-hearted fairy rewards even half-hearted believers.


You can see more March pics by clicking here!