Easter

I might as well put up the Easter pictures.  The kids were pretty excited this year, the girls kept asking when they got to put their baskets out.

 The kids were pretty excited to color eggs, Bradley had no idea what was going on or why we made him sit at the table.

My children have no patience when it comes to coloring eggs.  No bright deep colors, cause you have to get the egg out as fast as possible.  But it makes the process go much faster.

So they all got to put out their baskets Friday night.  At our house the Easter Bunny comes Friday night/Saturday morning.  Why you ask?  Because when we got married I told Brandon that is what were going to do.  My family did that growing up and it made it so Saturday was about the candy and such but then Sunday was all about Jesus and the reason we celebrate Easter.

 The kids were pretty excited about their baskets.  I know you can't really tell what she is holding, so here is another picture.

 The Easter Bunny left night lights.  He found these cute night lights at IKEA.  The boys' lights are taller and have blue eyes.  The night lights charge and then they can be unplugged and taken to bed.  They are soft and the light lasts at least 4 hours.  Since getting these lights we have had fewer instances of the girls coming to bed with us.  Which is good because my back hurts when they sleep with us.

Ready for the egg hunt.  We have no grass in our back yard so did this inside.  The older kids were really excited.  Bradley once again had no idea what was going on.

I wanted to try this hairstyle last year, but for some reason I didn't.  The girls were pretty good sports about my making them sit while I did this.  We could have put another egg in Caitlyn's pig tails but Britton's hair just isn't long enough for more than one egg.  We had a couple of people ask how we managed it.

We made Resurrection Rolls again this year.  Last year we used frozen dough, which was alright, but I think my mom's roll dough recipe tastes much better.  William and Caitlyn definitely know more of the Easter story now than they did when we started doing this.  In case anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about: the night before Easter we get all the kids around the kitchen table and talk about the events leading up to Easter.  When we get to the part about Christ being taken down from the cross and the disciples preparing his body for burial we take a marshmallow(the body of Christ), this year I used an idea that I read on line and now can't find, we brushed melted butter on the marshmallow and rolled it in sugar and cinnamon(the oil and spiced they anointed His body with), wrapped dough around it(the linen cloth), and then we put the rolls in the oven over night(the sealed tomb), we didn't tape the oven door this year.  So then I bake them in the morning.

 Don't they look so good?  Perfect rolls.  But here is the really cool part.

They are hollow after you bake them.  Like the empty tomb and the linen cloth.  And since we used the butter and cinnamon and sugar the rolls tasted a little like cinnamon rolls.  The kids enjoyed it.

All dressed up for church.  I found this pattern online and wanted to try it for skirts for the girls.  So we found the material and some coordinating fabric for ties for the boys.  If you ever use the tie pattern from Ribbon Retreat, the bigger sizes are off.  When I made Brandon's tie I didn't use the adult extension at all, but made it the same size I made William's last year.  And with William I went down a size, but I should have made it a little smaller, just modified the pattern, cause it was still a little big.  But it is a good looking bunch, right?  Yes Brandon has a tie that matches.  I had someone ask what I made for me and I just looked at them like they were crazy.  After the ties, skirts, and the butterflies on the shirts I was so done.  I did wear a pink shirt.  Close, right?

Disney On Ice

When we got back from Idaho Brandon surprised the kids with tickets to Disney on Ice.  He was able to get  them through work, which I was really excited about.  It almost makes up for not getting holidays off.  The kids were so excited, and even though it was a late night for them, they did great.  I was worried about Bradley making it the whole time, he tends to get very vocal when tired and cranky.  His favorite parts where when Mickey was on the ice, he was very concerned whenever Mickey left.  William and Caitlyn were singing along with the all the songs and Britton was all excitement while she was jamming out.

 Look how focused they were.

 They liked all the the Genies.  I was impressed with the the fact they were all skating with masks on.

Bradley would squeal when Mickey came out and he would ask where Mickey and Minnie went.

Spring Break in Idaho

William's school has a two week spring break.  I know, right?  I don't think I ever got a week for spring break let alone two.  So looking at different factors, the price of gas going up, Brandon not getting time off until October, and a couple of other things, I took the kids back to visit Grandma and Grandpa Luke.  Now I am not completely crazy.  It is a 12-13 hour drive from here to Idaho but it is only 9-10 from here to Crystal's house.  So we took two days, drove to Crystal's, spent the night and then drove the rest of the way.  William ran the DVD player and handed out the snacks. 

I was a little worried about the trip because Britton was throwing up the week before we were supposed to leave.  But since we didn't see anything from the other kids for a week I thought we were good.  Poor Zach and Crystal, Caitlyn threw up at their house the first night we were there.  We did make it to Mom and Dad's with  no throwing up, but Caitlyn was up during the night throwing up and spent the next morning sleeping on the couch. 

The kids were very excited to see Grandma and Grandpa.  We were able to see Hailey for a little bit too.  The big worry was that Bradley, who isn't a people person and that applies to all people, wouldn't go anywhere near Grandma and Grandpa.  But he was great, for the first couple of days.

Grandpa was getting the tractor ready for spring work and was nice enough to let everyone have a ride.

 Britton was very excited for her ride.

 This is to prove that we were with Grandma too.

 Bradley wasn't very sure about what was going on, until he saw everyone else getting a ride.  Then he was ready.

 William looks so big compared to the others.

 Everyone with Grandpa.

Caitlyn loving her ride.  Funny story, Caitlyn used to not be much of a people person, she is much better now.  But for the first year or so she would break into tears every other time she saw Grandpa.  They now have a very sweet relationship so I have some hope for my antisocial baby.

The only sad part about the visit was the fact that my parents are down to one cat.  Their cats were so good with the kids.  But two of them are now gone, the two that the kids usually played with.  The one cat they have now used to be pretty standoffish.  The other two really wanted to be with people but Funny Face didn't.  Now that she is the only one she wants to be with people.

Bradley gave her a lot of love while we were there and there were no scratches at all.

We had pretty good weather while we were there, you know Idaho in the spring, so Grandpa got out the trampoline.  The kids loved it.

Bradley actually had a love/hate relationship going on with the trampoline.

And Grandma made cookies.

They were a little messy.

By the end of the week we spent there Bradley was ready to go, he had major abandonment issues toward the end.  And of course the day we headed to Crystal's before making the long drive home Bradley threw up all over me.  One week after Caitlyn.  So the drive home was really fun.  But we made it and Brandon survived without us.  I think he got a lot more sleep while we were gone.

Didn't miss Anything

This is just in case anyone out there thinks they may have missed something.  January was really warm, we spent a lot of time at the park in light jackets.  It was awesome.

 I had a birthday.  Yay!  I have to say that birthdays that fall on fast Sunday are horrible.  So Brandon and the kids took me to Red Robin the day before.  Sadly they don't do fry sauce here.

 I know my eyes are closed but I absolutely love Britton's expression in this photo.

 The kids looking all cute.

They got me a bike trailer, which was kind of cheating on Brandon's part because we were going to get it this spring.  If February had been anything like January we would have taken it out a bunch but February was not that great weather wise.  By the end of the month we did get it all hooked up.

 Bradley really wanted his picture taken.  Doesn't he look all cute and innocent?  Yeah, he gets that a lot.

The kids discovered that under the new desk makes a great spot for lots of things.  We have made forts with blankets and one day we found Bradley "reading" in his own special spot.

 Leprechauns left a treasure hunt for the kids.

 Caitlyn was upset when she saw that our cake had been stolen but they were all excited to find the cake pops.

He loved the cake pops.  I think he ate at least one a day for the next couple of days.

And here is the giraffe who got a little up close and personal with Bradley in the backpack.  I couldn't get Bradley's expression, but he wasn't as happy with the giraffe sticking his nose in the backpack as he was with the giraffes putting their noses through the fence into his face.

Okay, I think you should all be fairly caught up.  I can't promise that it will last. 

Zoo

If I pretend like I'm not really behind no one will notice right?  As long as you all are with me. (I'll just pretend like there is someone reading this.)  We have really be enjoying the zoo here.  We decided to get a family pass so we could enjoy it more.  We figured that after our third visit we are basically going to the zoo for free.

 The thing that our kids have really enjoyed, were amazed with at first, this zoo has giraffes.  And you can feed them.  They think the long tongues are really funny.

 It makes me laugh to watch them try to feed the giraffes without the giraffes getting their hands and fingers.

 Bradley loved that there were some looking him right in the eye.

 Some of the older ones are just right in your face.  Funny story, the last time we went to the zoo we had Bradley in our hiking backpack and Brandon got some food for the kids to give to the giraffes.  While Brandon's back was turned one of the really big guys made a sneak attack on the cracker Bradley had in his hand.  Bradley didn't even see the giraffe coming, and the giraffe kept sticking his nose by the backpack looking for more giraffe crackers.

 The kids really like the enclosure with all the parakeets.  They have fed them a couple of times, and had birds land on their shoulders and shoes.

They have a couple of grizzly bears and we saw them quite active a couple of times.

We thought it was great to see them playing around.

 They have a pool with fish that the bears swim in.

 I had to take a picture of the river otters.  I have never seen the river otters in Idaho Falls, I have my doubts as to whether or not they actually have them, but these otters were really putting on a show.  Okay not these two, but the pictures of the other two doing backflips in the water didn't really turn out.  Use your imaginations.

The kids liked the gorilla and orangutan house, once we got over the smell of the naked mole rats.  This guy would kiss the glass if you put your finger up to it.

One of the days that we went to the zoo it was so bitterly cold, I'm not sure why we were there.  But the kids did have fun and enjoyed taking pictures with the tiger cut out.

 Looking so fierce.

 Not quite as fierce but I love that you can barely see both of their eyes.  I don't wonder anymore why they seem to trip over everything.