Spring Break: Hiking the Y

Hunter has been asking for years to hike the "Y" and I always say, "yeah, let's do that this year!  I'll drop the little kids off at Grandma's and you and I will GO!"  but then we never do it.  So, this year as I was considering what to do for our lovely spring break at home, I thought why not do it together?  I haven't done that hike in YEARS and I forgot how steep it is!  But, WE DID IT.  Hunter, Cole, Danny, and Skyler on my back and it was CONQUERED.  I thought going down would be easier but it was even harder with Skye on my back - I'll go back in 3 years when Skyler can walk it himself!  I called my friend Julie and she brought her kids (even though the Y is NOT a favorite hike for her!)  Thanks Julie for doing it with us!  It was a great morning!

Cole collected rocks and even got Hunter's friend to carry a backpack full of them for him - I wish I had a pic of those huge rocks!

 Picnic at the top - except I decided to leave my sandwiches in the car.  My kids were NOT happy about that!  Snack time it is, and a picnic at the bottom.  

At the top!

April Fool's

No - we don't have anything like the year of the mustard-filled-doughnuts, but I was determined to have a good prank for my fun-loving hubby this year.  It was a simple one, but still gives me the giggles and Shayne got a good laugh too.  He has always loathed the idea of driving a mini-van (or even owning one).  So, this morning when he stepped into the garage to do something, he failed to even notice that our car had been replaced with a white mini-van (thanks to Sarah!).  He worked in the garage for 5 minutes or so, and I could not believe he didn't notice it!  Then he said his goodbye for the day and walked out the door.  It wasn't long before he came back in laughing.  His car, of course, had gone missing from the driveway.  There was the mini-van in our garage - that's it.  He held up the keys, implying "what do I do now?" and I said, "oh, the key is there!  Have fun!"  He laughed and went on his way.  I grabbed a quick pic as he drove away - not that mini-vans are even comical - but the fact that Shayne honestly wants nothing to do with one made it very fun.  I asked about his commute - he thought everyone was looking at him the whole way to and from work.

So, did he get me?  He tried to do a food trick on the me and the boys.  He fixed us dinner and afterwards he exclaimed, "No one even noticed the tabasco sauce in the hot dogs!" - nope, they were quite tasty, thanks sweety! 

BUT, I went to get the mail and there was a letter from the vice-principal at Cole's school.  It stated simply that Cole needed to attend a Spring-Break School to help him make up for academic performance.  It listed the dates and times and what curriculum would be addressed.  I was so mad - I even wrote an e-mail but didn't push the send button because I wanted Shayne's input on the matter.    I was mad because I was blindsided - I didn't know Cole was struggling and the fact that they were saying a required spring-break school only 2 days before the fact was ridiculous and RUDE.  Yeah, I should have known it was April 1st, all day long.  But, that fact had escaped my attention and I was going to defend my son!  When I mentioned the e-mail, Shayne quickly said "April Fool's" and AUGHHHH!  It still took me a few minutes to get that infuriating feeling out of my system! 

Job well done hon.  Next year we need to get the kids again.  So let the planning begin...

Hoppy Easter

Look who was big enough to sit at the "kid table"!!! 

  (and he was definitely very pleased with himself)

 Grandma organized a scavenger hunt for the kids - she had them wandering all over her neighborhood looking in trees, in old stumps, in rock piles and even piling into the back of the pick-up to get to the final destination.  The scavenger hunt ended with an egg hunt that will provide candy for the next 6 months!

One of the clues was to go to the "Stomping Willow" - This tree is definitely the stomping willow!!

Running for eggs....

or just enjoying the hunt from the sidelines... 

Skyler loved eating more than finding this year!

After church on Easter Sunday, we dyed our Easter eggs.  I asked the boys to take the shirts off - easier to clean skin than their nice Sunday clothes.

Nana and Papa came over and we had our traditional egg rolling contest - smashing eggs and then eating them in the traditional cremed eggs over toast.  It's my family tradition and maybe one day my kids will like it as much as I do... maybe.  They like the egg smashing part the best though!  (I didn't get pics of the egg rolling - I was too busy keeping Skyler from just breaking them all apart!)

Random pics from my phone

Here are a few random pics from my phone.  I don't think I shared these on the blog yet....

We surprised the kids one Friday and took them tubing (we actually checked them out of school early, which we NEVER EVER do).  We had a blast.  Shayne and I took turns going up the mountain while the other stayed at the bottom pulling Skyler around in a little tube.  You can see why he was not in the family picture - he fell asleep!

Shayne and I had a day date in January!  He took the day off of work and Chanin watched the little guys while we went on a "snow-shoeing" adventure our fabulous friends Kristy/Chris & Sarah/Brett.  Too bad we didn't take a pic of us all together!  We hiked and hiked and I soon found out my snow boots are NOT hiking boots.  Lesson learned.  Let's do that again!!!  (next winter - I want summer now)

Brownie batter for breakfast anyone?

Who, me??

"I didn't do it!"

*I should have taken a picture of the crime scene: marker ink all over the bathroom floor, and his jammies, and his feet.

the new backyard

Hunter loves our new backyard - and I love seeing him outside shooting hoops everyday after school.  Saturday was such a beautiful day - perfect for the loathed yard work and then some fun play time too!

Check out that garden to come - It has doubled in size!!  Now what to grow, that my family will eat!?!?!

No more FLARP

It was one of those moments when my child looked at me and knew, "mommy was right.  I shouldn't sleep with my gooey stuff."  Luckily I got it out of the sheets, quilt, and his hair.  

Skyler's busy feet

Skyler started to walk in February - and just took off so quick!  He walks everywhere now and he LOVES (LOVES LOVES LOVES) to be outside.  The weather hadn't quite warmed up when he started all this walking, but I'd still take him for little walks down our sidewalk.  He would be at an almost run to get down the street, but there's no turning back to the house.  He'll cry when I try to get him to walk "the other way" - so inevitably I have to carry him home.  He loves to step onto different textures - grass, rocks, bumps, it's comical and magical at the same time to watch him on our daily walks.  He'll beg by the door every morning to go out (kinda like a doggy!).  Finally, the snow melted in our backyard and he discovered a whole new world when I opened that back door for him.  He has been playing on our little slide, trampoline, and of course, in the garden of dirt!  And of course, he has been eating dirt...  he's turning into a little boy.

Other little things about Skyler:

• He loves suckers.  And now he knows where they are (on top of the fridge) and he'll beg for them first thing in the morning!  How do they learn so fast?!?!
• He still loves baths - and will go running to the tub when I say "bath" and he signs it too.
• Says "this, this, this" when trying to get something from us.  My mom said he said "OK" while I was gone, I haven't heard it yet!  He also says "Hi" and sometimes an almost "all done."
• When I can't find Skyler, I run downstairs and sure enough, he's in the big boys' room.  He turns on their radio (with a push of a button) and starts to play with Legos - obviously not building but he basks in the fact that he's touching something he knows he can't play with!  He also loves their bathroom and raids their toothbrushes and toothpaste from the drawers.
• He loves music, he's a dancer and shaker when he hears a tune playing.
• He loves his blankie(s).  Luckily - we have several of these blankies from my Aunt Martie!
• As he has been learning to walk, he would stop and try to pick things up by squatting but, he wasn't very good at keeping his balance.  We had several incidents of face-plants into the ground and when this happened  there was blood, scraped noses, even a chipped tooth!  ouch.
• He loves books.  He'll bring me a book and I sit on the floor cross-legged to read it to him.  I think there should be a back-up beeping noise whenever I watch him "back-up" into my lap.  He'll sit in my lap and almost finish the story before running off to get another book.  Hunter was also a book lover at this age.
• One of his favorite breakfasts is when I give him the cereal and he gets to feed himself.  I'll put in just a little milk to get things a little soggy and he just loves feeding himself his own cereal!  He usually picks out the bananas first, then eats the cheerios.  And I love the fact that he holds the spoon and scoops up everything with the other hand.  

• When I sweep - he will purposely come stand on the pile of dirt... or play with it.  This morning I caught him red-handed with my camera!