Easter

I am FINALLY getting my Easter pictures up!
I can't believe it takes me so long to catch up.
Ok, well actually, I can....

We dyed eggs on Good Friday. They had fun painting, dipping, and decorating the eggs, and I hovered with paper towels, wet wipes and all other necessities to keep the dye from getting everywhere. They did great....I am lame.

On Saturday we went to church for the egg hunt and petting zoo, and festivities. The kids all got to gather as many eggs as they could in the few minutes of chaos. Our church always goes big with the Easter eggs. They collect thousands and thousands of eggs, and stuff them, and then "hide" them on the lawn. The kids look forward to it every year. Just like Halloween the cousins set up shop and start to swap out their candy. Its really funny to watch them trade, barter, and exchange their goodies!

Sunday we went to church, got a few pictures with the family and came home.
Then Cannon started barfing.
Nice.
We had to cancel our plans to go to Rich's aunt and uncles house which was disappointing for everyone. I took the girls and Nolan to my aunt and uncles instead, and we had a mellow afternoon with them. They hid eggs out in the pasture, and the girls collected eggs. My mom ended up finding the "golden egg" worth $10 and gave it to Cannon, as a consolation prize since he was home missing out on the fun.


**Barf story alert: Rich and Cannon spent most of the day lounging around in the garage, playing card games, watching TV, etc. At one point, when he knew he was going to hurl again, Cannon ran to the "inside out bowl" (our barf bucket) and got himself ready. He turned to Rich and said, "Daddy - you might want to leave. This is going to get pretty gross". Then he puked. Rich said that it was probably the funniest thing he had heard all day! Poor kid.

Daddy's Birthday

Rich turned 34 this year, and his one request was to go ice skating.
So, I upped my health insurance coverage and planned an evening at the ice rink for him and the kids.
I didn't know how it was going to go. Last time we went skating Brynn cried the entire hour and a half. I was pregnant (surprise) so I didn't skate, but I remember being miserable just watching her!
Needless to say, this time it went much, much better!
Rich basically had to take turns skating with each kid, but he had an amazing time! I opted out...so that I could hold the baby of course!
After the skating session, we headed home for soup, salad, and cheesecake with the family. I think he enjoyed his day!








PS - did you see how tall my eldest is getting? Wow....

St Patty's Day

This is so long ago, I am almost embarrassed to post! St Patty's day is a newly celebrated holiday for me! I used to just try to remember to wear green so that I didn't get pinched, but with the hubs, who likes to over-embrace his Irish culture, we talked up this holiday a lot!
The kids each built traps to catch a leprechaun, and somehow the leprechaun managed to get away, but left little gold coins behind to let them know that he had out-tricked them. They were pretty excited to check the traps in the morning when they got up!
I made an entirely green breakfast for them, which included green pancakes, green eggs, and green milk.
And then I waited for the inevitable.....






....green poop.

Cannon (panicked) " MOOOOOOM!!! My poop is green!"
Me (laughing) "Yeah! Remember we ate all green food for breakfast?"
Cannon " I don't think we should do that anymore."

Ahhh, its the simple joys of motherhood that get me through the days!

Buddies

Cannon and Maeve are pretty good buddies while Brynn is at school. They manage to come up with some crazy games during the day. I caught them "fishing" and "rowing their boat" on this day. Maeve in her princess dress up, sticks in hand for my constantly creating son. I heart these kids!

Happy 5th Birthday Cannon!

He came out screaming and hasn't stopped making noise since!

He is my little man who knows more words than I do!

He says things like "underpants" instead of undies, and "theatre" instead of movies!

He has a strong stubborn streak, yet can be tender like no one else.

He is dramatic...and not always in the best way.

His smile lights up my world, and his tears drive me to insanity.

He is more than willing to tell everyone else what they are doing wrong...yet has a hard time accepting what he has done.

But in spite of all his quirks and weirdness, he is a joy to my life!

Happy 5th Birthday to my little wordsmith!

(Ok, now back to decorating for his crazy Lego party!)

Springtime

We had a little break in the weather, and it actually got warm enough to go get some frozen yogurt! And eat it outside! Don't let Rich and the shorts and t shirt fool you though. He wears shorts and flip flops in the snow....that's just how my beach loving, surfer rolls!

Crying.....alot

I feel like lately, this is all he does.

I am hoping that it has something to do with teeth....

Flapjacks

He finally got to wear this apron! We cooked Brinner (breakfast for dinner) for our small group, and nothing was more appropriate to wear than his handmade Flapjacks apron!

Rich is the king of pancakes! We eat them (way too) often! He has perfected the "mancakes" which involve equal parts of oatmeal, flax meal, and pancake mix. They are "hearty" and thick. When he adds banana, it almost puts me over the edge. A normal sized adult can eat one. And they sit heavy, let me tell you!
But, who am I to complain? He makes breakfast for me and kids almost every morning! I am one lucky gal!

Home Sweet Home

I love coming home after vacation. My bed, my house, my familiar chores and activities.
I don't love the mountain of laundry that comes with it.

Clearlake with Cousins

One of our Clearlake trips took us on a drive to this beautiful winery where we spent time with the family walking around and checking out the grounds! It was a beautiful spring-like day, and the kids were running wild enjoying the nearly empty grounds!




This trip was in February, and Nolan was still small enough to ride "side saddle" in my ergo carrier. I heart this carrier!

Poppa John

Happy Birthday to Poppa John!
We celebrated 2 times this year....just for kicks! One time at night during family dinner, and then on his actual birthday we cooked a birthday breakfast for him. He even got to use the special red plate!
We went around the table and said things we loved about Poppa. The comments were funny. Everything from "He makes good story voices" to "He prays good" and "He is really nice to people". Mine was that I loved how he has embraced his "poppa" role. He obviously loves the kids, but has been really good at expressing it and showing it to my kids as he has gotten more comfortable with the role.
We love you Poppa John!

Tahoe Trip 2011

So our long awaited trip finally arrived! It started off a little bit rough. Between a bladder infection (me), ear infection (Rich), and teething (Nolan) we were not a comfortable bunch for the first 2 days. Once we all got our meds/antibiotics/etc it was smooth sailing.

The car ride was nice. Not fun, but nice. The kids did surprisingly well, considering they are usually itching to get out after about 15 minutes in the car. We let them watch movie after movie, after movie....you get the picture!

The hotel was great! There was not much snow at lake level, but it was all around us on the surrounding mountains, so it did feel like a winter retreat. The kids tried to play in the snow right when we got there, but we promised them a more "traditional" snow experience the next day.

Our routine consisted of TV watching, relaxing, eating, swimming, and playing in the snow - in no particular order. Rich and I had a great time watching our kids perfect the art of "vacationing" while we were able to read, relax and be a family together.

The kids loved playing in the snow, sledding, and building snow men. Maeve ate her fair share of snow, dirty and clean, Cannon mastered (not really) the sledding saucer, and Brynn built at least 3 snowmen!

We were lucky enough to experience one day of snow! The kids played, danced and even built a tiny little snowman on the little patio of our room.

The kids took over the pool! Brynn was life jacket free and learning to swim a little more than just doggy paddling. Cannon was terrified to take off his jacket, and spent a TON of time in the hot tub. He also got a crazy rash from the pool chemicals, and managed to scratch his skin so much that he had nail marks all over his legs. We figured out how to deal with that. A shower after each pool session took care of the rash. Maeve was absolutely fearless in the water. She jumped from every inch of pool side into the water, as many times as possible. When we took her out of the life jacket, she wanted to swim all by herself, and refused help, even when she went under. That kid is crazy! Nolan loved the water as well! Since the pool was heated (very heated) he loved getting in and splashing and kicking and "swimming".

We had one sledding accident for the entire week. Cannon was coming down the hill on a spinning saucer and got a little out of control. He crashed and scraped his face on the icy sled run. He cried, and we bandaged the "wound" and then we took some time to recover. I was worried he wouldn't get back on the sled, but he was tearing it up the next time we drove out to the sledding hill.

Without fail, I managed to forget something important at home. Unlike our our trips, the kids had enough clothing and food, and toys, but this time, I forgot the cord to charge our camera battery, and the video camera ran out of space. So, all my pictures were taken on the phone. Sad. Really, really, sad.

It was a great trip, one that we hope to do again sometime!

The Drive:
The Surroundings:

The Room:
Our "Supplies":

Embracing "Vacation":



Some Snow Time:
The "Wound":

The Snow:


My Favorite Family: