Spring Break

It's been Spring Break!  ("I love the Holidays!"--watch Arrested Development to understand that little gem.)  At first, the thought of having all the kids home for over a week was a tad terrifying...but, I'm happy to report that (so far, we've still got one more day to go), it's been a lot of fun!  Now, I don't have pictures of all of the fun things that we've done...I've had my hands a bit too full to be snapping lots of pictures!  But, here are a few to start with...and more posts about other activities to follow.

 The kids have been begging to sleep in the tee-pee that Gma Karen made for them.  Spring Break was a great opportunity to try it out!  Well, two of the three ended up sleeping in the tee-pee.  Kari was just too excited and was keeping the other two awake so we pulled her upstairs and told her she could just go down in the morning.  And, the night was a success!  Emily and Christian loved it and Kari was happy to play the next day.

I had promised the kids that we'd go swimming over the break.  Originally, we'd planned on taking the kids to a hotel one or two nights.  But, Christian got a cough and we've all learned a sleep-deprived lesson last time so the hotel was out.  Thankfully, we have some wonderful friends who did go to a hotel in town and then invited us to swim the next morning!  It was perfect.  The big kids all loved the water with their friends.  Juliana preferred putting her feet in the hot tub...not a fan (yet) of the pool.

Some of the other fun timers we had...(will try and do posts on some of these...no promises though)
--Going to a HUGE indoor playground at Mahoney State Park
--Easter crafts at a friend's house
--Egg hunt and lunch up at church
--Soccer, gymnastics, dancing, and piano lessons
--Three GORGEOUS days of outside playtime with friends
--Our first bike ride with the whole family
--Halleck Park Egg hunt and date with my big(gest) kids
--Going down to Lincoln to play at their AWESOME Children's Museum!
--Dinner at Gma's (and Easter at Great-Gma's)

...And lots' more to come tomorrow!

Spring Break.  A lot of fun, but man, I'm exhausted!

Sharing the Love??

 Juliana is very specific about who she wants to hug these days!  (And, to be fair, the person of choice varies from day to day...except for Mommy, who she always wants to hug {happy sigh!}).  The other day, the Chosen One was Emily!  It was ooooh soooo sweet.  Juliana is very lovey and Emily just soaked it up!

And, of course, Christian wanted in on the action.  But, Juliana still wasn't done with her hugs from Emily and did not want to share the love!  Ha!  Thankfully, Christian knows that there are times that Juliana only has eyes for him and he just thought it was funny.

Birth-daying it up...

Well, folks, it's that time of year again...my birthday!  Unlike many, I actually enjoy celebrating my birthday.  It means I've been blessed with one more year of life--and a wonderful life it is.  My sweet family all made me feel extra special.  We had cake, opened presents, and, well, that's what we did.  (That's what you're supposed to do on bdays anyways, right?!)

One of my favorite things was opening the cards that the kids had made me.  Each one had worked very hard, making their own drawings, and were so proud of their handiwork.  Christian had drawn a picture of he and I shoveling (b/c the last time it snowed, he and I shoveled together--such a good worker!).  Emily's had a St. Patrick's Day theme and had a very cute poem inside.  Kari's had lots' of penguin stickers on it and she had scribbled her favorite colors too :-).

 I got some lovely gifts...

Below is Emily modeling my new sun hat and scarf...can't wait for the warmer weather so I can wear them!

 My new kicks!

 And a darling little Scandinavian puzzlebox from Cubby.  Love it!

Great-gma was the hit of the night when she brought a hopping bunny that sings "Here comes Peter Cottontail."  Juliana LOVES it and tries to hop with it.  Sooo cute!

My brother and sister, Mom and Harvey, and Gma Carolyn all stayed and had cake and helped me welcome my 33rd year of life!  It was a fun night and I'm so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life.

Snow Days

This year we've had FOUR snow days.  And, of the four, there may have been ONE that was warranted.  The others have been more due to scared administrators who don't want to get sued by ridiculous parents than actual inclement weather conditions.  Yes, that's my soapbox for the day.  But, we've made the best of our times!

Actually, the pictures below are from a Sunday snow-day.  It started snowing and blowing pretty crazy-like while right when church started.  As a result, we just had sacrament meeting and then went home!  (It was kind of awesome, actually.)  But, this was also Daylight Savings day--Spring Forward!  There was extra daylight and, hence, the kiddos needed to burn some energy.  And, what better way to burn energy than to shovel (and play in) the snow?!

Emily "helped" a bit...

But, Daddy handled most of the shoveling.

Christian and Emily gave up the work and opted for play.

Juliana wanted to go out too.

Sadly, she had to settle for longingly gazing out of the window.

She did have fun waving though :-)

Kari, on the other hand, was content to hang out and watch Minnie Mouse in her bathing suit, skirt, homemade necklace and pink Hello Kitty socks.

And, even though the snow and wind stopped and the streets were clear, they still cancelled school the next day...just to be safe.  Ugh.

Lego-maniacs

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I took the kids to the Lauritzen Gardens where there is a big Lego display going on!  My children had never seen anything like it and were very amazed that such huge creations could be made from so many (thousands and thousands!) of little legos!

I took a lot more pictures with my mom's camera and only got a few with mine, so there aren't very many of the larger creations posted.  But, you get the general idea!

 

 Juliana enjoyed people-watching (and eating her applesauce).  Other people, of course, enjoyed watching her and were so sweet to tell me what a beautiful baby (and other children) I had :-).

 Emily and Christian, ever-obsessed with large numbers, even went around with a piece of paper and wrote down how many bricks each creation had.  I think they added them all up, but the grand total escapes my mind right now!  The rose, above, had over 42,000 pieces!