Spring Break

We were determined to give the kids a spring break to remember. With both boys in school, I knew that they had been working hard throughout the school year and could use a break. And since I work for the school district, I had a vacation at the same time they did. I needed a break, too.

Great Wolf Lodge

In February, I won a free night's stay at Great Wolf Lodge through a Facebook contest. We decided to redeem that and started off our break with a wet and wild waterpark! The kids were super excited. We picked up a pizza on our way in and ate a quick dinner before spending the evening swimming (or, in Aubrey's case, splashing). If you look closely, you can see some pizza faces!

After a few hours at the water park, we went upstairs for showers and changed into our pajamas for story time. We used some Starbucks gift cards to get the kids their own hot chocolate while I relaxed with a peppermint hot chocolate and Jeremiah enjoyed a strawberries and cream smoothie.

She's a java girl. But really, it's just hot chocolate.

The boys waited in line to meet the Wolf. I'm not sure of his real name, Aubrey calls him Wolfie.

Wolfie. And the boys were starstruck. Aubrey was scared speechless.

That night, Jeremiah surprised the boys by taking them to the arcade. There was a lot of black lighting so the pictures aren't super awesome. Of course they had to play air hockey. And basketball. And skee ball. Jeremiah and I tried "Deal or No Deal." He did great, I didn't.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, we went swimming again. Aubrey was more willing to get wet although she still wanted nothing to do with the water slides. Not that we didn't try. We pushed her down one and I thought she'd never forgive us. In fact, I'm pretty sure she preferred to stay with the lifeguard who "rescued" her.

This is the front of the wave pool. The boys loved going deep with Jeremiah and letting the waves crash into them.

Aubrey and I hung out at the end of the big tube slides, waiting for Jeremiah and the boys. Every time a group would come out of the tubes she would stand up, clap, and cheer "You did it!" Super cute. I loved it.

The boys coming out of the slide. Hayden was a bit fearful, he didn't like going backwards and he didn't like when they went over bumps and he would get air. But he still went. Roman, however, is an adrenaline junkie and would have gone sky diving if we'd asked him too.

The boys loved the clubhouse where you could push buttons and pull ropes that would get innocent bystanders wet. They especially aimed for me, aren't I so lucky?

Aubrey and me at the toddler pool. That's about as much of me you're going to see in a swimsuit!

Yes, he's dressed. We huddled in towels waiting for Jeremiah to bring us some clean, dry clothes.

Pump It Up

So it kind of sounds like a iron-pumping guys-on-steriods kind of gym, but Pump It Up is really an inflatable playarea for kids. My sisters and I bought Groupons awhile ago and saved them especially for spring break. The boys had a blast and never stopped for a breath. Aubrey was scared of just about everything and clung to me and my sisters like a monkey. However, I was expecting this. She's never been a fan.

You could shoot ping pong balls at people on the other side. Hayden and Rix loved it. What boys!

The kids all took several turns on this baseball toy. Air would hold a wiffle ball in place while the kids batted in into the ballpark. Aubrey wasn't much of a natural but at least we found something she wasn't afraid of!

More air hockey. It's Hayden's favorite arcade game. Besides skee ball.

Roman and I went through an obstacle course, obviously meant for smaller people, but it was fun racing him through all the tiny places.

Look at her face! Petrified! And she didn't trust me for awhile and chose to hang onto my sisters instead. After awhile, all you had to say was "Slide?" to Aubrey and the tears would flow. Madelynn, on the other hand, climbed up by herself a dozen times and loved every second of it.

Hayden at bat. And the line of cousins behind him waiting (sort of) patiently for their turn. And Celeste doing some sort of ghetto dance move?

Aubrey after being forced (by me, again, mean mom) into the obstacle course.

What got her to smile? The water fountain!

April Fool's Day

So I didn't go all out for April Fool's. It really was just like any other day, until dinner. We had this cute little tv dinner from "Hello Cupcake." Chicken legs, peas and carrots, mashed potatoes with butter and gravy, and chocolate pudding. AKA cupcakes. So fun! We then had "dessert" which was turkey meatloaf cupcakes with potato frosting, rolls, and peas. Sorry, the last two were normal. Except next year I'll make some biscuits with holes in the middle and call them doughnuts. And for juice I made jello and put it in individual clear cups with straws. All three kids fell for that one, they tried and tried to drink it up and decided their straws were broken before figuring out it wasn't juice :)

Overall, we had a pretty great spring break. I was a little more relaxed about Wii playing. We played outside a lot. Jeremiah came home in the evenings. We even took a few naps. I can't wait til the kids are older and we have a more steady income so we can plan some more adventures!

March Catch-Up

Where has the time gone? I feel like I just updated this and realized after downloading all my photos that I really have a lot that I haven't blogged about. March has been a cold, dreary, depressing month. Makes us wonder just why we moved to Washington. So, of course as soon as we had a nice day (meaning no rain and in the high 50s) we - and half of Lakewood - went to the park. We met up with the cousins and the kids ran around like they'd been locked up all winter in the house :)

Somehow, Mom convinced me to take Missy to the park, too. Except I couldn't go into the children's play area with her AND I had to literally pick up her, uh, poo/crap/yuckies and throw them in the nearest trash. So of course within minutes of being in the park she did her business. Lucky me. I was eager to pass her off to one of the girls so I could run into the play area for some photos. I prayed she'd leave them little presents, but unfortunately I was her only recipient.

Here's Missy, for those that don't know her. She's my mom's dog but I sort of love her. Jeremiah states he despises her, probably because she's lazy and spoiled, but so am I, so I guess he can't hate her that much. Or can he?

I woke up Aubrey to take her to the park so I didn't feel like separating baby and binky. They are BFFs when she hasn't had her proper nap, and I didn't want a drama queen on my hands during the nicest day of the year (so far).

During other decent days we've had the cousins over for a playdate. In order to control the chaos of nine kids inside my mom's house, we send them outside for a moment of peace. At least until someone (coughROMANcough) comes in to tattle. My dad built this spinning-around-thingy when we were little girls and it's moved with us from place to place. It could use a paint job and some handle bars, but it has been a source of entertainment (and a few injuries) for years.

For Saint Patrick's Day, we had Alton Brown's Shepherd's Pie, Ina Garten's Chive Biscuits, and a green salad. For dessert, I followed a recipe that Carissa gave me for green smoothies. She calls them "Frog Nog" and they are made with a lot of sweet fruits and a whole bag of spinach!

Hayden also lost his first top tooth the day before. Adam was at the house and offered Hayden a $2 bill if he could pull it out. Hayden complied - this kid will do just about anything for money. Now the other tooth is loose but Hayden is afraid to let it come out because he's afraid it will hurt...and he's demanding $1000 if Adam takes it out. He's really inflated his prices.

This feisty little leprachaun went crazy in Hayden's bedroom, throwing clothes (including Roman's underwear!) and books all over the place. Apparently this little leprechaun felt bad for the mess he made, and left the following box of goodies for each kid:

Hayden's elementary school, Park Lodge, had their first (and probably last) 1st grade choir concert of the year. They sang some cute songs about winter and loose teeth and about America. I was one of those crazy moms who teared up watching my sweet boy up there singing his heart out.

Aubrey wasn't too entertained by the singing. She preferred wearing my work keys around her neck and playing games/texting random people on my phone.

Hayden and Olivia are in the same class, so they were standing next to each other. For photographs, I only got these two, but in the video I got of the concert I got some of Rix. Notice Hayden's tongue out. He's been doing this since he was tiny, and I've noticed the others do it too. Tongue out=concentration.

Park Lodge PTA (which I'm not apart of but sort of adopt myself into whenever I feel like) put on a family movie night. Celeste and Carissa went out to Costco and got a bunch of treats and soda to sell at the event, and we all manned the concession stand while the kids watched "Despicable Me" on the big screen. I think my kids thought it was a free-for-all, so they kept grabbing candy and running back to their blankets with fistfuls of sugar, so I had to keep throwing in quarters and dollar bills into the register just to pay for their five-finger discounts. I finally cut them off from the sugar, explaining anything else they grabbed would come out of their piggy banks. Nothing like threatening that they actually pay for their own treats to keep them from eating more!

The kids were encouraged to wear their pajamas and brings their blankets, which Roman figured also meant his Lovey (of course). The PTA brought out tumbling mats for the kids to lay on.

Hayden was required to complete a science fair project. Of course, I helped him choose something that required a lot of effort (more like frustration, really) instead of something simple. We made electricity out of lemon juice. Luckily Dad works in construction and had most of the supplies we needed. Hayden was able to get some electric currents in lemons, carrots, and apples, with apples having the most electricity. (Side note: I just saw a "Bones" episode where they hooked up a TON of potatoes together using the same method to get enough electric current to charge a cell phone). We only used four of each food and got enough current to power a small LED light, and even that was a stretch :)

I still have to blog about our Harrison Hot Springs trip in February, but besides that I'm pretty sure I'm all caught up. If only we could stop being so busy!!!