Easter Weekend?

This past weekend really felt like Easter...complete with Easter Egg hunt and all.

We were invited by our friends to go to an Easter Egg hunt at their parents house....Ball Manor. It really was a cool place, and a perfect egg hunt. I haven't liked the big community sponsored ones here, and this one was perfect. I have this image of an Easter egg hunt that is strait out of a movie: small crowd, kids actually have to find eggs, and lots of friends getting together (think of the end of Steel Magnolias). This year I finally got an Easter Egg hunt like that...So thanks Balls!!!

When we got there there were games to entertain the kids while the older kids hid the eggs in different locations around the yard. It was broken up into different age groups. Each age group was in a different area. Good thing there were 30 acres of yard. :o)
Our kids were led out front to search for eggs.
I just put in this picture because John took it and it had a good amount of the people we were there with in it.
Everyone brings a dozen filled eggs for each of their children that will be participating. So every kid comes home with at least 12 eggs.
After the hunt there was a pot luck dinner and we got to hang out with friends and the kids played. It was a great evening! I even got a little tour of the house....it was impressive! I just wish I had a house like that for parties when I was a teenager (full on theater, playroom for the kids-with slide, and 50's themed diner). I loved that it was such a fun place for kids. Even if we don't get invited back next year (no pressure Natalie :), I'm determined to recreate something similar for my kids so we don't have to go to a big one again.


And then to complete our Easter weekend, the kids got to wear their new Easter clothes on Sunday. Super cute!

We only had like 5 minutes for some pictures before church so I was surprised we even got one semi-decent one!

Sunday morning Owen asked when it would be Easter again...I was pleased to tell him it would be Easter again next week.

The Girlz got Skillz

Not to brag...but I'm totally going to brag! And I can do it without being prideful because what I am bragging about is due to no effort or skill on my part.

Ains is becoming an awesome reader. She has been for a while now. It's not because I taught her, or spent much time reading with her. I probably even did less than most parents do with their children in regards to teaching them to read. But somehow she just got it. She figured it out on her own and has become an incredible reader. I'm guessing she's reading on about a second grade level, only because she brings home some level 2 readers and those seem to be about on her level (slightly challenging but not so hard she can't get through the book on her own).

I have been volunteering in her classroom to help with a home reading program. Basically I just go listen to the kids read, check off their book, and then give them their next one. All the kids in the class are on beginning readers, you know the short vowel sound stories, etc. But Ains and one other boy in her class (who, according to Ainsley, is reading chapter books already) are allowed to choose any higher reader they want and then are working on comprehension as well. As I've read with all the kids in the class it's made me think my daughter is more awesome than I already thought.

Seriously, the girls a genius!

Sick-O

(I could have found a more flattering picture, but then you wouldn't have understood how sick she's been:)

Ains started feeling sick LAST Friday. As in 10 days ago. She started coughing on Saturday, and hasn't stopped. She coughs almost all day. She's coughed so hard she's thrown up a few times, and had a bloody nose (that may not have been associated, but I'm going to assume it was). Dealing with that on top of the flood was a challenge, but we've survived. We assumed she caught what ever John had, because he's been coughing for weeks.

She stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday but really wanted to go for St Patrick's day. So I let her. That was a mistake, because she ended up in the nurses office and was disappointed that there wasn't a big party. She then stayed home the rest of the week and I took her to the Doctor on Friday because she just wasn't getting any better and was getting a fever every afternoon.

I'm sure it was our trip to the doctor that began her healing process, because it always seems that as soon as I pay to go to the doctor I'm told to keep doing what I'm doing and that they should be better soon. He said that there was a virus going around that looked like pneumonia (which is what they wanted me to bring her in to test her for). It usually had a fever for 5-6 days and coughing fro 2-3 weeks!!! She's still weak, and coughing like crazy, but I sent her to school anyways.

And we definitely are finally on our way up. Hopefully our family will be done with illness now for a while.

Owen's First

This Sunday Owen had his first speaking assignment at church. He was assigned last week to give the monthly theme and scripture. He was so excited about it when he got home from church last week that when he changed into his play clothes, he transferred the sticker he was given with his assignment on it onto his new outfit. And then I found it during the week in his bed. John and Ains had to miss the big moment due to illness, but he did a very good job. Being shier than our oldest, we were a little worried he would be nervous and not want to do his part when it was time. And although I could tell he was nervous, he hopped up, delivered the correct lines after they were whispered into his ear, and proudly stepped down! I was very proud!

He's 32!

I'm convinced that our kids are determined to plague each birthday this year will illness...

But even with that being the case, I think John had an okay birthday. Due to the fact that his birthday was on Sunday this year (and Sunday birthdays kind of stink) we "observed" his birthday on Saturday. He wanted to go out to Five Guys, but since Ains has been deathly ill all week, we got take out.

Then we had presents and cake...just to be different :)

In case you wanted a better look at the cake. Too bad it didn't taste as good as it looked, because I forgot to put the oil in the cake batter. Note to self: cake made without oil is dry. Very dry. But the rest of it was good.

Here is John opening the lens that he bought himself months ago. Happy birthday to you!
And since John is so special, Syd surprised him for his Birthday by coming home for the weekend. (Actually she came home because she was homesick and missed me so much...)

For John's actual birthday he stayed home with Ains and Emmie while I took Owen to church. He "called" getting to stay home days ago when we realized that Ains wouldn't be able to go to church for the second week in a row. We made homemade pizza and just hung out all afternoon. Had his birthday not been celebrated on two days I would have felt sorry for him, because his actual birthday was kind of a downer.

We did learn an important lesson on his birthday though....candles put in hot pizza will melt, and ruin the pizza. Lesson learned!

Happy Birthday John!!!!!!!!

Family of Five

(Notice the toast)

The realities of our growing family hit me the other day while shopping at Old Navy. I went shopping to use a 30% off coupon I had and immediately hit the sale racks for some great deals. I was all excited as I was shopping. I found a few things for each of the kids, some new flip flops for the summer and even got myself flip flops and John some new summer clothes. I was proud of myself because I was getting great deals...seriously like $2 and $3 shirts. But then I started unloading my cart. And unloading, and unloading. I couldn't believe how much stuff was in my cart! $120 later we are ALMOST ready for summer. (And maybe $120 doesn't sound like much to you...but remember I am super cheap...and I had already bought Emmie some clothes elsewhere, and I had already bought swim suits. And I had hand me downs for Emmie, and had bought some stuff in advance last year. So I was expecting a lot less.) Ains still needs more sturdy shoes for school, Emmie needs a hat for the pool, etc. Poor Owen only had 2 short sleeve shirts, now he's up to 7. After all the shopping I've done I can't believe I still have more to do! I haven't had my kids try on their shorts yet. 'Cause I'm just hoping they still fit. 'Cause I don't want to buy more!

When I got home and went over my receipt I realized that even though I got great deals....I just had to buy a lot. Because I have 3 kids. A trip to the store to get us ready for summer never used to cost this much! The most expensive thing I bought was shoes for Owen for 10 bucks. We had 2 $7 items, and everything else was less than 5 bucks (like 2 or 3). I couldn't have shopped cheaper at Kid to Kid!

Not that I'm complaining...added costs are expected with more kids. It's just that I suddenly noticed it for the first time!

The most traumatizing moment of my life, so far...

To add to our crazy flood week, I went ahead and solidified my claim on worst mother of the year award. Seriously, I still feel sick about the accident we had yesterday. Due to our flood we had carpet pulled up and fans blowing constantly for 2 1/2 days. Ains has been sick since Saturday, and so we were once again trapped indoors in less than favorable conditions. Tuesday afternoon was a beautiful day, so I dragged Ains out to the little meighborhood park so we could all get some fresh air and a break from the fans.

Ains sat on the bench with me most of the time and was asking to go home to get water. I kept putting her off because I almost couldn't bear the thought of walking into the chaos again. Meanwhile, I had been holding Emmie on my lap, and when some wind came up I put her back in her carrier without buckling her up and propped up blankets around her to protect her from the breeze.

When Ains finally convinced me to go home, I picked up Emmie's carrier, and felt that it was off balance, and was then horrified as I saw emmie tumble on her face onto the cement. I was completely shocked and horrified at myself. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten she wasn't buckled in. Luckily a nurse had just brought her kids to the park. She immediately came over and inspected Emmie. Emmie was screaming like she's never screamed before. I couldn't console her. She had scrapes on her chin but no apparent other damage.

I kept it together for about 20 minutes, while I tried to calm her at the park. When I finally got in the car to go home I lost it. I cried and cried. I called the doctor as soon as we got home and they told me what to look for for head injuries. I cried and called John. I still feel sick about it and can't get the image of Emmie's little body face down on the pavement.

Miraculously, she has been fine. The doctor was sure she would be based on the descriptions I gave her over the phone. We watched her closely all last night. I wouldn't even let John hold her for 2 hours after he got home. I can tell that her chin took the brunt of the fall. It hurts her to eat, which kills me. But she's already doing much better today than she was last night.

To make matters worse, when we got home from the park, I informed that kids that they were on their own. I was on the phone and consoling Emmie and crying in my room. A while after John got home he noticed that Ains felt a little warm. He took her temperature and she was at 102.

Guilt. Again.

All because I was selfish and wanted to get outside, and away from some fans.

I'm just grateful that everything is okay. I just couldn't handle it if they weren't.