Spring Break--Fishing

Whoever calls Spring Break a "break" isn't a stay at home mom who blesses the halls of the local elementary.  I am not complaining--we had a lot of fun crammed into the week.  I'm just saying--my break came Monday morning at 9:05.

The first few days of Spring Break we had my nephew, Spencer.  He is only 2 and the youngest of four kids, so he's used to following older siblings around.  Spencer loved being with Bryce, which irked Caden just a bit since Caden is used to being the first choice.  Bryce was a champ at taking Spencer around and having them share a room worked out better than I'd hoped.

Chad had the end of the week off.  Of course he wanted to work in the yard so after a morning at the temple, we spent the rest of the day aerating, weeding and other "yard stuff".  He gets giddy with his muck boots on and a shovel in his hand.  More power to him.

The next day I convinced Chad we needed to do something fun with the kids Yes, honey, more fun than raking. No, honey, laying down mulch does not count, either.  We first stopped at 7-11 for Bring Your Own Cup day (we took a 64 oz pitcher) and then for pizza because we had a coupon for free garlic bread...yes, we are classy like that.  Then we went to Manilla Pond to do a little fishing.  Before I had even reached the spot where Chad and the boys were already setting up the pole, Bryce had a bleeding scrape across his ankle and Caden's flip flop was literally in the middle of the pond.

The afternoon can pretty much be summed up in this picture:

Yes, Caden has 4 straws in his slurpie.  Yes, Tessa spent the entire time trying to get a sip of any slurpie near her, and no, I did not tell Bryce to pose like that.  And YES, we are having fun!

After killing the first three fish we caught (from the boys jerking the pole around...Chad felt really bad but I tried to assure him it's the circle of life) we called it good and took the pole down to let the kids play on the sandy beach. 

The day was beautiful but before long the kids got worn out and it was time to pack up and head out for nap time.  

We hadn't been home 15 minutes from our outing and Chad had his wheelbarrow full of dirt.

Helper

I've written a lot this last year about my boys helping out with Tessa and she's finally starting to return the favor.  For example, she's awesome at waking Caden up in the morning

And when loves don't work, she's not afraid to use some force:

Washing Bryce's hair...

Making sure to reach all the toughest spots:

Or pitching in when someone is sick.

Checking for a fever:

I always wanted live-in help.

Easter 2015

I love this time of year.  Everything is so new and beautiful, we start spending more time outside and we have general conference+stake conference = two weeks off from chasing Tessa down the aisles in sacrament meeting.  Win!

We outdid ourselves with 5 egg hunts, starting with our city one where Bryce found a golden ticket that he got to turn in for a bubble machine!

I'm sure my neighbors love seeing me in my pajamas.

My side of the family got together with all of my mom's relatives (always fun...and interesting...) while Cindy and Norm made their annual Easter ribs.  Add in a trip to my parent's new hot tub, finishing our grow boxes and guacamole deviled eggs and we pretty much had the perfect Easter/conference weekend.

April Fool's 2015

Another one for the books!

After not feeling well last year while surviving on newborn baby amounts of sleep, I was ready for April Fool's this year.  I played dirty by starting the night before because it's the only way to get Chad on the easy ones (cup of water above the door, flavoring in his water bottle, etc.) I hope I don't live to regret that next March 31st!

We also didn't give the boys a fair warning the day before, so they were both super confused waking up to painted toenails, fake black eyes and cups of water above their doors.  It was a look of utter disappointment that Bryce gave us when his jammies got all wet.

They quickly warmed up, though, and made the right choice between orange pancakes and plain-color pancakes (take the orange!).  My best joke of the morning was putting oragel on Chad's toothbrush so his mouth got all numb, ha!  Like last year, Bryce was still trying to figure out what makes a funny joke--NOT writing with marker on the wall or throwing cups of water on someone's face.  He made a good point, though, "You got ME all wet with a cup of water!"

Caden's friends wanted to play a trick on him after school so while he was in the bathroom they hid in the laundry room and when he came out I told him they said he hadn't been nice so they went home.  He got pretty upset and wasn't thrilled when they jumped out saying April Fool's.  I felt bad that he was so sad.  I'll skip that one next year.

We ended with a bang by putting gold fish in my inlaw's bathroom sink.  Happy Birthday, Norm!

Ah. I survived.  Until next time.