Easter at the Mountain

We had an eventful Easter weekend, especially since the C Family came to visit. 

 The kids (except Shiloh) lined up in stair step fashion gearing up for the egg hunt.

 The excitement mounts.

 Look at the girls in their cute plaid shorts!

 We took a hundred photos of the kids at this point and in every picture, W is stuffing his face.

 Look at him!

 Still eating.

 In every single shot.

 O finally noticed W devouring the contents of every egg.

 O decided to join him.

 Such a sweet tooth.

 We pushed each other on the tree swing.

 We went walking along the wooded trail.

 Oh, and Uncle E pushed O on the swing. I think he pooped his pants before wailing. The poor kid was scared to death.

 We sure cheered for him when he got off. I was nervous he wouldn't hold on well enough.

 W decided to eat soap. 

He waltzed into the kitchen, sucking air. Mommy, my mouth burns. Can I have some water? It was later that we found out why.

Sunday morning would've been great to sit everyone down to take pictures, but when you have 12 people to get ready for church, there was no way it was going to happened. After church was going to have to do... even though we hardly looked our best and we were all definitely tired.

These three are stinkin' cute...relaxin' in their Easter duds.

Easter Campout

Over Easter weekend, we visited Grandma and Pa. Our first night there, Daddy decided to have a campout in the backyard with the kids. They were beyond thrilled!

To start things off, a blazing fire to keep everyone warm and to roast the marshmallows.

Everyone held their headlamp or wore it because how cool is it that we are actually using our headlamps outside in the dark.

Eating marshmallows by the fire.

Everyone piles into the tent...enter squeals, screams, rolling, jumping, and collapsing onto one another.

After a bit, they started to slowly make their way to a place to sleep. We wondered how long it would take for all the kids to finally conk out for the night.

W looked tired, but toasty.

More singing! Everybody now!

W was fading.

It took about an hour for everyone to be officially asleep. E was escorted for a midnight potty run and woke again about 7am for another potty trip. The boys woke up shortly after that and they all stayed in the tent to play games until breakfast was going inside the house. They loved it! Daddy was awesome...tired, but down right awesome. 

Riding Bikes

Daddy took the kids on the bike ride awhile ago. It's a favorite thing to do around here. 

They were preparing for the Day of Service. Our job was to deliver bags with notes on them to our neighbors. The notes explained about the collection of non-perishables for the food banks. Several churches in the county were involved. E personally hand delivered the bags to those in our neighborhood and she was very excited to be involved.

Later, O decided he wanted to ride E's bike. He just hopped on and started to ride without any help! I personally don't like the idea of O riding a bike yet. I want to keep him low to the ground as long as possible. Knowing he's such a dare devil, it scares me to think of him taking off on a bike. But there he goes!

After the initial shock, I ran to get E's helmet. I should get elbow pads, knee pads, gloves, shin guards, steel toe boots, and a face mask.

Yes...that is W running in the background...in a diaper...and a winter hat.

Other Happenings

Some of the other things happening with the kids are:

E's constant treasure hunts both around the house and around the yard. She'll take random things that belong to everyone and hide them for the treasure. She'll make maps to follow and get everyone involved. On this day, we were outside and E had just recovered from losing her map to the wind. It flew to the top of the pine trees. I convinced her to keep going...don't give up! We eventually discovered our treasure by the garden, which consisted of my black wedges, O's panda bear, W's pjs, and Daddy's library book.

E went through a phase where she desperately wanted to sleep with the boys. She often made herself a bed in the boys' room and thought we wouldn't notice. One night she cried, Everyone gets to sleep with someone except me!

Lunches outside before it gets too hot or before the bugs attack you.

O has long been in love with dirt, water, digging and so on, but he has also made many worm friends. He carries them around, rides his bike with them, and he always has to show them to me.

The Reading Conference

E and I attended the annual Reading Conference at a nearby college this past month. Every year they have authors come visit, the scholastic book fair, and dozens of organizations with booths full of activities for the kids. In the past, they have also offered workshops to local teachers, childcare workers and parents to teach various topics such as tips on how to help kids read and retell stories. It's a fun event.

E with Frog

E with Frog and Toad

Met Clifford

Hugged Skippy John Jones

Frog and Toad station- making frog puppets. 

Fancy Nancy station- making fancy hats.

Making books

 

She got to sit in on a fun author story time.

This is Kimberly P. Johnson. She's a native author of several books including The Adventures of the Itty Bitty Frog, Bunny, and Spider stories.

E made a jeweled ring out of a juice tab.

She had a great day...can you tell?

 I loved spending time with just my little girl.

Even when she's a crazy giggler.