A Week of Fun

First, I got sick and was sick all week, but the rest of what happened was really good! We had a wonderful visit from Cary's parents. The kids were thrilled to have them here from the very first moment, and loved every minute of it! They got to blow giant bubbles with Grandma, wrestle with Grandpa, and have lots of great play time with both grandparents.

We started out the week with a little bit of work amidst the playtime. Cary and his dad turned over our garden plot and mixed in some mushroom manure for me, so it's all ready to go! They also worked out a plumbing issue. Linda (one of Cary's sisters) and her little Lydia joined us on Thursday evening bringing our numbers to ten, and the child tally to five under five. If you think about that for a minute, you'll see that Cary and I were not outnumbered this week! We had one child to every adult the whole time! Sam arrived on Friday to complete the party. Lydia loved playing with her cousins, but didn't want her mom out of her sight for long until Sunday when she didn't mind so much.

We got to celebrate Cary's birthday with a nice picnic at my parents' house. The girls may have been mildly confused having two sets of Grandmas and Grandpas there, but one thing's for certain: they've been surrounded by lots of love! We had more bubble-blowing fun, some pantomimes by Cary's mom, and a sock hunt. (In case you're wondering what a sock hunt is: Cary had asked for just one thing for his birthday--new socks. Since I thought that was a pretty lame gift, I figured I'd make it into a fun activity for the kids. I rolled them up, stuck a bow on each one, and hid them in the yard for the kids to find and deliver to Cary. They had a blast! I also hid some small things in some of the socks for Cary to find.) Here are some photos from the picnic:

Uncle Sam and Everett

Gramma C's Pantomime

A "Captive" Audience

The Sock Hunt

Precious Children (Lydia, Gwyn, Maddie, Lana, and Everett in back)

Easter Eggs

Think about three two-year-olds dying Easter eggs. Any images coming to your mind? We actually had four children ages two and under dying eggs at our house on Saturday, and it actually went well! Thanks to Grandma, Uncle Jordan, and Aunt Celina, we had a lot of supervision. (I don't know if I would have tried it without them--thanks guys!) Here's a picture of most of the crew. Little Daniel, Cary, and Grandma aren't in the shot.

Celina, Maddie, Everett, Jordan, Lily, Melina, Emily, Lana, Gwyn, me, Rosie

Two of my girls were very patient and absorbed. They let their eggs sit in the dye and were intently observing the new experience.

Maddie wore a very serious expression the entire time.

And here's Gwyn. She did not want to leave the table when we were done.

Lana was a much more "hands-on" kind of girl. I had to periodically move the cup out of reach to avoid disaster.

She doesn't like most food, but apparently vinegar isn't so bad! She also cracked open an egg, tasted it, and decided she didn't like it. She then very carefully...

...put it back together!

And Everett did just fine on his own this year!

We had a really good time with everyone, and the kids played so nicely together. Here's Lily playing with Everett and Gwyn and Maddie:

How we get stinky feet, etc.

I had to explain to my normally barefoot son this week that feet will become stinky if they are left in shoes too long--especially without socks. He has been wearing his Lightning McQueen sandals every waking moment since the party Saturday. He has also sported his new hat and binoculars except at mealtimes (even at the park today under the hood of his coat). He is dressing himself now too, so he has made quite an interesting fashion statement this week!

We tried unsuccessfully to fly a kite, but the kids had a great time. Maddie and Lana especially liked the swings.

Spring is in the air (at least for one day).

There is still snow on the ground, but it was over 60 degrees today! (That's in American, not Canadian, eh.) It made me want to clean! I worked on the porch while the girls were napping so that it would be ready for playtime. Cary decided we'd have an early family home evening and we all walked up the hill to the playground at the elementary school.

You know those leash-like things for kids? Before I had children I thought I would never use one of those. Well, we now own three of them. After the girls were born we bought one for Everett. I had visions of being out with the children and Everett running off while I was stuck with the girls. Today we put one on each of the girls and were out "walking the kids". I'm still a little embarrassed about it sometimes, but the kids are so darn cute that it really just adds to the cuteness.

We all loved our walk, and all got wet. Lana was thrilled about everything--a leaf, a stick, a pinecone, etc. Here's an "after" picture:

Everett, Cary, Gwyn, Lana, Maddie

We've got cabin fever!

I think we may all be getting a little bit of cabin fever. Today we needed to go to Petsmart and Lowes, so we grabbed two of the racecar carts from Lowes, strapped the kids in, and raced across the parking lot to Petsmart. The kids loved it, of course, and enjoyed looking at all of the animals afterwards. (I think it did us all some good.) Does everyone go just a little crazy in the winter?

Also today: Lana ate almost a whole slice of bologna! Though she is not consuming large quantities of anything, she has made great improvement in what she will chew and swallow. Unfortunately, her little tummy doesn't seem to be able to handle some of the new things. She threw up most of the bologna 13 hours later. We are still encouraged by her progress, and hope and pray that her new GI doctor will be able to help us sort out her digestive issues.

Trick-or-Treat

When we went to look for costumes for the kids, I took one look at the prices and said "I don't think so--not for something they're only going to wear once!" I was just crazy enough that I decided to make costumes that would also serve as winter coats for the girls.

I made a pattern based on one of the girls' jackets, went to JoAnns to get fur, etc., and spent hours cutting out layers and putting everything together. I spent some long nights and still had two zippers to put in when it was time to go, but I figured they were good enough for trick-or-treating! Everett decided he wanted to be a mouse, so here are our three little bears and big brother mouse. (Gwyn is in the brown fur and Maddie is in black.)