Keeping busy

The weather wasn't super fabulous this spring, so we looked for lots of fun ways to stay busy inside.
The marble tower got dusted off and lived on the table for a long time.

A Pinterest-inspired craft with contact paper and tissue squares was a big hit with the little two.

Poppy is a lucky girl to have brothers who will have tea and pizza parties with her!

The old school Lite Brite is always a favorite!

Easter 2014

The next Sunday was Easter!  The Easter bunny loaded the baskets with summer necessities (swim suits and running shoes) and some fun stuff, like seed to plant.

The kids enjoyed hunting for eggs; don't let his face fool you.

Before they dug into the candy, I insisted on a group shot.  This is the best I got.

Mmmm....candy before church!

I'm not sure what we did the rest of the day, but I'm sure we had a great time being together as a family!

Northside Egg Hunt 2014

The egg hunt at Northside was a little more chaotic than usual!  We started the morning with 2 extra friends since Erin wasn't feeling well.  I taught Bible hour, set up for lunch, and served lunch before getting the kids to feed them.

FINALLY, it was time to hunt eggs!  They hunted youngest to oldest.  Sorry, Erin, apparently we didn't take pictures of Eli!

She was very ready!

Lachlan and Liam went next.

Then it was the big guys' turn!

They were supposed to find twelve eggs, numbered 1-12.

Even though it was a crazy day, the kids still had a great time!

Strawberry Picking 2014

In the spring we had a great field trip strawberry picking!  The kids have never done it, and the crop this year was great.

Jonas decided he wanted to make a strawberry pie with his berries.  I made him help.

I forgot to take a picture before we ate some.  Oops!

It was enjoyed by all!

First Sea World Trip of 2014

After our trip to Africa (which you can read about here), we headed to Sea World for the first time.  We were so blessed by all the sales they had on tickets this year!

The required dolphin pictures:

A ride on the carousel for the little 2:

Because of the endless winter we had, the splash pad was COLD!  Needless to say, we didn't stay long!

This girl keeps me on my toes!

This child tests me in ways her brothers never did!

For example, she insisted on wearing this school one day, breaking several of the dress code rules.  I made "parent of the year" that day, I'm sure.

She needed a drink, so this was the obvious solution.

If she's like this at 2, I'm not sure we will survive till 18!

Poppy's First Haircut

Poppy got her first haircut earlier this year!  She requested that her daddy take her.  She went in like this:

Her first haircut was so different from the boys, who cried through the whole thing.  She loved every minute of pampering at Great Clips!

And came back like this!

It was much easier to brush, but I was sad it was so short.  And those bangs are killing me as they grow out and are always in her face!