Give Me a Break!

So, once all the Leprechauns have left after St. Patties' Day, we start thinking about one thing at our house - SPRING BREAK!  And boy was I ready for a break - a break from school and homework, plus my parents came to hang out with us for 2 1/2 weeks which was a definite "single mommy break" that I so desperately needed.  My Mom helped with all the cooking and cleaning, while my Dad tackled my "honey-do" list by sprucing up the yard, cleaning out my rain gutters, and getting Chris' truck ready to rock 'n' roll for when he gets home.  Plus they both gave the kiddos awesome one on one attention - playing games, out for ice cream, you name it.  Plus they're great fun (hilarious) to have around.  What great parents I have!  I am truly blessed. 

Okay, here are a few pictures of a couple things I did before my parents got here.  This Spring Break was the coldest since we've lived here (highs in the 50's to low 60's), but the sun was still shining so Kylie and I headed out to the strawberry picking farm with some friends and got some yummy berries.

I still had plenty of freezer jam left, so we just got to eat these and have one of my all time favorite desserts - Stawberry Shortcake!

When we picked up my parents it was a Monday evening and Lise was giving the lesson on Easter  and then we dyed Easter Eggs.  This is the first time that I can remember doing this with my kids.  I only had green and red food coloring on hand and so I was worried it was going to turn out looking like Christmas, but we colored on the shells with crayons first and I think they turned out pretty awesome!  We got to eat them a few days later and that was scrumptious as well.

For the rest of the week we were busy HAVING FUN!  We went to see the movie, "The Croods", which we all really enjoyed, we took the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt with playgroup, and went to see the Aviation Museum in Pensacola. 

It was awesome because when we got there the Blue Angels were in the middle of a show - one of the last they will perform - so we just got out of the car and watched it from the parking lot.  It was pretty neat-o skeet-o.

Next we went inside to see tons of airplanes on display. 

It was pretty cool how the kids were able to touch everything and there were all these cockpits they could climb into.  Plus we went to the cafe for lunch and it had a great atmosphere.

Just down the street from the museum is an awesome light house as well.  You had to be over 6 to climb to the top, plus it was a little pricey, so we just looked at it. But it was still really cool.

Of course we had to do a day at the beach as well.  Even though it was not even 70 and the water was pretty cold, the girls still dove in to this cool little lake that was there.

They were all loving it and paddling around/pulling each other on the body boards . . . for about 15 minutes.  Then they all jumped out freezing and tried playing in the sand and flying kites for a bit. 

What makes me excited for this summer beachwise is that Kylie is now old enough to be given a little more free reign - she's out of diapers, won't eat the sand anymore, and her sisters can help her a little bit. This will make things much easier.

This was my view at the beach, sitting in my beach chair watching the girls - awesome! 

 

Despite the chill, that did not deter the kids (or Grandpa) from wanting ice cream after the beach!

 In addition to all the fun times playing, we also knocked out a lot of projects.  My Dad took one for the team and helped Aly knock out her science project - major bonus points there!  Meanwhile, my mom was helping me go through my medicine cabinet, defrost the freezer, go through the kids summer clothes, and buy everybody new shoes and Aly a swimsuit.  Oh, and also of note, March Madness was going on when my parents were here and of course my mom is a fanatic.  So she was watching games on the computer and one day my friend even let us go over and watch a game at their house - Thanks Kami!

 

The day before Easter we had our own Easter Egg Hunt in our yard.  Analise totally pulled it together by stuffing and hiding the eggs for her sisters. 

I was able to catch the younger two in action, but the older ones had to pose for me. 

For the rest of our Easter Celebration we made resurrection rolls (crescent rolls with butter and marshmallows inside - yummy!), we did our Easter Egg activity about Christ's trial, crucifixion, and resurrection, and we were also able to Skype with Chris in Afghanistan, my sister Jessica & brother Matt in Utah, and my brother Spencer and sister-in-law Tiffany in Arizona.  I am grateful to be doing this whole military thing at a time when modern technology allows me to connect face to face with loved ones who are so far away. 

When the kids were back in school we decided to visit them at Mile Club - doesn't my mom look awesome running?!?  My dad was also super nice and ended up taking the older 3 kids to the Go-Kart park for early release.

 

My parents were also able to come see Lise at gymnastics, which was awesome.  If I want to talk to Lise, this is usually my view.

And here's a lovely video of some of her other skills.

Another great thing while my parents were here was General Conference.  My kids loved playing Conference Bingo with my mom - going for blackout, of course.  There was tons of yummy food to be had - quiche on Saturday and Waffles with Strawberries and whip cream on Sunday (Conference is one of the few times I like making big breakfasts.)  And my favorite quote came from Aly as they announced a member of the Seventies would be the next speaker.  Aly - "Why don't they ever ask anyone from the 60's to speak?"  Love it.  I love the traditions of conference that our family has, that my kids like to participate, and that we were able to share it with Grandma and Grandpa this time.

Well, as you can see, after all the fun and excitement, we were pretty tuckered out. 

Other things of note on this visit was the fact that the girls kept having sleepovers in each other's rooms all through Spring Break, which led to Kylie moving into Kate's room on the bottom bunk.  I still have the crib set up in case Kate and Kylie are goofing off instead of going to bed, but so far it's been a fairly smooth transition. 

This is how Kylie situated herself for movie night - and promptly fell asleep.

Other funnyisms that have happened over the past few weeks are as follows:

Me - Kate, how much broccoli do you want?
Kate - N-U-N
My Dad - None is spelled N-O-N-E, not N-U-N
Me - Unless you're Catholic.
I love Kindergarten spelling!

On Saturday Kate was doing her chores . . .
Kylie - Can I play in the toilet with Kate?
(I ended up giving Kylie a sponge to clean the sink and she and Kate ended up turning their sponges into "Sponge Bob".  I guess they were playing after all!)

Kylie accidentally let her balloon go while outside riding her scooter . . .
Kylie - Jesus will bring me back my balloon.
Me - Well . . . it might be popped.
Kylie - Jesus will fix it for me and bring me back my balloon.
Oh the faith of a child.

Talking about gymnastics at the dinner table . . .
Aly - Are there any meets?
Kate - Yeah!  Meatballs!  (we were having meatballs over rice for dinner)

Me - I wonder what the difference is between a unitard and a leotard?
Lise - A unitard is a leotard for unicorns.