Easter Weekend

We made our annual trip to the tulip festival on Friday, McKenzie and Tim came along and we went with some friends, who provided the best entertainment ever. It was so much fun watching toddlers play in the mud and exploring and even tasting the tulips. The big girls found mud puddles to play in. It was a beautiful day and the crowds were out but we had fun tiptoeing through the tulips. We followed that up with pizza and the kids provided entertainment once again.

  I just have to say it is really fun to be on the observation end of things instead of my kids being the main show.

 Our little reverse Oreo cookie!

 Destina is the best big sister, Avrie knows how to push her buttons but she still loves her!!

On Saturday we went to our friends house for their annual Easter Egg Hunt the kids had fun finding eggs and playing with friends.  The weather was passable and we did not get rained on until later in the day when we were at Destina’s soccer game.

 Avrie playing with friends while the Easter Bunny hid the eggs.

 The crowd ready to go...

 Avrie taking hunting very seriously, while Destina helped the little kids find eggs before she went to find her own.

 Pure joy!

On Sunday we celebrated Easter with the family, it was just not the same without Katie there but we managed to talk to her for a while later that night.  After going to church we had Golden Rod Eggs for lunch and then we headed up to the school for our Easter Egg Hunt.  

After the hunt we played games, ate too much candy then had a nice dinner and ate too much food. It was a fun day and it was nice that Tim and McKenzie could spend the day with us.

The Big Day

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Avrie has been taking singing lessons for a couple of months and Saturday was her first recital. She was a little nervous but I told her she could wear her most fancy dress if she promised to do her best.  She was 3^rd on the program and when it was her turn she went right up to the microphone and she did a great ob. She was really happy that my sister was able to be there to cheer her on. I recorded her singing but something happened before the song was over and it stopped recording.  She had fun and it was a really great experience for her to have. 

So bummed I didn't get the ending.....

 

We celebrated Avrie’s 7^th birthday on Saturday as well by having a family party, my sister and 2 of her kids were there.  We found a used trampoline for sale and the price was right, so right after Avrie’s soccer game in the morning Scott and Ryan drove out and picked up the trampoline. They were able to get the trampoline home and Ryan set it up while we went to Destina’s soccer game. When we came home Avrie was so busy getting ready for her recital she did not notice it and we managed to keep it a surprise until her party.  Ryan went outside and started jumping and calling Avrie’s name, she was confused, went out onto the deck and saw Ryan jumping she went over to the ledge and was so excited that there was a trampoline in the back yard. She ran downstairs, went outside and started jumping.  

 Avrie wanted enchiladas for her birthday dinner and red velvet cake for her birthday cake. The same thing I think she has wanted for the last 3 years.  After dinner she opened her presents, she got some new shoes, a couple of outfits and a new book. When all of her presents were open she looked right at me and said, “You didn’t get me what I really wanted for my birthday!”  (We had a little talk about gratitude a little later that night) But what she really wanted was a new rainbow loom, she got one for Christmas but Destina broke it, and Destina has been making rainbow looms like crazy for months now, and poor Avrie just had to sit by and watch. Well, Destina bought her a rainbow loom with her very own money but wanted to surprise her with it so it was not in the pile of presents. Destina went out and got the present and gave it to Avrie and all was right in her world once again.  

I love having this little girl in our home she is a little spoiled, loved by a bunch of big brothers and sisters and when she gets enough sleep she is pure joy. Last night as I was tucking her into bed I told her how sad I was that this was the last time I would be tucking in a 6 year old of my very own and that she would wake up as a 7 year old in the morning. This morning was her real birthday and she came and snuggled with me for a few minutes, and we talked about how exciting it is to be 7.  They grow up too fast!

Sweet Avrie

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There is a family that goes to our church and the dad’s little boy from a previous marriage was killed in a car accident. It was really sad and tragic he was in the same primary class as Avrie, when he came to our church.  The boy’s mother is still in the hospital so the step mom arranged the funeral and wanted some of the little girls from his class to sing a song at the funeral. I gathered as many of the girls as I could and we practiced and they went to the funeral and they sang so sweetly. As they rolled the casket into the chapel Avrie wanted to know all about it, she wanted to know why he was in there and if he was sleeping or if he was dead. She had a hard time wrapping her head around the whole situation but seemed curious about how funerals go. I did my best to explain to her our beliefs on death that his body was in the “pretty box” but that his spirit was now in heaven with Jesus. She wanted to make sure she had a program from the funeral to take home with his pictures on it and then she told everyone at home about this sweet little boy dying.  She played the rest of the evening and then got already for bed, we read a story together and I tucked her into bed. About 5 minutes later she comes upstairs sobbing uncontrollably, she has a dramatic flair so it took me a minute to realize that she was really upset. Scott took her back to bed but a few minutes later she was crying again, Kelsie went down and brought her up to me and she told me that she was scared of dying and having bad dreams. I let her sit with me and we cuddled for about 10 minutes and then Destina came upstairs and told Avrie that she could sleep in her bed with her. Destina told Avrie that she used to have bad dreams when she first came home, about being bitten by bugs and that some of the kids would wake up in the morning bleeding.  Destina told her that she would be ok; Avrie listened to Destina and then agreed to go sleep with her. After a few minutes I went down to check on them and they were cuddled up in bed, just like they used to do when they first came home. Avrie had on her headphones listening to music and she was ok. The next morning she told me she slept without any bad dreams,  but not to take her to another one of those things again.  

 

Avrie and Ryan getting ready to snorkel...I told Avrie to think of Hawaii as she is trying to t fall asleep and it will all be good dreams!

Spring Break

Spring break was last week and it was the most uneventful spring break ever. Our highlights of the week were Avrie had a sleepover at McKenzie’s, McKenzie was a little surprised when Avire was standing at her bedside at 7:30 am asking for food. McKenzie pointed her to the bag of Skittles in the kitchen and Avrie entertained herself by eating all but the green Skittles for breakfast.   

A trip to Costco and the grocery store, where out of guilt for not having more fun stuff planned for Spring Break I bought the big huge container of cheese balls that Destina has been asking me to buy for weeks. Finally, an afternoon at the movies. Sherman and Mr. Peabody was pretty funny movie but I have had the worst luck with going to the movies.  We got there in plenty of time to get good seats, Avrie wanted to use her own money to buy popcorn with lots of butter. We were settled into our seats and people kept streaming in and it was really quite full. I had one seat open on my left next to the isle and the kids were to my right.  I thought I was safe and could enjoy the movie, or at least my nap, in peace. But just as the movie was starting 3 people came into the theater 2 older ladies and a 20 something. They stood on the stairs next to my row waiting for the room to become light enough to find seats in the good section. They thought they saw 3 empty seats on the other side of our row so they all proceeded to cut through when the first person got to the spot she realized that the seats were taken and talking in a loud voice told the others to go back, then she stopped right in front of Avrie and proceeded to talk to them about trying to find more seats. She stood there for a minute or two before backing out. I didn’t say anything I was just hoping they would find some seats or leave. Once back out on the stairs the younger girl started yelling at the older lady and then just started telling her to just find a seat with a few swear words thrown in. At this point they decided to just split up and find empty seats and guess what, the younger girl sat right by me. At first I was just glad they were not fighting anymore since now I have missed the first 5 minutes of the movie, my kids kept looking over and wondering what was going on. But this girl proceeded to talk loudly, to herself, throughout the movie, commenting on the movie like she was in her own living room with a bunch of friends. The worst part was that she smelled really bad so I had to lean over towards Avrie and hold a napkin to my nose and breath through that for the entire movie!  That was the most exciting part of Spring Break. Scott had to work a lot and I had to work, and had a bunch of other stuff going on. The kids were happy to go back to school, and I realized I need to cut back my work schedule before summer break or it will be long and miserable for everyone!

And just for fun....

 

We actually went hiking last spring break, we need to get back out there again. Thanks Katie for the fun photo!