Backyard "Campout"

The Invitation:

Homemade Binoculars:

Looking for Little Critters:

Making bags to keep the critters and all the goodies yet to come:

"Packing for Camp" Relay Race:

Fishing (strange, the foam fish were carrying hot chocolate and glow sticks):

Playing Red Rover:

Eating Dinner in the Tent:

The Birthday Cake:

Eating the Cake (aka. Roasting Marshmallows):

Happy 6th Birthday, Corbin!

There's more?

Yes, our Easter was so crazy exciting that I have hundreds of pictures (or maybe I'm just a little snap happy), literally, I had 371 pictures of our Easter weekend activities. Obviously I already posted a ton, but here are a few more of my favs from our lunch at the park on Easter Sunday.

Easter fun

Yeah, sorry. The title is not any more creative than that. I have to get this post done now that it has been a week, and it is late and I always have SO many more things I want to post. So this is the obligatory, I-want-to-have-a-record-of-this post.

Easter was perfect this year. I already posted all the egg-citement, and I may have to do another post with all our fun park pictures, so here is the Easter Bunny etc. stuff, so that someday my boys will see that we did have traditions and they will know how much their mommy loved them. And I am sure that when they have kids they will want to know what their favorite Easter toy was back in 2009 . . .

The boys decided they had to try out the Easter Bunny's carrots before bed.

Ready for the Easter Bunny
Corbin's Basket.

I think the Easter Bunny forgot that he used to hide the baskets, but it turned out okay. The boys were so excited about finding the hidden eggs at first, that they didn't even stop to notice the basket of goodies!

Cody's

Colton's basket. (isn't it adorable!)

The favorite of the morning was definitely the Ben 10 things that dissolve and produce little aliens. Cool.

HAPPY EASTER!

What is this obsession with eggs?

Last Saturday, we went out in the freezing rain so that each of our kids could collect four plastic eggs with treats and the chance to win other prizes, including a new bike. Are we crazy? Maybe, but apparently so our dozens of other parents, because the freezing drizzle didn't seem to lessen the crowds. Oh well, it was short and sweet and the boys had fun. Besides, after they had been talking about for three days, how can you tell them "we're not going, let's just sit at home and be warm."

Those little girls have GOT to be freezing!

It didn't take long for the kids to get to the eggs and get their alloted 4, yet they love it! (that is Corbin's school in the background - only 2 years old. Nice, eh?)

Cody was already munching on his treats by the time we found him over in the 3-4yr old section.

After the egg hunt, we had to come home and dye eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide. All I can say is good thing they are hard-boiled, whoever came up with that had to have been a mother. Cody finally figured it out after the first two had to be decoratively wrapped in foil if we wanted the Bunny to be able to hide them intact. And since I didn't think ahead and couldn't find any vinegar, I had to squeeze out every last drop of my lemon and lime juice to get the colors to dissolve. Oh well, once again, it was worth it, they loved it.

Easter morning was full of fun egg finding. It wasn't the mayhem and crazy running around I expected, although they did collect several eggs before they even remembered that the Bunny had brought them baskets of presents too. Mostly, it went like this - find an egg, check out its contents, eat it if mom is not looking. The boys also decided that they love to eat the hard-boiled eggs, somehow they are so much better when they came out of a colored shell.

In the afternoon was more egg mania. We had lunch at the park with some friends and of course, there had to be an egg hunt for the kiddies. Unlike the 4 egg quota from the previous day, they were seriously loaded after this one (and the candy was better too, I had to test it to make sure it was good). And thankfully, it was a much warmer day.

The kids and their loot.

We were supposed to go to another egg hunt on Saturday with our neighbors, but since it was rained out, we did it Monday evening. As if we needed more eggs, but again, its one of those things - when you have a five year old who knows whats going on when, you can't just skip it anymore.

Cody waiting for the egg rush to begin.

Next thing I know . . . Don't know how he's going to collect eggs like that.

Guess he figured it out

Corbin was happy with his findings! (Don't you just love those missing tooth smiles!)

So our weekend was all about eggs, eggs, eggs . . . I have no clue where or how this tradition came to be, but they love it, so we do it!

Spring? Break

The first day of spring break, this is what we woke up to . . .

The boys didn't seem to mind too much - guess they don't know how spring break is "supposed" to be. We did have fun playing in the snow and making snow ice cream one last time this year.

a dollar for a piece of cheese?

I decided I HAVE to put these down before I forget. Two recent conversations with Cody:

Cody: Where's the people?
Me: What people?
Cody (frustrated): the people!
Me: Honey, I don't know what you're talking about.
Cody (totally frustrated): You're not speaking English. I'm speaking English and you're not speaking English.
(I finally figured out he was saying paper the way little kids can't really say their 'r's, but I still didn't know what he was talking about.)

Yesterday -
Cody: Can I have some cheese?
Me: No honey, we're just about to have lunch.
Cody: If you give me some cheese, I'll give you some money.
Me (laughing): really?
Cody (totally serious): Do you want money?
Me (still chuckling inside): yeah
Cody: Then get me some cheese.
(I cut him a piece of cheese and he pulled out his money jar and gave me a whole dollar!)

It really is for real

Remember the trip Corbin won to San Diego/Legoland? (If you don't click here.) Well, we have Legoland tickets in our possession, the hotel is confirmed, the plane tickets were purchased, and I think we are actually going! We are going April 29th - May 4th. Yes, I know, it is coming up very soon!! We were able to add on a few days, so hopefully we can hit a few other hot spots in SoCal - or maybe just the beach. I can't wait! Thanks again to everyone who voted. I will be thinking of you every day of the trip.

The Nanny McPhee tooth

Corbin is at that age where things are falling out of his mouth and he expects money for them. He lost three bottom teeth (one when he was three, probably because it was rotten, but it was silver, so that was cool), the other two were a couple months ago and are already growing back. This most recent tooth proved to be a stubborn little thing (or maybe that was just my son . . .) It was loose for several weeks. When Lexi was here, she nicknamed it the "Nanny McPhee tooth", because Corbin could close his mouth and it would still be sticking out. I have no idea how he ate like that for a week.

Finally it got to the point where he could twist it around, and I was like "gross! Just give that thing a yank!" So we were at lunch with the Jensen cousins one day and his aunt and grandma offered him money if he would pull it out right there . . .

and alas! I have a toofless little boy. I love it!

Spring Break . . . sort of

As previously mentioned, my brother Mason and my neice Lexi were here last week for THEIR spring break. Our spring break isn't until April 15 and only lasts for 3 days - and since Russ has to work anyway, we just played this week with our guests. It wasn't easy trying to find fun things to do with 4 small rugrats and a 16 year old and we have to get creative with a small budget, yucky weather, and a baby who needs naps, but I think we had a little fun (hopefully everyone else thinks so too). So the following posts are our week of fun . . .

Oh, and THANK YOU for coming Mason and Lexi, we LOVED having you!

Gateway to Discovery

We finally took the boys up the "Discovery Gateway", which used to be called the Utah Children's Museum. We went on $2off Tuesday, so with 6 people it saved us a bit of money. It was so much fun! The big kids (Russ and Mason) had fun too, even though they may not admit it. If you haven't been, I totally reccomend it - only I have heard that weekends get a little crowded. We went around 3pm, so there were no school groups and it was perfect! We could pretty much do whatever activity we wanted without having to wait. This is the best winter activity we found this year (and maybe it will be in summer too, when we are trying to escape the heat!). If you want someone to go with - call me! My kids love this place!

Field Trip

Another free winter activity - visiting the pet store. Yippee! Only this time it didn't turn out to be so free . . . We decided to revitalize our fish tank. We have had one lonely little shark in there for almost a year and since we finally cleaned the tank, decided it was time to get him some friends. So everybody got to pick a fish and we got a new light and lid, since apparently one of the fish we chose could actually jump out.

Lexi and Corbin wanted a picture next to the fish that they chose. Since I am posting this like a week and a half later, I can tell you the bad news. All but two of the new fish have died now. Bummer. (Don't worry, Lexi, yours is one of the ones that made it!)

Girls Day Out

Lexi and I got to escape the boys one morning for a little girly time. We went to the mall to get smoothies, do a little shopping and get our nails done. Lexi got a manicure complete with a little flower on each hand, and I got a pedi (too bad its been snowing ever since!). Sometimes I wish I had a girl to take out with me, so thanks Lexi! I had alot of fun.

Blankets, clothes pins and a little help from Mom

The second day Lexi was here, the kids were begging me to just stay home and play. Really? ok, done. For lunch we built a fort, had a picnic inside and pretend roasted marshmallows. What more could a kid want?

I love indoor pools!

There is a couple super cool indoor pools near us, which are great in the winter and summer (although, I usually make a point NOT to go on Saturdays, but this was an extended family thing). Russ was in LA, so Mason and I attempted to take the kids on our own - I don't think I could have done it without him. I didn't get any pics with one kids attached to me and trying to keep another in sight at all times, but I did catch a little video. It was fun, the kids were totally wiped out that night, but, as you will see in the video - don't go on Saturday. Last time we went with Mason, there were like 3 families in the entire pool. That's more my style.

Mickey Ds

No Spring Break is complete without breakfast at McDonalds. Weekday + Breakfast = no other kids in the playplace & a halfway clean place to eat. Yes, at this phase of my life, this is my idea of a good time.

The battle for Mordor

Every night, after the youngins went to bed - the real fun would begin. Mason brought a new game called Munchkin that all my brothers are hooked on. Totally fun. Russ even liked it, and he is not what you would really call a game person. And of course, as per tradition, we played a long, grueling game of Lord of the Rings Risk (WAY better than regular Risk, which I don't care for.)