Weekend Events

In between replacing toilets, painting the front doors an accidental baby blue ("simply grey" is not grey), and putting new door knobs on the front and back doors, we bounced from event to event this weekend.  Benjamin got to read his poem at the Barton Rees Pogue Poetry and Arts Festival.  His poem was on the color yellow.  (I should type it out right now.  But I am too lazy to go and find it.  I will add it later.)  His friend Andrew also read a few of his poems.  

Our family went to Mosaic Night at Taylor on Saturday evening.  Students from all different cultures perform and they put on a wonderful show.  Isaac and Sam played a quick game of chicken during intermission.

It was Isa's turn for a date with me this weekend and it was warm so we wore our matching dresses.  She just kept looking and me and grinning.

 Gwen and I hit Muncie on Friday to get supplies for two of her children's birthday parties.

Gwen handed down a princess dress to Stella before we left.  Stella insisted on wearing it over her clothes while we shopped.

Welcome Spring

Spring!  It is wonderful (so wonderful!) to have the doors open and hear the birds.  The kids have been outside as much as possible and we are so thankful for the warmer temperatures.  

Sam, Stella and I went down to Indy this morning to see their cousins.  Sam and Stella chatted and cheered the whole way down and had a great time playing with Charlotte and James.

 Toot Scooting to school to pick up the big kids.

Benjamin and Samuel get to play on the same team this year.  Drew is coaching.  They had their first practice today.  This guy was ready two hours before practice...

Back to the Kids

We picked up a pop gun in Texas for each of the kids.  They love them and can all work them.  Win win.

Benjamin won a kite at school while we were away so we got it out today.  They have never had a semi-decent kite and we all had such a great time.  It reminded me of Sunday afternoons with my family when I was a kid.

 The younger three spent most of their time playing with some 'broomsticks' they found on the ground.

I adore this photo.  I wish the building wasn't in the background of this picture and it was nothing but blue skies.

 We got out our tables and chairs and swing.  Woohoo.  Spring has finally sprung!

San Antonio

Drew presented part of his dissertation at a conference in San Antonio this week.  He convinced me to come along and enjoy some warmth, sunshine and good food.  

Drew's maternal grandmother passed away on Tuesday so my mom had all four kids.  She told me not to worry about the kids and have a great time.  I informed her I was not at all worried about them because I know they are in good hands.  I was worried about her dealing with all their crazy.  They had a great week together and had lots of help from my wonderful friends.  She was slap happy by today.  She told me she is too old to be a mommy of four and thinks she will sleep for a week.  

The first two days Drew was busy with the conference so my new friend (below) and I hung out by the pool all day. He snored and I read.  It was most enjoyable.

 We ate well.  BBQ on night one.

 We found some yummy gelato and proceeded to end each night with a cone of it.

Our friends we were with in Vancouver, the Van Swearingens, now live in Texas and drove down to spend two nights in San Antonio with us.  It was great to see them.  We had some amazing Mexican food our second night.

Ken and Drew with their pretty little drinks.

 We spent some time at a great little coffee shop, Local Coffee.

 Brittney and I.

 Our hotel was right next door to the Alamo.  It is smaller than I pictured it in my head.

Our last night in San Antonio, we ate at a pizza place called Dough.  Oh. my. word.  I have had delicious pizza.  This place was unbelievable.  They have their cheese delivered from Italy.  They braise their prosciutto for eight hours.  Their garlic cloves spread like butter.  Their oven is heated to 800 degrees and the pizza cooks in 90 seconds.  Worth the flight.

This peacock at the hotel gave us quite the show one morning.  He strutted back and forth and spun around for the female.  She never even lifted her head.  After a few minutes he yelled something to her.  It sounded something like *%$*# #*%#! and put his feathers away.

Spring Break

Drew commented the other day that Stella looked like my mini me.  We both had black tank tops and curls. 

Sam couldn't resist leaning into the photo.

We made resurrection rolls with the kids.  They were delicious, not good for you, and so much fun.

Empty 'tomb'!

"You have been buried with Christ and raised to new life."

Stella gave up her paci this week in exchange for a playmobil set.  The first night was awful and we felt so bad for her as she cried for it.  Since then she has done great.

 Recovering from her first night of not enough sleep without paci.  She fell asleep on the couch with her siblings yelling and running around her.

Friends here have an egg hunt every year.  They have a huge yard and tons of eggs they fill for the kids.  Everyone else brings a bag of wrapped candy that the adults just throw all over the yard.  It is a lot of fun.  Thanks Zeebs!

I didn't ask Isa to but she totally took a little, overwhelmed sister under her wing and helped her find eggs and candy.  She led her around the yard and made sure she was finding treats for her bucket.

 Nana came along and helped a shy Sam get started.

We hosted Easter lunch for friends that didn't travel over break.  We set all the kids up in the laundry room. Not sure why we hadn't thought to do this before at big gatherings.  They loved it and were arguing over who got to eat at the ironing board and look out the window.

Easter Sunday.  The boys got the face tattoos in an egg from the egg hunt.  Looking good for resurrection Sunday.