Wade had mulch delivered Friday. Then it rained yesterday morning. Finally today was gorgeous and there were no major plans. Wade recruited all the kids and the mulch pile was gone in no time.
Alex
Sunday lineup.
I woke up this morning to pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Alex made it last night and had it waiting for me when I woke up this morning. Things worked out even better when the weather meant Ben’s soccer was cancelled and we could have a leisurely morning.
Ben had a friend over for a playdate and they were so cute together. They played wonderfully and required minimal oversight.
After Ben’s friend had gone home and Kaitlyn’s soccer game was over, we went to Dairy Queen. For months, Ben had been telling me he was going to take me to DQ for my birthday. He had won a gift card during bingo at Gram’s house and had saved it to treat me to ice cream. He asked me several times if there would be enough on it for the entire family. I assured him we would make sure everyone got ice cream. I was impressed when most people tried something new. Alex tried a cherry dipped cone. Ben saw a picture of a banana split and fell in love. Wade agreed to split it with him.
My pick for dinner was Cheesecake Factory. We had a wonderful dinner and then fabulous desserts. Then we went back home for presents. Kaitlyn made me the sweetest bag with an IOU for a lunch date, a handmade bracelet, and an adorable stuffed puppy. Teague gave me two boxes of my favorite chocolates. I was so impressed that all of my kids made such an effort this year.
Happy Birthday to me!
S’mores.
So much screen time this week…
Alex did his room clean out completely on his own after I was in bed one night. It has left him with a lot of empty time on his hands.
I walked by to find these two sharing some love of Pokemon.
Alex chose not to go hiking with us so we put him on dinner duty. Nachos coming up.
Today was busy! Alex and Wade were ringing bells at church so we all got there on the early side. Then Alex shocked us all and joined the littles for the Children’s message. (The picture of random objects shows what Ben brings to church to entertain himself. I’m always amused by what he packs in his bag, but he is always content and mostly quiet.)
I was reading downstairs when I got a text from Wade telling him to come with my camera. Evidently he had promised to play with Ben and the game of choice was pirates.
Then Wade flew out to Seattle for a few days and the rest of us began spring cleaning. We started with the toys downstairs. The kids decided they were ready to put most of the duplos in the attic so we bagged up the sets, which meant building them first. Even Alex got in on the fun.
Sunday lineup.
Alex being Alex and with a device in his hand.
Alex got the chicken egg this year at the Easter Egg Hunt. Inside was an IOU for a night of ice cream. He has asked if we can go several evenings, but it hasn’t worked out for several reasons. Tonight everything aligned we had nice weather and no activities.
Kaitlyn really wanted a sundae, but their’s are quite large and she has trouble finishing two scoops of ice cream. Teague finally agreed to split one with her. Ben was his normal adventurous self and got blueberry ice cream with gummy bears. (I don’t think he ever gets the same flavor twice.)
First Swirls and Scoops of the season.
(Typical picture of my crew. Some being sweet and some…not.)
I love Alex’s current iPad cover. It also makes me do a double take every time I see it.
Late night gaming with Dad after the littles are in bed.
Alex was determined to show me that Ben’s new baseball helmet was definitely not too small.
The big news everywhere is the solar eclipse. Grafton was getting a deep partial (with a magnitude of 93.4%) but Wade and I decided to take the kids out of school and drive far enough north to see the total eclipse – at least that was the plan. Kaitlyn had a play this morning that she wanted to attend and Wade had a phone call he had to take. Alex and Ben stayed home from school. I picked up Teague and Kaitlyn after just a few hours. The plan was to leave by 10, which we managed. We did not count on the traffic. It was terrible!
Our goal destination was Burlington, VT (normally a 3.5 hour drive). We ended up in Haverhill, NH at an adorable park (after driving almost 4 hours). The kids loved playing and running as the eclipse progressed. What we saw was incredible, but not quite a total eclipse. We saw a deep partial (with a magnitude of 99%). Before we left the town, we visited the cutest covered bridge and stopped for ice cream. All in all it was a fun day and definitely an adventure.
Solar Eclipse.
Sunday lineup. (Ben decided on a western theme for his outfit today and we didn’t bat an eye. Alex hated it and we agreed we never would have let him attend church at age 6 dressed like that. Oh how things have changed in 10 yers.)
My kids are all still enamored with the skateboard. Wade and I were dishwasher shopping today and happened to see free one on the side of the road. We stopped and picked it up so the at least we would have two skateboards. The kids (all of them) are still spending quite a bit of time on it trying to learn to ride. I love watching them try to figure it out.
Alex tried the skateboard again today. It was quite hilarious to watch.
Brownies for dessert tonight.
After dinner – Teague finishing up some overdue chores and Alex trying to enlist Wade to help with his painting project.
Alex was so excited to give me a call about 9 am this morning from school. Evidently there was a plumbing issue at the high school that couldn’t be fixed and they were forced to dismiss the kids at 9:15 for the day. Alex really hated having an unexpected day at home. We even went out to lunch. (He offered to treat me.)
These guys have run into quite a few challenges getting the case painted, but they think they have a plan. Warm paint, thin coats, and lots of hopes.
Kaitlyn and Ben love to play outside (when they have used their iPad time). Their iPad time was up, they had eaten dinner, and had about 20 minutes until we needed to leave for swim lessons. They ended up creating a game with bikes and flags and even Alex joined in.
Alex decided to get in on the outside play.
Happy Easter.
Easter Sundays are always really busy (at least for the first half of the day). We agreed as a family to get up at 6:30 and see what the Easter bunny had brought. Then some people could start getting ready and the ones who needed a quick nap could take one. This year we all remembered to put Pepper in the kennel the night before so that she wouldn’t get into the chocolate. The kids were excited for their baskets and it was fun to watch them dig into them.
Then we got dressed up, attended church, and took the Sunday picture. I needed to get a few of our lunch things underway and then we went outside for the kids to hunt eggs. The kids all found their special eggs pretty quickly, but the chicken egg was a little tricky this year. Alex finally found it with quite a bit of “hot-cold” help from Wade.
What a glorious day!
We had a wonderful slow Saturday today. (I know they are coming to an end. I am beginning to get all kinds of emails about spring sports.) The littles watched a few cartoons as soon as they woke up and waited for Teague to get up. He had promised to make Belgium sugar waffles for breakfast. Then the kids did their chores. I had to return the skis we rented for the season and Wade took Ben to a birthday party. The rest of the day the kids played and enjoyed being outside. I did a little prep work for Easter lunch and the littles were quite happy to lick the bowl.
The big decisions these days – which color to paint the various parts of his new computer case.
The chaos of an evening at the Burch house – made even more so because our dishwasher is currently broken. Alex is washing dishes. Teague is telling Wade about his day. Kaitlyn is running around. Ben is trying to finish dinner.
Alex decided to use his sourdough starter to make cinnamon rolls. Yum!
I was signing Ben up for some fall sports (doesn’t it seem crazy early to be doing that?) and they wouldn’t let me finish the registration without uploading a picture. I normally use the digital copy of school fall pictures for this kind of thing. When I went to the folder where I save school pictures, there were no pictures. I have a history of not receiving the emails with the digital pictures but I normally realize it, call the company, and then it gets straightened out. This time, I never thought about it once, and here it is March and I don’t have the pictures from October. I called the company and they were nice enough to email me the pictures.
Teague doesn’t have a picture because he was signed up for a retake and then decided not to turn in his form. Therefore – no picture this fall.
Alex has been having fun creating these little figures lately.
Alex’s cake was evidently quite a success. This was all he brought home from the birthday celebration.
Alex showed up at some point during the day and informed me that he wanted to bake a cake. My obvious next question was, “Why?” Evidently one of his friends has a birthday on Monday and everyone is getting together at the Common on Monday to celebrate and Alex offered to bring the cake.
He finally decided on our current favorite chocolate cake – Death by Chocolate Cake.
Sunday lineup (minus Ben who stayed home sick).
Alex is still working hard on painting his computer case.
Alex was determined to show Kaitlyn that he too could have a ponytail.
I finally measured the boys’ for the growth chart – only a month late, not too bad.
Alex came home from hanging out with his friends with a warm 2 liter of Diet Coke – that was half gone. He pointed out how much cheaper it was to buy than a cold smaller amount of Coke. I laughed at him and he continued to drink his Diet Coke (warm).
The assignment to each child – make a funny face.
Today’s craft in Sunday School was a resurrection garden. We pulled in the HS/MS class for help and all the kids did great. Although it’s a really cool craft, I’ll admit that I’m secretly very glad that Alex chose not to create his own and we only had to bring home three.
Sunday lineup.
Alex has a new plan for his computer case. He used his vinyl cutter to print Mario. Now he’s going to work out painting this – strategically to get all the colors just right.
Wade has spent the entire week traveling for work. He left very, very early Monday morning for Belgium and he got home this afternoon. I wash shocked he didn’t immediately crash, but he had dinner with us and then provided dessert with a variety of treats he brought home with him. We all took a sample of everything and everyone had a different favorite.
Dad’s home and he brought snacks back from Belgium!