This kid and his bowties…
Barrington
Our neighborhood has wonderful holiday activities and today was the annual Easter Egg hunt. The kids couldn’t wait to hunt for eggs.
Sometimes they are nice to each other and sit quietly side by side.
Today we learned many things while playing after school. 1.) Synchronized puddle jumping is almost impossible to achieve. 2.) Kaitlyn will fall in the water when given a chance – thank goodness for a spare set of clothes 3.) Teague makes the best puddle splashes but with the craziest faces.
Kaitlyn was quite adamant that she needed to read her babies a book before she could take her own nap.
The boys and Leah played all afternoon and then begged to cook dinner. I decided they couldn’t do too much damage and let them go. They chose “breakfast for dinner” and did a pretty good job. Alex did the bacon. Leah and Teague made the pancakes (Teague read the recipe). It was pretty yummy and everyone had so much fun cooking together.
Someone was really glad to be back home with all our chaos.
This girl loves to help in the kitchen so I bought her a “real” knife. She cut strawberries for me all morning.
Teague and Kaitlyn’s preschool does both fall and spring pictures. This is one of the first years I have bought spring pictures. This picture captures Teague so well at this age!
She loves her makeup.
It’s kind of a typical Monday for us – playing after school and a little baking afterwards.
Some nights this is what happens when I try to take pictures.
I walked into the playroom to find Alex playing battleships with Abram – 70 miles apart.
Today we sledded one last time. I had been hoping for snow all winter and March wasn’t too late to enjoy it for a few days.
I had given up on any more snow this year and then today happened! We woke up to snow and I couldn’t wait for the kids to get out of school so we could go sledding!
Skyping with Granny and Pop while finishing up ice cream.
I’m thinking possibly tattoo artist?
I can only imagine what scheme these three are cooking up…
I have no idea what the big kids did after school today because I was too busy watching the little kids. Kaitlyn and Liam were sharing a book and I couldn’t help but snap a few pictures.
Kaitlyn loves to arrange picnics – all the time!
Tonight Wade and I attended a masquerade to benefit Teague and Kaitlyn’s school. We went out to dinner with our neighbors and then met some other friends at the Dole Mansion. What a great evening. There was a live auction, silent auction, raffle, and a ghost tour!
Teague has become a daily baker – thank goodness. Today he wanted to make chocolate chip cookies. I helped minimally and everyone gets a yummy treat!
We took a walk as a family a few days ago and walked by the beach. We love it in summer but rarely visit it in the winter. I still found it gorgeous.
I’m not quite sure how it started, but Kaitlyn and I have a definite goodnight routine. The second before I close her bedroom door I blow her a kiss, and she then blows me one too. It’s one of my favorite parts of the day.
Kaitlyn goes through phases with her favorite people (and especially brothers). Right now she wants “Alla” all the time – to play with, to put on her pajamas, to read to her…
She’s determined to get every last peanut out of the can.
This one always wants to sit with Mama and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Glasses thief with a side of messy mouth.
Teague turns 6 today! We started the day with his favorite coffee cake and then sent him to school with goodies. He came home to find his much-wanted pedal car in the driveway. He rode until Alex got home and we went for a walk around the lake. Dinner was a little crazy since we had all been planning on Sushi and then we realized they are closed on Tuesday. We made a quick switch and then came home for brownies and presents!
Today we celebrated both boys’ birthdays with friends. We had a combined party at a local bowling alley. Thankfully my sister was in town and is much more creative than I am. She helped me with decorations, goody bags, and keeping everyone organized! We had about 20 kids and thankfully quite a few parents stayed to help. I definitely underestimated the amount of parent involvement needed to keep everyone in the right lane and bowling at the right time. The kids all seemed to have fun and I was so happy when we were done and I could finally relax! (The goody bags for the big kids were pretty special. Alex used his 3D printer to create a bowling trophy for each boy.)
We got everybody to church and then played the day away. Having cousins visit makes the days fly by.
Melissa, Harper, and Mackenzie drove up for the weekend. The kids are excited! We’ve had a day full of birthday errands, birthday parties, treehouse playing, afternoon custard, and Aunt Lissy snuggles.
Today was glorious! It was in the 60s with a blue sky. The big kids were off school so Mary and I decided to take our oldest and youngest for a picnic lunch at the park. They ran and played and really wanted to test the ice on the lake. Afterwards we headed to school to pick up the middle boys. They had pajama day today so we played in their pajamas before calling it a day.
Wade and I have never experienced sunsets like the ones we saw from our house in Platte City. However, in the winter when the leaves are bare, we can get a few awesome sunsets from our Kitchen window looking towards the lake.
I love to see kids at their school parties. This year I have been in charge of Kaitlyn’s class parties so I definitely get to see everything in action!
Teague’s kindergarten class had a wedding today. Q and U got married. The boys were requested to dress like quarterbacks. The girls were requested to dress like queens. Parents were invited and cake was served afterwards. What a wonderful event to make sure the kids know Q and U always go together!
I have one child who hates socks. The minute the shoes come off, the socks go too. They can almost always be found under the kitchen table, but lately he’s been branching out and I find them all over the house.
In a strange twist, my first born turned 8 today. How has it been 8 years!?!? We celebrated in grand style with breakfast at a Pancake house (special treat for those weekend birthdays) and then we opened gifts and played all day. Teague was excited to help me make Alex’s cake and we had a special dinner of pizza with chocolate birthday cake for dessert (and then a movie with popcorn)!
I vividly remember this globe light being in my Dad’s childhood room when I was growing up. I love that it is now in my boys’ room. I’ll just make sure they don’t look to closely at the countries – they are significantly out of date!
Leah got off the bus at our house today. The boys loved having her play and I was impressed that she sat down to immediately do her homework.
She wanted to nap in her mittens and I agreed. Imagine my surprise when they were still on her hands 3 hours later.
This is what a brand new wallet looks like. One that doesn’t have years worth of things transferred into it – because the previous wallet is missing. Poor Wade. He lost it sometime on Sunday and it hasn’t shown up yet.
Tandem rolling is much harder to achieve than you would think.
Kaitlyn has never had a big interest in crayons, but markers are another story entirely. I have yet to figure out which markers wash out and with leave a stain. For now that means Kaitlyn does “markers, stickers, paper” with no shirt. It’s a daily activity so she now comes running to me to take off her shirt before getting out any supplies. Now if I could only figure out a way to keep stickers and the backers from getting everywhere…
Kaitlyn is extremely independent. “I do it myself” is heard very often around here. What I love about her independence is she normally figures out a way to accomplish her goal without getting frustrated. Today she figured out how to wash her hands “by myself” in a bathroom that’s too small to keep a stool in it.
I’m not really sure what prompted all the pictures of jeans, but here you have it. The jeans three of us were wearing today and a cute Kaitlyn eating raisins out of a jar.