I came downstairs one day to see Katy and John happily sharing pita chips and hummus. John's idea of dipping the chip included his entire left hand as well, as you can see. But don't worry, he brought a sponge along to wipe up his mess!
All day long, the kids rotated stations. Two loaded our wheelbarrow and cart.
While another moved the wheelbarrows back and forth, the rest spread the mulch.
We finished it by dinnertime, totally dirty and exhausted. Both Jake and Diana had birthday parties to go to so they got little breaks, as well as plenty of other breaks. But still, it was incredible to see that huge pile of mulch shrink to nothing in one day.
Jim took this picture before church after I left with the older kids to ward choir. Queen Diana on her throne!
Snow in March! It surprises me every time although it's not rare. After so many warm days, it just seems weird!
Mike went outside to dance in the snow. It melted so fast, but he got all the fun he could out of it!
Saying goodbye to the Koffords after a fun playdate with Easton.
For Jake's birthday, he asked to go to the Reptile and Amphibian Day at our downtown science museum. So we went and played with snakes.
Saw baby gators up close.
Played habitat jenga.
And generally ran around. We got there as it opened so it wasn't crowded, and it is fun to see the kids roam and expore, learning as they go.
Since it was also St. Patrick's Day, we got to see part of the downtown Raleigh parade! After the kids chased a float throwing candy for a few blocks, we decided it would be better to leave. Crazy what they will do for sugar!
When I say the kids tear the house apart, this can be construed literally. They tear the house apart!
To encourage friendships for Nicole, we had her invite some girls in her school class over for a St. Patrick's day party. 4 girls came and played minute to win it games. They had to suck the skittles up and put them in a cup.
Get a cookie from their forehead to their mouth.
Use chopsticks to stack Lucky Charms. Diana was SO eager to be with the big girls. They were all pretty quiet girls, so Diana kept the party alive. It was hilarious! She was asking them what their favorite foods were, what they like to do, told the girls if their hair was cute, etc. She is a party all her own. Since we had uneven numbers for teams, Nicole graciously let Diana play with them.
Lucky Charms cereal box puzzle.
This game about made the girls pass out. For one minute, they tried to blow as many Lucky Charms to their opponent's side as they could. They practically hyperventilated! They also couldn't stop laughing, it was a great game.
All the girls.
They painted sugar cookies too. It was amazing to see how carefully they painted the details- the ones at Jake's party were done much less carefully. I think those boys were more interested in eating them!
The rest of the kids were so patient to wait until Nicole's party was done so we could have a family party. They got all dressed up (and Diana was thrilled for round two!)
Using a spoon to get out as many marshmallows as they can in a minute from a bowl of Lucky Charms.
Nicole was so proud of her cookie she painted! It's one of my favorite baking projects!
The other morning, Jake, Mike and D were holding hands on the walk to school. It was such a precious moment!
John wanted to help me with my cake baking!
Katy can't read, but she picked her snow shirt and it snowed-again!
Jim went to Costa Rica for a week and the kids were restless. I decided the kids needed bikes, so we went at 8 on Saturday and the kids took turns with me selecting the right bike while the others waited patiently (well, they may or may not have been riding their bikes through the store). When it was time to go, the followed me pushing John in a cart with a baby seat for a bike that we would use. Me and 5 bikes following like my little ducks with to the checkout. Pretty funny.
The real trick was fitting everything. It was basically a miracle everything fit, I don't think I could do it again!
Then we rode our new bikes to their school park and played.
The huge carpool lanes make for super fun bike riding that is easy for me to watch (and no cars come).
Diana got an awesome cat helmet she didn't want to ever take off.
Flying on the swings!
Diana gave a talk. We practiced a bunch, but when it was time for her to give the talk she acted super shy. I just smiled and said go ahead and then just looked at the audience. After a few times of this she realized I wasn't going to spoon feed her what I knew she could do, and she DID it! I was so glad because I knew she could get stubborn/too shy. Afterwards she told me she didn't want to do it because "everyone was smiling at me!"
Nicole's bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament really did well. At one point she was really rocking it and the kids dogpiled her. So cute to have fun together with the bball tourney.
The kids made playdough of Jim surfing.
A friend in our ward didn't know that Jim was gone, but Sunday evening she brought by all this chocolate. She had no idea it had been a crazy day for me to be solo- music practice at my house, playing piano at ward choir with littles, JustServe setup, Diana talk, Mike scripture, leading song practice, and teaching RS. It was sweet to receive such kindness on a day that chocolate was very much appreciated!
Diana loved the chocolate.
John was drooling blue from his chocolate :)
And John also discovered how to open a round doorknob. I discovered this the hard way.
Mike had a planet presentation on the last day of school before spring break.
Our first day of Spring Break we went to Marbles kids museum. John hasn't been here since he was crawling and he loved it!
The older kids played chess.
And were totally silly when they discovered how to use green coats on a green screen set up there.
Diana and Katy were shopping, making food, and playing with animals.
Nicole loves to make stuff with wood, saws, glue and tape.
John explored to his hearts content. It was fun for me to really only have to watch him, as the rest of the kids stayed together.
The next day we went to the zoo! The weather was wonderful and lots of the animals were out.
This guy moved a distance to get as close to us as possible. A little unsettling!
All six kiddos on the leaf slide.
Katy swinging around.
Jake facing off
Katy brought the monkey Jim gave her from Costa Rica to the zoo and was so happy to show her monkey to the gorillas at the zoo.
On our way home from the zoo, we went to an orchard and had apple slushies and played around.
When we got home, the kids were exhausted!
On Saturday morning, we volunteered at a food cupboard garden. They man in charge gave each of the kids jobs and was super patient with them at their skill level. He was simply grateful we were there to help and I really appreciated that the kids could serve.
We had an Easter egg hunt after the first session of General Conference.
Each egg had a few jellybeans and a piece of a scripture about the tomb being empty. Once they compiled the whole scripture and we read it aloud as a family, they got a prize.
The girls got a pony and John got a Little People airplane.
The boys got a beyblade stadium and were over the moon.
I decided to call it quits on the baking blog. It just took too much time. I did it for a month and did get quicker, but it was still a time drain that wasn't fun. What I love is making and giving baked goods. So when I do have time, I don't want to be writing down recipes and taking the perfect picture. This whole baking thing is just a side hobby/fun thing for me to do and the baking blog turned out now to be the right thing. But I did take some pretty pictures!
Every Easter I make a traditional southern Hummingbird Cake. It is incredible and unexpected. I would never put pineapple in a cake along with banana and pecans and cinnamon, but together with a cream cheese frosting, this cake is amazing.
The only ham left at Target was a salted caramel one! I was thinking it would be gross, but after all was said and done, I didn't taste any salted caramel anyways so it didn't matter.
At the end of 8 hours of conference, I was one of the last awake. It was incredible, because they managed to have so much energy and make so much noise at other times, this peaceful scene seems impossible. Jim had the three youngest crawling all over him almost the whole time- I think they missed him a lot!
We took the kids to a trampoline park. It had a separate area for the littlest ones.
The other kids and Jim played dodgeball for almost two hours.
John watching his brother, who was happy to play with him through the glass.
John can't really jump yet, so it was hilarious watching him try and fall a million times. He loved it!
Lining up for the next game. They have staff members run the game and that makes it so easy for us to watch and enjoy!
Mike asked for the hardest bull ride.
Jake asked for the easiest.
We got a flat tire on the way to the trampoline park. Jim changed it while we were there and since the van was on a semi-slope he didn't realize it but as he was jacking it up it became unstable. He took off the flat tire and had a feeling to step away. He did, right before the jack tipped and the van fell down. Scary! I had a feeling in the building to text Jim and when he didn't answer I went out right after this had happened. As he started jacking the car back up, I saw the problem and were able to put on the emergency brake, borrow a piece of wood from a passerby to stabilize the jack, and finish the job. It was a blessing to have those promptings to keep Jim safe.
Spring break continued with a trip to Three Bears Acres, an outdoor playground area with tons of fun activities.
This ramp was awesome. The kids played here most of the time, racing each other.
All my kids about to race.
Firing tennis balls with the slingshots at the flags of different area colleges.
Tug of war. Nicole and Diana managed to beat the boys twice! It has been wonderful to spend time with Jim after his surf trip.
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