Easter Weekend

Ryan still looks forward to dying eggs. I love this about him. Avery was very excited too.

  Our neighbors had us over for an egg hunt. She took it very seriously.

We enjoyed a yummy brunch after early service, just the 6 of us.

We headed to my parents an indoor egg hunt, thanks to a rainy forecast and enjoyed a delicious dinner with surprise guests :)

My mom's first cousin and wife drove up from Tennessee and surprised us. Diane LOVES children, and enjoyed them ALL immensely. After dinner we had more surprise guests. My first cousin and his family :) What an amazing treat!

Grandma passing out special "prizes" after the egg hunt bc eggs are too tiny to hide really fun stuff ;)

Such a fun day! We are a loud bunch :)

State Fair

This already seems like ages ago, but I want to record the memory bc otherwise my forgetful brain won't remember. My parents look forward to taking their grandchildren to the state fair every fall. This is the first time Avery attended and bc of that, so did I. Four kids is too much for two adults in these types of settings especially with Avery's unpredictable struggles with sensory overload. The weather forecast was not favorable, but it turned out to be an awesome afternoon and evening bc the crowds were smaller and the rain didn't start until we were getting in the van to leave :)

The rides are their favorite part, but this year we really took advantage of the farming aspect too.

Owen was chosen from the crowd to represent a pig in one of the pig races (their favorite event, every year). He was one of those kids jumping up and down pointing at himself. I think it was because his shirt makes your eyes hurt ;) Anyway his pig won and he went up on stage to receive his prizes. Hilarious. He never ceases to amaze me.

I am fairly certain Ryan would have stayed at the fair overnight with the farm animals. This is just a pretend milking but he was interested none the less. He wanted to see them ALL and he even picked out a few he wanted to bring home.

It was an afternoon of fun memories and lots and lots of walking! 

Thanks to my parents for making it happen.

Last Week of Summer

I am not sure we've ever had quite so much time between our final beach trip and the start of school. Mid-week after our beach trip, I knew I needed to plan a lot for our final week of summer because boredom and bickering fighting seemed to be increasing rapidly.

One day we went to a fun park/nature center and had a picnic. Later that same day, I took them to our gym's indoor pool. That is WAY more than I usually accomplish in a day and with no naps. It was a lot of fun and we all slept well that night ;)

My 3 school boys...

 

and my super heroine

  

 Mason was feeling artsy and composed this picture ;)

If only Owen's head was in this big blank space :( He wasn't feeling it ;)

 I mean...

  

The free nature center was perfect for my littlest ones.

 Now Ryan's turn for a photo-

If you are a mom you probably catch yourself wondering what your children will remember about you when they are older. So much of what I do goes completely unnoticed and I worry the mistakes I make are more memorable than the fun times we have together. We had a summer FULL of fun memories. I only realized it during our picnic, when I asked them to pick their favorite summer thing. They couldn't! There were SO many. God has blessed us. I am SO thankful to spend their summers at home with them. EJ gave me a high-5 the night before school ;) I did it- another summer with 4! I wouldn't trade it for the world, but man it was taxing!

I squeezed in a special date with my kindergartner. We shopped for his 1st day of school outfit and got frozen yogurt. Let's just say he was not interested in the clothing part ;) I love this little guy and I am dreading sharing him with his teacher. We had a fun conversation while he ENJOYED his watermelon/rootbeer-float/mango flavored fro-yo with plenty of candy on top. He insisted I try his delicious concoction. Ack!

 Our busy days of fun took it's toll. She said she wasn't going to sleep, and would "just be quiet" ;)

The Friday before school, Mom and I took the kids to Busch Gardens one last time. This is the only picture I took, it was a reminder to me of her life motto. "Higher...faster...more" No wonder she exhausts me. God is SO gracious to me because he meets me with peace and grace every time I try to panic about what this will mean at 10,16 and 18 years old :)

One more summer memory post to come.

Celebrating

The day after our contractor finished the master bathroom, we celebrated with donuts. No more workers in the house, could have stayed in our pjs all day ;)
   

Big Smiles at BG

We have taken a couple of summers off from Busch Gardens with Avery's adoption and adjustment. But this summer it just feel right, so we headed there once again. She LOVED it! I was pleasantly surprised. There was some occasional frustrations when she didn't want to be patient and wait her turn, but that is to be expected.

 

 Mason rode his first real roller coaster!

 Ryan and Avery make a great pair because they are so similar in size and liked all the same rides.

Owen continues to love roller coasters!! Sadly he couldn't convince Mason to join him on more than 1. EJ and I each chose 1, but that's about all we can handle. He is going to need to find a friend to ride them all with ;) Gone are the days I can roller coaster hop and not feel sick to my stomach :(

Crayola Factory

It was determined when our trip was planned that it would include a trip to the Crayola Zoo Factory. We chose Ryan's birthday. Little did we know it would be one of their busiest days. The factory was not prepared, they did not have enough employees working and I began to question our safety :( I am fairly certain fire codes were broken.

The kids had a GREAT time despite the LONG lines. I am glad they won't remember those negative details ;)

The place has great potential, when the whole state doesn't descend upon them all at once.

 

The kids and Mim ;) drew on these tablets and then displayed for a few minutes on a giant wall.

Jill and Ryan

 Make your own crayon label

 

Avery and the giant lite brite

 

Aunt Jill and Ryan waited in a SLOW line for at least an hour to get the birthday boy a glitter tattoo.

 

He was thrilled!

It's basically like a children's museum with movie about crayon making. The actually factory is in another facility in the same town. The kids also made markers, melted crayon molds and played with Crayola's version of play dough.

I am so glad the kids had fun. It was SO nice of Mim to treat us. I wish crowds didn't effect me so much. It's getting a lot worse with age. :(

So LOVED

We were all pretty excited about their valentines this year. Each of our boys are SO different and I love how that is reflected in this picture. Mason's were Minecraft printables (free) from pinterest. Owen made his own scratch cards with jokes that he found on a website. Scratch card recipe was super easy and also found on pinterest. Ryan's love for puppies and foam pieces, inspired his cards and we found a tutorial on pinterest, of course. Avery was feeling the love Friday morning and rubbed daddy's back, he beamed :)

 We had some friends come over to play on Valentine's day.

So Loved, yes I am. I thought my quiet request might be overlooked (with all the other voices in our home) but he heard and ordered this shirt.

The kids received "movie" themed valentines this year. Popcorn, candy and a movie at home.

 Mini pizzas for dinner

 After the kids went to bed, EJ and I enjoyed a quiet evening with an extra special dessert. YUM!

And lest you think our house was perfectly filled with love, I didn't take pictures of the bickering, screaming, fighting, bloody nose, and tears. Thankful that Jesus covers all that with his perfect love!