Spring Break

Our spring break didn’t start out like much of a spring break this year. We had planned on going to Quincy to go to Scottie’s Fun Spot but the weather wasn’t looking too good with a chance of snow, so we delayed it a day. I ended up being thankful that we didn’t go because my cold kept me down and wiped me out most of the day. I was thankful the kids did a pretty good job of entertaining themselves as I laid low a lot of the day reading my book called the Iron War about one of the closest Ironman races. It made me feel pretty lazy. The boys played outside a lot even though it was cold and the twins were excited they got to spend some time hanging out in Ty’s house.  That evening, I just thawed out some spaghetti sauce I had frozen and we had an easy dinner. Andrew did bring home some work for me to do, so I worked on that before I went to bed. 

The next morning, we were up like a normal school day since we planned to leave around 8 to head to Quincy. Briley joined us and we were on our way. I stopped at Sam’s when we got into town and we picked up an order I had placed online and then we met up with everyone at Scottie’s. I was dragging a bit again, but not as bad as the day before. I did do a bike ride the afternoon before and got up early to get a short run in before we left, so that may have had a little effect on it. We had Groupons for Scottie’s that were for 2 hours, but the lady working there told us the kids could skate and play in the ball pit area without using up their two hours until they had more people working to man the other attractions. They had a lot of fun and were excited when they could do the other attractions like laser tag, a laser maze, mini bowling and bumper cars. The twins were so excited that they could participate in everything. They were all smiles driving the bumper cars. We ended up being there until around 1:30 and then we needed to get something to eat and get on the road. The kids were wanting to drive through McDonalds, but we ended up stopping by Steak-n-Shake. It wasn’t busy so we got our order in right away and were out of there in about ½ hour. I was a bit anxious about taking six kids to a restaurant by myself, but they all behaved pretty well and pretty much all ordered their own food.

Most of them fell asleep on the way home and we got home with just about 20 minutes before Ellie’s friend Ella showed up for their sleepover.  Their first activity was going to visit the donkeys. And earlier that afternoon, I got a message from Ellie’s teacher wondering if Ellie would want to watch her gecko, Bindi, for a few days. Ellie was so excited. Miss Hix decided to make a last-minute trip to visit her sister in Colorado and she knew Ellie would be so excited to watch Bindi, if I would allow it. So Miss Hix and Bindi showed up about an hour later and the girls were very excited. Grace came over to play with Bindi and the girls asked if she could spend the night too, so we added another one to our sleepover. Andrew was actually home when we got home, but then he went back to the office. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with all the girls hanging around. The spent the evening playing with Bindi, making bouncy balls, playing Just Dance and then settled down to eat snacks and watch Moana.

The next morning, I got donuts for them at Hy-Vee and they played with some question cards my mom had given Ellie. I was happy when Ellie answered the question, “What are your favorite clothing brands?” with Old Navy and Danskin-she realizes that the stuff from Wal-Mart can be just as cute as the name brand stuff. The girls left between 10 and 10:30 and then we went to my parents to pick up swim trunks and puddle jumpers for the twins and met the Vincents and LaBeths at the Depot Inn to go swimming. Leah had a gift certificate there and decided to use it to rent out the pool for a couple hours. The twins were hesitant because they said the last time they swam there it was cold, but Miles got in and had fun while Bennett sat my me and whined most of the time. I still wasn’t feeling well, so I wasn’t too pleased with him. On the way home, I told the kids they would not be whining, fighting, complaining or asking me what they could do the rest of the day, except if they wanted to ask what they could do to help me. I just wanted to sleep. I had plans to deep clean the bathrooms, dust, mop the floor and vacuum and Jackson offered to clean their bathroom for me. I rested for a bit and eventually got my cleaning done. The kids did pretty well just playing with their friends and we ordered dinner from the Italian restaurant, so I did get to rest some.

Thursday we were supposed to clean the K-Life house, but my mom called and said that Kaitlin and her kids were getting into town around lunch time and Autumn and her kids were going to come by too, so I checked with Wade to see if we could change it to Friday and he was fine with that. So we headed over to my parents and the kids were super excited to get to play-it was a loud house. Ellie convinced Kaitlin to take her back to our house and get Bindi since Ellie cleaned Max’s paws. My mom was not a fan of Bindi at all. But Ellie finally convinced Owen to hold her.

We had dinner at my parents and then eventually made our way home. When we got home, I decided to make my sugar cookies for St. Patrick’s Day because I knew I wouldn’t get it done the next day. Andrew was still at the office, so I made quick work of it while the kids took baths. The next morning, the twins came into my room to let me know that the family was a huge mess. We decided it was probably the leprechauns since they did it last year too. Lincoln and Jackson got up too and the younger boys looked through the mess to find St. Patrick goodies and chocolate gold coins. Ellie got up too late to participate.

After taking a couple days off from working out, I got back on the bike for an easy workout. Then, after lunch we made our way to the K-Life house to do some cleaning. I had gone through the list before and assigned jobs to the kids so we had a plan of action when we got there. Things were pretty messy, so we got to work. We worked for 2 hours and didn’t get everything on the list done, but made a good dent in it.

I texted my mom while we were cleaning to see if they would want to meet us at the YMCA playground when we were done, so that is where we headed next. My mom brought Owen and Lola and they were all excited to see each other there. They played for around ½ hour and would have stayed longer but it was pretty windy.

We went home and dropped off our cleaning supplies, switched the laundry and packed up overnight bags for those who were having a sleepover at my parents that night. Then we went by Dairy Queen for shakes and picked a couple up for Owen and Lola too. At my parents the kids played outside for a while and came up with all sorts of adventures inside. They ended up having a sleepover-all except for Jackson. The next morning, my dad took them to get donuts at the Donut Palace and found it closed, so they went to Hy-Vee next, with most of the kids in their pjs 😊. Andrew and Jackson went to the ranch and I finally got around to doing some grocery shopping after avoiding it since I didn’t feel good. That afternoon, some of us went to see Beauty and the Beast. We actually had to wait in line, which doesn’t happen that often in Kirksville. It was a fun movie, although and little slow at times for the twins. Ellie loved it though.

After the movie we went to my parents’ house again and the kids played outside. The LaBeths were at Teresa’s so they got to hang out. For dinner, Kaitlin and Zane actually drove to Macon to pick up AJ’s for everyone. Gotta get what the pregnant girl wants. When it was time to move inside, the younger kids set up their “fire station” in several rooms, including my parents. I wasn’t expecting that when I went to check on them and knew my mom wouldn’t be pleased. It was amusing though.

We went home later that evening and Andrew as still at the office and got home a little after we did. The twins kept hoping we would go back over to my parents because they had a lot of fun with Owen and Lola. Andrew went to the office again Sunday morning and then we went to church. Ellie had a birthday party at Depot Inn that afternoon and Andrew took the boys to the ranch. I had planned to get some good workouts in while Ellie was at the party, but then I started working on researching ideas for our next bible study and that took up most of my time. So, since my time was too limited to get a workout in at that point, I finished laundry, prepped stuff for dinner and cleaned up the house. Before I knew it, it was time to pick up Ellie from her party. Andrew and the boys got home around dinner time. They were muddy from their adventures, so they took baths, ate and then went outside to play.

We finished our evening with Andrew teaching me how to change a flat on my bike since I have never learned. And right before bedtime, Ellie's teacher stopped by to pick her Bindi. Ellie was sad to see her go. But then it was time get ready to start school again the next day. The twins even had to clean out their backpacks since they had been using them for all sorts of adventures and get their school stuff back in them. I think the break went pretty well, aside from not feeling well. It went by very quickly though. We had our last free weekend for quite a while, so now it is time to let the craziness start up again.