Happy Easter

Monday it was back to school. I got up and ran before taking the kids to school and then I helped in Lincoln’s class before heading to the twins’ school and working the book fair. The twins got done with school before I was done with my shift, so they came out and looked at all the books. They decided on a Star Wars Lego book that had a mini fig with it. Once we got back home and ate lunch, I started filling Easter eggs for our neighborhood hunt that was on Tuesday. Ellie had math practice after school, so we just had to get Jackson and Lincoln and then I picked up Ellie up a little later. I made dinner and I took Ellie and Lincoln to soccer while Andrew got the twins outside to practice some baseball. I dropped off the soccer players and then came back for Jackson to take him to the K-Life house for their Crosstalk. They had a great crowd there, so I was excited about that. Then I made a quick trip to Jc Penney before heading back to the soccer field to get Lincoln. Even though it had been a nice day, it was pretty chilly with the wind blowing through, so we got in the car when he was done and we read his library book. Ellie usually goes a ½ hour later, but she got done a little early. We were supposed to pick up Jackson and his friends from K-Life at 8:15, so we had a little bit to wait. They wanted to go to the YMCA playground, so we headed over there. They ended up not playing very long and we made our way to wait in line at K-Life. The boys seemed to have a good time, but I’m not sure if it was as impactful as I had hoped. I think the “actors” messed up a few times and that is what they talked about.

Tuesday morning, I got the kids dropped off and then did a bike, run and a bit of yoga before picking up the twins. Our egg hunt was that afternoon, so I eventually got out to put out our eggs. And I was surprised to come in and find Miles asleep on the couch. I was in charge of the gold and silver egg, which I had spray painted the day before. But, at some point while putting out the other eggs, I dropped the golden egg. It was empty since we hadn’t collected the money yet. I looked around and couldn’t find it, so I quickly spray-painted another one, got the money from Leah and hid it before going to pick up the kids from school. Some other moms finished hiding the rest of the eggs. The egg hunt was at 3:30, so we didn’t have to keep the kids distracted for too long after getting home from school. Leah gathered all the kids together, got a picture, gave them the rules (including the possibility of an empty golden egg) and they scattered when they were told to go. Ellie found the silver egg pretty quickly. I put Tiffany in charge of it and she hid it under a wheelbarrow in their backyard. After about 15 minutes, most of the other eggs were found and the hunt was on for the golden egg which had $40 in it. I eventually told them it was in our yard and then I narrowed it down to the front yard. My landscaping did get a bit of a beat down, but considering I need to replant a lot of stuff, it wasn’t a big deal. Ellie was close to finding it, but Zach won out and found it hid among the mulch where the downspout was, under a piece of stone that had fallen off of our house.

That evening we didn’t have anything going on which was nice. The kids got to play outside after dinner and I did some grocery shopping.  Andrew got Lincoln outside to practice hitting and I worked on gathering all necessary equipment for all the kids to play baseball. It was kind of intimidating to see all five bat bags hanging up.

We had another beautiful day on Wednesday, so I swam in the morning and then came home and got a run in outside before picking up the twins. After I picked them up, we went to register them for kindergarten next year. They weren’t too excited about it because they have heard there aren’t any toys in kindergarten. They were good while we did the whole registration process, so we picked up some McDonalds on our way home. Then we had to hard boil eggs to take to their class the next day for their Easter party. I also had to prep the discussion questions for our bible study the next day. Jackson had weights after school, so we just picked up Ellie and Lincoln. Lincoln let me know that when he and Alex see each other at school, they give each other a high five, the a fist bump, then a chest bump and finally they hug each other and then see who can punch the other in the stomach first 😊.

After school, the kids got out their baseball gear and Lincoln played with his friends in the backyard. But then Lincoln accidentally hit Miles with the bat. So, Ellie took the twins over to the side of the house and played with them while the other boys were out back.

Andrew picked up Jackson from weights and I got dinner ready so we could eat before Ellie and Lincoln had to get to soccer. Then it was Jackson and the twins turn to practice baseball with Andrew. And again, Miles was hit and this time it was Bennett. But I think they are starting to get the hang of baseball and will hopefully like it and participate when it comes time for team practice and games.

My parents came by that evening and dropped off the lemonade stand my dad made for the kids for my birthday. It was so cute and the kids will love having it.

I went to pick up the soccer kids and Lincoln and I usually read in the car while we wait for Ellie. But, since it was so nice outside, he wanted to play. We ended up giving all the Vincents a ride home, so he and Alex played hide-and-go-seek. When the older ones were done, it was back home and get ready for bed. I still wasn’t finished with my bible study prep, so I got to stay up and work on that. I had bible study after dropping the kids off on Thursday. Then I was off to the twins’ Easter party after I was finished. They got to decorate eggs and cookies before heading outside for their egg hunt.

We were able to go home for a little bit for lunch and to catch up on some stuff around the house. I also took some time to sit down and ice my shins since they were sore from running outside. Then we were off to Lincoln’s music program. It was the same one Ellie did in first grade. My mom came to watch him too. Lincoln participated but he didn’t smile too much. He seemed tired to me. And then he tried to convince me to take him home instead of going to K-Life. So, I don’t think he was too happy with me.

Again, we went home for a little bit, but soon it was time to pick up Jackson while Ellie and Lincoln went to K-Life. And then since dance was over, I didn’t have to rush her to dance when K-Life was over. Plus the kids didn’t have school the next day, so we got to enjoy the nice weather. Before I picked up Ellie and Lincoln, Josh came over and he asked if the twins could come down to his house. So, after checking with his mom, they got to go. They were so excited and Josh was so nice to them. I picked them up on my way to K-Life. Back at home, they were all playing outside and I heard someone cry out and the ping of a bat. Come to find out, Bennett was running down the driveway with a bat and fell. As I was attending to him, someone let Buddy out just as the pizza delivery car arrived. So, I had Bennett crying, Buddy barking and the poor lady trying to deliver the pizza. Everything settled down and then Jackson let me know that he wanted to go to Fun Night later that evening. He had never been interested before, so I was surprised. He went with Zach and Gage and then Lincoln spent the night with spent the night with Alex. They came over to get his stuff and then went running down the street pulling his suitcase. I decided to clear some stuff out of the garage since we had been talking about Andrew and Jackson building some shelves for in there. I ended up posting the Cozy Coupe, the four wheelers and Lincoln’s old bike on swap shop. I had it all sold that night, but then a lady decided that the bike and one of the four wheelers were going to be too small for her grandson. I picked up the boys from Fun Night later that night and they said they had a good time. They played games, ate a bunch of food and I think he actually danced a little 😊.

The kids didn’t have school on Friday, but Andrew was up early since he had to be in Jefferson City for a hearing by 9. I had all intentions of doing a long bike ride, but I had trouble with the computer and it took a little while to fix it and by then, I was distracted with other things. I went upstairs to collect clothes to iron for Easter and ended up spending about an hour going through Jackson and Ellie’s closet and taking out clothes that don’t fit anymore. They were so excited. Then I had to divide up the clothes for thrift store, store away or give away. I also went back out to the garage and started cleaning and organizing some more. While I was out there, Jackson decided to take apart his old Ripstick and skateboard and try to change out the wheels. He is still working on it, but he said he enjoyed trying to figure it all out. The cleaning took longer than I was hoping, and I still wasn’t done and I never got my bike ride in that I wanted. So, I just got ready and then we went to my parents for dinner. Lissy and Kaitlin and her family were coming into town for Easter and the twins were so excited to see Owen and Lola. They played all evening and then convinced my parents to let them have a sleepover along with Ellie.  Lincoln had gone with Andrew to the office, so they were at home when Jackson and I got there.

The next morning, Andrew, Jackson and Lincoln went to the ranch while I did a quick ride and then went to my parents. The twins had their first baseball practice at 9 and I think the coach was wondering what she got herself into. The wind was really blowing and the twins were a little cold and they wouldn’t do anything the first several minutes. They were supposed to be playing catch and they just stood there. So, I walked away for a little bit hoping that would help, but it didn’t. So then I made several threats and ended up sending Bennett to the dugout and just started playing catch with Miles and he warmed up to it. Eventually Bennett came out to and I took turns throwing the ball to them. They did pretty well the rest of the practice with a couple little bumps here and there. I really do hope it improves.

We spent the rest of the day at my parents. The kids played in the sandbox, on the trampoline, with kites, on the swing set and did a make-believe Mcdonald’s. Andrew and Jackson went with Zane to the batting cages and worked on Jackson’s swing  and later during the day, he went over to the Behnen’s and played with Joe and John. Ellie helped Lissy with a photo shoot later that afternoon and I spent some time going through all the swimsuits in the pool house and getting rid of quite a bit while keeping one or two of a variety of sizes for others to borrow and taking inventory on what my kids had.  Andrew spent a lot of time at the office prepping for a trial he had coming up on Monday. The boys were hoping to have another sleepover, but we talked them out of it 😊. When we got back home, I started making a dessert I was bringing to my parents for brunch and when I went down to get some berries out of the fridge in the basement, there was water on the floor. There seemed to a leak from the bathtub above as the kids were taking a bath. We knew we probably couldn’t get a hold of someone until Monday, so we just decided to not use the tub until then.  But then the kids weren’t settling down for bed that well and Andrew let Ellie sleep on the couch, so it was a long night.

Lincoln was by 6:30 Sunday morning and he started looking for his basket. He found several others, but not his for a while. We all eventually got up and they all found their baskets. Ellie was frustrated because she had a hard time finding hers. But they were all happy with what they found in their baskets and got to enjoy playing with stuff for a little bit before getting ready to head to church.

After church, we went home to change, I put together my dessert and a lady came by to pick up a bike she purchased off of swap shop. Then we went to my parents for brunch and the much-anticipated Easter egg hunt. We all loved smack talking with Owen over who was going to find the golden egg. He was so funny. In the end, Jackson was the winner. While the rest of my kids were disappointed, Owen was happy for Jackson. Bennett wasn’t too excited because all he got was, “a single dollar bill and Skittles. And I don’t like Skittles.”

It was a beautiful day outside, so we spent some time just hanging out outside while the kids played before heading back home for a little bit. Andrew spend a lot of time at the office prepping for a trial the next day. Then we went out to Matthew and Kristin’s for dinner. Kristin also did an egg hunt for the kids and each kid could find one bigger egg that had money in it. Some had $10 or $5. One had $20 (Ainsley got that one) and the others had $1. Bennett got a “single dollar bill’ again 😊. The kids had a soccer game and had a lot of fun. Then they moved inside to play for a bit before heading home.