Easter 2013

We really didn't do much for Easter this year. Mommy will admit being tired and not on top of the learning about the season experiences like last year.  However, we did start something I hope to continue. The Easter bunny put puzzles pieces in the eggs instead of candy. He/she left a note explaining why there was no candy in tge eggs last year (ie the dogs) and explained the substitution. So the girls searched for the eggs and knew that there were still some missing until the entire puzzle was together. 

We also attended a Easter egg hunt at the base. It was after Easter so there weren't many people there. We scored WAY too much candy but the girls lived it. They planted suckers in the ground and Mimi was only interested in those! Ha 

American Girls and Science City

Bumpkin and Troublemaker have been asking for American Girl dolls for awhile now. Probably a year actually since they first started asking but I really thought they would move on. However, their fakes started to get pretty messy hair dos and the asking got louder. So we decided to give them a lesson about money, savings, choices, etc.

We have been collecting money in our piggy banks for years but they girls have never understood actually how much they had. We would go to the bank and they would ask if they had enough money for something at the dollar tree. So their money has been accumulating for awhile. After talking it over with them we found we were pretty close to the needed amount for each of them to get a doll. They were so excited!

Bumpkin knew what doll she wanted. She got Saige the doll of the year. I tried to convince her to consider Molly as they have a lot in common but she wouldn't even think about it. Troublemaker went in with no idea what doll she wanted. I think she might have been leaning towards Kit but she changed her mind frequently. By the time we left she had happily settled on Marie-Grace. Mimi had also settled on her very own bitty twins. She didn't really care which ones, she just played with them all. :)

Finally, after we had selected our dolls and had lunch we took daddy to Science City. I wish we lived closer to it. I don't think my kids would get tired of it. We can spend four hours there and not get to half the stuff. It is a great day trip. Especially because on this day it was Sid the Science Kid day. They had different science projects every hour. My girls like the marshmallow experiments.

Professional Pictures

We went in around Easter and had pictures taken of the girls. Here is the one I paid to have the rights to post.

The Zoo

I finally bit the bullet and bought a pass to our local zoo. I am an admitted zoo snob. I grew up going to one of the best zoo's in the world but didn't know it. Now as an adult my standards are admittedly high. But I have to admit that I like our Zoe's education department. So after living here more than two years I decided to buy a pass. I was surprisingly happy. They had some decent animals and it was good fun for the kids. Plus, it wasn't exhausting like it is to go to a bigger zoo. Here are some pictures of our first couple trips.

Oh, and Bumpkin was in a Eco Club this year at the zoo. They met twice a month for the school year. She was so funny walking us around the zoo. She was like my own little self confident tour guide who knew everything you might want to know. :).

Bumpkins frog

I have to say my kids can draw better then me already. I have only ever mastered drawing a house. Here is Bumpkins frog she drew last week, without tracing or looking at pictures...

(Semi) recent cakes

Here are pictures of the cakes I have made recently. Also, the Avengers cake I made lake last year with the figurines on it. The cakes included are Troublemakers 5th bday cake (she didn't want much bc she doesn't really like cake so I surprised her with a paint themed inside), a friends 30th bday cake, and a Hawaiian Luau themed cake.

Circus

Earlier this year we went to the circus. We went with some friends and had a great time. Mimi was so impressed she was overwhelmed and really just sat there in awe. I am honestly surprised she didn't have more reactions but she was probably just on overload. The older girls also road an elephant during intermission.

Digging Holes

So as promised here is the what happened on our last day of spring break. We had to get our plumbing fixed! How fun! We had a belly in the line from our house to the street. It had backed up into our basement for the second time in six months. Not really something I wanted to deal with again. So we had to pay someone to dig a giant hole in our yard with nothing to show for it but a yard made of mud not grass. But we were able to get something nice out of it and the plumbers dug a hole on the other side of the house for an egress window. Nice!

It was obviously a whole day project though and we couldn't use the bathroom. Not very possible with six kids running around the house. So I begged Aunt Heather to come down to visit and we took the kids to a new place I had heard of in KC, Science City. It was pretty awesome and well worth the trip. Plus, I took the plunge and forked over the rest of the money and bought a year pass so we can go back. S glad I did that as we spent four hours there and barely saw half.

Some of our highlights were playing in the sewer system. We thought it was ironic that daddy was at home playing in our sewer and we could slide down the one at Science City. We also love the wave/boat pool thing. I am not sure exactly what it is called but there was a slow current and blockers so you could change the path the water went. Plus boats and balls to use in the current. No joke, Mimi was drenched when we finally drug the kids away from the water.