Spring Break-Week 2

The Monday on our second week of Spring Break was Ryan's birthday. I spent it driving kids back and forth to Speedway. Ryan and Rachel had a doctor's appointment (Megan and Annie stayed with Grandma), then Megan had her swim lesson (all the kids came and we got Eegees for lunch), then Ryan and Annie had their swim lesson (Rachel and Megan stayed home and watched a show.

Tuesday Rachel started her two day babysitting class that was offered through the school district's community programs. She got certified in First Aid and CPR and learned tricks and tips and strategies for babysitting.

She actually had her first babysitting job the Friday before that, when a friend in our ward needed her for a couple hours while she ran some errands. We go to workout group together and Rachel had been playing so well with her two little girls earlier in the week that they asked if she could babysit them. She was so excited to get her first paying job, and it went well despite the fact that one of the girls decided to unroll a brand new roll of paper towels to use as her pirate spy glass. Rachel gets to go back this week for a second job. She's excited to be a babysitter.

Tuesday night we had an ettiquette dinner at mutual that the Laurels planned. It went off a lot better than I thought it would and turned out to be a really great evening.

Wednesday Annie finally got her wish of a full day of baking. A lot of the time when she asks to make a treat I say now isn't a good time. So she decided that Spring Break would be the perfect time, and she could even bake so much that she could sell her confections and make some money. It turned out to be a great idea and satisfied her need for baking and money. :)

We advertised it on our ward facebook page and invited people we saw at workout group.

Annie used her cupcake decorating skills from the week before and made bird nest cupcakes and carrot cupcakes that she sold for $1 each. They were definitely the most popular item. She also made snickerdoodle chex mix, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, and cinnamon rice crispy treats.

She finished just in time to go pick up Rachel from her babysitting camp before heading to piano lessons for both of them, leaving the kitchen in a state of disaster:

It happened to be free ice cream cone day at DQ, so Grandma Knight treated us to the free cones ;) before we dropped the girls off at piano.

Thursday was Annie's much anticipated day. She made signs, and we headed to the park for a playdate and her bake sale.

Almost all the cupcakes sold out, and she ended up giving out lots of free cookies (as advertising), but we still ended up with a lot of the other stuff, so dropped some off to Jacob at work, then we put it out on our ward's facebook page that we would deliver, and she got enough orders that all we were left with was one Snickerdoodle chex mix and one rice crispy treat. After she paid me a percentage (as her investor) and paid tithing, she still had enough money to get a new My Life doll, which was her goal. Though I am very surprised that she hasn't begged us to take her to Walmart to buy it yet.

After we took Megan to swim lessons and dropped off the treats to Jacob, we headed to the Planetarium at the U of A. They had a new shark display, which the kids liked, and they had a scavenger hunt downstairs in the mineral museum, so that was more exciting than it usually is.

I was taking care of a friend's dog for a couple days, so the kids were super excited to go help walk her. Their other dog was too afraid of strangers to let us get near, but Lucy loved all the attention and the kids loved walking her.

They also loved the rock wall they found while on our walk. And the cats at Lucy's house. Though we learned that not only is Rachel allergic to cats, but Annie is, too.

That didn't stop them from petting the cats. Then as we were leaving and Annie's eyes were all puffy and itchy I told her to go wash her hands and face, so she did, then went to pet the cat one last time before we left.

Friday we went to workout group and as we were wrapping things up some firefighters came in to tell us they were going to be doing a drill to hook up to the fire hydrant and spray some water.

The kids thought it was a pretty cool show.

That afternoon we went to the International Wildlife Museum and Alexxa and Laura came along for added fun.

The alligator ate the kids...

And we all turned into mountain goats...

The kids liked the prairie dog tunnels, too.

And they loved the Icees at the end of the trip before heading back home. 

And thus ended week 2 of Spring Break. 

We did snap a few pictures on Sunday, though. Me and Megan in our striped dresses and jackets.

And I snapped a picture of Jacob teaching the kids during our Sunday Come Follow Me lesson. It's nice to see them listening and engaged in what is going on (for once). :)

It was a great two weeks, and it's nice to have the kids back at school to have a bit of a break from each other so we can have a little more peace and happiness when they are at home playing together now. Two weeks with no breaks from each other begins to wear on their patience with each other.

Spring Break Week 1

We didn't have any big travel plans for Spring Break, or any plans really. I decided we would try to just do one thing each day that we don't normally get to do.
Monday that was going to the park with some friends. The kids made up Spider Tag on the web at the playground and spent a long time playing on that.

After the park Megan had her first swim lesson of the season. She's been looking forward to swimming for months, and even though it was not warm enough to go swimming, the pool is heated and she had a good time except when she had to be out of the pool waiting her turn to jump in.

The next day was free pancake day at Ihop.

The kids were unimpressed by the variety of syrups and stuck to the tried and true maple.

The outing wasn't completely free, since the kids got chocolate milk and we shared some bacon, but it was worth it.

That afternoon Ryan and Annie attended a cupcake decorating class put on by a girl in another ward trying to earn money for EFY. Super smart--$10 per person adds up real fast and she was half way there with just her 2 hour class.

The kids were delighted with how well their cupcakes turned out.

Rachel spent a lot of break working on personal progress. Our ward is having a contest the month of March to get a lot of personal progress done. One of the things she worked on was cooking dinner every day for 2 weeks. Best goal ever. She needed help most every night, but she learned a lot and now she's got a few meals up her sleeve that she can cook when needed.

Rachel and Annie switched rooms. It was quite the ordeal, but after two days we had them settled, and they had both managed to purge many bags of trash, and a few things to the give away pile as well. 

Wednesday morning I had planned to take Rachel and some friends to the temple, but one of the other girls' mom wanted to come along since it was her first time at the temple, and her youngest child threw up right as they were pulling up to our house to head out. So I stayed and watched the kid (who thankfully didn't throw up or even act sick) since she couldn't stay at preschool, and the other mom took the girls to the temple. I'm a little bummed that I didn't get to go, but at least Rachel did.

Thursday was the big finish for moving the girls and that's pretty much all we did all day except for taking Megan to her swim lesson. Friday I don't really remember what we did besides chores and laundry, except that our neighbor, Alexxa came over to play, then came back and joined us for movie night. And just like that, the first week of Spring Break was over.

Ryan's birthday

Megan was happy to go in to Ryan's class to celebrate his birthday with Otter Pops after they came in from field day.

The following day we had his birthday party, though his actual birthday was still a little over a week away. Ryan wanted a Candyland birthday, similar to the one he had seen on the blog from when Rachel turned 4. We made lollipop decorations out of paper plates, and played lots of candy-type games: 

Candy hop and candy toss:

 Candy walk (like a cake walk, but with a candy bar for a prize):

 Nana Nutt races with circus peanuts balanced on a spoon (like an egg race):

 We of course had a piñata (which we didn't get a picture of, I guess?!) and the cake and presents.

 Ryan is a goofball. He had the kids in stitches as he opened presents saying, "Oooh! Just what I wanted: tissue paper!"

 Overall, I'd say he was happy with the fun day.

 
The following week we had a family birthday party. Annie was eager to make the treats for it. She made Mice Cream. We served them over brownies. They turned out pretty cute.

 He was very excited about a few presents in particular: real tools (which he used to put together his dresser that also was a birthday present), an RC car that does cool tricks, and some money so he could buy his own diving rings for when we go swimming. Of course he's been hooked to one of the I Spy books he got, too (as has Rachel).

The next day was his actual birthday and we celebrated by taking him to the doctor. Woohoo! At least he didn't have to get a shot. He got to choose where we ate for lunch (Eegees was his good choice), and he got to start swim lessons.

 Ryan is a generous and funny kid. He's a great big brother to Megan and plays really well with her most of the time. I'm still waiting for Annie and Ryan to become best friends (maybe in High School?) but for now they do a great job at being frenemies. He knows how to make everyone laugh or how to cheer up Megan when she's angry or sad. He's not very concerned with material possessions and often offers one of his fun toys to give away to someone he thinks will appreciate it, or just to donate so he can downsize his room. The doctor confirmed that his hearing is fine (though I still have my doubts based on when I ask him to do chores or his homework). We are very happy to have this 7-year-old in our family.