Easter eggs and cupcakes

Today was the first day of Spring Break!  We started it off by going to Grandma's house for the annual easter-egg-dying party.

Mark's mom is brave.  There were 14 kids and a lot of bowls containing colored egg dye.  Luckily there were no major spills.  Just a lot of kids having fun.

With cousins.

And after the eggs had all been colored, she pulled out the cupcakes to decorate.  The favorite toppings were the brown and pink whoppers.  They looked like eggs.  The kids piled as many as they could get on their cupcakes.

In fact, Megan had use her hands to hold them all on.

But they sure were good!



And it sure was FUN!  Thanks Grandma!  It was a great way to start spring break!

IT'S TRUE!!!!

I now have a TEENAGER!!

Rachel turned 13 years old yesterday!

Opening presents early in the morning...

Dad missed the presents because he had to go to work early, but he brought home some flowers for Rachel.  I love that he did that for Rachel, what a sweet dad!

A couple of her friends came over for cake and ice-cream before Mutual.  Silly girls!

Then her traditional Ice Cream Cake...

So ready or not, here we go...on to the teenage years.  But you know what, I'm ready!  I'm ready because I love this girl!  I love her goodness, I love how we are becoming such good friends and that we have good talks together and have fun shopping together.  When she was little, I didn't think I wanted her to grow up, but now I'm kind of enjoying it.  She is one of my best friends! I love you Rach!  Happy Birthday!!!

St. Patrick's Day

All dressed in green, the kids headed off to school and I took Rachel to a dance performance. She and some girls from her Irish dance class danced in the City Hall Plaza before the City Council meeting.

It was a great way to start the day!  They did a great job!

Rachel even made it on the front page of a section in the newspaper.

We started and ended the day with a lot of green food...



Happy St. Patrick's day!

Daylight Savings...

We are all trying to get used to the time change around here. It's been hard for the kids to fall asleep at bed time but when it's morning, they kick and scream when I pull them out of bed for school. The lack of sleep is catching up with us. This is what I found on my kitchen floor at 5:00pm tonight.

Jessica, fast asleep!

This is how we sleep....

When Mark is out of town....

When they were little, I did it because I felt better when they were in my room. Now it's just tradition.

Valentine's drawer and love notes!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about when Tommy was this age...

It was about 5 or 6 years ago when Tommy was about 5. After filling out valentine's cards for his classmates, Tommy decided to give the leftover valentines to Mark. I can't fully recall all the details, but I'm guessing that after seeing Mark's excitement for those cards, Tommy began drawing pictures for him. He asked Mark where to put them and I believe Mark told him to put them in a special place. Tommy found a drawer in our bathroom that wasn't being used at that time and he designated it as the "Valentine Drawer." For the few months, Tommy continued making cards, and after showing them to Mark, he would put them in the "Valentine drawer." The drawer filled up quickly with Tommy's creations. This went on for months until one day it stopped and the drawer was rarely opened.

I've done a lot of spring cleaning in my house over the years, cleaning out closets and drawers, but that drawer remains untouched. There's no way I would think of emptying out that drawer.

I opened it today to take some pictures.

Here are the original valentines

And there were a lot of drawings.

This envelope was still taped closed

So I opened it and found this

There was even a paper from Rachel
It seems like yesterday that Tommy was putting those papers in that drawer, and it makes me sad to do this post and realize it really was a long time ago, time is taking my little kids away from me! At that time Megan was only a little baby, not even one.

And that brings me to the reason I have been thinking a lot about when Tommy was five. Megan is now that age.
and now she is the one making the "love notes." She is making love notes for me and Mark from sun up till sun down.

Her little craft table is always a mess with papers, crayons and scissors.

There are cards and notes everywhere I turn! In my car...

in my books...
on my fridge, and all over my counters...EVERYWHERE!
A couple weeks ago, I was tired having cards all over the place and I knew I couldn't throw them out or it would kill Megan so we designated a "Valentine's Folder."
It is FULL of LOVE!
And there is not a chance in the world that I will ever clear out that folder!
These notes are priceless!
Who ever said Valentine's Day only has to last for one day!

Today

We had a fun day together. The kids had the day off from school (Founder's Day) and Mark had the day off too.
We went to Town Square.
We shopped, played at the park, ate lunch and saw a movie.
The boys saw The Lightening Thief.
The girls and I saw Tooth Fairy.
We were the only ones in the Theater.
Didn't have my camera, but we took SILLY pictures in the photo booth.


I sure LOVE family time! I wish we had more of it!

Field Trip

When Jessica told her brothers where she was going on her field trip, they laughed. She told them that she was going to the library and the grocery store. They said, "Who goes to a grocery store for a field trip?" Well, I've been to plenty of field trips and this one was probably my favorite for a few reasons.

The lady who read the books was amazing! She was so good with the kids and they had such a great time.

What kid doesn't love the library?

And the GROCERY STORE!!!! It was perfect! First of all it was inside so it wasn't too hot or too cold like a lot of field trips.

It was all about food so it kept all the kids interested.

There were samples....LOTS of samples. They had wheat bread, chocolate milk, turkey and a cup of fresh cut up fruit.

The kids didn't have to stay in one place too long. There was a lot of walking and moving from one place to the other.

The kids got a bag full of snacks and other things to take home.

Later that day, my friend who still has three kids at home told me, "Oh, you're such a good mom to go on the field trip." I'm sure she said that because we have been friends for a long time and she knows that I haven't always been the mom on most of the field trips for my older kids. I have missed out on field trips because I've had younger kids at home. But that is no longer the case. I think I've been on every one of Jessica's field trips. Not because I'm trying to be a good mom, but because that's what I do now. She is my last and I'm enjoying every second of being with her and experiencing mothering a young child. I know I'm going to miss it someday. Even thinking about it makes me miss it!