Spring Break

It's Monday, a normal, back-to-school, Monday. It feels kind of good actually. Despite the house being a total wreck, I'm looking forward to the normal routine of a school week. Here's a little catch-up of our spring break.

Saturday 4th: Egg hunt with Charlotte Mommies. The kids totally got a kick out of this egg hunt. Ava made it very clear this year that she did not like finding eggs that are just tossed out in the grass. I was happy to discover that CM hides their eggs in the woods so you do have to look for them a little bit. I think Ava learned about egg "hunts" versus pickign them up from the grass at school. She also did an egg "hunt" at school. Each kid had to find eggs with a certain word on them. Ava's word was "bloom". I thought it was a really cute way to control each kid getting their 12 eggs without having to keep count.



Sunday 5th: I drove the kids to Ohio. We left the house at 5:50am and arrived at my parents at exactly 4pm. It was a long day, but a really good day. We made really good time and the kids travelled with no troubles at all. My brother and his family were already there when we arrived. The kids wasted no time at all getting down to fun. I was exhausted, but the kids were full of energy.



Monday 6th: Ava absolutely loved her baby cousin, Courtney. She held her any chance she got. We discovered to that Courtney looks a lot like Ava when Ava was the same age. Guess that's the Howarth coming through. It was really cold Monday. We actually woke up to snow on the ground. It snowed most of the day and was miserably cold.


Tuesday 7th: Another inside day. First thing, Ava got to help bathe Courtney. She was over-the-moon with excitement at being able to wash her hair all by herself, and then brush it afterwards. A total little mommy. Maddux and Sadie played Skittles with my dad during the bathtime. It's a game that my dad made. A spinning top knocks down pegs, it's loud and fun. My mom baked cupcakes and the kids got to decorate them. The idea was to make coconut nests on top and then sit a peep on it. The girls totally loved it, but we couldn't find Maddux.. or my Dad. My Dad had stolen Maddux out to his shop. They played a ton more games and Maddux even got to drill holes.















Wednesday 8th: Candy Hunt Day! The weather finally cooperated enough for the kids to have a candy hunt outside. Grandma bought tons of candy with the plan to throw it all around the huge yard. With it still being pretty cold though, she just did the driveway and train garden. The kids didn't care, they had a blast finding all the candy. After the hunt they rode bikes for a bit. Sadie and Maddux did laps around Ava. She is just not a bike girl. When we all got cold we came in for hot chocolate and I taught all the the kids how to hang spoons from their noses. In the afternoon we drove an hour and met my brother Eric for dinner and said our goodbyes to Erin, Sadie and Courtney.











Thursday 9th: Finally a nice weather day! It was a gorgeous sunny day so we spent it outside in the train garden. I had considered driving home this day, but when it turned out to be so nice I just couldn't. The kids had a really great day, burning off tons of energy outside.






Friday 10th. We left for home at 5:30am. Before it was even 6 we ran into rain. At the 300 mile mark, which is the halfway point, we had been on the road for
6 hours already and we were in a standstill in traffic. Yikes. I was seriously about to lose it. I was so frustrated with the rain. It definitely wasn't goign to be a 10hr trip. Things got better when it finally stopped raining. Through the mountains though Ava pipes up from the back with an "I feel sick". Great. I was trying to imagine a puke-fest in the mountains. I had her stop playing Leapster and I turned off the movie and I suggested that she try to nap. Fortunately she fell asleep and we made our way through the mountains with no puke! As we got to the 60-miles-to-go mark traffic once again grinded to a halt. An 11 hr day, quickly became an impossibility. Kevin filled us in on some bad thunderstorms in the Charlotte area. As soon as we got to 485 we escaped the nightmare that was 77S. We finally got home after almost 12hrs in the car. We somehow managed to miss all the bad thunderstorms, but that caused us to be in the halted traffic in the storms wake. We saw several bad accidents, I'm so glad we weren't one of them. And I'm so glad we're home. I don't think I'll plan another trip home on a rainy day though.

Saturday 11th: I spent the day catching up on everything from the week... 2 loads of laundry that didn't include any of my or the kids clothes. Getting milk and basic food that Kevin didn't think to have ready for us. Emptying the sink of dirty dishes and running the dishwasher that hadn't been touched all week. Cleaning out a filthy litterbox that also hadn't been touched all week. Filling up kitty food bowls and fixing their water fountain. Irritating, very irritating. I'm left feeling extremely unappreciated. On a more fun note, we dyed eggs. The kids had been itching to dye eggs for a month it seems! And I was happily surprised to find that Maddux eats hard-boiled eggs, yolks and all! Amazing what a little dye and some stickers will do to transform an egg into something yummy! Oh, and how could I forget! We went to see Monsters vs Aliens (not the 3D version). What a cute movie! The kids enjoyed the whole thing.






Sunday 12th: The Easter Bunny came! We came downstairs at 7:30am to see what the Easter Bunny brought. They got lots of candy, or course. Also a soccer goal and kickball (we already have soccer balls, but we needed a new kickball). They also each got a swimsuit, flip flops, sunglasses and a Jibbitz for their crocs. In the afternoon we picked up some Subway subs and headed to McDowell. We picniced and played at the playground then headed down to the lake. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks in and then we sat and watched some guys play water polo in kayaks. It was pretty neat. We all had a good time. We stopped at Coldstone on the way home. And when we arrived home, Nana & Papa were sitting in our driveway. They were in Rock Hill for an easter lunch and decided to stop by our place before heading home. The kids were excited and that pretty much killed the rest of our day. Kevin took the kids to pick up pizza and I headed to the grocery store so we can stop eating out. Bathtime and bedtime quickly followed. Ava decided, after bedtime, that it was time to pull her 2nd loose tooth. We pulled and pulled but it's just not ready to come out. Either that, or my heeby-jeebies over it all, won't let me tug hard enough. It's mighty loose today though. I'm secretly hoping her teacher will pull it today. :)






And that's the end! That was alot of posting and pictures! If you made it to the end, thanks for reading! :) Now I'm off to do more laundry and make play-doh with Maddux (thank High Five magazine).