Spring Break: The Final 2 Days

Thursday, this is what we had for breakfast....

fried ostrich eggs!

(At least that's what Rylee called them.)

APRIL FOOLS!!!

When the kids finally got the courage to try them, they discovered their "ostrich eggs" to be vanilla yogurt and a peach.

It seemed like our wheat grass was growing right in front of our eyes. This is what it looked like, just 2 1/2 days after being planted.

Our Thursday plan all along, was to go to the Boise Zoo, but Mother Nature played an April Fools trick and was cold and wet that day. Sooooo we went to Plan B, the Discovery Center.

The Discovery Center is full of all sorts of science fun...... more science fun than I can handle. :)

What the kids mostly wanted to do is play in the miniature grocery store. So we spent lots and lots of time in the store.

When we first got there it was a MESS! Our group scampered around putting everything back in order, just so the next kid could come by and mess it back up again. I resisted the temptation to sort and organize, but Krissi and Rylee could not. :)

We also got to make "slime" a mixture of Borax, water, and something else.

Next, lunch at Carl's Jr.

I was worn out and I think Krissi was too. After eating our lunch, we just sat in a booth with a window and watched the kids play in the structure. They seemed to have a blast crawling in and out of the tunnels and sliding on the multiple slides and we had some nice down time....just sitting there.

Brrrr... it was super windy as we left Carl's Jr. and then it started snowing as we arrived on the temple grounds. We took a brief walk around the temple, then headed toward our warm vans.

Friday, the Goodmansen's planned to head home.

Here's how our wheat grass was coming along. I was excited to see how much it would grow by Easter.

I'm sure there will be more pictures to come.

-Treyson, Jessica, Taylee, Rylee, Daniel, Abree & Ila-

The van was packed, the water bottles filled, potty stops were in order and then they would be off. It was so fun to have the Goodmansen's come visit. Krissi and I travel back and forth to each other's homes a few times a year, but our kids hadn't seen each other for a LONG time. It was nice to have them get reacquainted and establish some long-lasting bonds.

Side note- On the way home the Goodmansen's ran into blizzard-like conditions going through the Blue Mountains. They had to pull over on the freeway. As they were getting back on, a semi-truck went passed them, fish-tailing his trailer into their van. It damaged the driver's side of the van, broke out the middle window and broke off the side view mirror. It was traumatic and scary, but everyone in the van was safe! They spent the night in LaGrande, OR in a hotel and rested their weary bodies. The next day, they were able to get home safely with no exciting or traumatic events. Whew!!!

Spring Break: Day 5 & 6

Tuesdays, around here are CHEAP movie days.... only .50 cents at one of the theaters! Soooo, after an early lunch we took the kids to see, "Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel". We got there early suspecting it would be busy because of Spring Break and bad weather. At first, we were almost the only ones there, but by movie time it was PACKED! The 20-30 minute wait was almost worth it. :)

Wednesday, Jason took the day off. We ran a few errands, including dropping Krissi's van off to be detailed. While we were gone, I left the kids with a box of crafty supplies and told them they could make anything they wanted.

They turned this....
and these....

into all sorts of fun.

Look what Ila made.

Jessica's pom-pom pandas were named Fluffy and Squishy... I think.

Rylee's egg carton fuzzy creatures made me laugh.

What is this Treyson, a warm fuzzy?

Abree made a whole family of these..... along with fluffy pom-pom pet.

Isn't this cute?!

Taylee made it using a t.p. roll, feathers, googly eyes and craft foam.

Next, on the agenda was an Easter egg hunt.

Krissi and I hid about 50 eggs in the living room and backyard for the kids to find.

On your marks. Get set. GO!

Treyson's checkin' out what he got. His candy was gone in no-time-flat!

Next, Jason and I had to take our kids to get immunized. Abree was getting ready for Kindergarten and the rest just needed boosters to get them caught up. In total our kids got 15 shots!

It was interesting to see how each child reacted differently to their shots. Rylee was teary-eyed... making the others nervous. Taylee took it like, no big deal. Treyson had really funny facial expressions, making Jason, myself and the nurse all laugh out loud. (Not so good when administering a shot.) Abree was mostly brave, but when given the MMR, broke down a little, cuz it HURT! (Don't know why the nurse didn't give her that one last. It was second and she had 2 more after that.)

When we returned home, we walked in to a room full of smoke!

Krissi had graciously offered to make dinner for us, while we were gone. The biscuits on the top of the chicken pot pie weren't baking correctly, but the liquid was bubbling over onto the bottom of the oven, creating smoke. The smoke detectors kept going off, so we opened all the doors, a few windows and turned on the ceiling fan. It energized the kids and concerned them at the same time. They ran around crazily. Finally, we called the pot pie done and ate in the hazy mist. It was really yummy! It was worth the burnt toast smell in our house, for the next several days.

After dinner, we decided we needed to get out of the haze and went to pick up Krissi's van from the detail shop. NICE!

We delayed going home and decided to go get a milkshake from Burger King and let the kids play for a while.

They played and played and played.

I was asked by someone, if they could live there. No. "Ok, then can we come back the next day and the next day AND the next day?" I don't think so.

We stayed a LONG time.... at least it felt like a long time to me. :)

Spring Break: Day 3 & 4

Sunday, we went to church and had a low-key day; quiet time/nap time, FHE preparations, cherry coconut dessert and "Minute to Win It".
Anyone else watching this show? We like to watch it as a family, because it's fun and clean.

We can totally see us playing these games at a party, FHE or Family Reunion.

Monday, Krissi helped the kids plant wheat in their pots, while I finished FHE preparations.

She even planted some for me.

I bought 3 of these metal planters at Target's "Dollar Spot". My plan is to have Easter grass to decorate my mantle. Hope the wheat grass grows! :)

Our FHE lesson focused on the upcoming General Conference. We talked about the "hidden treasures" we could find in the talks from our Prophet and other inspired leaders. We were all excited to hear what they had in store for us.

Next, we went on a treasure hunt. I gave the kids their first clue and they were off...

Some clues were found out-of-order, others were hard to find without additional clues.... this is NOT what I had envisioned. (One clue had accidentally been found even before FHE started. It was re-hidden, in a different spot, and proved to be harder to find the second time around.) Even so, I think the kids had fun.

Finally, all clues were found... and in the correct order. The kids brought in the chest found by the bikes in the garage. Inside they discovered many treasures.

For each of them there was a personalized conference booklet. These booklets had mazes, pictures to color, word finds, places to take notes on talks and much more.

Also included were pencils, prophet/apostle cards, conference BINGO cards, colored pencils and a conference trail mix.

Sugardoodle to the rescue!

You can find the poem and ingredients here.

Yum!

Now let the countdown begin.

Spring Break: Day 1 & 2

We had plans for Spring Break. Not out-of-town plans... more like in-town plans. The Goodmansen Family (minus Steve) were coming into town to see us... and stay the whole week!

I started prepping and planning activities for us to enjoy.

First up, wheat grass for Easter.

Friday, was early release from school and cleaning day for my kids. The Goodmansen's made good time and arrived right around dinner. We ate, visited and hung out until late.

Saturday morning, we got started early on painting pots for our anticipated live Easter grass.

The kids got a little more paint on their pots, then on them, and were quite creative in their pot decorating.

Jessica's pot with the "fluffy white bunny stripe".

Treyson's pot that had layers and layers of paint, but finally ended up a nice shade of blue and green.

Daniel's pot with a nice teal base paint and LOTS of cool spots of every-other color.

Taylee's pot showing off her artist skills. Nice bunny!

Rylee's pot carefully calculated and planned to perfection.

Ila's pot with another super cute bunny.

And finally Abree's pot with many Easter colors, pink being the most important.

Later that day, we went to Settler's Park to play. (Good thing we went this day. The weather was not nice for the rest of the week.)

In the evening, Krissi, Rylee and I went to the General Young Women's broadcast at the stake center. Then went to Applebees for dessert and girl talk. A very nice day!