Easter Egg Hunt

This year the kids really wanted to do an Easter Egg hunt.  There were a few factors that were going to make this difficult:

1. Chad gave away our Easter Eggs at the children's message last year

2. There is still about a foot of snow on the ground

3. We don't let the kids have much candy,  so I didn't want to fill a bunch of eggs with things they can't have.

So I decided instead to order some eggs from Amazon, & make a treasure hunt instead with a small prize at the end.  The eggs were all filled with the location of the next egg, but the kids had to take turns giving clues, and finding the egg.  The twist was that they were not allowed to say any of the words on the paper.  I had ordered a pack of 100 eggs, and ended up using about 75 of them.

I did have about 8 small items that I put into a few of the eggs, but as the kids found them, they'd say, "Here, mom, I don't want this." So I was glad I didn't fill every egg!  The kids really enjoyed it, and it was fun to see their wheels turning trying to think of ways to give the clue without saying the words.  I also noticed a few times they would look right at the spot as they were thinking of it.

It took about an hour for them to do the egg hunt, and since they enjoy making treasure hunts for each other I'm sure we'll get lots of use out of our new eggs.

Corn Palace

The Corn Palace was another new stop for me.  I had been to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, but I had never stopped at the Corn Palace.  Every year they put murals up all along the outside, as well as the inside made up of all different colours of corn. 

Just chillin' with Mr. Corn 

Inside the Corn Palace there was a children's activity area, & Chancery decided to build herself a fort of giant lego. 

Asher tried his hand at being a grocery store checker.  He enjoyed it quite a bit, especially when Grandpa gave him real money! (but Grandpa did ask for it back)

All in all the Corn Palace was a hit!

Higher! Higher! Go, Go, GO!

Since the kids had been cooped up in the van for the past 2 days we decided to try to find something to use up the kids' excess energy.  Auntie B had heard about a climbing place, so we decided to check it out.

 Asher decided to take a little break halfway up.  This one had a nice little bridge for him to sit on.

Apple enjoyed watching her brothers & cousins climb, but was a bit put out that she wasn't old enough to climb yet.

She & I walked around to watch all the kids climb, & she had a fun time on the bouncy toys.

 Jelly took a bit of prompting to climb higher than a couple of feet, but he was really proud once he got the hang of it! 

Chancery didn't get very many photos taken since I couldn't find her most of the time.  She found a little friend to climb with & the two of them climbed together for most of the morning.

Asher climbed almost all of the 75 walls.  He was quite tired out by the end of the day, & at bedtime he said, "Daddy, my arms are tired!"

PChad gave Noodle some extra encouragement, & the two of the climbed beside each other a few times.

At the end of the day Noodle climbed almost to the top of the pirate ship!

Here's a picture of Noodle, PChad, Asher & Jelly climbing Mount Rushmore!

January Trip

Since December is always a very busy time for us, we try to take a weekend away in January.  This year we headed to Moncton.  We stayed at a hotel with a waterslide, & happened to get a room with bunk beds!  I will definitely be requesting bunk beds again!  Had I known this was an option, I would have been asking at every hotel we have stayed at for the past few years.  (It is a lot harder to kick your sibling when you are in bunk beds!) 

 

The weekend was great.  The kids had a fun morning swimming, the parents had a fun afternoon at Costco & Princess Auto, & we all had a great time at Crystal Palace!

 

The Jumpin’ Star is very exciting!

Asher is pumped for the roller coaster!

 

Chancery really enjoyed mini golf this year.  She played the whole course twice!

 

Back on the roller coaster for another ride!

 

And the kids enjoyed a final ride on the Convoy.

Snow Fort

We have a had a lot of snow already this winter, & the kids really, really wanted a snow fort, but the snow was not the right kind of snow for snow fort building (try explaining that to kids!).  Well, after awhile we had gotten enough snow that we just dug out under the picnic table, & viola, we had a fort!

 

The kids had a great time playing in the fort, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it), our snow has all melted, & the fort is gone… for now!

 

Snowmen

I recently went through my camera & found the first snowmen of the season hiding there.  It’s fortunate that the kids made these snowmen then since the snow we have had since has not been conducive to snowman building.

 

 

Here is Chancery’s incorporating the twine from the Christmas tree as hair.

 

 

And Asher’s has some dead flowers for hair.  We had carrots for the faces this time & did not need to use broccoli as we did last time, & the kids enjoyed the tortellini eyes!

Snow Days

Sunday we had a big snowstorm in the afternoon that left us with about a foot of snow.  Monday & Tuesday were cold, but nice days, then Wednesday we had another snowstorm that left us with another foot of snow.  The kids had no school, so in the afternoon we sent them out to make a snowfort!

 

It was tough getting around, but we told them that under the picnic table looked like a good spot, so they had to navigate their way up onto the deck.

 

Chancery got there first & decided to decorate the entryway with some mitten prints.

 

“Hello, we have arrived at what will become our fort!”

 

But then Asher became overcome with the urge to belly flop onto the big pile of snow on the top of the picnic table!

 

What fun!

 

It was still salvageable at this point…

 

But then the kids started scraping all the snow off, & it wasn’t much of a fort…

The main idea was to get the kids outside to get some exercise, & in that case, the mission was accomplished!

“The Deal”

Every night before bed, we ask the kids to say what their 3 favourite things were that happened that day.  A few nights ago when I asked Chancery, she said “the Deal” was one of her favourite things.

 

Now, the kids are not allowed to watch TV or play video games until 5pm, but I had made a deal with them at 4:30, that if they could play nicely together with no fighting or arguing, they could watch TV at 4:45.  About 5 minutes into it, they were fighting & arguing.  I started coming up the stairs, & Chancery said, “No, Mummy, we are talking about it!”

 

They wanted to sort it out on their own.  However, I have 2 very stubborn, opinionated children, & neither one would back down from the injustice they thought they were suffering from at the other one’s hand.  So I had to get involved.

 

It was now 4:45pm.  Chancery asked if they could have a new deal.  So, I told them that if they could not fight or argue for the next 10 minutes they could watch TV early (it was only 5 minutes early, but any extra time is extra fun!).  This time they had a tiff, but they talked it out (instead of fighting it out), & they managed to get the 5 minutes extra.

 

Even though the first attempt was unsuccessful, the second worked, & Chancery said it was one of her favourite things from that day.  Maybe I’ll have to make more deals!

Park Days

I’m continuing my posts about our Alberta Vacation, even though we’ve been back home a few weeks already.  I just want to get it all documented!

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We spent a morning at a park near PChad’s parents’ house.  It was a bit chilly under the trees, so we packed our sweaters too.  We went to this park a lot with Asher when we lived with PChad’s parents a few years ago.  It’s amazing how much more he enjoyed the park now 5 years later!

The kids were having a great time playing on the springy toys…

 

 

And PChad is not one to miss out on fun!

Treasure Hunt

Friday was my first foray into entertaining 4 kids on my own.  I’m not one of those who thinks throwing a huge kids’ birthday party sounds fun, so I like to keep it small & simple.  Have a few kids over for a sleepover, & cake & call it good.  I even served Lucky Charms in the morning!

 

Since PChad was not yet home from his trip, I decided to just give Asher 1 gift from us, but to make it something the kids could play with together if they so chose.  I figured I should make a bit more of a to do about it since Asher would be getting a small gift from Jack & a smallish gift from me, & I wanted to make sure to kill some time as well.

 

So, I told Asher that he needed to check the dryer for me.  He often unloads clothes from the dryer for me, so he figured I was sending him to do a chore, instead he found this…

And, as planned, the boys went outside (despite the rain), & played for an hour ‘til dinnertime.  I call that a success!

Racing Attire

I’ve been sorting through all the baby stuff & getting rid of lots of stuff.  Chancery was hanging around while I was going through some bags, & she took a liking to a gold bag I had discarded.

Chancery told me that she had a great idea…

 

“Mummy, I’m a cafe racer!  I have a racing suit on!”

 

Well, she does have an interesting idea of fashion!

Explore

The weather has been warming up this last week.  By warming up I mean it’s up around 10° during the day.  After school today Asher & Chancery went out to play.  A short time later the front door opened & Asher asked, “Mum, is it ok if Chancery & I go on an explore all around?  We’ll just be gone for about 30, or 20 minutes.”

 

I gave them clear boundaries of where they needed to stay in the neighbourhood, & with strict instructions to stay together they were ready for adventure.

 

A little while later Asher came in the house, “Look what I found, Mum!  Someone lost this key!  It’s all muddy, can you clean it for me?  I found it in the neighbour’s yard!  Where the cat lives!  It was just under a rock!  Someone must have lost it!”

 

With strict instructions to put it back exactly where he found it & to stop digging in other people’s yards, he was off again, to find more adventure.

 

When the kids came back a little while later, Chancery told me that she found a tennis racket on someone’s lawn, but she left it there, even though she really wanted to play with it.

 

I love that we live in a neighbourhood that is safe enough for the kids to be able to wander freely in (within reason).  I remember having a lot of fun roaming around with my friends in my neighbourhood when I was younger, & I think it’s an important part of growing up & becoming independent.  Hopefully the kids remember to respect other people’s property & leave it alone!

Trying to Pull One Over…

Most mornings around here start with the kids joining us in bed for awhile before we get up.  Some days we read books, & on days when the kids don’t have school we allow them to play games on the tablet, or phone, or the DS.

 

Asher came into our room this morning & asked, “May I go get my DS?”

 

PChad: “No, it’s a school day.”

 

Asher hasn’t had school the last two Fridays, so he answered, “No, I don’t have school on Fridays.”

 

PChad: “Yes you do, & today is a school day.”

 

Asher: “But I had a dream that God told me I don’t have to go to school today!”

 

It was a valiant effort on his part, but we still made him go to school…

Fashion Design

Chancery has been on a coloring streak making lots of little pictures of people & animals & cutting them out to tape on PChad’s office door.  She also tried her hand at making clothes for her dog Ginger.

 

Here is Ginger modeling a dress & crown.

 

Chancery seems to have abandoned that project since her creations weren’t holding up to her playing with them.  She has said many times though that she now wants to be a fashion designer.  Perhaps we’ll have to ask Grandma for some sewing lessons when we’re visiting this summer!

Paddles

Chancery asked me to make her a paddle a few days ago.  First I made one similar to a ping-pong paddle, but that was apparently not what she was after.  We discussed it a bit more, & Chancery drew me a diagram.  I finally came up with the correct type of paddle.  Then she wanted two.  Here’s what the paddles were for…

Snow Much Fun!

Over the last bit of Christmas break, we had a good amount of snow.  We had had a storm earlier, but it didn’t leave much for the kids to build anything.  They were pretty excited to go out & make a snowman, so PChad went out & made one with them complete with broccoli eyes, mouth, & buttons.

 

If he seems quite symmetrical it’s because they cheated & used buckets!

 

 

Next Chancery requested a boat.

 

She has been obsessed with building a snow boat for awhile now, & was quite pleased to have one of her very own.

Then Asher wanted a throne…

from which to rule the backyard!

 

 

Chancery was even kind enough to offer the king a ride in her boat!

 

They have had a lot of fun in their snow creations, & with the temperatures staying low, I don’t think we have to worry about them melting away anytime soon!