Wednesday, May 11, 2011

April!

April started with my kids’ Spring Break.  I had the same plan as last year:  one big activity/outing per day, and it worked out great. 

Jane was really sick on Day 1, so we made that Craft Day.  (This is evidence that I’m a good mom:  I hate crafts but do them once a year anyway.)  I picked the most perfect ones.  The kids made this lion,

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which was great for ages 5-12 and then made their own marble maze.

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They played and ran timed trials with their mazes 121 times in the next few days, so it was the activity that kept on giving.

The other Spring Break activities included…

Bowling with our friends/neighbors, the Fuhrimanns

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Jumping at the super fun/super expensive trampoline place in town.  Seriously, it was the most active fun I’ve had with my kids in a long time. 

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The last day was the best.  Ryan took the day off and we used this little kids magazine we found to be tourists in our own downtown. 

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It had a little detective theme and we walked about 2 miles, checking out the different sights and learning about stuff like the most dangerous saloon in Spokane (cool!)

 

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and hydroelectric power (snore…though it came in handy at a charades night a few days later).

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The rest of the month was filled with…

Uh, this was the part where I look at my pictures so I can remember.  But there are none, just a few videos of Faith counting to 29 (yeah: Genius 2 year old) and bunch of self portraits of those silly kids. And this shot: April3

which represents this fantastically crappy spring we’ve been having here in Spokane.

I’ll actually have to rely on my memory for a little person by person recap:

 Emma spent a lot of time with us, as she is allowed to play with friends, talk on the phone and watch TV when her grades look like she can handle those distractions.  There is some slooow progress (both Emma and her parents are learning a lot).  Gabe spent April running 50 miles, total, in the school’s running program, getting a lot of migraines Sad smile and taking 5 pages of notes on General Conference.  Jane also ran (36 miles), played soccer (1 goal = big milkshake) and got one of the larger parts in her second grade play.  Seth talked a lot and played with his friends a lot and did his jobs really slow a lot and kept learning to read like a champ a lot.  Faith had an easy phase in April and continually amazes us with her vocabulary and memory.  She has lots of buddies in her older siblings; we think she’s a pretty lucky kid.  Ryan finished his MBA class with 100% and is really questioning the wisdom of being on the city council. I am training for a half marathon and have lost 29 lbs since January!

We ended April with another week of fun:  a trip to Women’s Conference for Mom and a long playdate with Grandma Dorrie for the kids.

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I joined them the last two days for a much-anticipated-by-Seth trip to the Bean Museum, where they got to pet a snake.  Seth asked me to take a picture so it’s look like he’s fighting the animals:

 

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plus the Market Room Buffet at Brick Oven.

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After, we met up with cousins McKennah and Cecily

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(between dance competitions) to bowl.

Jane won

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and Gabe, um, didn’t:

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We also had a SUPER fun dinner at Cade and Stacy’s, where this crowd: utahtrip1

just sat around being hilarious for a few hours. 

 

We even got Aunt Bekah to be our Easter Outfit photographer:

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Man.  April sounds really fun, when you read about it like that!

11 comments:

Amy said...

Thanks for sharing the fun times with your family. They are so cute! Your writing continues to make me chuckle. Thank you. Would you mind sharing the name of the magazine with the Spokane tourist map? I'd love to do that this Spring/summer...as soon as it stops raining. Isn't today beautiful!?

Christie said...

The one question I have is: How do you trampoline without a wee little bit of the pee coming out? I find that I CANNOT do any jumping whatsoever. I admire your kegel strength.

Carie said...

April was a party month for you guys.

Love the idea of being a tourist in your own town (we've lived here 10 years and never been to the KC Zoo, but have been to ST Louis Zoo 4 times.)

29 lbs??? Seriously, you are amazing and LOOK incredible.

Rochelleht said...

Pretty sure our Spring Break consisted of us sitting on our butts. Hats off to you.

the wrath of khandrea said...

i am momentarily speechless at how stunning you looked on easter. your hair is the best i've ever seen it, and you honestly look drop dead gorgeous.

*i beat lauren to the punch on this one!

Lauren in GA said...

I know that this is shallow of me to say...but, seriously, like seriously, you are such a great looking bunch of people. The Easter pictures are gorgeous. Your eyes and cheekbones...so beautiful...and Emma has grown into such a beautiful young lady. Prepare the shotgun. If you don't have any firearms you should seriously invest.

YOU ARE SUCH A GREAT MOM! I am so impressed with the crafts. Was the lion craft quilling? You seriously are a great mom...quilling is LABOR INTENSIVE!

Brooke Romney said...

It does sound great. Glad you got to have fun with your kids and without. BTW...you look great! I'm amazed by your dedication!

Jeanelle said...

Love Brick Oven salad bar almost as much as I love the Easter outfits. And did it rain all night for you too? At least we had like two nice days.

Shopper Gal said...

What a great April. I love reading all that you do with your children. Your Easter photo is stunning. I'm so proud of your determination towards running. You continue to inspire me :)

katie said...

I can't believe you lost 29 lbs! I am jealous as I fight the extra baby weight. I've still got about 10 lbs that does not want to leave. Your family is beautiful and I love the Easter outfits. Someday I will dress my kids that cute...maybe.

J'net said...

WOW Jessica, who r those big kids in ur family picture? Looks like u r actively raising teens now? Fun to catch up, haven't been on for a couple of months. Just visited Jenna in SLC n saw Bekah. She's a sweetie! Aloha