A Texas Tradition

Here are the pictures that I took while Chera was getting the good ones up there.

Egg Dying

This morning, with the stormy weather in the background, we dyed some eggs. And cracked some eggs.


After we finished dipping and redipping them, we added stickers and some mod podged flowers.




And, yes, that is the very rare picture of me.

Alex's Birthday Celebration

and I don't have a single picture of Alex. :p
Here is his Star Trek birthday cake that we enjoyed before we went to Adventure Landing.


The kids, Ken and I got to Adventure Landing before Nanny, Hoppy and Alex arrived so we bought tickets for the kid go-karts and headed over there. The line was LOOOOONG and the drive time was a very generous five minutes so we were still standing in line when Alex got there. He went to get himself a ticket to ride the grown-up go-karts and then headed over there with Ken to a line that was VERRRRRRRRY LOOOOOOONG.
Joseph, Libby and Caroline really loved their driving experience.
Caroline ready to go

Libby is set


Joseph's one goal was to pass everyone as many times as he could.




I'm in the lead, mom!


It was really funny to watch Joseph. The entire time he was out there, it looked like he was just muttering to himself. We asked him about it afterwards and he said he was singing "Speed Racer".

We had one three car pile-up which had them all in a fit of giggles.


After parking (ahem) their cars and coming out, Caroline says, "I didn't have any mirrors!"

We headed over to the big go-karts to see how the grown-up guys were doing and they still had a loooooong liiiiiiiiine. We decided to go over and start golfing and let them catch up with us.
Caroline


Libby


Joseph


So, you can see, I was hardly WITH Alex. :p After we finished our round of golf (with Ken and Alex joining us on the 12th hole), we decided to call it an evening. The weather was starting to cool down and the breeze was picking back up.
We had Alex's birthday dinner at Red, Hot and Blue.
Joseph on hearing the "blues" outside the restaurant, starts bumping and grinding in that special Joseph way.
Ken: Joseph, do you have the blues?
Joseph: No, I have the oranges.

I WILL get a picture of Alex when he picks up his birthday present. ;)

We cheated

Our forecast is calling for a 100% chance of rain on Sunday, so we did our egg hunt this morning (Saturday).
Alex and I were out in the backyard at 10:30 last night trying to hide eggs. It was pretty funny trying to find a good hiding place when it was pitch dark out there anyway.
This morning it was beautiful...no wind (for once) and about 55*.
The eggs had no candy in them. They were filled with the pieces of a Playmobil set that we got for the kids. Alex and I mod podged blown eggs last week with art tissue paper. They turned out really pretty and it made them very durable.


It took 36 jumbo blown eggs, 13 plastic eggs and 11 bags to get all of the little pieces into something for the hunt.


The kids were so excited and just overjoyed with every egg they found.




Some of them were trickier than others to get to.


After they found all of the eggs, they came back in to get the loot out of them.
Libby enjoyed bashing them against the side of the table to open them.


Until she figured out that Joseph was saving the eggs by finding the open spot and peeling away the tissue paper and carefully pulling out the treasures.


There were some really cool finds...from a princess and her dressform to LOTS of tiny daggers, swords and maces.


The kids also got tiny sketchbooks and charcoal pencils and those went over really well. We have had lots of black hands and beautiful artwork.

A new playhouse!

Ken had off today and we spent the morning building a playhouse. I found the plans in one of our Family Fun books that we have.


The kids were really into the project and they are at such fun ages for building.
Caroline measures and marks...


Joseph uses his hammer...


Lucy guards the extra pieces...


Libby and Caroline haul wood while Joseph....ummm....




Toby is enjoying the sun and being with the family


Lucy truly thinks that this project MUST be for her.


Teamwork!


getting close!


Tha-a-aa-a-t T-ii-i-ickles!


All done! :D

Aquatic Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday was a busy day for the kids. After the Marathon Kids event, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed over to Oak Point Recreation Center in Plano for the annual Aquatic Easter Egg Hunt. This is our third year to do this one and the kids LOVE getting eggs in the pool and then swimming afterwards.
Here is Caroline waiting to go in with the 5 and 6 year olds.


Caroline getting eggs


Joseph and Libby with the 7 and 8 year olds


Waiting on the edge


Libby showing us her new swimsuit


Joseph showing off his 'do
(he didn't want to comb his hair this morning and opted for a hat, but the hat had to come off for swimming)


Joseph and Libby getting eggs

Marathon Kids

The kids participated in Marathon Kids during this school year. Saturday was the big culminating event where they ran the "last mile" at Loos Stadium in Dallas.
The stadium was filled on the home side with kids. There were school districts there that brought busloads and busloads of kids. It was really organized though. They took down one section of the stands at a time and let them do the lap, while the other groups waited.
Here we are waiting. They kept the kids warmed up by having them do some dance moves.

Joseph is getting in the mode...

This is what they look like when they start a group. They paced them for about a quarter lap before they let them run.

Here are Ken and the girls....Joseph took off and I didn't see him.


Here are Ken and the girls after they made it around the lap and they are on their way to the finish line.