A Very BORING Spring Break and the beginning of April

I figured our camping trip was our big "to-do" for Spring Break.  I guess the other fun thing we did was to go get ice cream one night after dinner.  I am an awesome mother, I know.  And, truth be told, the ice cream was Garrett's idea.  Me, I had other plans for Spring Break.  After getting most of the laundry done the day after camping--quite the accomplishment for this bunch!!--I decided that I wanted to repaint my living room. Back when our toilet overflowed and we had to replace the sheet rock and floors, they painted our living room for us and we chose a grey.  But the color we picked was too dark and too blue.  Not what I had in mind at all.  I've been talking about repainting since December and Garrett didn't want me to, saying we should just enjoy it for a year or so since we just had professionals come and paint it.  But, it kept bugging me.  So I went and got a sample of what I thought I wanted and just went for it.  Garrett said he wanted "nothing to do with it" and thought I was crazy.  I started taping and painting a primer on Thursday and Friday--I did 2 coats of primer. On Saturday, I started painting the grey.  Garrett must've felt a little bad because he gave in and helped me paint on Saturday.  It helped so much.  My back was pretty sore by then and I was grateful for some help.  Maggie babysat for us and we went out to dinner with Jim and Georgia and then came back home and started planning our excursions for our Cruise that we were going on at the end of April. I actually decided to do a 2nd coat of the grey on Monday morning and by Monday afternoon I was finished!!  I was so happy with the end result and so happy I made the decision to repaint it.  

This is how it looked before

 and this is the new lighter grey.

My kids were pretty much neglected during these few days of painting.  Luckily Maggie and Lydia were there to help with getting food for the smaller children.  

This is what they did during most of their vacation:

 They love to do this on my ipad.  I have over 100s of pictures of them distorting their faces on whatever program this is.  Especially Lydia.  Some of them are pretty funny.

 Then this girl lost her first tooth!  She's been wanting this to happen for so long!!

My kids did have one fun day during their spring break.  All credit goes to their grandparents.  They wanted to have them spend the night, but then the previous week, then discovered that one of the pipes in their kitchen had busted and now this is going on at their house:

So, instead they came and picked up the kids on Wednesday and took them out to lunch at Izzy's (a pizza buffet place) and then took them bowling. 

They had a lot of fun.  Then after that, they took them to a farm store and showed them some baby chicks.  They showed me this picture that they took and to me it just looked like a big cookie or something.  But they are little chicks in a big container.  

My kids loved those and were oohing and aahing about how cute and fuzzy they were.  

Then they went to Sonic and each got a special drink.  So, Spring Break was saved by grandma and grandpa.  Hooray!

April

Everyone was back in school and things were back to normal.  Except Bella.  Poor little Bella was starting to get a bunch of canker sores in her mouth.  For the next couple of days, more kept appearing.  She probably had 5 cankers and about 4 cold sores on her lips and gums.  She was having such a hard time eating or drinking or smiling or talking.  One of those things is pretty painful--get a mouthful and it's downright miserable!!  I was so impressed with her though because she was so brave throughout the whole ordeal.  She did complain that it hurt, but I think if it had been me, I would've been crying all the time and begging for help.  Which she did not.  Tough girl!  We tried orajel, hydrogen peroxide, melaluca essential oil.  Nothing seemed to help.  Poor thing lived off of plain pancakes, bread and cheese for a week.  

 She took this selfie of herself.  It doesn't hardly even show all of them.  Her gums were all red and irritated because she couldn't brush her teeth very well because of the pain.  They finally started going away after about 8 or 9 days. 

Soon after, Paige started getting them.  She didn't have so many on her lips.  Most of hers were down her throat.  I took them both to the Dr. and they did give us a numbing medicine, but Paige said it didn't help her sores at all.  

On the 4th of April, Bella had a birthday party to go to at her friend Lauryn's house, then on the 5th, Noah went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for his friend Cooper. It was General conference weekend, so we didn't do much else.  Maggie and I went Saturday afternoon to do a little shopping at Old Navy since she had a gift card there from Christmas.  

April 8th:  I was upstairs doing laundry and peeked out the window to check on my kids.  I had to take a picture because it was so fun to see all the kids out playing.  I love our neighborhood and I love being on the very back street.  We don't get a ton of cars and its pretty quiet.  Two of Paige's friends were over that day playing and three of Lydia's were over.  They love to play outside shooting hoops or riding bikes or playing whatever they invent.  I love it.  

 Noah, Sarya, Brooke and Paige--in the street

Lydia, Natalie, Maleah, Desiree, Paige, Brooke, Bella and Noah

April 9th was a beautiful, sunny day and so we were outside again.  This time we made a hopscotch game and played that for awhile.  

 Then Garrett came home when Paige and I were shooting some hoops and he was able to help Noah and Bella have turns.

That night I decided to cut Bella's hair because it was so long and stringy and she never likes it fixed.  So I chopped it to her shoulders.  

This is the next morning.  I wanted to go shorter, but she didn't want me to.  

On April 10th, the 3rd grade had a Wax Museum at school.  They each had to pick a famous person and research that individual.  Then on the day of the wax museum, come dressed as their person and give a short speech about that person.  I suggested that Paige do Emma Smith, but she said her teacher said that there had to be a book about her to read during class.  I didn't know of one, so then I suggested Anne Frank or Annie Oakley.  I bought a book about each of them and she read them both but decided to do Annie Oakley.  It was a good fit for her.  She was very excited about dressing up like her and getting to use a southern drawl--because she was from the "Old West".  

This is her costume:

 and this is her speech:

"Hi my name is Annie Oakley.  I was born August 13, 1860 in Drake County Ohio.  In 1866 my father died of pneumonia.  In 1875 I met Frank Butler.  One year later we got married.  Then in 1883 me and Frank toured the midwest as Butler and Oakley.  In 1885 me and Frank joined Buffalo Bills Wild West Show.  Then in 1926 I died in a car accident.  I was famous for gun use and teaching women how to shoot.  Thank you for coming to our wax museum."

 This is her friend Hayley, or Dr. Suess

 This is her friend, Ashley (Joan of Arc)

 Some 5th grade students who came to listen to Paige's class.

 Her friend Ella--Sacagawea, I think

and her friend Charlee who was Sally K. Ride.  I went to an elementary school named after Sally K. Ride, so I thought it was cool that someone had picked her.  

The next day there wasn't any school.  Paige went to her friend Brooke's birthday party and we all just hung out and played.  The next day was Saturday and worked around the house--cleaning and pulling weeds.  Then rode bikes and played outside.  Garrett was teaching the younger kids how to shoot the BB gun out back while Maggie practiced on her bow and arrow.  

That night Garrett and I got to go out on a date.  Out to eat at Pac Thai and to see "Captain America".

Well, this post has gotten a bit long, so I'll end it now.