This week was our Spring Break and though the weather didn’t cooperate all that well, (we had to cancel our zoo trip due to rain) we managed to get some real fun in.

On Monday the kids started off their break doing what every kid wants to do on their spring break.  Spring cleaning!  We thoroughly cleaned the basement and they were so excited to help clean and beautify our home that they generously refused my offer of lunch at Burger King if they helped.  Ok, so they totally needed a bribe and who wouldn’t on spring break, but it worked like a charm!  They each got their OWN milkshake, which is something they never ever get. 

Then we headed to the river for the first time this year.

The kids skipped rocks and played happily for two hours by the river.  I love that it’s so close and that there is so much to explore.  Even Liberty tried to skip rocks, but you can see by the size rock she has in her hand, that she was not very successful.  She just enjoyed the big splashes.

Tuesday the older boys went over to a friend’s house to make these awesome paper Marble Runs. 

Wednesday the kids watched Frozen for the first time because, yes, I am the only parent in the WORLD who has not shown their kids Frozen. 

I don’t have anything against the movie, it’s just not my favorite Disney movie of all time and is really not worth all its hype.  But the kids enjoyed it.  Honestly, the bigger reason we didn’t take them when it was in the theaters was because I did not want to waste the money on Reagan who would, I figured, just make gagging sounds the whole time.  Turns out he didn’t gag.   Olaf helped gloss over the yucky romance. 

We finished up Johnny Tremain, a Newberry medal book about  a young boy living in Boston at the time of the revolution.  One day it was even nice enough to read outside under the cherry tree.

Yesterday we started up Co-op again after a two week break and Levi is taking a class on the human body.  The kids got to put this whole x-ray skeleton together and label it.

And that was Spring Break 2014.  No, it wasn’t Disneyland, but hey, we watched a couple Disney movies…..

Cade never stops creating.  So this blog post is dedicated to his amazing creations.  Many of them are not his original idea, but the amount of work he put into them is a pretty great tribute to his perseverance.  I would never have had the staying power to stick to it like he has with some of these projects.  Some of them took him weeks to complete!

This one was in my last post, but I thought I’d include it since this is all about Cade’s creations.

Cade has a whole zoo of animals he’s made.  This is only some.

The Peacock

The Cobra

The Rhino

The Lioness

The Scorpions

Cade continues to amaze me with his skill.  Every day there is something new with this kid. 

The second day of our trip to Utah we went to church with G & G and then spent the afternoon with Mason, Monica and Mike.

I had to run outside real quick to get something from the car Sunday morning and the kids watched me from the window of the hotel room.

The Purple Girls all ready for church.

Hanging out in Uncle Mason’s luxurious furniture.  Liberty loved the chair because she thinks anything with a flag on it is hers.

After dinner we went to Liberty Park in Salt Lake City to play.

Mike and Monica show the kids the ropes.

Liberty really liked being the TALLEST person in LIBERTY Park.

The next day we drove down to Provo to spend time with my sisters.  We couldn’t go to Provo without going to the BYU Creamery.

The spoon war-it was a draw.

The Hanging war-Levi won.

Picture in front of the Y.   I LOVE those mountains.

It was a fun trip!  Great to see everyone!  Thanks for making time to see us! 

Last week I took a trip to Utah to check out a new homeschooling option that may be coming to Idaho.  I took the Littles, Levi and Liberty, with me.  We visited with Grandma and Grandpa H and Alli and Sarin too!  We all had a blast.  Me, because I only had two children, and the Littles because they got to eat lots of junk food, swim in the hotel pool, and play lots of video games on the phone (my sanity on the drive).  Life doesn’t get any better for these little people. 

They thoroughly enjoyed the hotel room, as you cans see.

They had just been in the car for five hours so I was more lenient than I usually would be.  Unfortunately, the Littles did not sleep well the first night in the hotel and kept me up half the night.  The next day we took our zombie selves to the most awesome children’s museum in Ogden, the Tree House Museum. 

This huge tree house is right in the middle of the museum. 

The kids rode horses,

Played in a teepee,

Dressed up like royalty,

And milked a cow!

They also played chess.

Liberty loved the school room.

Levi loved the tree house.
 

And Grandpa loved his little nap.

Is it just me, or are these three extremely stereotypical??

Just outside the museum was the very new and improved Ogden Temple.

We finished off the day with dinner at Levi’s favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse.  I thought the Boise Texas Roadhouse was busy, but I was wrong.  It was insanely busy and we waited a loooong time to get our seats.  We put Levi in charge of watching the buzzer and he took his job very seriously.  He did not take his eyes off that buzzer for forty minutes.

By the time we finally got our main course, Levi and Liberty had stuffed themselves so full of yummy rolls and peanuts, they didn’t even want their dinner.

I should note here that the reason Texas Roadhouse is Levi’s favorite restaurant is because of the peanuts.  I brought him here several months ago and he got to eat peanuts for the first time in his life.  He thought he’d died and gone to heaven.  When your brothers are allergic to peanuts, you don’t eat peanuts at home and you certainly don’t get to go to restaurants where every inch of floor space is covered with peanuts.  But Levi has found a new favorite food and he shovels those things down like you wouldn’t believe!  Grandpa did pretty good for himself too.

Stay tuned for Part II of The Littles in Layton!

I seem to have totally lost a month, but here are some fun highlights from February.

We had the last of our winter snow and the kids tried to catch some of it.

This is Levi’s cute birthday gift from G & G Hymas.  He loves this thing!

Cade decorated his Blue and Gold Banquet Cake-Western themed.

That’s a lasso and some cacti.

Rock and I made Coxinha from Brazil for Valentine’s Day.  I absolutely LOVE these things!  It’s basically shredded chicken and cream cheese deep fried.  Yummy!  They turned out pretty good for our first time.   

Rock is getting very culinary in his old age and recently learned how to make Pão de Queijo (Brazilian cheesy bread) too.

Our Origami Wonder Boy has been at it again…

A few weeks ago while I did my hair up for church, a very interested little girl watched in awe.  She then proclaimed that I looked JUST like Cinderella and that she wanted her hair done just like Mommy’s.  It was five minutes before church, but we did hers up too!

She is SO much fun!