Spring Break Fun Part 2

 Last Wednesday I took the girls to Lego Club at the library. They have it every week and I have taken Alice once before, but this was Charlotte's first time. The theme was "library", but they could do whatever they wanted. Both of the girls had a good time. After they finished, they got to label it and put it on a bookshelf for display for the next week.

Alice's was "The Moving House" because it had wheels underneath.

Charlotte's was "A House with a Girl". 

Both did houses instead of library themes. 

Our primary president had brought over some stuff for the girls that were Easter related and one of them was ingredients and instructions to make "Resurrection Rolls". We have heard them called "Empty Tombs" also. Charlotte learned to do this with Michelle when we went to their house for Easter last year. The primary president brought them on Sunday after church, but we didn't get around to baking them until Thursday. The girls loved it! They were store bought crescent rolls and you took a marshmallow, covered it with melted butter and a cinnamon sugar mix; then cover the marshmallow with the dough and press it closed and baked it. The marshmallows melt away to leave the roll hollow. It's so easy and fun that it may become an Easter tradition for us also.

Curtis said he was going to take Friday off so that we could do something fun together as a family. We talked about driving over to Palouse Falls where Stillman and Michelle went the week before, but the forecast called for rain, so I didn't think we would enjoy it as well. Another idea was to go bowling here in town. Jack went to work with Curtis on Thursday and when they came home, they had the idea to drive over to Leavenworth to check out the German designed town. Jack is taking German in high school and so he was especially excited to go. The girls thought we were going to go bowling and got disappointed. We finally decided to try and find a bowling place over there and do both. So, Friday morning we got on the road around 8:30am to make the nearly 3-hour drive over. Word to the wise, there are very few rest stops. I had to hold it for a long time and was hurting by the time we got to Leavenworth. The two times I thought Curtis was going to stop (at a gas station and a cafe), he whizzed right by. We had a bowling reservation at 12:00 and I didn't want to slow us down by making him turn around. When we pulled into Leavenworth at a Safeway, I was able to go there. Afterwards, we discovered that Curtis had made the reservation in the wrong town. His reservation was in Leavenworth, Kansas! He had to call and get our money back. Then I looked again and there were no bowling alleys in Leavenworth, WA but there was one in nearby Cashmere, so he called and made a reservation for 2:00.

This was a spontaneous trip and there was no time to find a dog sitter, so we brought Milo with us for his first road trip. He did really well. There was no room for the kennel, but we did bring a crate that folds up and down for when we go inside somewhere. We didn't end up using it though. Instead, we pulled the two middle seats down and forward and just laid his bed down in the middle on the floor. He was a good boy and stayed there no problem. I was nervous that he would have an accident or chew something. When we stopped once to let him go potty, he wouldn't go. Fortunately, he did just fine and no accidents and no chewing things that weren't not supposed to be chewed.

Jack asked if I would trade him spots so that Milo wouldn't get in his face. I obliged.

This was the stop we tried to have him go potty, but he wouldn't go. There were no human restrooms, so not a good rest stop. Just a bunch of parking spots.

But the view was beautiful!

Since our new reservation wasn't until 2:00 we decided we better find somewhere to go eat. We wanted something different than the usual McDonald's or whatever. I found a crepe shop inside a little mall, so we went there. The kids loved their crepes, but it didn't fill them up. Since the bowling place is also a pizza place, we told them we'd get pizza when we went bowling. 

We both got "The Oinker", which had ham and cheese.

After we ate, we took off to look around. We had heard about a nutcracker museum, so we wanted to find that for sure. 

The girls found some maps of the town.

And off we went!

The Nutcracker Museum. We found it!

I have never seen so many nutcrackers of all shapes and sizes and designs.

We even found a Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and missionary nutcrackers. We saw another set of missionary ones in a different spot.

Like I said, all shapes and sizes.

Curtis got this shot across the street from the museum.

I posted a few more pictures from this place on my Facebook so I won't here since this post is already long. Curtis did not go into the museum because he wanted to check on Milo and get him out to walk him around. We were not there as long as I wanted because it was getting close to our reservation time for bowling. We'll have to make another trip over here again, but skip the bowling next time. And hopefully Nikki will be able to come with us.

I posted this picture because at the end of the first game, Garrett, Jack and I all got the exact same score of 96. How crazy is that?! And all I have to say is, thank goodness for bumpers or that score would have been a lot lower, lol.

Getting Milo out to walk a bit after we bowled.

When we finished bowling, I was adamant that we find a park because Milo had not gone potty since before we left home and I was not going to travel until he did go. We found a playground and the girls got out to play while I walked Milo around for him to go potty and get exercise. Fortunately, he did a long #1 right away. I was hoping for a #2 also just to be safe but he was not going to do it. I walked him around and even jogged a little but nothing. He must not need to go, so it was time for us to pack up and go home. The kids wanted to get home in time to watch a movie.

I sat in the very back with Alice on the way home. Milo doesn't know how good he's got it. No seatbelts and can move around.

It was a fun spontaneous trip but definitely too short and did not see enough, so we'll be back!

Spring Break Fun Part 1

Spring break has arrived for our kids and I warned our girls that we would be deep cleaning their room during the break. It was SO bad before. This time I did get before and after pictures of their room. We started on Saturday and got a big portion done, but took a break. We did some more on Monday and then finished up on Tuesday. I'm so proud of the girls and how much they got rid of without me trying to convince them to get rid of it. Here are the "before" shots:

The closet wasn't actually too bad.

And here are the "after" shots. It looks SO much better! And the girls agree that it feels good to have a clean room.

I bought two stuffed animal nets to get their stuffies off their beds, the ground and the wall shelf. The girls are posing on their beds.

We cleaned out old clothes and a few shoes,

They left a few stuffies on their beds, mainly Squishmallows.

On Saturday, after taking a break from cleaning, the girls went outside and thought it was so hot. They always say it's so hot when it's only 60-70 degrees out. They're so funny. They keep asking when we're going to open the pool and I say not for a few more weeks. I did tell them however, that they could at least get wet if they wanted. They filled up a bucket and dumped it on themselves.

Charlotte had already dumped water on herself. Alice had a hard time getting the bucket up high enough.

But she did it!

Silly wet girls.

On Monday after the girls had gone through their toys and books, they decided to try selling them out front of our house. Lots of people were reading their sign but not stopping. I suggested that more people would stop if they sold lemonade or cookies. Not everyone has kids. We didn't have any lemonade, but we did have other flavors. Charlotte decided to make some cherry juice. Right after she brought it out, someone stopped for a drink. When asked how much for the juice, she would say "at least 50 cents". Some people were generous and would give them a $5 bill and said to keep the change. They did sell one toy item that day and several juices (I bought one too, for $1). They did it again the next day and we were shocked when a younger guy in his 20's or 30's stopped and ran back to get juice and gave her a $20 bill and he didn't want any change! There are some very generous people around here! They made at least $50 in two days. On the 2nd day they also sold a set of books for $10. It was basically $1 a book. I had asked them what they thought was fair. These books were alphabet, learning to read books and in great condition. I thought $10 was a good price.

Alice was in charge of the toys and Charlotte in charge of the juice.

I guess I will never doubt what can happen if I let them try to sell their toys again. They may not have sold many toy items and not even that many juices, but they made a ton of money for it! Even one person from our ward stopped to get a drink.

Charlotte has also been in the baking/cooking mood this week. She decided she wanted to make German pancakes one day, and the next day she cooked scrambled eggs for everyone (except Curtis who was already at work). She did a great job on both.

She's getting really good at cracking those eggs without getting any shells in the bowl. I'm so happy she wants to learn how to cook.

Other than deep cleaning rooms, this week has been pretty laid back so far. Although, I did have the boys mow the lawn for the first time and Jack also started some deep cleaning in his room. There's been a lot of video game and movie time. The girls have been watching their own movies downstairs in the evening while the adults and teenagers watched the Maze Runner trilogy (one movie each night). We had no idea when we started watching them that it was going to be a post apocalypse type of movie. It was like a mix of "I am Legend", "Divergent" series and "The Hunger Games". Honestly, I'm not crazy about those types of movies but I did see this one through to the end. Apparently, all of these movie series were based on books, except for "I am Legend" (at least I think). Anyway, we finished watching the Maze Runner series and I'm ready to watch a more family friendly movie. Maybe we'll watch Willy Wonka (the original) tonight since we watched "Wonka" on Sunday.

Easter 2024

This year we stayed home for Easter, so it was our first Easter in this house. Holidays stress me out because of having to shop for kids and they can be difficult to shop for, especially the teenage boys. I made Curtis shop with me this time though so we could figure it out together. I think we did pretty well. 

Saturday night we boiled eggs and the girls did the coloring. It's not something the boys like to do anymore, unfortunately.

Easter morning after finding her basket.

She got a big pink bow and other hair things, a Bluey activity book, a soft pink Peep bunny that has a bag of clay beads you can take out and warm up and then put back in, plus a rubber dinosaur with an egg inside of him that had candy in it. There was a box of bunny "poop", which were colorful "pop it's" fireworks. Then of course, some chocolates.

Charlotte also got a soft Peep bunny, a book, a magic 8 ball, and a dinosaur w/egg. All of the kids got the dinosaurs, the bunny "poop" and chocolates. The girls also got a tin with Bluey suckers in it.

Garrett got a foam airplane to build, a Mandalorian tin w/suckers, shorts, shirt, a gray shoulder bag, a dinosaur w/egg, and chocolates.

Jack got the same as Garrett except no bag. He got a hat.

The family got some marshmallow Peeps and the new Wonka movie. (I passed on eating any peeps though, not a fan.)

Ready for church and holding their Peeps. Alice is wearing her new bow and new white shoes. (I have had those shoes hidden for several months. I bought them while Christmas shopping because the Children's Place store in the mall was closing, so they were on clearance.)

Our neighbor made us some bunny rolls with little treats on top and some cookies. Curtis and I loved the cookies, but the kids weren't crazy about them. Garrett and I liked the rolls the most. They needed to be warmed up a bit first, but the girls didn't care for them, probably because they have a lot more wheat in them than they're used to eating.

Jack's new outfit. He loves Dr. Pepper.

Garrett's new outfit. He seems to like it.

We had church at 9am this year and so we didn't let the kids get too much into their baskets before church. And we needed to be there by 8:30 this time because Curtis, Charlotte and I sang in the choir and had to practice the song before the meeting started. Curtis and I thought about not singing because we had only done one practice, but I think it helped getting to sing it again before the meeting. We're all glad we did it. The primary also sang a number, so Alice and Charlotte sang for that one. It was a good meeting. Sister Coffman was the selected speaker. She is a funeral home director and gave her unique perspective about the resurrection, with her line of work. 

The sun was shining that day, but it was still a little chilly for me. After church, Curtis and I took Milo for a short walk across to the school and Curtis threw a frisbee for Milo to chase after a few times. Milo loves frisbees!

When we got back, I got busy baking a carrot cake for our Easter dessert. Curtis got busy prepping and cooking the pork roast. We had intended on having pulled pork sandwiches, but the boys complained about the sandwich part. They just wanted the meat on its own, so we did. We ate the buns as a side. However, I did have a pulled pork sandwich the next day with an extra bun and it was good. We also had baked potatoes w/gravy (for those who wanted it) and green beans. The boys were saying they didn't like carrot cake and I wasn't sure the girls were going to eat any either so I was feeling a bit discouraged about having made this big carrot cake that no one is going to eat but me and maybe Curtis. However, the girls and Jack both tried the cake the next day and decided they liked it! Jack had a piece each day and even finished off the cake by Wednesday. I didn't even know he had tried any until I saw him eating the last piece for breakfast on Wednesday. I'm so glad he liked it!

After we ate our Easter dinner, the boys filled some Easter eggs and went out to the yard to hide them for the girls to hunt. They enjoyed doing that and the girls enjoyed hunting. Curtis had Milo on a leash, to make sure he wouldn't find any and try to eat them. He did sniff out a few though. There were 42 eggs hidden but we couldn't find the last egg. It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that Garrett found it along a fence while he was mowing the perimeter of the lawn. 

Curtis brought the girls to the middle of the yard and spun them around before releasing them to hunt for eggs. Alice went first.

Now Charlotte is getting spun while Alice hunts.

Milo found an egg!

Alice spotted the one egg in the bird feeder. Jack helped her get it.

Afterward I had the girls share the treats inside the eggs with their brothers.

When the hunt was over, we had a lesson and discussion about Easter and the Resurrection. Then we watched the new movie "Wonka" as a family. We all enjoyed that movie a lot and it was a good way to end the day. It was a very good Easter!

Milo's First Illness

Thursday morning we woke up to a very unpleasant surprise. I had heard Milo whimpering when I was moving around upstairs to get Jack's sandwich made for school. When I went down, it turned out that Milo had extreme diarrhea and made a big mess. It took awhile to get that mess cleaned up. But on the bright side, it got me in cleaning mode. After I cleaned everything up, including him, and mopped the floor down in the family room, where his kennel is kept, I decided to keep going and mopped the hallway, bathroom and part of the laundry room. Then I moved upstairs and vacuumed all of the hard floors before mopping them as well. I even washed all of the bathroom rugs and the kitchen/dining room rugs. It's amazing how much better they look after getting cleaned, almost like new. 

We were hoping Milo got it out of his system and that it would be a 24 hour thing, but the very next morning, I woke to another mess. Curtis had checked around 5am and didn't smell anything so he took off to work, but by the time I got up at 6am I could smell it in my room. I thought I was smelling things, but then I realized after discovering his mess again that it was going through the return air throughout the house and that's how I could smell it. Disgusting! Both days we had to open the door to the garage from the family room and point a box fan toward it to get the smell going outside. I won't disgust you with the details about cleaning up but I did have to take his crate outside both days to spray with cleaner and then water it down and let it dry. After the 2nd morning, I decided to just throw his bed away because he got more on it than the first day and we were going to get him a new bed anyway because he outgrew it. After that, we had him sleep outside until he is over this, moving his crate to the garage. Of course, I had to give him a bath both days and he still doesn't like baths. I kept him outside a lot during the day also. Poor pup didn't like that.

I had called the vet's office on Friday and they said to keep an eye on it and as long as he doesn't get worse, lethargic, and not wanting to eat then we wouldn't need to schedule anything yet. Whitney had also told me to give him a mixture of white rice, water and dog food to help with digestion. The vet's office said to keep feeding him that way so he has energy. By Saturday, I had also read that boiled chicken was good to give him, so I stopped giving him dog food and just gave him the rice, chicken and water mixture. I kept the water from when I boiled the chicken to use to add to his food, so it was like a chicken broth. He loved that and pretty much acted normal all weekend, so that was a good sign. Monday and Tuesday, things were looking normal again and last night we moved him back inside. We also bought him a new bed, which we had let him lay on during the day until he got better. Now it's in the crate where we wanted it.

Checking out his new bed.

This one definitely fits him.

We're so glad he's feeling better and that we didn't need to take him to the vet. We just wonder how in the world he got sick. It was just the diarrhea and nothing else.