Day 4... We're still alive!

Yes, we made it! April came home this evening and we are all still alive. In fact, I think we fared quite well and had a great time together. I am grateful to have so much one-on-one time with the little ones, I probably too often take it for granted.

This morning we awoke to an inch of snow, so I put Nate and Elin to work. Nate is to the point where he actually helps when he helps me outside- so nice. I'll be looking forward to that in summer.

I asked the kids what one thing they really wanted to do today, and out of all things they said "Chuck E. Cheese!" I honestly can't figure out what they love so much about this place, but this is what they chose, so we went. Here's Elin trying to get the skeeball down the lane- I think only a couple balls landed in the game next door.

Amazingly, Nate and Elin did this picture alone. I'm not sure where I was when they sat down to do it, but I can't believe how well it turned out. Every time we've tried to get them to sit for this picture machine, it's turned out terrible. I guess we were the problem!

Some fun time at home...

...and a little Elin Rambo

After dinner we made cookies and cream ice cream. Here's Elin smashing the Oreo cookies.

"When's it going to be done!??"

Mmmmm... can't beat home-made ice cream!

They would have finished it all off if I let them- luckily they saved a little for Mom. It is great to have April back tonight, we all missed her too much. Welcome home, Mom! No one can take your place.

Day 3... almost there!

I'm happy to report that we are all alive and doing well. Getting up at 6 a.m. on Sundays has its advantages- plenty of time to get ready for Church. And Church went well overall- although Elin seemed to have ants in her pants during the entire sacrament meeting... non-stop moving and using me as a jungle gym. After Church was a nice cool-down time, with Elin taking a nap and Nate working on his legos.

I had an itch for some chocolate- so I made some peanut butter and chocolate cookies.

Nate always helps me bake, mostly by cleaning my tools. Not sure why he's shirtless, though.

Voila! If you can't tell, these puppies were huge.

After some play time, it was time for dinner (we do a lot of prepping and eating of food in this house). We usually do breakfast for Sunday dinners, and the kids wanted eggs and O.J. again- so that's what we did, again. Fine by me, though, it's pretty easy. And my helpers did an excellent job.

Bath time! And we made it through another day.

Day 2

It started off like every other day- the kid's "alarm clocks" in their heads went off precisely at 6 a.m. But it was Saturday, so they got to watch some T.V. in the morning. Then we all made breakfast together- eggs, sausage and O.J., although Nate was a little grumpy there was too much cheese in the eggs.

Out "egg-beater"

Then we were off to gymnastics for Elin- this class has been great for Elin on Saturdays... she's moving the whole time, and it sucks at least some of the energy out of her.

We had a special treat after Elin's nap- a trip to the movies! It was crowded and noisy, which I was happy about as my kids can be pretty noisy themselves. Overall, a good time. Pretty funny movie, too.

Some afternoon play-time...

...and game-time.

Nate was ecstatic because a Lego box that he has been looking forward to finally came today- one that he worked hard for and earned.

The kids were treated to dinner while watching a movie- something I don't think they've ever done before (good thing the Boss isn't home :)

And we topped the night off with chocolate banana shakes- yum! Here's Elin adding the banana (peel and all).

And Nate adding the chocolate (sorry to say it's not mine, maybe next time, but Hersey is good, too.)

Mmmm, mmmm.

Mr. Mom...

So today April left for Texas, leaving me here with the monsters for four days... what was she thinking? Well, we've decided to make an adventure of it- how much damage can we do in four days without the boss here??? You are welcome to follow us this weekend in The Adventures of the Three Stooges...

The day started early with April out the door at 6 a.m., and then we got to it.

A hearty breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios...

And since we all got up just after 6:00, plenty of time to spare for playing after our clothes were on and beds were made. Nate with his lego airplane-

And all of us on Nate's home-made train (not sure how they expected me to sit in the last car).

Finally Nate was off to school, only a half-day today, and his favorite school-day of the week (wasn't it all of ours?)

Before swimming, Elin and I stopped at the best bakery in town and enjoyed a small treat. Elin's eyes were bigger than donuts when we walked in!

And then it was off to swimming!

A bug in the water.

After we picked up Nate at school, it was their choice for lunch. So they picked the gyro shop downtown- a sort of regular place for us. At least regular enough that we know the owner well and he's always great with the monsters. They like to sit right up front with him. They always order chicken tenders and fries here, but then they end up eating all my gyro meat.

During the afternoon, Elin had a nap, Nate played, and I exercised. Then we were off again to gymnastics! This is 1.5 hours- great for Nate, but a bit painful to keep Elin occupied for that time. But we managed- we spent a lot of time at the pet store looking at the little furries and fish, and then we watched Nate.

Nate loved gymnastics as usual, and then I had two famished kids to feed. Their choice again, and we ended up doing burgers on the grill (second time this week! I think we are summer-hungery). Then more play time with a little surprise I got them- glow sticks! They love them, and as you can see below, couldn't even sleep without them.

Dancing Their Hearts Out

Yesterday we had a few extra friends over for a little while, and as usual they all had a great time together. We spent some time learning about and making some crystals (no pics of this, sorry, I was too involved). The little ones took to playing music and dancing the night away in Elin's room. It was so funny to see them bouncing around, and they were soaked with sweat afterward.

Maggie was quite a flute whistler...

The "older" ones weren't so into dancing today... they took to marble tracks and baking.

Marble cupcakes anyone?

While Jaxon and Nate were trying to figure out where all their marbles went (I lose mine all the time, too), they kept quite busy with the marble tracks.