Rise & Shine!

Both kids had to get up bright and early to go to school today! 

Usually Dig's in pajamas until noon and eats breakfast about 9:30...not today!

DD was very excited to be able to get peeks of her brother and play with him at recess.

More pictures from Kindergarten Round-up to come!

Doubts

I'm afraid this may be it.  The last Easter Drue 'lets' the Easter Bunny come to our house.  The past few years the kids paint milk jugs to look like bunnies for their Easter baskets.  While Drue was painting she came right out and asked, "Mom, is the Easter Bunny real?  I mean..every time I think of him, I think it just has to be you."  I wasn't about to end the magic this year.  I know Christmas and Easter, especially, are not about the Rabbit and Santa, but we make sure the kids understand the real reasons for the seasons all while including these fun little traditions, too.  I just can't let a girl who is so upset that she hasn't lost a single tooth yet think there isn't a Tooth Fairy ready to slide a dollar under her pillow! How depressing that would be for my full-mouthed babe!

We did all of our "usual" Easter activities, this year.  We dyed eggs, painted the jug bunny baskets and made little bunny bean-bags out of old socks.  The kids even made little bunny cakes with Nanny.  The theater in town lucked out by having the movie Hop this week.  Nanny, Pa and the kids and I volunteered to work tickets and concessions.  It was one of the busiest movies we've worked, and one of the cutest we've seen in quite a while!  The movie rejuvenated DD's excitement about the Easter Bunny and on the way home, she and Lane came up with a plan to catch the Easter Bunny!  We also remembered we didn't have any carrots, so we had to make a late night stop at Hy-Vee. The kids decided they were going to pour flour on our front step so they can see his tracks.  They'd bribe him with the carrots. 

(baskets from 2009, yes the date says '08, it's wrong)

(This year.  The bunny jug, a snack bag from preschool and the bunny bean-bag.)

As we pulled in the driveway, I opened the garage door and to our astonishment, there were 2 candy bouquets on the ground with colorful chalk circles around them.  "WHAT?! I don't get it! Are you serious?!" was what was coming out of the kids' mouths.  They were in total shock. We walked in the kitchen and discussed how in the world he must have gotten in there.  Just as we started to brainstorm the possible ways he got in our garage, the kitchen fireplace flu (?) sprung open!  Kids jumped!  I jumped!  Kids grabbed our legs and hid their eyes!  I may or may not have peed.  Just a freaky coinky-dink...or was it?  Perhaps the Easter Bunny uses the fireplace, just like Santa.  But, never once did they think Ryan, who came home before we were done cleaning the theater, may have put the candy there.  Didn't even cross their minds.  Daddy didn't do it, but Uncle Shawn and KK may know who did. 

The kids got busy dumping all the flour I had in the canister on the front deck. They put carrots, both mini carrots and the full length ones, on plates...just incase E.B. had a preference.  Then they got cozy in the living room and fell fast asleep.  Meanwhile, Pa was home brainstorming ways to make bunny tracks and texting me...here's a sample from "Operation Bunny-Tracks."

"I have created a crude rabbit track imrint.  Initial flour test run yielded inconsistent results.  It may work well enough to achieve desired effect.  Over."  

"I await your further instructions, over."

Not long later, I checked for myself, and indeed...the Easter Bunny had been to our house! He left his little paw prints to prove it...along with pile of Easter Bunny poo (jelly beans) Success!

The kids were talking about it all morning.  Drue said, she just wishes they could figure out how to make sure we're the last stop for the E.B. next year so she can trap him and keep him in the dog carrier!

DD & Dig had baskets full of the typical Easter candy, bubbles, fun twisty crayons, goggles and a new sprinkler for the yard.  Then before we could even get out the door for Sunday School, Nanny was able to sneak huge buckets of candy, coloring books and stuffed bunnies on our front step. 

After church this morning, we ran home to change.  From the end of the road I could see Ryan forgot to close the garage door.  Nothing new really.  For some reason this happens a lot.  He joked, "uh-oh.  Mom's going to be mad...I left the garage door open."  Little did I know I was going to be mad.  While we were at church, one of the Easter Bunny's very special helpers made a delivery of Sugar Cakes just for me! Fortunately for me, she was able to find a corner of the island cleared off enough to set the box full of delicious goodies...because this is what she saw (minus the cat)... Easter exploded in our house!

Can you say..."Mortified!"  I also bet she wondered what the heck happened on the front step!

If Ryan leaves that door open again...I swear, I'm gonna' kick him in the ham! (Dig thinks that's just hilarious!) Luckily, she understood and I was able to regain my composure as soon as I popped one of those cute little Sugar Cakes in my mouth.  I forgot the kitchen was even messy...until I swallowed.  So I popped another...and another.  By the look of the near-empty box...my kitchen should look pretty darn good right now....but that may just be the sugar plums dancing in my head.


After my little melt down and sugar-pick-me-up, we headed to my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Randy's house in Dayton for dinner. Cindy and Grandma purchased over 80 eggs that were hidden around their acreage....for TWO kids.  MY kids.  Dentists love us.  All of this on top of the Easter Egg hunt we had a couple of weeks ago at Mimi & RahRah's!

Great-Grandpa John said, "that should be enough candy to last you until the Labor Day Rodeo parade!"  When we got in the car, DD told Dig, "Ok, we gotta' start eating some of this! Grampa says it has to be gone by Labor Day and I'm not sure we'll be able to do it!"

I think hope she's right!

Recycled Robot

This month, DD's teacher assigned an Earth Day project.  The kids were told to clean out junk drawers, look in the recylcling bins, find anything that would otherwise be thrown away... and build a robot. 

We knew just where to go look for fun things to build the recycled robot...Pa's shop!  Lucky for DD, he doesn't throw much away!  That man loves a good coffee can with a lid, he hates to see them thrown away...actually, they don't get thrown away...he grabs them out of the trash and takes them to the shop for sorting screws or bolts or whatever. 

We all headed to the shop last week and Drue, Daddy, Pa and Uncle Shawn rummaged through the shop finding things that would make a good robot.  They found a bottom to a broken Shop-Vac, a top to a garbage can - that I think Uncle Jim brought from New York, some hose, a broken electric-fencer that was full of lights and switches to be used and some scraps of electrical wire.  Once home, Drue found a couple extra toppers from our backyard fence, a necklace with a broken clasp to use for earrings, some plastic dress-up bracelets that she's never worn and a couple letter magnets that were long forgotten in back of the kitchen junk-drawer.  Daddy cut the holes for the hose and bent the wire, Pa cut the holes for the little light and switch then DD stuck them in the robot's body.  The next day, Drue used Liquid Nails glue to stick on her robot's face and ears. That was it! There you have it! 

DJ the Recycled Robot!

(yes...we're still wearing winter coats and hats to school! Brr!)

It sure is nice to have a Pa who has a lot of junk...

uh, I mean STUFF! 



Scrub-a-Dub-Dub 2 Kids in a Tub

We're already at the point in our lives where we don't really need to be in the bathroom while the kids bathe.  We're still in the phase where the kids bathe together and I'm thankful.  They keep eachother occupied.  However, I still get a lot of, "hey, Mom! Come see this!" and "Mom tell DD to share the toy!" and "Mom! Tell Dig to stop splashing me!" It seems like I get up a hundred times during their bath to see what kind of concotion they've 'made' for me to 'drink' or "look what we're doing now!"...but this is what happens when you give them crayon bath soaps.

 I should have known by the immense giggling and
 pounding on the wall, but I wasn't quite prepared for
what I was about to see!

and this is what the water looked like afterwards...eew!

Now the bath tub needs a bath!



Work Boots

The kids decided against the popular,

cute and stylish, rubber boots this year...

opting instead for real work boots.

'Cause that's what farm kids do...

they forego fashion...

and step in cow poop!