Happy Easter!

I have to admit, Easter is not my favourite holiday.  We kind of wish we'd never started the tradition with the kids, but here we are and we'd feel really guilty if we stopped now.  So we continue, I am just not terribly enthusiastic about this particular holiday.  I always procrastinate on planning and didn't even buy the food for Easter lunch/dinner until Saturday afternoon! 

We pretty much stick to the same menu, chocolate and coffee for breakfast and baked ham, scalloped potatoes and roasted asparagus for lunch/dinner.  This year I made hot cross buns, they weren't quite as good as the one's I had back home in Australia but the flavour was there and they reminded me of home *sigh*

They were good slightly warmed in the microwave and slathered with butter.  M gave me to idea to warm them up, my daughter has good ideas!

Easter eve the kids get all the plastic eggs ready for the Easter Bunny to fill and hide while they are sleeping, we count them so we know how many to find the next day.  This year we got 100 out, 20 for each kid, it ended up being 25 for each kid since M didn't want to find any.  She chose to help S instead.  It worked out okay  for her since some had peanut butter chocolates in them, F doesn't like them (my boy :) ) and gave them to her!  They also leave out carrots for the Easter Bunny, to provide him with sustenance to keep going :)  Unfortunately S fell asleep and the big kids were at a friends glow in the dark egg hunt party so I just have pics of F and C.

C woke up at 7:30ish I think, I told him and F that they had to wait for S to wake up, she woke up about 30 mins later.  So we woke up the big kids and got to the baskets pronto! 

M showed S her basket.  S wasted no time downing some chocolate!

Owen checking out his stash.  The EB delivered Zombieland and Scream to his basket along with a LOT of candy!

A book that C found in his basket

She goes for the nice chocolate first!

F enjoyed the 'glo worms'.  The tweezers glowed so he used these for some other gummy lollies he got too.

Buh-bye chocolate bunny!

Campbell got an Angry Birds spring game.  It's cute, has different challenges and levels like the app

Here is a pic of F's basket.  He got some chalk, bubbles, games, a pinwheel and a calendar.  He liked his pinwheel the most.

After some chocolate indulgence the hunt was on.  I have lots of pics of S doing the hunt and one blurry one of F.  The big kids were too fast which is why I only have one blurry pic to share.

See how blurry, he wouldn't slow down LOL

After the egg hunt we decorated some eggs

While they waited for some real food the younger two went out to play with their new bubbles.  We had some storms early in the day so it was a wet mess outside.

I hope you had a great Easter!



Dallas Arboretum

Each year we go with friends to visit the Dallas Arboretum for the day.  It is one of our families favourite places to visit and it is even more fun with friends.  This year we were able to go with a much smaller group and it made it so much more enjoyable!  We usually pack a picnic and eat picnic style with our friends.

I have to admit I love the Arboretum for the photo ops, I always manage to snap at least one picture that I fall in love with.  I think this time this is the picture I want to print and frame :)

It's so difficult for me to choose the photos I like best, I normally take several hundred at the Arboretum.  I am so grateful for digital cameras and the ability to delete.

She figured out that to get the crumbs she might need to change strategy :)

These two love to wrestle

J is accessorising

All three wrestling now.  Actually I think "I" was trying to save Finn from "W" :)

It wasn't all fun and games, Soleil got tired by the afternoon and started to lose it :(

This was right before she threw it at me LOL

We took the kids to roll down the big hill.  They loved it but got REALLY dizzy.  We were taking bets on who would puke.  Thankfully no one was the winner!

The only beautiful view in Texas?

I look forward to visiting again in the fall



Spring party

Each year our homeschool group has a Spring party.  This year there wasn't one on the calendar but the St Patty's day party was canceled due to rain and with the postponement came a theme change.  I was grateful for this because this meant there would be an egg hunt.  Though initially I was overwhelmed and not thrilled at the prospect of filling 36+ eggs with candy/treats/prizes, I remembered that I could buy prefilled plastic eggs at Target on my way to the party.  Lazy?  Maybe.  Realistic?  Definitely ;)

I wasn't feeling like going, for multiple reasons but decided to suck it up and attend.  I am glad we did.  The kids had a great time and Campbell had lots of friends to hang out and play with.  Owen had standardised testing that day so he couldn't attend and of course Madeleine was at school (testing as well).  They did come later when Jeremy picked Owen up from testing and Mads from school. 

Soleil showing me some of her friends

Finn was playing a game of tag with friends



"I'm a monkey mummy!"

Static hehe

The first thing she did was put her basket on her head?!

Egg 'hunt'

After the egg hunt and candy eating F and S headed for the bubbles.  The spent a good hour playing with them.

As we were leaving (trying to) Soleil decided to show her new climbing ability to her daddy.  She had already gifted me with a heart attack when I turned earlier to see her at the top.  I was calm enough this time to snap pictures :)

Happy Spring!

Tag!

Soleil recently decided she was going to tag the entire house with chalk.  Trust me when I say this isn't even half of what she tagged :/  Thankfully chalk is pretty easy to clean.

Yes we did show her where her blackboard is and then we gave her the option to colour on cardboard.  That seemed to keep her happy for a little while, but she did eventually go back to tagging the house!

Good thing she's adorable ;)

Texas water

We have lots of home improvement projects on our to do list.  This Spring has been unseasonaby warm (global warming anyone?)  so we are taking advantage of the beautiful weather and getting some outdoor projects done.  The biggest we did was replacing our 6ft tall wooden fence entirely by ourselves.  I am so impressed with us over this one, it saved us a couple of thousand dollars which means more dough to make other repairs or to splurge a little on a vacation. 

One thing that has been on our to do list for a LONG time is under the kitchen sink.  We had a bad dishwasher leak that completely warped the wooden shelf under the sink.  However we also have a reverse osmosis system under there so replacing it meant taking the entire tank out.  It was a task.  We decided to have a water filter and softener put on the house.  I have awful skin issues and I am aware that chlorine is a known carcinogen.  These things along with the fact that Texas has incredibly hard water which is hard on the plumbing as well and we decided to do something about it.  I think it is awful that we have no control over the chemicals the are in the water that our children bathe in or that our laundry is washed in.  Thankfully there are companies out there that can do something about it.  It's not cheap and I am still having some twitching from the overall cost but I am really loving the results.

We called Culligan who had given us a quote a couple of years back and they came out within a few days and gave us a new quote.  At that time we also opted to have a new reverse osmosis put in and they attached it to our fridge so even our ice is filtered through the system.  I might have been most excited about that, the ice with just the fridge filter always tasted too much like tap water :/  I am a massive water snob.  We won't go into that. 

So back to under the sink.  Since they were putting in a new RO we HAD to fix the board under the sink.  It was bad and because of the previous water damage it was a bit musty under there.  Gross.  We talked to some of the people at Lowe's and they seemed to know our problem, they said it happens often.  Their solution was to put two pieces of plywood in there since we couldn't get it in in one piece (because of the doors).

Here is under the sink after we ripped out the gross warped board.  I vacuumed it out because it was kind of icky.

Here it is after we added the plywood.  This was the best option for liner purchased at Wal-Mart at 10pm, don't judge!  We had to add a support board along the back which the hubs nailed in with the nail gun.  It is nice and sturdy under there.

Here is the RO system under the sink, it takes up significant space but is worth it.

The day the workers came out to install the water softener it was pouring rain.  This didn't stop them, they set up a beach umbrella and got to work.  They had to attach something upstairs to the hot water heater so one of the workers got a reprieve from the rain while he partner was digging a trench in the rain.

This is where the water filter is going to go.  It's out front  but hidden behind a huge rose bush.  Hopefully the hoa won't mind :/

After they dug the trench

They had to leave the trench open until the city came out to inspect their work.  It was filled in today, almost two weeks later.  Poor guys had to fill the trench in the rain, it hadn't rained since the day they installed it. haha.

I have to say I am very happy with my new filtered water.  My hair is softer and I use less shampoo and conditioner and soap (but I'm still clean ;)).  It's pretty amazing how much we were compensating for our hard water.  I am hoping my bathroom sink taps last longer now and don't get that hard buildup anymore.