Spring Break

Now that Annaliese goes to school every day, Spring Break actually means something! It took a bit of explaining as to why she didn't get to go to school and at one point she said to me, "Mom, since I haven't been going to school this week, I'm having a hard time knowing what day it is!" So true, Annaliese, so true.

I still had to work Tuesday and Wednesday and Kyle was working the other days, so I knew we would need to be intentional about having fun this week and doing a few special activities to enjoy the time off from school.

Here's a run down of how we filled the time; I think we did a pretty good job coming up with fun things to do!

Saturday: We headed up to Mt. Baker and the Salmon Ridge Sno-Park for some end-of-season cross-country skiing. For more pictures, check out the March Wrap-Up blog post.

Sunday: Sunday was Easter and after church, we celebrated by gathering with Kim and Thane, Thane's sister and brother-in-law, Ben, and some of Kim's friends from their church. For more on that fun day, read here.

Monday: Monday morning was pretty normal, with grocery shopping and laundry on the agenda. We quickly wrapped up those tasks so we could spend the afternoon at the park with our friends! We headed to Lake Padden with Jen, McKinley and Cole Anderson. It was so fun to hang out with them again! We just don't get to see them as much as we would like. 

Tuesday: I had to work and I'm pretty sure Kyle and the girls played at home all day. There was lots of coloring, some reading, and quite a bit of time spent playing outside!

Wednesday: I had to work again, but Kyle took the girls to Lynden to Auntie Kim's house. Kyle took Annaliese and Elias to Berthusen Park on a bike ride while Haleigh and Lydia hung out with Auntie Kim. From what I was told, the bike ride was a bit of an adventure- it was quite muddy, Elias ran into some thorns, and they got lost! 

Thursday: We stayed home Thursday as well, but Auntie Kelsey and Mallory came over so we still had a fun day!

Friday: On Friday, we started out the morning by meeting up with Auntie Kim, Elias, Malachi, Auntie Kelsey and Mallory at Lake Padden. Annaliese and Elias rode their bikes and the other kids rode in the strollers and we ran around the lake. It was another muddy bike ride and there were a few tears from Annaliese about halfway around the lake when she decided she just wanted to be done. But she snapped out it rather quickly and had fun the rest of the time! 

After spending some time playing on the playground, we headed to Auntie Kelsey's house for lunch. The sun came out and we decided we needed to get outside, so we headed to Fairhaven. The Fairhaven Toy Garden (a little toy store) had a scavenger hunt set up where we had to follow the clues to different stores around town; at each store, the kids received a stamp on their paper. If they got all 18 stamps, they could get 3 entries into a drawing for a prize at the end. Annaliese and Elias were adamant that we get to all 18 stores, and we made it! They were a pretty cute little entourage walking through town.  

Malachi and Kim hanging out while Kelsey took the older kids across the street to the bank to get their stamps.

"Look how far I can jump!"

Annaliese knew that they were drawing the winner for the prizes at 6:00 pm; as I was cooking dinner, she was very aware of what time it was and how much longer until they would call us. We had a discussion about the chances of winning and not expecting to win otherwise she would just be disappointed. About 2 minutes later, the phone rang and it was the store saying Annaliese had won the "Toys and Treat's" basket! She was so excited she was screaming and jumping around the house! It was pretty adorable. She wanted to go pick it up right away, but since the store was about to close and she was already in her pj's, we agreed to pick it up the next day. 

Saturday: The weather report on Saturday looked less-than-promising but we knew we needed to get out of the house. There was a break in the rain and the sky looked a little bit brighter, so we headed to the zoo. I was looking forward to it...the others were just humoring me. Even the guy at the border crossing commented on it not being a very good day for the zoo! But it all worked out quite nicely; we didn't get rained on, there were very few other people there, and the animals were all out and about.

Baby bears

Grizzly

Once it started to get windy and we started to get hungry, we decided it was time to leave. We went to Avenue Bread in Lynden for lunch and then headed home. Kyle went and helped some friends move a piano and then Annaliese and I went on a date to pick up her prize basket. 

The last store on our scavenger hunt had been a gelato store and Annaliese had asked if we could go there on our date. We went and got gelato and looked at what fun stuff she had won! (All she knew was that there were purple jelly beans!) Her prize included a new stuffed snow leopard, a Bellingham hat, a few toys, and a gift certificate to the local book store, Village Books. After we finished our gelato, we went to the bookstore and found a new book!

So much gelato...and this was a small!

It was such a fun spring break! I think it was a good combination of getting out and doing things and time spent at home- we ended the break rested and ready to get back into the routine of school! 

Easter 2018

For Easter this year, Annaliese was able to grasp a little more behind the reason we celebrate Easter and that it is more than just hiding easter eggs! They did a special chapel at school on Good Friday where they talked about Jesus dying on the cross and the hope that comes from Him rising from the dead. She wanted to watch an Easter movie, so Friday night we watched the VeggieTales version on the Easter Story, which also focuses on hope and how, without the resurrection of Jesus, we would have no hope. It's been really neat to see her start to understand more about the Bible and who Jesus is and also start to ask questions as she processes it all. 

Sunday morning, her class (along with Haleigh's class) sang a song in front of church. Annaliese was really excited to be up on stage, so we made sure to spend a good amount of time practicing so she would know what she was doing! They sang and danced at both services and did great!

After church, we headed to Jeff and Tammelyn Boersma's house (Uncle Thane's sister and brother-in-law) for Easter lunch and an Easter Egg hunt. We all enjoyed ourselves!

Haleigh, Mallory, and Annaliese

When we came home, the girls got to open their Easter baskets. They each got a new pair of sandals/flip-flops, a new squirt gun, some play-doh and a chocolate bunny from Mom and Dad, and new bathing suits from Auntie Sarah and Grandma Kelley! We are ready for summer!

Reading all their cards!

We tried dying Easter eggs this year by using cool whip and food coloring. It was pretty simple, but we probably should have used more dye to make the colors a bit brighter. The girls didn't care though and had fun with the whole process.

March wrap-up

Besides celebrating Haleigh's birthday and having fun with Grandma Kelley and Poppa Jay, we made sure to fill the rest of March with more fun activities! 

We had several days of beautiful sunshine which meant lots of time outside! Thankfully, we have an awesome backyard and it's easy to play for awhile. 

A drizzly run with Owen and Auntie Kelsey

 But it's still March which means that here in the Pacific Northwest, the sun doesn't stick around for too long. Inside play included lots of coloring, dancing, playing with play-doh and reading books. Or if you're Lydia, taking the potatoes out of the cupboard and putting them back in the bag over and over and over again.

Making our own gluten-free bread

Showing off her new dress and shoes

Some early morning Bible Study time

Painting rocks

Making her own lunch for school

Look who is finally standing!

Haleigh had an Easter party at school that I was able to help out at. The kids had snacks and did a variety of crafts and games. Lydia scooted around, smiling at everyone, eating whatever food she could get ahold of, and trying to participate in the games!

Haleigh and I were also able to join Annaliese's class on their field trip to the Marine Life Center. They have a baby octopus right now which was pretty fun to see (although I didn't get a picture of it.) We listened to a presentation about some of the creatures we find out in the Bay and then had time to explore and check out the different exhibits. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Annaliese interact with her classmates and was very entertained by their conversation in the car! 

We ended the month by making it up to the snow one more time. It was a beautiful day and the girls did amazing, once again! Thanks to Poppa Jay and Grandma Kelley, Kyle and I have new skis, which made the entire experience much more enjoyable! I wasn't sure how far we would make it this time since we didn't have Poppa Jay and Grandma Kelley to encourage the girls along, but we made it the same distance. Haleigh struggled to get across the parking lot (think dramatic crying and lots of tears) so I awkwardly carried her to the start of the trail. Once she realized that there was a path and tracks that she could ski in, things turned around and she became all smiles and had fun the rest of the time. 

  

Lunch break!

Wipe out! (Kyle had actually been pulling her along and she totally lost her balance but was having a blast!

I took my skis off to help Haleigh down a small hill...Annaliese went back to get my skis and poles for me!

Overlooking the Nooksack River

Kyle's boot...sad. 

I feel the same way at the end of every month; as the days pass it doesn't seem like we do much, but when I look back over the entire month, I am so glad for the pictures of the day-to-day things that we do. They remind me that we are able to have fun whether we stay at home or go on crazy adventures!