The Rest of the Story....of April 2014

When we weren't 

Going on a Field Trip to a Goat Farm

or

Attending a Monster Truck Rally

or 

Building Our Raised Garden

or 

Celebrating Easter

This is what happened around here...

 Tony Cruz passed out wherever he landed...

Allergies also hit this crew pretty hard,

here are some eyes to prove it!

Poor guy!! 

 Rico won some brownie points with his spelling sentences...

see #7,

at least he knows it...even if he doesn't act like it!

We INHALED

some 

boiled peanuts that 

Papa brought us.

Well the kids...

momma is the #1 fan,

but I barely got any!

This is all my 4 little vultures left!!

We hosted friends for a 

wine tasting evening.

We hoped it would turn into a 

Wine Club of sorts,

but life just got too busy!

So I have had to enjoy my wine,

by myself.

(There were 6 adults, there were 5 bottles of wine,

and 2 of us did MOST of the drinking, yes I said "us"

and not "them"!!)

Here are 3/4 of the kids,

the two littlest ones must have been on the porch

with the adults when I took this...

The kids had ice cream cones for dessert.

Here is how Mr. T gets

every

last

bit

of

ice cream

without

actually

eating

the cone!

But he enjoyed

every single

LICK!

Then,

as you can expect...

he quickly

passed out!

(yes he still has ice cream on his face,

no I did not take the time to wipe his face when I took the picture,

remember the part about about 2 people drinking most of the wine?)

 Lex helped daddy drive the mower with 

its dead battery,

to the front to jump it off,

Then helped him

cut the grass.

 Tony Cruz and I got to have a library date!!

While the older 3 went to

another jump rope camp!!

And we spent a few more dinners

on the screened porch,

our favorite place to eat "out".

Easter 2014

Here is a snip-it of how we spent our

Easter

this year.

(yes, Easter, but with any luck,

we will be through May and

maybe June by the end of October,

maybe!)

The week before Easter,

we celebrated Easter at our

homeschool co-op

with an Easter Egg Hunt!

We have quite a few kids 

and a rather large age range.

So we had each CHILD

bring in 12 stuffed eggs.

Then we just threw the eggs out in the field,

and let them at them,

in smaller age groups.

Each child was only allowed

to collect 12!

So they came with 12

and

left with 12.

But the fun was seeing what was in the 

12 you left with!

Here is Rico and a few of his friends

sorting through their eggs and trading!

We woke up to treats from the Easter Bunny.

And a quick indoor egg hunt,

thanks to the Easter Bunny.

(yes, Rico is climbing the built ins!)

Ms. Priss dressed in her Easter best!

(including pink cowgirl boots!)

Then Nana & Papa joined us for Easter Dinner!

Nana made these CUTE

bunny cupcakes!!!

They looked something like 

these.

They were cute and yummy!!

Then,

then,

the best part of the day!

Easter Candy 

BINGO!

What???

We used

jelly beans,

sweet tart chicks, and eggs

and other small candies 

that the Easter Bunny had brought 

for our Bingo markers!

Tony Cruz had a hard time winning,

because he kept eating his markers!!

Throwback!! A New Playground

My folks have 

lived in the same house for almost 20 years.

In that time, they have had most of the same neighbors.

Last year, shortly after we had move back to NC,
One of their neighbors offered us their wooden playset!
They were officially getting out

of their "little kid" stage

and they 

OFFERED IT!

We HAPPILY accepted.

We just had to figure out how to get 

it back to the house...

over an hour away!

We finally found a uHaul trailer

that was big enough'

(so we thought)

backed it into their yard

and did our BEST to load that thing up.

It was rather humorous watching 

us all try to figure out the best

and most secure

way to load that thing!

It was in 50 pieces...

but the main structure

was still put together.

Whoa baby!

Yes, we had it secured with ratcheting tie-downs...

but it was still a little haphazard looking.

Daddy worked diligently to get it put together.

While he did,

the littles got right at that slide!

And this is what they looked like when they were done!

(loved this shot - mid flip flop fling)

Then I asked him to show me his dirty feet!

The reason you are finally seeing these pictures

NOW 

and not a year ago when they were taken...

is because I wanted to 

get a picture of the play equipment

after it was finally all put together.

It took a week or so to get it mostly put together,

because we had to get some additional bolts.

I say mostly,

because the "roof" never got put on.

The hubs didn't want it on there,

I did.

Since he was doing it,

and not me,

it never got put on.

Then 

before Jackson's birthday party,

I kindly insisted that the roof 

needed to be put on.

So it finally got put on.

But I never got an 

"official" picture.

Then while we were out working on our garden,

I decided that the perfect 

way to say Thank You

to the family that gave it to us,

was to send them a picture of my guys playing on it!

So I did!

We turned this picture into a 

photo thank you card

for the family that blessed us with this 

amazing gift!

Spring Garden 2014

We love fresh fruits

and

veggies!

Love them!

I buy as much fresh as I can,

but only when it is on sale.

I do my best to menu plan based on sales

and specials at the grocery store.

We have tried gardens in the past,

but I bit off more than I could chew.

This year,

we decided to do a raised garden,

since weeds were my main nemesis in the past.

But this year I had help...
in the form of a 8 yo and 10 yo.
And they were excited!!!
So I knew they would be big helpers!

We started our seeds on our screened porch.
Each row was a different veggie we were going to try.
Carrots, green beans, peas, broccoli, 2 kinds of squash,
2 kinds of pumpkins, 2 kinds of cantaloupe, 2 kinds of watermelon,
corn, 2 kinds of peppers, a few herbs, tomatoes...

 We hit the local home improvement store,

and got some fence pickets

and some weed guard

and some soil.

(cheap soil!)

Everyone pitched in to help!

We used weed blocking cloth as our base.

And fence pickets as the side.

Our garden was 4-6' pickets long (24ft)

and 1-6' picket wide (so that we could reach the middle).

And 1 picket high.

Everyone except the kid climbing the car in the background.

After we straightened out the week block, again...

we covered the area with cheap top soil.

I lost count of how many bags, but I had to go back for more.

And ultimately,

it still wasn't enough.

Once our seedlings got big enough,

we transplanted them to our garden.

I think I overwatered in the beginning.

Then they weren't growing,

so I went back to the home improvement store

and was told we needed fertilizer.

We bought that.

It helped.

But,

we really didn't get a big harvest from our garden.

Most plants didn't survive,

we realized that we really didn't have enough soil for them.

We did get a couple of small watermelons,

about 3 ears of corn,

a few jalapenos,

some basil...

and that is about it.

But we are already excited about next year!

Monster Jam April 2014

After our goat farm field trip,

we high tailed it to Raleigh for a quick cookout

with my bestie and her family,

then on to one of our favorite events...

Monster Jam!!

We went last year in San Antonio, 

with just the big boys.

I am quite certain I liked it as much as they did!

WOW!

So we decided we would take the whole crew this year.

And my bestie and her boys went with us!

Kind of a funny picture of her youngest,

but I couldn't cut him out of it...

just couldn't do it!

Then we asked someone to take a picture of us,

he got my crew,

but cut off the heads of my bestie and her crew behind us.

My sweet boy #2!

Ms. Priss was getting into it...

Once she saw the PINK 

Monster Truck come out!!

Mr. T was enjoying himself too!

And yes, this is about how I felt during some parts as well!

Yep, 

earplugs are a must 

at these things?

And my bestie,

being the awesome 

"auntie" she is

bought cotton candy for everyone!

And Ms. Priss decided to flirt with the 

much older boy behind her for quite a bit of show.

So after seeing both the show in Raleigh 

and the one in San Antonio...

no comparison!

The one in San Antonio was 

HANDS DOWN

So I was a little disappointed.

And even more so 

because I talked it up big time to my bestie.

We had a great time,

don't get me wrong...

but the San Antonio show was 

SOOOOOO

much better!