Our Spring Break highlights included April Fool's Day, General Conference, Cole's basketball camp, and a trip to the temple and zoo. For more details, scroll on...
April Fool's Day!
Friday, April 1st we picked up Whitney from school to begin Spring Break. I told the kids that the doctor called me and said they needed shots. Whitney did the fist-pump and said, "YES!! I LOVE shots!!" Cole started crying, and Annie was mostly clueless. Meanest mom, I know.
So to try and draw out the April Fool's Joke more, I told Whitney that the kids would have to get as many shots as they are old. Annie=3, Cole=5, and she would have to get 7. That didn't even make her flinch!
Cole was freaking out at this point, so I announced, "APRIL FOOLS!" to let him know I was just kidding. He freaked out even more and said things like, "That was a mean/not funny/rude joke, mommy!!" Bad mommy.
My sister did the same joke on her kids, and we met up at this park by our doctors' offices. It was a hot day, but so great for the kids to get their spring break energy out.
That weekend we enjoyed watching GENERAL CONFERENCE! Shannon spent her time with Dad...
...while I monitored the CONFERENCE CANDY table. We let each kid pick out a candy and a key word to listen for during the talks. If that word is said, then anyone listening can get one piece of candy from that bowl. Tyler's candy was teeny PB/choc cups from Trader Joe's, Cole picked Gummy Jolly Ranchers, I picked the York bites, Annie wanted the sour worms (cut in half), and Whitney chose Swedish Fish (cut in thirds).
This picture was taken after the first session. "Jesus" was the most popular word for that one. I think Tyler chose the word "testimony" so he wouldn't have to share many of his PB cups. If that was his plan, then I would say it back-fired in the afternoon session during Cecil O. Samuelson's talk. Boo-yah. We wiped out that bowl during that talk.
Conference candy works really well for our family; I think we've been doing this for 2 years now. We even made up a song/cheer for conference candy. Yeah, we're cool. I know. Sorry I don't have audio. Just ask any of the kids to sing/cheer it for you.
Basketball Camp!
Cole went to b-ball camp every day for 2 hours. It was a great experience for him to have his own special boy activity. Cole had hardly ever even bounced a basketball, so camp was pretty much baptism by fire for him.
This series of shots sums up his moves: Stand. Receive pass. Turn body. Pass. Repeat.
He did shoot the ball a few times and made a point! (Hitting the net counts as a point at this camp.)
One day I went to pick Cole up, and he was sitting at the top of the bleachers by himself. When I asked him why he was sitting there not playing with his team, he replied, "I just got a handicapped leg, mom."
Another day Cole told me that one of his teammates shouted, "I'm gonna KILL you!!" at him. Not sure if that was b/c Cole was standing there biting his nails, or if Cole had another handicapped leg. But the coach said Cole was great, so I'm going to assume the other kid was just a bit more into the game than Cole.
Temple Picnic
On Cole's last day of camp, I told the kids we would go to the zoo. On our way there, Tyler called me and said he could meet us for lunch. We quickly decided to meet at the temple and shared bites of our picnic lunch (that we had packed for the zoo) with Tyler there instead.
What a treat to see dad in the middle of the day!! The sun was shining super bright; we didn't think to take off our sunglasses while taking pictures. But now as I look at these pictures, I think it would be nice to actually see our eyes. Doh!
Tyler took the camera from me and had me sit to get my picture taken. I bet he did that b/c he wanted one last picture of his family just in case I didn't survive the zoo experience by myself with 4 kids.
ZOO
But survive we did! I didn't get many pictures because I was trying to watch my kids diligently.
But survive we did! I didn't get many pictures because I was trying to watch my kids diligently.
While I was taking this picture of Annie below, Cole climbed into the tortoise enclosure. He was only 5 feet away, so I don't know how I missed him doing that! I heard him scream, "MOOOOOMMMM!!!"
And I turned to see someone (who looked like they came to the zoo with just one baby in a stroller and their spouse and both sets of grandparents) lifting him out of the tortoise area. The looks on their faces said, "Don't come to the zoo with 4 kids if you can't control them, lady!" Needless to say, this picture above was the last shot I got of the day, and Cole got buckled in the double stroller for a time-out. Thankfully he didn't climb into the tiger exhibit!
7 comments:
Conference candy is brilliant! I've got to try it! And I love the pic of you with the kids. You look beautiful (sunglasses and all), and it's fun to see the mama every now and then! :) sounds like a fun spring break. You're such a fun mom. Miss you as always. Xoxo
We did the conference candy this year too and it worked like a charm!! We changed words for each session... my kids listened quietly for four sessions and the last session we had five extra kids over and they all listened too. Amazing!!
Nice update...fun to see all of your faces. Love and miss you!
Dying!!! This update was too funny. Love the conference candy, love the reactions to April Fools and the Cole-isms. TOOO CUTE!
We did the conference candy a couple years ago on a whim and my kids still talk about it! Totally a highlight. We are going to have to institute that again. Beautiful kids!
Duuuuuuuude.... Conference Candy is Brilliant! You have the best ideas. Of course, the shot thing, wow, I don't think I would ever have lived that joke down! :)
Hey, Annie's mullet is gone! Her hair grew out! I love your family, even if I've never met your kids in person.
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