Finishing Out April

Another slow week at the Hatch home which is fine by me. Things that happened this week:

- After cleaning the house Monday we went to the park. This little girl was playing with Lucy so I attempted to make small talk with the girl's mom. Well I had mentioned what my husband did so I asked her what hers did. She corrected me "My partner/my wife does..." It was a bit awkward. She also told me that the PI company she works for is always looking for people to watch videos and write up reports on them. Future career for me?

-We went to story time at the library with a friend again. Lucy loves the songs that she is learning there and sings them randomly. There's "zoom zoom zoom we're going to the moon" and " icky sticky bubble gum"

- Penny had her speech play group per usual this week but suddenly decided she wanted nothing to do with her teachers. Every time one of her teachers came to sit with her or even just stand by her, she ran away from them. That actually sums up her attitude this week. We have taken lots of selfies in hopes of curing those grumpies.

- This week I got more work done on my tooth. They did the crown on my tooth that had gotten a root canal. It hurt more than I expected. The root canal had been so pain free that I expected the crown to be a breeze but it wasn't so much. Thankfully it is already feeling better.

- I went to Book Club and enjoyed socializing with friends and talking about the book "A Man Called Ove." It is such a good book, highly recommend!

- Thursday I got to watch Lucy's friend Peter and Peter's little sister. Lucy and Penny absolutely loved having a baby in their home. They both wanted to hold her and love on her but she basically slept the whole time so instead they got to just sit and admire her.

- The boys had their first official Soccer practice this week. It had been a warm day but that evening a cool wind started up and it was really COLD. The girls whined the whole time and it made for a less than fun practice. I am hoping next week will be better!

- I got Penny to nap *twice* this week! Penny has been so anti nap lately but as I said previously, she has also been grumpy lately. I think she needs the naps still- at least every once in awhile. So when she does take a nap it's miraculous and she usually wakes up a much happier person.

- The boys had a Color Run at school Friday (it was part of a fundraiser). I didn't go but some nice friends sent me some pictures. The kids came home still pretty colorful and it took 2 showers to get rid of it all- mostly because they don't seem to understand that scrubbing is an important part of showering.

Another week down. Tomorrow we head off to The Great Wolf Lodge- I am pretty excited!

Easter Continued

Easter Sunday the kids were up nice and early and eager to find their Easter Baskets. Once again the bunny had hidden them and left notes- this years clues were super easy. Penny's was hidden where she goes when she is being naughty- the uncooperative chair. Lucy's was hidden nearby a Shopkin picture she had colored- in the playroom. Ben's was hidden in the perfect place to take a bubble bath- our upstairs bathtub. Steven's was hidden where you go to get extra toilet paper- because he uses a lot ;)- in our closet. 

Lucy's top gifts: a lift-the-flap book for church, Veggie Tales movie collection, and Barbie movie. 

Penny's top gifts: a church water WOW book, Veggie Tales CD, a horse book and a Barbie movie.

I had Ben pose with his favorite gifts and he picked the poop emoji key chain and the Fun Dip, ha ha! He also got some Book of Mormon Cards that he can use for teaching FHE, a Veggies Tale CD, Hop Movie, and a drawing pad and pens.

Steven's favorite gifts were his chocolate bunny, his "rocket" and his new LEGO church video (which turned out to be a dud- not as funny as the one he already had). He also got a book for teaching FHE and a drawing pad and pens for church.

After they went through all their goodies, I made some bunny pancakes for everyone. Waking up earlier than usual meant I had plenty of time to do something fun and Pinteresty like that. They were actually pretty easy to make so it didn't hurt too much when they gobbled those bunnies down.

After breakfast they watched some new Veggie Tales and then they got ready extra early so that I could take a picture of them all ready for Easter Sunday. They looked nice for the pictures but by the time they went to church they looked a lot less nice. That's ok with me though because at least I was able to document the niceness!

Honestly the way we were able to fit in so much that morning and have such a calm, nice morning makes me think I should probably stop sleeping in so much on Sundays and start getting up a decent hour! Although knowing me, that probably won't happen ;)

With us not getting home until 4:30 on Sundays, I decided our traditional ham dinner on Easter was just not going to happen. Instead we started a new tradition and did a Jerusalem Dinner. Basically we tried to eat foods that Jesus would have eaten. However since my kids are picky eaters, I did a lot of modifying. We had Pita bread (in the form of pizza and Pita chips), we had wine (in the form of grape juice boxes), we had figs (in the form of fig newtons) and turkey meat (in the form of meatballs. We also had cheese, grapes, strawberries, carrots and yogurt. We talked and read some scriptures about the Easter Story and then we ate the meal by candlelight. The kids still continued in their picky ways and didn't want to try the Fig Newtons because what the heck is a fig!? And the girls wouldn't touch the Pita Bread Pizza because it looked weird! But everybody ate something and it was still fun. I think this is a tradition to keep!

The rest of week was less exciting but still good. It was a nice calm week with no sub jobs. I have decided that I will just take sub jobs when asked and I won't actively search for them anymore. On Tuesday we did a fun story time at a library with a friend and then got a slice of pizza afterwards. I was glad the slices were only a dollar because Lucy would only eat the cheese off of hers because there were black flecks on the crust. Oi, that girl has become such an awful eater! On Wednesday I had Bunco and I did not win anything but I did have lots of giggles. On Thursday and Friday we had some fun play dates with our friends and that's my week in a nutshell. I am glad this week was slow because Soccer practice starts next week for the boys and the week after that games on Saturday start so things are going to get busier!

Funny story: I told Lucy I was going to eat her because I bet she tastes like cookies. She said, "No! I taste like broccoli!" Smart girl! She knows how to keep people from eating her!

And Penny was super upset because she bit her lip and I was trying to comfort her, I realized she had a rainbow on her face. I took a picture and showed her and everything was magically all better!

Space Derby, Potter Zoo and Easter Celebrations

This year instead of a Pinewood Derby Steven had a Space Derby. The little stinker never wanted to work on his rocket and ended up doing most of the work on it the day before the event. I was really frustrated with his slacking off and I was hoping he wouldn't win anything so he would learn that procrastination doesn't pay. Well his TNT rocket ended up winning first place. It was super fast and he was super proud. He was all smiles that night and so I couldn't help feeling happy too. Maybe next time he'll remember how fun it was to win and he'll actually want to do it? 

Tyler had Friday off of work and we were having a hankering for Chick-Fil-A so we took a drive to the one in Lansing. It was well worth the drive as always! The food was fantastic and the kids always love playing there. Afterwards, because I feel like an hour drive just for food seems a little silly, we went to the Potter Park Zoo that is also in Lansing. The weather was so perfect for a Zoo Day and we had a lot of fun!

My favorite animal was the tiger. He looked like a stuffed animal until he woke up and started stretching. They are so amazingly grand close up.

The kids all had fun climbing on the giraffe statues. Lucy was very persistent that she did not want to climb on the little one, she wanted to go on the bigger one. However, as soon as I placed her on top of the big one she started to freak out because she felt like she was slipping off. She was then very happy to be placed on the little giraffe.

Even though we had an Easter Egg Hunt at the church last week, we had to stick with tradition and do one at our own home. Our neighbors were busy and not able to participate this year but we still had fun with just us. I had been slacking and was tempted to break tradition but I am glad I didn't. It felt well worth the effort to watch them hunt for eggs and get surprised by what was inside (balloons, temporary tattoos, glow rings...).

After the Easter Egg Hunt we carried out our other tradition, dying Easter Eggs. We used fake eggs (which we had also used last year) which is so great- no time spent boiling eggs that no one will eat. We also had a several methods for dying the eggs- 1) put in a cup of color 2) roll on the color 3) put in a bag and shake on the color. The cup was the least effective method for the fake eggs- the color barely showed up. The other two methods worked really well though. Regardless of the method, they all had fun!

Spring Break

The beauty of being on EST is that General Conference doesn't start until noon which gives us the morning to get our wiggles out. Sunday morning the weather was just so perfect and the kids were definitely in need of a chance to get outside so we went on a nature walk in Kensington. Their were a lot of people out and I am pretty sure we drove a lot of them crazy with our noisy rambunctious kids but it was a perfect family outing for us!

With this week being Spring Break I tried to have at least one fun thing for us to do each day so that the kids wouldn't get bored and drive me crazy. On Monday for FHE we went to The Commons (the indoor soccer field and playground). On Tuesday we went to the Zoo. It was not a very warm day and it was sprinkling when we got there but with all the animal houses they have we were still able to have a good time. At the Butterfly house the boys really wanted a butterfly to land on them so they sat so still for a long time. Sadly they were not rewarded for their efforts but it did make for a super peaceful moment.

We also had this really funny moment were I went to take a picture of the girls and they were both happy about it...Until Lucy had the audacity to hug Penny and then Penny scowled for the rest of the pictures I took. Love these silly sisters and their super different personalities.

On Wednesday Ben had a friend from school over. We rarely ever invite friends from school over because I just stink at arranging such things plus I always worry that our chaotic home will scare them away. But I finally managed to arrange something and I don't think we were too scary- he and Ben seemed to have a good time. I did take them all to the bakery for donuts so as you can see I am not opposed to using treats to help people like us. We also went to the park for a bit but it was pretty chilly outside so we didn't last too long. Later, after he went home, we went to the library where the kids played in the library's little play area for an hour, NICELY. That never happens, it was so great!

On Thursday we went to the Milford HS Pool/Water park with the Brandley's. We wanted our husbands to go with us so we didn't go until they got off work, this made for a super LONG day of waiting. It was also a super chilly day (it snowed) so we bundled as little as possible and freezed ourselves with very quick walks into and out of the pool building. I really don't love swimming in the winter because of all the changing hassle but the kids had such a good time so it was totally worth it. Both Ben and Lucy were totally terrified of the water in the beginning but then swimming around like champs (with their floaties on of course) by the time we left.

On Friday we met up with a friend from church at the Henry Ford Museum. Each time I go lately, I worry that the kids are going to be tired of it but they always manage to have a good time and somehow we always manage to find a few new things that we haven't seen before. This visit they discovered these various stations of crayon rubbings they could make. It turned in to quite a process with all 4 of my kids wanting to do it and my friend's child as well. Each time we hit a station we were there for a good amount of time! Their favorite exhibits still seem to the LEGO ones though. They always love to build things and then they insist I take their picture.

Also they climbed up this ladder on a train and insisted on pictures. I promise there was no sign that said "no climbing" but a family walked by and when their child asked to go on the ladder the mother told her that it wasn't allowed. Made us feel quite rebellious!

Saturday was our big Primary Activity-- A breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt. Kellie, the Primary President, didn't delegate quite enough so it wasn't super stressful on my part. The event itself was kind of exhausting though because I never really got to stop and sit but I think it went really smoothly and turned out so well. The kids all had a blast! I was the documenter so I took a zillion pictures but they were all with Kellie's camera. My phone died and I didn't have a camera of my own so I have zilch of my own documentation. Fail.

Other things this week...I found a new dentist and got a much needed root canal and it went MUCH better than my last root canal. Pretty much a painless process! The biggest bummer is that all the money I earned subbing the week before Spring Break had to be spent on that dumb tooth. I really hate spending so much on teeth, especially when I think of all the fun things I could buy with that money instead.

And Lucy got into the Junior Kindergarten Program for next year so that is exciting...and totally making me sad. I am so glad we don't need to pay for preschool but this means she will be gone all day Monday through Friday and that makes me sad. She is my little ball of crazy and sunshine and I am not sure I am ready to give her up. Plus she has been such a good playmate for Penny these days. 

So instead of ending on sad notes, here are two funny stories....

1) I forget why it came up but Steven declared to us that "Two is better than one!" Well, Tyler being Tyler started to use some money examples to foil that idea, "Would 2 pennies be better than 1 quarter?" After quite a few examples like these from Tyler Steven revised his declaration, "Ok, in trading two isn't better than one...but it is in crime fighting!" Such a funny kid!

2) This week I gave Lucy a bagel and her response, "Thank you your Majesty!" This girl knows how to win me over!