Ben's Baptism and Things

Last week was a busy week and I am now properly pooped. I wish I could say I am recovering today but really I am just trying to catch up on things. 

On Tuesday I went and registered the kids in their new school district. I got to bring their birth certificates, immunization records and things to the District Office and get them scanned in. I figured while I was at the District Office I would ask about subbing for their district. I am still on the fence about subbing next year but decided I might as well ask while I was there. Well, this asking ended with me getting an impromptu interview. It was super awkward, and I was certainly grateful that I was wearing jeans and not leggings and that I my hair was not still wet from my shower. Penny got to eat graham crackers and color while the guy asked me why I want to sub. I gave a cliche answer and I guess he checked the box that I had been interviewed. So I think I am now ok to sub in the district, I don't know. It was all very weird.

On Wednesday we picked up Grams from the Airport and she showered us with goodies. The kids all got new jammies so we had to take a picture of them wearing them. They are all super happy to have her and request daily to sleep over in her room.  

Thursday the temperatures hit the 70's so we had to take advantage of that. After school we picked up pizza and went to the Milford Park. The boys found a random group of kids to play a game with and it was so nice to see them having fun doing something that wasn't video games. The girls stuck together most of the time and I got these fun pictures of them climbing a tree. I really, really want these warm temperature to come and STAY.

Friday night Poppy Hatch flew in and he stopped by before heading to his hotel. Grams Hatch ended up not coming because Keshia hadn't had her baby yet and she didn't want to risk missing it. When Poppy arrived, Penny immediately took a liking to him which was surprising because she is usually so shy. When I asked her why she liked him she told me it was because he was so fun. I'm glad they bonded together quickly since he was only here for short period of time.

Saturday the boys spent the morning finishing up their Pinewood Derby cars and then we went to the Pinewood Derby that afternoon. Tyler is always so last minute about helping the boys do their cars and it always stresses me out. But at least they got done and the cars worked. They weren't the fastest but they weren't last place either- Steven got 5th place and Ben got 9th. Ben didn't seem to mind, he was just super happy that he had made a Pikachu car (he is so obsessed with Pokemon now). Steven, on the other hand was super bummed that he didn't win anything- probably because he has won prizes at all the ones he's been to- and he refused to smile for the pictures afterwards. I hope this encourages him to try a little harder and not be so last minute next year. It's hard to believe that next year will be his last year at the Pinewood Derby.

The Pinewood Derby ended at 3pm and the baptism was at 4pm. It made for such a long day. I hope to never have to do that again. I was a little stressed with things because the person we were combining with was very particular about things and she wanted to have a nice display of treats when I was just fine to serve them in the serving area. It was her last kid to get baptized so I think that partially explains the difference in expectations. She even wanted a color scheme, which she only told me about the day before so I had to go buy new cupcake liners *sigh* In the end though, it was a really nice baptism. Poppy Hatch gave a really nice talk on the importance of baptism and Piper's Aunt gave a good talk on the Holy Ghost and how it guided her when she had lost Piper once. One of the counselors in the Primary Presidency also got up to welcome them to the ward. Serving with her, I know how nervous she gets so it made me feel extra special to have her get up there. She bore such a good testimony and there was such a good strong spirit throughout the whole program. The only crummy part was that the water in the font was icy cold (due to some poor planning on my hubby's part) and Ben had a meltdown about getting in it (crying and refusing to get in). Thankfully he was able to bear through and he gave a good old spit and shake when he got lifted out. I am sure Ben will never forget his baptism ;)

After the baptism we went to Little Daddy's in West Bloomfield for dinner. Tyler loves this place- it has Greek and American food. I think the food is good but the place itself smells a little funny. Since the kids had hogged down doughnuts and cupcakes at the baptism they didn't eat much but us adults were definitely hungry after a long afternoon. We got lots of compliments at the restaurant about what a good looking family we were. Tyler thinks they must be trained to give compliments because we got so many.

The restaurant is super close to the Detroit Temple so we made a stop there since the Grandparents had never seen it. It was an extremely cold day so I tortured the kids by taking a lot of pictures- when they complained I got in their faces and took more pictures, they super appreciated that ;)

Sunday we planned to only go to sacrament meeting so we could spend some time with Tyler's dad before he left early Monday morning. Well we got lucky because they ended up cancelling the last two hours of church so we didn't have to feel guilty about ditching. I'm not entirely sure why they cancelled, the roads were a little icy that morning but not bad after sacrament. But there were A LOT of people gone so maybe they cancelled for low attendance?

After we got home, we ate lunch and then took the Grandparents to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. Once again, it was crowded, there were like 3 birthday parties going on there and one birthday party group was super rowdy. I didn't enjoy the chaos but everyone else seemed to have a good time. Tyler and his dad got nerdy about all the cool exhibits. The kids did some of their favorites again and did some building (and destroying) at the end. Ben was especially working hard to make buildings but they kept getting knocked down by random passer-byers so he decided to just give in and destroy them at the end.

After the museum we went back to our house and said our good byes to Tyler's dad. He had a 5am flight so he needed to take off and get some rest before it. We were glad we got him, even if it was just for a little bit. Penny will sure miss her fun buddy. 

Spring Break

This week was Spring Break, only the weather made it feel more like a Winter Break. We literally woke up to snow- twice! This meant that we had to find ways to keep entertained INDOORS which is not how I feel Spring Break should be spent but tis life when you live in Michigan.

Tyler was off work Monday so we decided to go check out the one museum in metro Detroit that we hadn't been to yet. We went to the Hands on Museum in Ann Arbor. It was very reminiscent of the Michigan Science Center, lots of Science things for the kids to interact with. Since it was only $5 more to get a membership we went ahead and got one. I'm glad we can go back because it was SUPER crowded and I'd like to go at a time when it's less busy. 

Below Tyler and Lucy are staring into a machine with liquid magnets, it was pretty cool. Lucy is showing off her muscles after she lifted something super heavy with ropes.

Below are pictures of the bubble exhibit, the kids really liked this one. They got to make a bubble around themselves. Steven was really angry because I wasn't taking his picture. I videoed the bubble making but he popped it before I could take a picture. I felt there was no need to take a picture once the bubble was gone but obviously he felt otherwise- oh my mini teenager.

The kids also had fun playing with the fake cash register because of course, money! And Dad had fun trying to match his reflection with the bicycling skeleton. Sometimes I feel like I have 5 kids when I go out ;)

Two unique things to this museum were the ambulance that the kids could play around in and the water exhibit. Ben had fun pretending that he was dying on the stretcher and Penny had fun catching fish. 

We had brought food for the kids to eat at the Museum but we didn't have food for Tyler and me so afterwards we walked to Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger and got ourselves some grown up food. The wait was long but the burgers were good and the kids enjoyed getting to hog down on french fries and soda. The only poopy thing was that they gave Tyler a hard time for saving seats- as if it would be better for us to have all 4 kids in a long line. 

After that fun we took the kids to Target so they could spend their "Conference Cash." Yes we bribe our kids so they will behave during Conference and as much as I hate paying them to do what they should do, it really made for a peaceful Conference. The boys got Pokemon cards because it has become a full blown obsession and the girls got Shopkins toys because they are still obsessed with them.

The rest of Spring Break we didn't do anything extraordinary. We had friends over Tuesday- lots of friends. The Mays, the Brandley's, the Hansen's. I learned that Steven isn't a very god friend. He had a hard time letting his friend take turns on Minecraft and then made his friend clean up a mess. We had to have a conversation about being a better friend but sometimes I feel like nothing is sinking in. I love that kid but he sure challenges me.

Wednesday we spent a few hours at the library and Lucy got her bangs cut- I can see her eyes again! 

Thursday we had friends over again and Friday we met some friends at The Commons. The kids love that place and had fun getting all their energy out. By the time we left they were all pooped-- and whiny. Here's a shot of Ben eating a "picnic" with his bestie at The Commons.

I also have been trying to get things ready for Ben's baptism next week. I borrowed a friend's fancy camera and attempted to take some nice pictures of Ben. He got really emotional about having to put his church clothes on when it wasn't Sunday and then the sunlight was in his eyes so I ended up taking some inside and some in a shady spot and this was the best I got. I definitely see why I usually pay someone to take nice pictures. Not the best but they will have to do. 

I am finding it hard to plan a baptism with another person (we are combining with another girl who had her birthday a couple days before Ben). The mom is super busy and she also has different feelings about how a baptism should be carried out.I feel like her planning is a little more kid centered than ordinance centered. And the fact that I am a control freak does not help at all. So I think things are coming together but it has definitely been a process.

Also this week we watched "Jurassic Park" and "Jurassic World" with the boys (when the girls were in bed). It was fun finally having the boys old enough to watch it with us and they actually didn't seem too scared. Apparently they had seen half of "Jurassic World" when they were in AZ so that could have been why. I had been looking forward to them watching it with me for the first time so I was disappointed that they had seen it without me. However, I still had fun telling the kids all the things that they could learn from the movies like- don't shine a light in a dinosaur's eye and you can't hide from a dinosaur in a bathroom. Lots of real good advice in those movies ;)

Easter Fun, Picture Overload

The day before Easter we did our traditional dying of the Easter Eggs. I went ahead and bought fake eggs again- way better than boiling eggs that we would never eat. The kids put them in a bag and shook on the color. I thought this would be way less messy but the packets of color that we poured into the bags kept tipping over and spilling. So glad I had the tablecloth! Lucy had got some color on her brand new Beauty & the Beast shirt, hence the shirt change.

After coloring the eggs we decorated them with Emoji stickers and put glitter on them. I don't know why I agreed to glitter- it is now all over my counter (because Lucy was playing with the finished eggs there) and probably in all my food *sigh*

After decorating Easter Eggs it was time for General Conference. I am really enjoying making my notes fancy- if only my kids wouldn't bump into me and mess me up. All my doodles were inspired by the Spring Doodles class I went to recently.

After both the sessions we got to decorate an Easter Bunny Cake. I had re found this pan when we were moving so I decided we should finally use it. The kids had a lot of fun and it will probably become a new tradition. I let them put the icing on and they then proceeded to cover it with Twizzlers and jelly beans. They totally filled all the eye and mouth holes with jelly beans. Penny kept complaining that her tummy hurt but then proceeded to pig out. Unfortunately later she had some diarrhea, so super fun.

Easter morning Penny woke up super early and super excited that her tummy didn't hurt anymore. She shouted "Mom! I no puke! And no more diarrhea out my butt!" Such a great start to the day ;). The kids all had fun looking for their baskets and checking out their loot. Lucy's basket was hidden in our closet (one of her favorite places to hide- she hid in their while I was showering the other day and surprised me with a card when I went to look for a shirt). Lucy's favorite thing in her basket was her stickers. She also got an Esther movie, a unicorn headband, a pink stuffed bunny, some fun stickers and activity books for church and silly putty. She (and all the other kids) also got some bubbles and a water gun- considering we just got a light dusting of snow last night those gifts are not the most useful.

Ben's basket was hidden in the bathroom since he loves taking bubble baths so much. You can see his loot spread out below. He loved his Ninjago stickers the best. I loved the "Who's Your Hero" book he got. It has 3 illustrated stories for different heroes in the Book of Mormon and then songs, scriptures and activities that go along with them. Should make for some fun Family Home Evening Lessons. 

Penny's basket was hidden under the TV since she LOVES TV way more than she should. She loved her silly putty the best. I loved the new Veggie Tale Water Wow and Lift the Flap book she got for church. We were in need of some new church entertainment for her.

 

Steven's basket was hidden in the fireplace. He's lucky we didn't turn on the fire last night. Steven's favorite thing was a new mini perplex ball (those maze balls). He also got a tricky Bible Guess it Game which should be fun for family home evening and an illustrated D&C book (which is good since that is what we are reading right now as a family).

Me and dad got church wear- ties for him and a new church dress for me. I also got some Brain Putti because I am always stealing the boys, it's a good stress reliever ;)

Then after finding baskets I made the kids their traditional bunny pancakes. I totally forgot to buy things to decorate with so I cut up Tyler's Tootsie Rolls for eyes, used jelly beans from the cake and found some slightly hard marshmallows for the tail- I am so resourceful! The kids, who have been anti-pancake lately- actually chowed them down but only because they were promised they could eat some of their chocolate bunny afterwards. 

And soon it will be time for the Sunday morning session of General Conference. I like that it will help put our Easter back on the path of what it's really about. We have been handing out reward bucks during conference (can be traded in for real money later) and the boys have actually been listening to some of the talks- I hope this continues to help. It's nice when they actually take something from it. Then for dinner today we will be doing our Jerusalem meal. I offered to do ham since we didn't have church today but Tyler really wanted the Jerusalem meal so I wasn't going to fight him. There will be hummus, pitas, fish sticks, grapes, and grape juice- this is the picky eater version of what would be eaten in Jerusalem. And that is our Easter all wrapped up and super fun!