Lovely Spring

Eliza loves to make the stairs dangerous.

The top picture is the crocuses I planted last fall and came up lovely this spring, the bottom picture is the day after the top picture after the animals found them.

Took the kids to the Mario movie, the kids all dressed up. Our Princess Peach.

The kids really enjoyed the movie.

After the movie we were off to the dentist. Everyone came away without cavities so that was nice. 

Easter was fun. The kids got their Easter baskets and headed outside for the egg hunt with clues to the next egg.

Easter Egg Ears after church

Easter family photo

Easter at the Carter house hold

Alex is almost as tall as Nana

The kids first time dying Easter Eggs.

Alex birthday treat. He went with butterscotch chip, chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream. He LOVED it! We all loved it!

Eliza was brushing her horse out to make it soft again.

First meal on the deck with our neighbor kid friend.

Evan finished out Lego League. He was a helpful hand with his coach because he did it last year, and he built a lot of the vehicles with one of his friends.

Alex doing homework before his annual check up. We went to Aldi's right before and bought some snacks and ate them in the car, and then worked on his homework in the car. 

Evan and Eliza giving me an early morning painting class. 

Finally finished this embroidery piece. 

Evan was down and out for a few days with Strep Throat. Poor guy.

Eliza made glasses out of a pipe cleaner.

Waiting for the bus

This umbrella is almost too big for Eliza, but it keeps her dry on the walk to the bus.

I went on a mom vacation with a few friends for a weekend in Toledo on the Lost Peninsula. Always nice to get some mom time, even if I ate dead ants in the coffee creamer. 

Mike made pancakes while I was gone. They had fun eating them.

Evan was in charge of the plants while I was gone. He didn't let one die.

Finally got the walnut by the garden trimmed up. This fall I hopefully won't get hit in the head by walnuts while I'm out in the garden. Not to mention way less walnuts to deal with.

So much better and we still get the shade.

Everyone has been painting their 3d printer Dungeons and Dragons figures.

Here are some of the finished pieces.

Evan and Eliza looking good for church.

Evan asked to be picked up from school early because his tooth was loose and he couldn't eat his lunch.

So I put him to work making cookies for our ice cream sandwiches.

Yum!

Only issue is with his loose tooth he couldn't eat his ice cream treat, so we worked on that tooth and out it came after a few of tears. Turns out a damp napkin is way more useful to get teeth out than a dry one.

Second water barrel installed! So happy to have 100 gallons of water to work with! However, it has only rained once in the last month.

Alex's science fair at school. He did a project on magnets. It was nice to be able to tour the other projects kids did in his class.

Evan loves basil just like me.

Hardening off plants.

Eliza does not like basil. 

We went to a local park and the kids played with the RC car at the skate park, but there were too many skaters so we moved to the baseball fields and they had a lot of fun kicking up dirt.

Oma bought the kids a trampoline for their birthdays. It's been a fun addition to the backyard.

Mike took a day off work to play some of the games he got for his birthday and Christmas with our nephew Clayton. They had so many pieces and took a whole day to play.

Eliza needs to use a timer now to eat her dinner because she will literally sit at the table for hours until bed.

Eliza and Evan make a habitat for a frog they found in the grass. They even made a sign so that no one steps on it. Mike and I went out the next day to look at it and take this picture and the frog had moved out, you can see Mike pointing to it at the top of the fort. 

Waiting for the bus with the bus crew and dandelions. 

We had Nana and the Carters over for Mother's day. The kids showed off their painting skills.

The most beautiful bouquet I've ever had. 

The kids made me close my eyes to get my mother's day gift. I was suspicious. 

Fuzzy PJ crew

We went over to Oma's for a clean up day. Evan is pictured here doing some chain sawing.

The Wade family was there to help as well. Doing the heavy lifting.

We had 6 piles this big or bigger. Evan is there for scale.

Slide whistles on the walk to the bus is so much fun!! Wake up EVERYONE!!

Waiting for Clayton to come over. Using my crystals to see if they could see better.

The kids have this Michigan Moves thing through school that they have to do some activity every day to get a prize at the end of the month. Alex started waking up early so he could do Just Dance video game before school. Evan joined in, Eliza was a spectator. 

I used some of my birthday money to buy some plants at English Gardens. So pretty!

Dirt day! So much dirt! One yard is a lot we found out.

New bed is filled and ready to go.

Lettuce from the fall is still looking good.

Carnival day at Alex's school. So much fun for the kids and it poured rain on the way home!

We got to see Clara in her dance show. She did wonderful and looked beautiful!

Eliza enjoying Aunt Shawn's cozy lap.

Uncle Dave was kind enough to run a 5K with Alex for his Stride program. They both did great! Alex can't wait to do it again next year.

The other two played at the park while Alex and Uncle Dave ran.

Here is Alex coming across the line.

I've been doing Gross Motor skills with the Kindergarten classes since March and it's been really fun. They are fun and enjoy the 5 min they miss of class. This is Eliza doing a ring toss.

Our pin wheel garden.

Matchy Matchy Alex. Last day of Stride.

Evan has been going to the office to build Legos as a reward for doing well in class. The admin there had this grass fairy garden she was getting rid of so she gave it to Evan for his train.

Haircut day for Alex

All cleaned up

Ready for school

Field day at Alex's school. They did 13 stations in 3 hours, some with water, and it was such a good time.

After the Field day we went lunch at the Early Bird Cafe in Keego and it was good. We wanted to lick our plates. 

Eliza wasn't feeling well one day. She threw up in the night and slept the whole next day away. We suspect she ate a bad berry.

Garden is in

Mike is replacing the back door that has been rotting in the corner for the last 10 years. Almost done.

The kids and Mike's first parade ever and we went to Keego Harbor for Memorial Day. They couldn't believe amount of candy they got.

Running to get candy

Birthday lunch for Jamie at Red Lobster with Nana.

Evan was cold at the restaurant so he borrowed my sweater. Evan and Eliza used Uncle Dave's lemons to make lemonade with their ice water. 

It's been so dry I had to mulch all the beds in the garden. No rain in the forecast for the next week and a half. :( 

The other two on the way to the bus. Evan likes having his hair in a front sprout for some reason recently. Eliza loves her rainbow skirt.

Irises and peonies are in bloom. Evan wants to make a bouquet for his teacher tomorrow. 

Evan asked if he could have his own cucumber plant this year, so he is planting seeds in this grow bag. He's looking forward to little cucumbers. 

Evan moisture testing the plants in the garden for me.

Helping me water as well. Love my garden helper.