Coloring Eggs

 All the cousins ready for the Easter Egg Hunt

 Jarom finds a toy

 Luke was more excited about helping Jarom find stuff than getting his own eggs

 Jarom went through his three eggs really fast, so we colored the same ones over and over in different dyes.  He's putting an orange egg into green here.

 Paul bypassed all the eggs and focused on finding his three toys instead.

 Dad was pretty tricky and hid a couple things on the roof

Luke gets an Easter egg dumped in his lap

This year Gramma Sue and Papa hosted egg coloring and set up an egg hunt for all the cousins in Saginaw.  I forget how fast kids color eggs.  Even though the holiday was so much later this year we still wore coats and tramped through puddles and muddy grass.  I can't wait for spring to arrive AND stay.

Easter

All Dressed Up for Easter Sunday

Easter Bunnies

Luke had his Easter party at Lutheran Preschool yesterday. The parents got to come and listen to the kids sing "Ha ha ha lellujah, I've got the joy of the Lord!" and "God's not dead. No!(shouted) He is alive!" These preschool songs make me chuckle.

They gave Luke some bunny ears and he came home and taught Jarom how to hop like the Easter bunny. Now Jarom hops around saying "Hot! Hot! Hot!" Hilarious. I wish i knew how to post the video of him from my camera, but it's not cooperating. But the pictures are kind of cute, too.

Another Hemmeter Idol, Another Silver

Elyse made it to the final round of Hemmeter Idol, with her sites set on that elusive gold. Alas, I guess it just isn't meant to be. I thought for sure she had it. The girl who won gold lost her place, messed up her words, and didn't smile. I'm not sure what happened, but as a totally subjective audience member with no bias toward my own child whatsoever (ha ha), Elyse was totally robbed! I'm proud of her. She practiced and practiced, smiled, had good pitch throughout, and even showed good sportsmanship when she did't get the medal she hoped for. She tried to cheer up the bronze medal winner and congratulated the gold medal winner. I could tell after the assembly, though, as people were leaving that she was upset. Fighting off tears, she asked me to get her backpack for her because she couldn't face going back to the kids in her class. Poor girl. One bronze, and three silvers, she's only got one more year left to try for that gold.

Spring Break in D.C.

World War II Memorial

Matt had a medical conference in Washington, D.C., so for spring break we packed everybody in the car and drove 12 hours, including stops, to our nation's capital. We almost didn't go because Luke and Jarom had been sick and Elyse threw up on the way down, but we chanced it. Matt and I ended up getting sick midway through the week, but as long as the kids had a pool and the Dinsey Channel they managed to cope with us laying on the bed moaning in misery for one day. Glad it was a short lived bug. I don't normally post so many pictures--sorry in advance.

Vietnam Memorial Our first day Matt didn't have classes yet, so we spent the whole day walking and riding a bus around town. The kids were troopers, even Luke. I'm surprised he made it. He won the smallest bladder award for the trip, though, having to go at very inconvenient times. Normally, I have him find a tree, but witht he crowds in town for the National Cherry Festival, there was just too many people around. Behind the Lincoln Memorial

Jumping off the Lincoln Memorial--we're saying hurray for emancipation and the end to the civil war and not being irreverant at all.

Baby flying off the Washington Memorial

Everything is spaced soooooo far apart in this town.

Christmas Picture done....check (too bad Paul has a goofy look on his face)

The National Botanical Gardens--definitely worth stopping for. It's a huge green house with plants from all over the world. My favorite was the cacao tree and all the orchids.

So in all the walking around in cool weather, I forgot to put sunscreen on the kids. That is a huge blister on Jarom's ear--both of them swelled to like twice their normal size. Poor kid's head was totally burnt. Today his face and ears and scalp are all flaky and gross. He's been having trouble sleeping. I felt like such a terrible mom.

This was Matt and I's sick day. We managed to drag ourselves out of bed for our tour at the capital, but didn't make it in time. The kids were good sports. We wandered through the gardens and then ate snacks on the mall before going back to the hotel and back to bed.

National Zoo: my favorite animal. In the next world, I'm getting an otter for a pet.

Elyse's favorite animal. This girl is a little panda crazy.

We went to the Smithsonians on a rainy day, the day before the government was going to possibly shut down. Result: wall to wall crowds. We only wandered through two gallerys at this museum and the kids all agreed it was one of their favorites: the gem collection. We all oohed and ahhed over rocks for almost two hours.

This exhibit was awesome. That whole coral reef behind us is made out of yarn!

They boys especially liked the air and space museum. They couldn't get enough of the rockets. We even went inside one. So glad I'm not an astronaut.

Our last meal in D.C. before going to the Spy Museum: Texas BBQ in Chinatown. Weird, right? But very delicious. We must have been hungry because we ordered way too many ribs.

Misc Highlights:

Touring the white house and watching the President's motorcade drive by right in front of our bus.

Leaving Union Station thirty seconds before big government vans carrying big men with big guns surrounded the building.

Watching presidential helecoptors come in and out of town.

The kids loved swimming every morning while Matt was in class and as soon as he came back, asking if they could go ride the subway next like it was some amusement park ride.

Seeing the cherry trees in bloom all around the memorials.

Watching the changing of the guard at Arlington and walking through General Robert E. Lee's house.

Me getting busted at the White House Visitor Center for having a mini swiss army knife in my purse. Oops, totally forgot that was in there. They didn't think it was funny and they made me throw it away.

Touring the National Cathedral. Did you know they have a Darth Vader gargoyle outside? And Helen Keller and Pres. Wilson are buried there? And they have a moon rock on one of their stained glass windows?

Fun trip, but I'm ready to stay home now for a long, long time and sleep in my own bed, in my own room without kids in it.