"I didn't even break a nail"

Here is a picture of the cake i made for Easter.  While it looks fun and yummy, don't let that fool you.  It didn't rise and in the picture is actually a 2 layer cake!  Yikes!  I have never failed at baking a cake and after we ate a piece we threw it out!!

 So the cake might have been a slight failure this week but today I more than made up for it!!  I went to mow the yard while Eric was napping and the pull string broke!  I emailed Justin to see if he knew how to fix it (he didn't).  So I looked it up on google and then got some tools and set to work.

I had to take the top plastic part off, the gas tank, the metal cover, and then could get to the screw that released the string winding thing.  I used some of Justin's military cord and then pieced it back together.

AND it worked!  The first time!!  All screws made it back to their proper place and I didn't bust a knuckle or break a nail!!

So tomorrow I will get to the mowing.  The breaking and then fixing took the productive parts of nap time.
Go ME!!

Toy boxes

So a few weeks ago Justin (with an assist from yours truly) built some toy boxes for the kids.  It has since taken me a lot longer to get them painted since it got too cold to paint.  But they are done (minus Eric's name)!!  

Piles of cut lumber ready to be assembled.

Justin and his helpers

The neighbor boy came over to help too! *note Caroline's colorful outfit!

FINISHED!  Pink, sparkly, wooden letter finish it off.

Will also has glitter on his!

I haven't gone through the toys and sorted them yet but they do have toys in their boxes.  

April Fool's Day

So on April Fool's day Justin and I fooled the kids for dinner.  I made dinner look like carrot cake and the kids were so excited we were having cake for dinner!  

 But really on the inside it was hamburger patties covered in mashed potatoes!!

Will was mighty disappointed.  For one thing he doesn't like mashed potatoes so he was mad when he thought he was licking icing and got potatoes.

The triple double stuffed oreo for dessert helped make it up to him!!

Picture time

I tried hard today to get a great picture of the kids in their Easter outfits.
The good news is we have a professional photo shoot in May so I'm hoping they can get some better pictures!

Happy Easter

Yesterday Justin and the big kids dyed some eggs while Eric napped. I only had one holder thing so I stole Laura's idea and used a whisk for Will.
And in the previous days we had been opening our resurrection eggs. They are really great for telling the Easter story and the kids looked forward to opening a new eggs at meal time.
Last week the kids also decorated an Easter house. They ate about as much candy as it took to decorate it!!

sick again!

Well 2/5 of us are still on antibiotics!  AGAIN!  We are trying to get well but so far this year it just isn't working for us.  Eric just finished a round of antibiotics for another ear infection and Caroline is on the mend after getting strep throat and I'm working getting well too.  After this I hope we are done for a while.  Maybe the weather will warm up too! (one can always hope)

A sick little boy!  He fell asleep in my arms around 11am while I was on the phone!!

A little 5ths disease (she seems to get this every spring).  She felt better over the weekend and then her fever came back Monday afternoon.

*Update on the toy boxes: Caroline and Will's are done!  And I'm waiting on the weather to get warm enough to put a second coat of Eric's.  Now when I feel better it will be time to organize the toys!

Will's turn

Will mastered the spinning wheel things today!  Eric won't get this done before we move but it was a goal of Will's.  Justin and I were more excited than he was!!