family: Spring Break

For spring break I decided I would try to do one thing with the kids each day...nothing big but just something...since we were not going out of town. Monday I took the kids fishing. They were SO GOOD. I was a little worried about the younger ones and how they would fare but WOW...I was so impressed. Ethan pretty much did it all by himself. I told the kids they would have to bait their hooks with the worms. I helped them but they would need to touch the worms and attempt to put them on the hook. It was super cute to watch them. Mayah and Ethan got a little grossed out. Rachel did at first too but they all got the hang of it and were fine with it...well maybe not fine but they did it. And I was so proud of them. Rachel caught two fish and Zach caught one...BIG ONE...with HIS HANDS. I couldn't believe it. Him and Caleb rolled up their pants and started wading through the water and then all of a sudden he comes back with a pretty big fish in his hands. I was impressed. GOOD GOOD DAY.

Tues. we went swimming in a covered pool that was attached to someones home. I didn't know the people but they rent out their pool and for 7 of us it was only $10. I thought that was a pretty good deal. The kids had a blast and I really enjoyed myself too. We played alot of games and were pretty tired after.

Wed. we made homemade icecream. I didn't realize that we didn't have any rock salt so we used kosher. HOLY COW it took forever to get done in our electric maker but after about an hour we decided we could wait no longer. It was close to being done. It was just slightly thicker than a vanilla shake. LOL. But oh so yummy. I am not sure there is anything better than homemade ice cream.

Thurs. I can't think of anything we did this day. It was a crazy day and things just seemed too too much. So I guess I failed at trying one thing per day with the kids but at least we were together right?

Friday we did a random acts of kindness day. The older two boys went over to their cousins house so it was just Rachel, Ethan and Mayah and I. OH it was super fun and I think the best time out of all the days. The kids said, "I didn't know this was going to be so much fun".

So our first stop was delivering chocolate chip cookies to the fire station. We all went up and knocked on the door and said thanks for all their hard work. The guy was grateful. Picture below to show kids in front of one of their trucks.

Second we headed to Calico Cat to get some stuffed animals to take to the police station. I had Rachel ask how much they wanted per stuffed animal and the lady said that the kids could each pick one out for free. I went up to the lady to tell her what we had planned and that we could pay for them and that we wanted a few to take to donate to the police station. She went into the back and came out with a large black bag for us to fill up and didn't want a single dime for them. WOW....the kids had a TON of fun gathering the animals up. Picture below to show them by the large bin of animals. We got to the police station but they said they had no room to store them so we took them to New Hope...a domestic violence service place. They were super happy to receive them and I explained to the kids how happy it was going to make some little kids.

We went to Walmart to pick up a few things. I had to get my glasses cleaned and tightened. While doing that the kids were trying on some of the glasses on the wall. It was SO funny when Ethan tried a pair on and he said, WOW, mom. I can see so much better now. It made me laugh out loud. I wonder if he realizes that those don't even have prescriptions in them. I didn't tell him. I just played along. HILARIOUS....too when Mayah said YEAH ME TOO.

We headed out to McDonalds. Our idea was to pay for the persons meal behind us. So we sat off to the side before the drive in hoping to get in front of someone before they pulled in. About three cars went in but we didn't have time to sneak in before them. But then no cars were coming so we decided to pull in behind a pick up and I had Rachel get out to tell the guy we were paying for his meal. He got all excited and gave Rach a fist pound. He then told her he only wanted a sundae. I rolled my window down to tell him to get a meal and that it was on us. He declined saying he was only there for a sundae and thanked up more than once. It was pretty awesome.

It was an amazing day to show my kids the feeling of serving others. It was truly an awesome day. We wanted to do more but time didn't allow.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to have time with my kids. I am not too thrilled about working but I am super thrilled for the fact that the hours are perfectly matched to the kids. I get all the holidays and hours they get. What a blessing. I know Heavenly Father knows me and my concerns and circumstances and He knows that this was a perfect match for me. And that is truly a miracle.

Here are the kids in front of the stuffed animals.