An EGGcellent Easter and Spring Break

HOPPY EASTER 
(part one of this post)
Let's begin by backtracking to catalog our Easter and the festive events that surrounded it--beginning with the egg hunt at our church.  My parents have hosted the hunt at their house since they moved to Elrod Road years ago (nine to be exact).  They have over 2,000+ eggs, and IT'S BIG!  The kids always look forward to it.  However, this year the weather was completely crummy so we had to move the hunt to the church building.  It was a good time, but it's just not the same having an egg hunt inside.  Plus, we had to do the hunt in rounds to accommodate both age groups of children (kindergarten & under; 1st-5th grades).  While the younger kids hunted for eggs, the older kids played games with the teenagers in the fellowship hall.

Let's get ready to do some egg hunting!  Look at the sweet bunch!

There was even a visit by the Easter bunny.

Miles and his buddy Samuel super excited by all their finds.

After the little ones got done with their hunt, all the adults and teens power-hid the remaining eggs for the elementary school kids.  Both groups had a contest to see who could find the most eggs.  Miles came in 2nd place in his age group and was tickled with his chocolate bunny prize.  Karson and Isaac were in the more competitive group, and I wouldn't classify them as "power" hunters.  Kids who win these kind of competitions are like vacuum cleaners and sweep sections of eggs.  My kids go here and there, picking up some along the way.  I wasn't shocked that they didn't win the most eggs contest.  They really weren't either.  Sidenote:  my kids are totally strange about their Easter candy too.  When I was their age, I would take mine to my room and snack on it for days.  My kids, not so much.  It stays on my kitchen table untouched for days.  After a few weeks (and my SORE eyes from looking at it splattered all over my table), I send all the candy into school for the teacher's treat boxes.  Their current Easter candy is STILL on the kitchen table untouched.  Weirdos!

Sweet Friends!

Miles got to go on a field trip on the last day before Spring Break.  His class went to see a performance of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" and then went to the Hot Rod Stadium for lunch and to tour the facility.  This was also the day of their spring parties at school.  I told Mr. Coleman that I would be happy to volunteer that morning and sort and count the Easter eggs for the hunt later since everyone would be gone.  AND, if I know kindergarten parents like I think I do, almost everyone of them went on the field trip.  I wish I still had the energy to do this with Miles, but I have found these trips to be crazy and little time is actually spent with your child.  Although the trip is special, I would rather stay behind and help the teacher out.  His teacher asked me to number all the Easter eggs and group them in sets of 26.  Who knew it would take over an hour to do that?  Whew.  My hands were worn out after reassembling the busted open eggs, numbering and sorting. I knew I would get some quality time with my lil Panther that afternoon at the school party.

Miles searched all over the ground for his #6.  I understand the purpose of organizing hunts like this, but it sure is work for everyone involved. I picked up dozens of eggs helping him find his 26, #6's.  I noticed the kids started losing interest about 10 minutes in.  I started rounding up the eggs and placing them in large piles hoping this would help some of them out.  After all the eggs were finally claimed, the kids enjoyed Popsicles, chalk and bubbles.

I ventured over to Isaac's class to see what he was up to and was hoping to snap a few pics. of his egg hunt.  There were a couple of 2nd grade classes outside still hunting so I thought I would find his class outside--nope.  They had already made their way back to the room and were in full party mode.  Isaac, being the picky eater he is, really didn't get to excited about his candy.  He actually gave most of it away--silly boy!  If you think his hair is looking fabulous, you have me to thank.  I gave him a mild trim.  He came running through my bedroom on Tuesday night with a pair of safety scissors heading for my bathroom. I asked him what he was doing, and he said I'm cutting my hair, it's in my face, and I'm tired of it.  **Like that's what we do in our house, cut our hair when we feel like it.**  I told him to put the scissors down, and I would give him a little trim.  Thank goodness I was actually in my bedroom when he came barreling through, sheesh!

Thursday fun continued when the kids got home from school.  We headed over to my mom's house to celebrate my dad's birthday and mine.  Mom had another big egg hunt for the kids.  She also included some prize, money eggs.  All the kids found at least one or two dollars, but Isaac found both $5 eggs and a handful of $1 eggs.  He's a lucky lil guy!  His luck ran out later that day when we found out he spent $28 in iTunes store credit on un-authorized purchases and had to pay us back : /.  Oh Isaac, what are we going to do with you?!?!

I love this picture.  Every single one of the kids has their eyes closed.  I think Shannon had told them to close their eyes and on the count of three open them up.  I guess I snapped the picture to quickly, or the sun was really bright.  Love it!

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Easter morning is especially fun when you're a kid.  Sunday morning is almost like Christmas morning for our kids ~ they get up at the crack of dawn full of excitement.  They were especially excited this year: (a) Easter baskets full of goodies (b) our kids love going church, always have and (c) because they knew we were heading to the beach right after church service.

I love playing the clue game with the kids and make them work for their baskets.  Miles got six clues, Isaac got eight, and Karson got ten. They loved finding all the clues, that led to other clues, and so on until they found their baskets.

Karson likes the more traditional Easter candy like peeps, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, etc.  I also got her a new pair of swim goggles, jump rope, word find, color bubbles and some fuzzy socks.

  Isaac got his favorite candies consisting of Fun Dip, tootsie rolls and suckers.  He's also got big into the Back to Future movies.  I found the complete set on eBay for around $12.  This was steal considering it was about $30 on Amazon.com brand new.

He also thoroughly enjoyed Karson's extra pair of fuzzy socks and tried staking claim on them.  I asked, "do you not care that they are neon green and hot pink?"  He said, "no, they are warm."  I guess I'll be making a trip to Justice to get Isaac some girly socks soon.  He's one-of-a-kind ya'll!

Underwear alert!!!  I rarely get a picture of Miles at home clothed.  Maybe he'll get the urge to wear pajama pants sometime soon?  Isaac started wearing pajamas about a month ago after years of underwear only.  He told me in his serious tone, "Mom, pajamas keep your warm at night."  I'm certain I have made this remark many times, but it has fallen on deaf ears. At any rate, I'm glad he is wearing them and becoming a bit more self-aware. 

Miles and Isaac had to get their sticky hands out of the package immediately.  Listen people, if you're spending lots of moo la on Easter stuffers, don't!  Go to your local Dollar General and pick up silly string, sticky hands, flarp putty, whoopie cushions, nerf footballs, foam airplanes, spiral bound notebooks for drawing, etc.  Viola, party in a basket!  There is a whole party aisle of cheap fun, and you can get all the Easter candy there too.

Forced family pictures before church.  Matt actually needed to leave earlier than usual to prepare for service so we had to power through the mandatory photos quickly.

Sunday morning was a crazy whirlwind of events -- Easter madness, sugar rushes, getting everyone fancied up for church, finishing up with packing for our Spring Break trip to Hilton Head and maintaining sanity at the same time.

My sweet Karson reading scripture at church.

We also shared this adorable video clip with the church:

A Very Special Day 

(check it out when you have some spare time)

Matt did his famous "It's Friday but Sunday's a Coming" sermon.  Powerful, as always!

We also did something similar to an alter call at the end of service where people could write down prayers, concerns, needs and lay them at the foot of the cross.

It was a wonderful Easter service with our church family!

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HELLO FROM HILTON HEAD ISLAND!

(part two of this post)

I probably should have made two separate posts but was on a roll with pictures and didn't feel like stopping.  After Easter service we rushed home, changed out of our Easter attire, power packed and set off for Hilton Head.

 This was the kids first trip to Hilton Head.  It was my second time there, but I have little memory of the trip I took there as a child.  I remember random highlights like: playing with my Barbies on the balcony patio, getting to sleep in a bunk bed, being stung by a wasp, blah, blah, blah.  What I don't remember is everything being BEIGE.  Hilton Head Island has a certain look to it.  You can tell that the locals there want it to look very uniform and color-less.  It's hard to find places like Walmart or McDonald's because the signs are low to the ground, small and beige (and incredibly easy to miss).  No golden arches there people!  However, all the uniformness makes the island very unique and beautiful!  HHI is actually about 12 miles long so why not be particular in the decorating, ya know!

Our beautiful home for the week ~ 2 High Rigger at Palmetto Dunes.  All the houses in this community are uh-mazing!  I pulled these pictures off the website because  the house didn't quite resemble this with 18 people residing in it for the week =).  It wasn't quite this neat and tidy.

Our cozy little bedroom for the week.

The house has 7 bedrooms, 8.5 bathrooms, a media room, formal dining room, large kitchen, and a heated pool and hot-tub.  It was huge! I think I could've parked our entire house in the garage and crawl space underneath this place.  It was crazy-big and decorated beautifully.  The kids spent most of their time in the pool or media room.  There was entertainment at every corner.

Monday and Tuesday were the only days that it was warm enough to go to the beach.  Our house wasn't ocean front, but there was a path the led to the ocean which wasn't far.  The kids certainly didn't mind the walk. 

Now I ain't sayin' he's hole digger!
Isaac manages to find another suck, I mean, hole digger for his project.

 Isaac is definitely the busiest on the beach.  He gets to work immediately resuming his role as GIANT HOLE DIGGER.  This happens every time we go to the beach.  It's like he's been off of work for months and needs to catch up with his hole digging.  Reminds me of the movie HOLES.  And, he expects Matt or me to help him dig his massive land mines.  I'm not sure what the goal of this endless hole digging is about, but he is one determined fellow on the beach.

Miles is usually wanting to build or make something on the beach.  He needs buckets and buckets of water, beach finds (seashells and rocks) and castle building materials.  He and Abby Kate were usually on the same page and stayed together most of the time, building, concocting, planning, squashing, rebuilding, etc.

Karson is in the sand covering the body phase on the beach and likes to have it all over her.  

Her cousin Elizabeth does too!  Hey, they are exfoliating, right?

The ocean was to cold to swim in, and there were very few people on the beach both days.  The only people out there besides us were beach walkers and bicyclists. Bicycling is HUGE in Hilton Head.  There are bikers everywhere.  At first, it was kind of cool, all the bike paths, bikers, etc.  As the week progressed though, it became annoying.  There were bikes EVERYWHERE, at all times, going a thousand different directions, yielding to cars, speeding by walkers, on the beach.  It was like I was trapped in a bike warp zone.  We didn't bring the kids bikes, but our crew did bring a couple of bikes, and we rented one for Karson to ride.  I brought the kids scooters but immediately knew bikes were the IT thing in Hilton Head.  Maybe next time?

Thank goodness for the heated pool and hot tub which is where the kids spent a majority of their time.

We found a local park nestled on the island.  Like I mentioned earlier, everything is hidden in Hilton Head.  This park was part of a huge complex and about 2 miles from where we were staying.  It took us about 2 minutes to get there and about 10 minutes to find the actual playground in the complex, and that was after stopping a local resident to ask.  It was buried back in a wooded area past the soccer field and basketball courts. The kids enjoyed it very much once we found it.  It was a nice break from the pool and beach (and bikers).

We were told by numerous people in B.G. to eat at Steamer's Seafood because the owner Dale Augenstein is a WKU graduate, and the restaurant is full of WKU memorabilia.  Dale also hires WKU students to work at the restaurant year round.  I have to say the food was AWESOME too.  

Way to go Dale!  I wish you'd open one of these in Bowling Green too.

Matt, Paul, Steve and my dad did some golfing at nice courses, and the kids enjoyed their own version of golfing at Pirate's Island mini-golf.  The weather wasn't real cooperative on Wednesday so playing mini-golf was the perfect solution.

Isaac wasn't in a golfing kind of mood so he decided to stay with Meme back at the house.  The other kids were ready for action with brightly colored golf balls and clubs.

Shannon and I tackled all six kids which really was not that much work.  Mini golf is always entertaining.  We had to develop a system though to create good flow for the kids.  Abby Kate was our first golfer.  She held her club much like one would hold a pool stick, got low to the ground and hit her ball multiple times until it went in the hole.  Then, she patiently waited for everyone else to take their turn.  I was totally impressed at her ability to wait for everyone and keep track of her ball and club.  We did this for 18 holes, and she was completely content.  And, she's only 3. 

Miles shimmying through the rock obstacles.

Karson trying to sink one in.

What I didn't anticipate and should have prepared for was the last hole on the course.  It actually snuck up on us we were having so much fun.  Abby Kate actually went ahead and started putting around on it.  Then, a sorrowful cry erupted from her 3-year old face when her ball went missing.  Whoops.  I tried explaining to her that the balls belonged to the golf course, we couldn't keep them and could tell I was getting no where fast.  Thank goodness for the close concession stand and Push-Ups that made everything much better.

We ate at The Smokehouse on Thursday night.  Here is our crazy crew, minus my parents.  Do we look normal?  We were super excited because we arrived at the restaurant during Happy Hour, and the specials were hard to pass up.  Very good eating here as well.

Miles and Samuel spent lots of time playing card games with Meme.  They love War!  I believe this game was going on around 6:30 a.m. Friday morning.

I had a 3 year old visitor in my bedroom lots of mornings.  One morning we decided to have a photo session.  Makes me miss my lil preschoolers at Greenwood Park, such a fun age!

We left HHI early Saturday morning and made our way back to Bowling Green.  It was bitter-sweet.  However, when we got home around 2 p.m., and it was a gorgeous day.  It's nice coming home to sun and warmth.  

This wraps up my small novella.  Hope everyone is loving this spring weather.  I've been over-doing it planting, fertilizing, pulling weeds, etc.  It's just way to hard to be inside when the sun is shining.