Faux Box Mac and Cheese

I FINALLY did it!! I've been trying for at least 2 years to make homemade mac and cheese that Paul would love, but he would only eat it out of the box, no matter how tricky I thought I was. Well, today I succeeded. Look, I even got a thumbs up!  At night, he even had 2 more bowls for a bed time snack.

Birthday Party Prep

All ingredients I need for "Do You Want To Build A Snowman."  (I didn't end up needing the fruit.)

Joy said, "Olaf does not have a hat, so I don't want a hat."  Ok, no hats!

The final rendition for use for the party.

Pin the nose on Olaf.  It took a TON of tries to get Olaf to print out big in multiple sheets, and I don't even know how I did it, but I did finally do it!

Climbing School

Cornstarch in the silly poll!  Joy was a ghastly mess!  No one can ever believe how much she loves to get messy.

She did not want to share the trapeze today!

Gift From Mary Alice

On Sunday, Mary Alice brought the kids a huge gift she had won at a craft show.  It had an awesome octopus sprinkler, a rocket, jump rope, bubble gun, cool water bottle, light up disc launcher, and sidewalk chalk.  Here they are showing off their chalk.  They loved the basket.  Thank you for thinking of us Mary Alice!

Here's a video of them shooting the rocket.  We took a video in case it turned into an America's Funniest Video moment, but it did not.

Take a Picture of Me

X-Wing

Showing off an X-Wing that he made with his rods and balls.

She Dressed Herself...

...and modeled her outfit.

Garden Preparation

Spreading the vermicompost.

Hauling the compost barrel

Spreading manure

Playing in Daddy's truck while we worked

"I'm Shawn Speer."

Letter Bread

I made us bread sticks with the first letters of our names.  I used the bagel dough, brushed it with lots of butter and sprinkled it with salt.  They were really good, better than Olive Garden breadsticks.  Paul loved his.  Joy didn't take more than the bite pictured.  I'm not sure why.  

Joy's Art

Joy drew me a picture of some torpedoes and wanted me to take a picture of her picture.

Spiralizer

Shawn and my anniversary present to each other: a Spiralizer. The kids thought it was great fun to use.  It is really cool!

Busy, Busy Day at Church

We had a meeting after church to discuss options about building a new fellowship hall.  It was over an hour and Camille kindly watched the kids the whole time.  She sent me these pictures.

In the evening, we had a shower for needed Christian Ed items since many things had been destroyed in the fellowship hall.  The kids ate a ton and were incredibly well behaved.

14th Anniversary

We celebrated our 14th Anniversary this afternoon at Angelos,.  We've come a long way since last year.  Last year I prepared for hours making up things for the kids to do at the restaurant because I thought It would be a disaster.  This year, with the help of a Care Bear activity book, they were very well behaved and we had a nice time.

Easter Dinner

It was a fabulous day; great family fun and absolutely beautiful weather.  

Grandpa playing with the calculator with Arianna

What fun, a ride in the back of the truck to go tour Michael and Jackie's new house.  

Checking out the telescope

And the guitar

And the horses...Arianna loves to talk to the animals!!!

Aunt Aimee helping the kids into the truck

Arianna loved shouting "Moo" to the cows.

Tugs mixing up baby calf formula; he loves to feed the cows!

Kaitlyn greeting the cows

Reading an animal book to Arianna

Puzzle time!