A Time for Vacation Week

April vacation is here and honestly I'd been really looking forward to it. I enjoy having the older kids home with us and since we were in San Diego the last school vacation I was looking forward to spending the extra time with them. We've managed to stay fairly busy and have a lot of fun so I thought I'd give you a glimpse into what vacation week looks like at our house...

We started off the week by going shopping for some

 vacation week activities. I saw on the weather (as reliable as it is) that there was some rain expected so thought it best to be prepared. Jena's idea of what we should bring home and mine were different, haha but it was fun taking all of them with me to choose a few things. Anytime we are ever at Walmart the two things they always ask to see are the bikes/cars and the lobsters in the tank. This car was actually charged and Noah accidentally made it drive off the rack...that was the end of that! :) What we did leave the store with was a puzzle, a lego kit and stuff to make puppets because my kids are currently in a puppet show phase...love that they are being creative! 
A word of advice to you fellow moms who are puzzle haters as I am...NEVER buy your child a "Lenticular" puzzle. They are, I think, the worst thing ever created. Every piece looks exactly the same and it's a hologram so there are actually two pictures on each piece. We have yet to finish this horrible thing but have to because I promised them I would modge podge it afterwards so they could hang it on their

wall...because of course it was a Star Wars puzzle. 

We did go to the beach one day and it was SO cold, so cold in fact I didn't take any pictures! The only things that kept me from turning around were that the kids were really excited to be there, I was meeting friends there and I drove an hour to get there! We stayed and toughed it out and actually the kids didn't even seem to notice how cold it was. Tess was wrapped in about 3 towels and eventually fell asleep so it wasn't completely horrible and the kids had a great time. When we got home it was about 10 degrees warmer and the sun was out so we all thawed out in the hot sun outside! 

I had the opportunity another day to have a couple girls over to help train them to babysit and take care of babies. That was such a blessing. It was so fun to spend time with girls who actually wanted to be there helping and playing with the kids. Mom is doing a great job with those two!! We have not had access to a babysitter in a couple years now, other than friends who generously offer here and there, so the opportunity to train these girls to babysit for us is great. The kids had so much fun with them. I'm looking forward to spending more time with them...they'll be ready to babysit in no time! 

Today as I write this we have no plans and we are all enjoying the lazy, no commitment day. We have been taking it easy, cleaning our rooms, putting away laundry, lots of playing in the playroom (cowboys and spies today) and watching a movie. Every kid needs a down day like this...moms too! Later on we'll (they will actually, I'll observe) tackle the Lego Star Wars kit we bought and get that made so they can play with it. I also promised a game of Catan so we'll aim to fit that in too. Even Tess was needing a slow day as she's been snoozing most of the morning! Tomorrow is the day everyone has been counting down to! Dad is taking a day off to spend with us and we've got big plans. We let the kids decide what they wanted to do and everyone unanimously agreed that bowling at "daddy's shipyard" (they think he owns it)  would be the "funnest" and ice cream afterwards. It was suggested we go to Friendly's but then we heard about Shane''s of Maine's awesome deal this week....75 cent burgers & hot dogs and $1 ice cream cones...so that's where we'll be! 

I'm always amazed at how fast a week flies by. But I can say we made the most of our time and had a lot of fun! And it makes me look forward to summer vacation all the more! Hope all you other moms had a fun spring break too!