Spring Break Beach Trip: Day 1

My kids had been counting the days until our spring break trip for weeks.  They were so . excited because we were going to the beach with our good friends The Weatherbys. 

Unfortunately Michael came down with a stomach virus the night before we were to leave.
Saturday morning I woke up to four excited kids, a sick husband and no preparations made for the trip.  It was decided that the kids and I were leaving without Michael for our trip.  Of course without Michael's help it took forever to get everything packed and ready to go.  But eventually we were on the road.

This was the first time I had taken all four kids somewhere more than two hours from home by myself.  I don't like to drive places I'm not familiar with and definitely  not with kids in tow.  I have to say the trip went very smoothly.  It is so nice that the kids are big enough to help out in the car and be quick for pit stops.

One of the nicest helps was to have Rehm be able to be my technology assistant.  He ran the DVD player, read me directions from the GPS app on my phone, and sent and read texts as needed.

We arrived at the beach house around 4:30 or 5:00.  After getting unpacked and settled we all went out to the beach to explore.  Of course most of the kids went in the ocean even though it was quite chilly. A couple had enough since to stay dry.










It was a very successful first day. It was good for me to get out of my comfort zone.
Jenn

Spring Break: Eliza Claire Photo Shoot

We went to the beach for a few days for Spring Break.  One day Eliza Claire saw me snap a picture of her and started posing for me and asked me to keep taking her picture.  This is pretty out of character for Eliza Claire and typically when the camera comes out she can not smile to save her life.  She is just awkward for photographs.  I think it is because she is trying too hard and can't figure out how to make her body and especially smile muscles do what she wants them to.  However this day.  She did great.  Some are silly and some are just really cute.  So I had to share.

Rehm's Career Path

Rehm had an orthodontist appointment yesterday.  It was just a progress check.  He needs to lose teeth and get molars before the next phase - complete braces.  I was asking the Dr. when the next step would need to be done as I am trying to stagger all of our orthodontic needs so that we are only paying for one child at a time.  The Dr. told us we could easily push it out at least two years but that he found many kids wanted to be out of braces before high school.  I laughed and told him I wasn't concerned with Rehm's fashion needs only my budgetary constraints. 

When we got to the car, I was explaining to Rehm that we would only be doing braces if they were for true bite/jaw needs not cosmetic. I went on to say that if he felt the need to fix the cosmetic issues he could do that when he was an adult.  His response, "Yeah, I'll need to do that for the photo shoot."  I questioned what he meant.  He said, "You know if I'm going to be an actor, I'll have to do a photo shoot."

I cracked up as he explained that Ronald Regan was an actor before he was a great politician.  Since Rehm's current career plan is to be a politician he has decided he should follow Regan's path to the White House. 

I do so love this goofy boy!
Jenn

Goodbye Leafy

Poor Eliza Claire is having a rough night.

Last night in the bath tub she found a small leaf, about the size of a dime. I have no idea why it was in the bathtub. Yeah, obviously my cleaning must leave a bit to be desired. I'm sure it got a ride to the bathtub on one of the girls' hair as they are notorious for rolling around on the ground when they play outside.



She named it Leafy and it became her pet. They had great fun playing in the bath for about half an hour. When bath time was over, Eliza Claire put Leafy in a cup of water to wait for her to come play today.

The housekeeper came today. Apparently she had no clue there was anything special in the cup and dumped it out when she cleaned the tub. Leafy is gone forever.

Eliza Claire is heartbroken. She cried through her entire bath tonight. She talked about what a good leaf Leafy was and how sad she was that she would never see him again. "But, he was such a good friend, I loved him!"

I thought it might help if I shared the story of Charlie the June Bug with her. I'll share it with Mayhem Mania another day. The fact that 30+ years later I still fondly remember him did not comfort her at all. In her mind he could not have possibly been as special as Leafy.

Ruby came in and told her to kiss her hand and put it in the water do the kiss would travel down the drain to him. When that didn't work, she told Eliza Claire to ask God to give Leafy a message for her. That didn't help, either.

Right now playing on the computer is distracting her.

Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Highlighting their Individuality

While one was inside sleeping...



The other was outside coloring herself pink with chalk. The picture isn't great but her forehead, arms, hands, legs and feet were all bright pink.



Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Happy Easter!

The pre-church photos of the kids.  We successfully made it to the eight o'clock service this morning.  This was quite an accomplishment given all of the Easter finery.  

The closest I got to a really good picture of all four Maniacs

Ruby did not like that her dress was shorter than Eliza Claire's.  But when you have such great hand-me-downs to wear, you wear the size you've got.

Eliza Claire can not smile for a photograph to save her life.  I love the three different expressions here.

Charlotte feeling very special in her Easter dress

 

My favorite picture of the day.  I think this completely captures Miss Ruby.

The best Eliza Claire smile of the day.  I love how it shows off her missing teeth.

 

Rehm is to the point he gets annoyed by the picture taking.  I'm just glad he finally found the pants I bought him a month ago that actually fit.  He kept wearing the smaller pants and I kept asking where the new ones were and getting no response.  Finally! Pants that fit!

Looking serious.

Trying to get a good group shot.

Still trying...

Uh, oh, this is getting worse not better.

The End!

Pre-Easter Fun

Saturday we had a small neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  It was nice and low-key and the kids had a lot of fun.  Rehm had a friend come over for the hunt and stay for a few hours.

Hurrying to the Egg Hunt

 

Still not too old for some Easter fun

 

Not sure what Eliza Claire is doing, but she looks like a frog.

 

Showing off their golden eggs

The Golden Egg prize

Later in the afternoon Grandma came out to dye Easter eggs with us.  This is something I always look forward to but an activity that makes me a very grumpy mom.  I think it is the mess potential combined with the initial excitement level of the kids.  It drives me crazy and makes me grumpy which of course takes all the fun out of the activity.  Luckily, I think the kids still enjoyed it. 

After egg dyeing Ruby and Eliza Claire went with a friend to a church Easter Festival.  They had a great time.

Photo by Allison Solberg

It was a fun day to start off our Easter celebrations.
Jenn