Exploring a cave (week 5)

Remember all those trips to the "white spot" on the mountain we have been making.  Well, while the kids were exploring they saw a cave higher up on the mountain that they really wanted to go to.  We told them we couldn't go there at the moment because we had the little kids but promised that Jeremy or I would take them up a different time and we could hike to the cave with just the big kids.  Friday of spring break was our day.  I took Max and Liza while Jeremy worked and hung out at home with the littles during nap time.  

You see that cave on the left hand side up the mountain a ways?  That was our destination.  The mountain was covered in a lot of shale so it was pretty slippery going up with lots of falling rocks.

But we made it!  Max kept saying he was able to make the hike because he was a mountain ninja.  Obviously...

The kids wanted to climb inside but were a bit scared at first thinking there might be animals in there.  However, they finally got up their courage and ventured in with a little boost from me.  I was happy to watch from the outside because the hole was kind of small and I wasn't sure if I would fit.  

But, as it turned out, Liza hiked out the other side of the cave and onto the top of the cave.  She was all smiles and congratulating herself on her awesome climbing abilities until she had to come back through.  The rocks on the far side were slippery and she was having a hard time finding a good foot hold to get down.  After trying to talk her through it and her being in tears I finally decided the only thing to do was to hoist myself up into the cave and help her down.  It was a bit of a tight squeeze but I made it and we were both able to get out.  She kept saying the whole time, "thank you, mom, thank you, mom, thanks for coming to get me."  So that pretty much made it worth it.

Our view from the top while we enjoyed some snacks.

The trip down was not enjoyable for Liza.  She had a super hard time with the shale and kept saying, "I hate this.  I'm never climbing up this mountain again.  I don't know why I wanted to do this.  This is awful."  It was slow going but we made it with no injury.  Quite the adventure to remember.

Easter photo shoot (week 5)

Easter breakfast - a time lapse story (week 5)

And later in the day...Easter dinner!

Bunny Easter (week 5)

A few quarantine regulations couldn't keep our easter bunny away.  He came on Saturday morning right on schedule.  I actually think the kids forgot about him coming.  They woke up and just laid in bed with us a little, not even mentioning the bunny coming.  We delayed as long as we could to give Vanner some time to wake up and then we started towards the stairs.  Max was the first one to discover the foot prints at the top of the stairs and the excitement was quick to take hold.

The Easter bunny isn't very consistent from year to year on how impressive his gifts are.  This year he was VERY generous.  The kids didn't mind and neither did the parents since we spent the entire day building and playing with the things they got.

A little people construction set with lots of pieces and noises.

An automatic marble run.

and a huge box of Lego.  And candy, of course.

Vilate got some fingers to suck on.

And some cute ears to wear later in the day.

In the afternoon we dyed a few eggs.  We had the foam egg dye.  It worked ok but was a little messy and we weren't really sure how to do it so not amazing.

Jeremy tried making zopf for the first time.  This was a type of bread we loved to eat in Switzerland.  It turned out yummy, especially with nutella slathered all over it.

COVID19 - week 5 (April 10-16)

Week 5 brought us Easter.  We spent the week leading up to Easter doing activities talking about each day of the Savior's life.  Aunt Jessica gave us a basket with daily activities and it was fun to see what we got to do each day.  This particular day was bingo with gummy markers we got to eat at the end.

We did our dark picnic in the basement with pizza, breadsticks and even braved bringing down some root beer floats.

The kids - mostly driven by Liza - have been very into watching the Disney Descendants movies.  I'm pretty sure this is what inspired the desire for using hair color.  Luckily I had some in our gift box that I let them pull out and use.

Max continues his love of Pokemon and has combined his interest with his former love, Lego.  He has been building lego Pokemon and teaching "classes" to us and teaching us how to build them.  This is the Pokemon tower he built to house all her Pokemon creations. 

Vilate continues to love her siblings.  Liza was playing peek-a-boo and jumping up and making her laugh.

I decided to try the Disneyland churro recipe that has been circulating the internet.  Fried dough coated with cinnamon and sugar, what's there not to love.

Vanner - and all of us - was a fan!

Our ward members put together an 11 clue treasure hunt that we did.  Super creative clues and fun to walk, scooter and drive around finding the different locations.

A funny quarantine dinner conversation with Vanner during high, low, grateful:

Vanner - "My low...is low something that makes me sad?"

Me - "Yes"

Vanner - "My low is that daddy had to go to work."

Jeremy - "But I didn't go to work today."

Vanner - "Oh, was your school, work, thing...cancelled?"

We all started laughing and I said, "Vanner, do you know what cancelled means?"

Vanner - "No"

It was super cute and funny.  He doesn't know what cancelled means he just knows that it is happening to everything.

Vilate six months (week 4)

This girl has brightened our life for six whole months.  She is such a sweet girl and just rolls with stuff.  Always quick to give you a smile and loves sticking her tongue out.  She sleeps through the night and has transitioned to just two naps.  (I never would have been able to let her nap the way I do now if the kids still had school because I would have had to wake her up to pick up kids.  So nice to just let her sleep and take longer and later naps.)  She eats solid foods a little but they definitely aren't her favorite, she prefers her bottle.  She still doesn't roll over consistently, can't sit up on her own, and spits up a lot.  She loves being outside and likes taking tubs - but hates getting out of the tub - and LOVES her brothers and sister.  She is the perfect caboose.