Carter turns 8!

 Carter is 8!  That's just sounding too old.

 We had cake and opened presents from family the day before is birthday since his party with his friends was on his birthday.  Carter asked for a Boba Fett Dairy Queen cake and they did a pretty good job on it.

 All 3 ready for ice cream cake

 Making a wish and blowing out the candles

 Spoiled as always!  He had quite the pile of presents to open from family.

 Happy with all his gifts.  Thank you everyone!

He played one of his new games with dad right away before having to get ready for bed.

TROUBLE

 Evelyn is at that age where she gets into EVERYTHING!  I went into the other room for at most a minute and came back to find her painting her own toes.  She was so proud of herself!

 The nail polish was on the high counter in the kitchen.  I found her high chair pushed up to it.  She climbs on everything!  

 And yes.  I'm the mom that takes pictures of it before taking it away :)

She managed to get it all on her feet and hands.  Her clothes and the furniture were fine.

Wrapping up April

I'm finally to the end of April.  School is starting in a couple of weeks for the kids and my goal is to be caught up by then.  We'll see.

 We went to brunch after church and the tulips looked so pretty I wanted to get a picture of the three of them.  It's always challenging to get all 3 to cooperate and look nice.  This is as good as it gets. 

 Audrey continued to plug away at her appointments for Kindergarten registration.  Kindergarten!  I still can't believe it and it probably won't fully hit me until she's getting on the bus the first day! :(  This one is from her eye appointment and Evelyn thought it was pretty neat to sit with Audrey in the big chair.

 Audrey being a sweet big sister and painting Evelyn's toes.

 When Audrey gets sent to time out Evelyn follows and sits with her.  It's so funny because Audrey did the same thing at this age with Carter.

The mom mobile being used to its fullest.  Carter had early release, we carpool with Piper and Bowden came home with us that day.  There was actually room for 1 more!  It was fun listening to the conversations going on with this many kids in the car.

new bikes

 Chuck and I both needed new bikes.  We finally took the time to go buy some.  We also bought some accessories to go along with the hikes.   We got Audrey a one wheel so we can go on a family ride without worrying about her keeping up.  She likes how fast she can go riding on it

 Even though Carter is now a master at riding on two wheels he wanted to take a turn on it.

Chuck has Audrey's one wheel on his bike and I pull Evelyn in the trailer.  She loves riding in it.  Whenever I stop she tells me to go or more.  I'm looking forward to taking some nice long rides with her when the kids are back in school.

Muffins with Moms/Poetry Cafe

 Every spring Carter's school has Muffins with Moms.  I get to take Carter to school and we have assorted muffins, coffee, milk and juice.

 It's always fun to see Carter at school and with his friends.

 That day was also poetry cafe in Carter's class.  I stayed for the first two sessions.  I got to read different styles of poetry with Carter for the first session.

 For the second session we made poetry with words cut out from newspapers, magazines, etc.

Parents were also invited to have lunch with the kids that day.  Carter was so happy to have lunch with dad.

Easter Day

 Audrey and baby Audrey in their matching dresses for Easter.  Thank you Great Grandma Aprahamian for the adorable outfits!

 My mom had an egg hunt set up for Evelyn and Nora on the deck.

 Audrey, Carter & Ava had to find their eggs in the woods

 They had to loop around a couple of times to find all of them

 I brought a couple dozen confetti eggs and mom hid those in a different spot.  Evelyn spotted them and started collecting them before the big kids got there.

 Poor Ava!  Carter and Audrey both chased after her and broke them on her.

 Evelyn with confetti in her hair

 Evelyn & Nora

 post egg hunt group shot

 It was quite chilly that morning but it ended up warming up a bit.  The guys threw the football around.  Later we relived our childhood and played a game of spud.

 I love this one!

 Tita Angela & Uncle Brett brought silly string and the kids had a blast with it.

 It was a lot of fun watching them and listening to them giggle the entire time

 We'll have to do this again some time.

When Nicole and Holly got there we got a group picture of the kiddos.  Evelyn and Egan were getting tired.

CCP Kid's Easter party

 The Country Club of Peoria (CCP) always does a great job with all the holiday parties for the kiddos.

 They always have a variety of cute crafts.  Every time it's Carter's mission to complete all of them.

 Carter's completed egg house

 Audrey doesn't mind picking just one and getting it done as best as she can.  She was determined to get this entire wreath colored perfectly.

 Carter continued to get all the other crafts done while waiting on Audrey.  I didn't take a picture of all of them.  He had quite the loot to carry.

 After a delicious buffet lunch they had an Easter egg hunt of all the kiddos.  They had 3 different areas of the club for 3 different age groups.

 Evelyn loves egg hunts and did a great job finding them.

 The bigger kid's area was by the tennis courts.  It was impressive to see how quickly the eggs disappeared.

 The big kid eggs were a little bit harder to find.  They actually had to look in the bushes etc.

 Audrey happy with the amount she collected

 I kept trying to get a picture of all three of them but Evelyn was too distracted.  In this one she couldn't see any more eggs on the ground so she started snatching them from Carter's basket.

 Carter and Audrey looking nice and Evelyn wandering off to find more eggs

 Last attempt and Evelyn in digging in trying to open all the eggs.

Evelyn wouldn't hold my hand walking from the tennis courts back to the club house.  She only agreed to hold Audrey's hand.  It was so cute! 

Last but not least, our awkward family picture with the Easter bunny.  Evelyn was terrified and I don't blame her.  Carter and Audrey thought he was great because he gave them a bag of cotton candy.