Spring Break 2016

I'm not sure if I have written about this yet or not. After my Mother-n-law passed away and Tara moved away, we inherited their house. It's took awhile to legally get everything switched over and we are finally about there. Since Spring has finally arrived we have gotten ourselves in gear and have started working on the new house getting it ready to move in. We started working on the kid's first day off of spring break. The kids complained and kept telling us where all their friends were going for spring break and all they had to do was work. I told them "Don't worry!  When you go back to school you can tell them that you got to go to the city dump for spring break." Ha ha 

And that's where they went. Not once, but twice. Hauling off stuff that we didn't need in the new house. 

It was a lot of hard work and the kids really helped quite a bit. They would work awhile and play awhile. 

Sometimes they didn't wait for instructions and caused a mess, but at least they were working. 

We worked all weekend and Monday because Maynard had took a vacation day. 

It was never too hard to get them to go to sleep at night when they were busy all day. 

By Tuesday, the kids were pleading and begging not to go back down there to work. It was kind of cold and rainy so we stayed home until 3 while I did some laundry and housework. We stopped at the library for a bit and then I took them to kid's night at Mr. Gaittis. 

Wednesday we decided to go to the park. It was windy and the perfect weather to fly their kites they got for Easter. 

Amelia and her Barbie kite. 

Titus had a ninja turtle kite. 

Josiah had a Star Wars BB8 kite. 

We had fun flying them. They were going really high. Titus got his stuck in a tree, but we were able to get it down and fix it. 

 They played at the park for awhile and it kept getting colder and windier so we decided to leave. They asked to stop by the library which happens to be right next to the park so we did. 

They hadn't been to story time in forever so they were excited about that. 

Thursday was our scheduled fun day. I was taking the kids to Monkey Joe's in Lexington with Heather and her kids. 

Our first stop was Chik-fil-A. Yum!!!!

Then we turned them loose to play. 

They had a blast. I think we were there over 4 hours. Heather and I got to chat and the kids got to play. It was great. 

After playing we made a pit stop to Children's Place to do a little shopping. Our kids nearly gave the clerk a heart attack, but we left the store all in one piece. (I think). 

Heather's crew had to head home, but my bunch was starving. We stopped and had supper at Logan's steakhouse. Then we headed for home before it got dark. Titus asked if we could stop at Goodwills on the way home. Y'all know who's boy that is for sure!!! 

We got back home and the kids showered and headed for bed. They were tired and sore. 

Then in the middle of the night I heard a sound I dread to hear than about most anything. 

Josiah was up puking and had fierce diareah. 

Maynard reminded me that I took the kids to play at a germ infested indoors place. Ugh!  I guess he picked up a virus. Not a good way to finish off spring break. He kept running high fevers and we tried our best to cool him down. Friday we stayed home all day because he felt so bad. They still complained that I wasted their last day of spring break. Sometimes the more I do the more they expect and it drives me nuts. 

By Saturday Josiah felt better. Maynard was off work and we headed to town. We ate lunch and got pizza then headed to a thrift store in Williamsburg. On the way back from Williamsburg, we took a wild hair and drove on to Cumberland Falls. It's kind of ironic because I took the kids there last year by myself during spring break. 

I took these photos to compare. I can kind of only tell that Amleia has changed. They boys kind of look the same. 

I've got several pictures to post. 

(Titus' finger included)

Behind the scenes photo. 

Whatever he was thinking, I'm glad he didn't do it. 

One difference between this year and last year, was the concession stand was open and the kids were begging for ice-cream. 

Amelia wanted a sundae. Her's looked pretty good. 

We decided to call it a day and went home. 

Josiah started feeling pretty rough again that evening. He started throwing up again and having really high fevers. 

Maynard stayed home with him Sunday morning and the kids and I went on to church. 

By the end of church I was feeling rough. My stomach was killing me. We went straight home and I went to bed and left Maynard in charge. 2 hours later, Titus was throwing up. 2 hours later, Amelia was throwing up. I had fevers, chills, aches and pains, but I never threw up. I could have, but fought it. It was a LONG night. The boys somehow slept all night. Maynard was in charge of them. I had Amelia. She was up every 30 mins or less. Puking and diareah at the same time. TMI, I'm sorry. But it was that BAD. It's so hard to be so sick and still have to take care and clean up messes after your sick kids. Maynard was a HUGE help. If it wasn't for him I don't know what I would have done. He took a vacation day Monday to help out. We were all so bad it's almost comical now. I kept Josiah and Titus home from school Monday and Tuesday. Amelia stayed home until Thursday. I hated for them to miss school, but I don't believe in spreading germs when you know your sick. Come Tuesday night,  I figured we were all on the mend. Amelia still had low fever, but the puking was over with. Well, at least until about 2 a.m. Then it hit me. I thought I was done being sick, but apparently not. 

Today is Friday and as I'm writing this, everyone seems 100% better. Maynard never did catch it it and we are very thankful for that. 

Spring break took a rough turn and they ended up getting an extended break, but I'm sure they would have much rather been at school than in the bathroom those  days. 

Besides all the sickness, I don't think my kids had too bad of a time and they got to go other places besides the city dump after all!!

Easter 2016 and our wedding anniversary

When you don't post as often you tend to, you forget details so instead of going back and blogging about Valentine's Day or St Patrick's  day, I'll just start with Easter while it's fresh on my mind. 

I'll start first with a Pinterest fail. I keep 2 little boys a few days a week and thought it would be fun to dye eggs with them. I found a new way to do it on Pinterest. You could use shaving cream or cool whip. I went with cool whip since my family usually eats the eggs afterwards. 

Gloves on and ready to go. 

Stirring up the food coloring and cool whip. 

Now you roll the egg. 

Time to dry. 

Did it work????

Uh, no!  I was disappointed. 

Later that night we dyed them again with the tried and true way. 

Friday the kids had egg hunts at school and came home with lots of candy. 

We also left for E-town that night to celebrate our wedding anniversary which was actually going to be on Easter Sunday this year. 

My sister Christy volunteered to watch all 3 of my kids while Maynard and I went out for dinner and overnight. 

I have been wanting to try the hibachi grill at a Japanese restaraunt for a long time. Maynard finally agreed to go. 

And as usual he had to be goofy and try to eat soup with chopsticks. 

The food was amazingly delicious. Like it's been a week later and I'm still thinking about it. Ha ha 

We stopped by and picked up a cheesecake to take back to our motel room. It was nice to be away and enjoy our time together. 

Saturday morning Christy took my kids to an egg hunt with her kids, so we spent the morning shopping. I still had a few things I needed to get done before Easter the next day. 

We went and picked up the kids and headed to my parent's house for the Harper  Easter dinner and egg hunt. It was gorgeous outside and the kids pretty much only came in to eat. We had a yummy dinner and then an egg hunt. 

Josiah's many expressions as he realizes he didn't get the lucky egg. No worries. Mamaw passed out dollars afterwards. 

Time for pictures. 

  

All 16 Harper grandkids with their Mamaw and Papaw. Including Tanner, the family pet. 

We left E-town and headed for home a little later than intended. We got home super late and everyone went to bed with out baths or any ironing done. I set my alarm for an hour earlier in order to get everything done before church. 

My kids had already had so much candy that they only got a chocolate bunny in their Easter basket for candy. The rest was beef jerky, cheese sticks, peanuts, kites, band aids, and etc. I wasn't thinking clearly about the Big Red though. Thought I'd have a heart attack when I seen them sipping on it with their nice Easter clothes already on. 

Somehow we managed to get out the door in time and to take pictures. Maynard found this spot in someone's front yard and decided to take advantage of it. 

It did turn out pretty good. 

Pictures done. Run back to the car, quick!!

We had a big crowd at church!

Afterwards, the kids were ready for the egg hunt and then we made them take more pictures. 

And of course I like to include all our Easter collages of previous years. 

We had a great Easter. We ate lunch at Golden Corral where my kids beg and beg to eat there all the time, but we rarely do. Went back to church that night to a wonderful service where the power of God  was so rich and sweet. 

Thankful for a risen savior.