Busch Gardens

Brian and I are not big amusement park people.  I don't like scary, fast, or high things, and Brian doesn't like crowds and waiting in line.  Plus, you know I am always in this state...

Pregnant!

So we've not made it a priority to take the kids.  Lately, Genevieve has been asking to go on roller coasters though, and we thought we'd give it a shot.  Hannah and Isaac are my more cautious kids and I figured it wouldn't hurt to let them try some things out and see if they liked them.

On the tram ride from the parking lot to Busch Gardens, Hannah was already starting to panic, saying that she really thought the tram was scary.  She thought she might fall out.  I told her that that didn't bode well for her in Busch Gardens.

I was right, she wouldn't even go on the Sesame Street Roller Coaster which I labeled the "baby roller coaster" thinking she'd give it a try.  I will admit that she is just like me in this.  I was scared of everything as a child and really am not that much better as an adult.

This was actually the first ride of the day.  All the kids except for the babies went on this ride.

Hannah decided to be brave and do this Pompeii ride, but she cried through it and claimed that the people who own this place are "trying to kill us!"  

Genna took Judah on his one and only ride that he was allowed to go on.  He started to cry when I was buckling him in, but once it started moving he was thrilled.

Drew and his buddy rode on the Red Baron while the big kids went with the dads into some castle.

They also got to go on the little swings about four times in a row.

Isaac surprised me and went on a few pretty scary rides.  He opted out of some as well, especially if they were immediately after a ride that scared him.  He didn't cry though and at the end of each ride he said it wasn't so bad or that he had liked it.  The scariest one he went on, Brian said he yelled, "Dad!" over and over the whole ride.

"45 minutes of a nap all day doesn't do it for me."

All in all, we had a wonderful time except that my whole body hurt by the end of the day which is to be expected.  A great time with some of our best friends!

Saint Swap: Part 2, The Saints Came Marching In

A while back I posted my St. Lucy peg dolls for my Catholic Saint Doll Swap and promised the full group of saints once they arrived.  They were late due to some people not meeting the deadline, so they didn't make it in time for Easter baskets.  However, they are here now!

Since I had St. Lucy, the rules stated I could order a smaller doll (2.5 inch.)  I had no idea the doll would be this much smaller!  She is in the front between the guardian angel and St. Anne.  I had the only child and I kinda hate that mine stands out so much from the rest that are all the same 3.5 inch size.  I would have thought the head size would have compared a little closer in size since there was only an inch difference in them.  Oh well!  Next time I am ordering the bigger dolls!

The little boys really like them.  They started making them all fight the first day and I told them," The saints would never fight.  They would say Mass or something."  In a few moments I heard Drew saying the word "Mass" over and over while he made his saints jump around.  Those literal preschoolers are quite the entertainment.

Judah's Blue Eyes and His Love for Sticks

My big blue eyed boy has somehow broken blood vessels in one of his eyes and there is a big red spot in the white of his eye.  It was the day after these pictures were taken.  On this day, he fell in love with his baseball cap that we found in the spring stuff.  He even tried to take his nap in it, but of course it wouldn't stay on.

He is completely obsessed with sticks and it is a losing battle to try to keep one out of his hands when they are all over our yard.  I would have totally blamed a stick for the red spot in his eye had we been outside that day, but it had been raining nonstop and so I know he hadn't had any sticks.

A strange picture, I know, but he does this weird and dramatic leaning over pose to see something a lot and I just want to remember it.

Superheroes are taking over our house!

Brian caught me reading bedtime stories as Captain America.

Judah's following suit and loving the superheroes.

And it's a good thing since so many of his hand-me-downs are superhero themed!  A least the ones that Drew didn't wear out completely.  :)

Easter

We started the day bright and early with a 5:30am power outage that lasted only minutes, but in a house very dependent on fans for background noise to sleep, that means an end to the typical peaceful sleeping.  We went to the 7:30am Mass which has become our pattern these days since Judah is still taking that 9am nap like a champ.

We are usually not late but because I put a little extra effort into the children's appearance on this Sunday, we were a couple minutes late.  We had to sit on the second row which used to be our custom back before Drew could move around.  They were excellent, in my opinion.  Judah's a little chatty these days, but it was a sweet tiny baby voice that didn't seem to be distracting enough for removal.  I did have to walk him tot he back once to regroup when he started demanding loudly to go outside right at the consecration.  Otherwise, I couldn't have asked for better behavior.  I even heard the homily.  Gasp.

Don't know why Drew felt the need to touch Judah's head.  Weirdo!

Easter baskets consisted of a book, some candy, chocolate for the big kids and a wagon with beach toys for Judah since he can't have Easter chocolate.  I have a case if the allergy kid guilt, so I bought him a wagon.  Don't judge.

We took more pictures at home before they all rushed to change clothes.

Loving the sticks these days.  Not so much the picture posing.

We had breakfast at a neighbor's house and I worked on my lamb cake and some side dishes for dinner.  Brian smoked some meat in his newish electric smoker.  We had some family friends over for dinner and cake.

I made the cake dairy free by just substituting the cup of milk for coconut milk, but the fluffiness of the cake severely suffered for it.  It was cute though.

Easter Egg Hunts

We had two Easter egg hunts this year.  One was a free public one on Saturday afternoon, and the other was in our backyard, but was hosted and put on by a neighbor of ours on Sunday evening.

Saturday afternoon, I did a bad job on  picture taking since there were age brackets for the hunt, and Brian and I had to split up.  I still had to wait in two lines because Drew and Judah were in different brackets too.  I had my hands full and had a hard time taking pictures and keeping up with them in the crowds, so this is all I got.

Sunday evening in our backyard, we had three families involved.   I went through the resurrection eggs with the kids while the dads hid the eggs.