Movie Night

We had a family movie night a couple of weeks ago. Ava never watches TV, but for some reason she was really excited about the previews that night.....

Teaser

We had a teaser day of spring the other day. Owen was in heaven. Today we woke up to snow, and honestly, I'm ok with that. The thing is, I know that there is a long summer ahead with seemingly endless hot days when I won't hardly be able to convince my kids to come inside. And the problem with them wanting to be outside is it means I need to be outside. We don't live in suburbia with a neatly fenced backyard. We are surrounded on one side by horse pasture, another side is bordered by an irrigation ditch and out the backyard is a steep cactus covered ridge with a canal at the bottom. I have nightmares of that canal swallowing up my children. Needless to say, although we live in an area where there is much adventure to be had, there are also dangers and man alive I worry about the unthinkable happening....someone being stepped on by a horse, or a toddler straying too close to the irrigation ditch, or worst of all, that forbidding canal swallowing someone whole. So, I'm ok with a few more chilly days to keep us safely inside. Although I believe Owen would beg to differ....

And before we played outside, we had a little fun with our rainbow rice.....

Easter

We didn't buy the kids new Easter clothes this year, but we did line them up on the couch for pics before church (which is more than we did last year)........
This is arguably one of the best shots of the whole crew together even though Ava isn't looking at the camera.





Remember how I mentioned Lily is a "hugger" in my last post? This is the scene at our house no less than 14 times a day......
She hugs Ava....


and Ava doesn't appreciate it one bit.








We made these yummy Easter rolls Sunday. I had my doubts about them, but they ended up being simple, fun to make and they tasted fantastic. The were hollow inside to represent the empty tomb. Recipe from here.

The kids were back and forth from the ranch over the weekend. We dyed eggs Saturday evening shortly after they came home from the ranch. They were filthy, but happy.

Ava was content for a while dipping a plastic egg in water.

Pretty soon the plastic egg wasn't cutting it, so we gave her a hard-boiled one. She was really impressed.

She dipped it in her cup of water

and tried to fit it inside her plastic egg.

She dropped it into her cup and was amazed when it cracked open. We helped her peel the shell off and she proceeded to eat the entire egg. She kept stuffing more and more of it in her mouth until I was certain she'd gag, but she didn't and she ate it all. Every last bite.

Hunting eggs....

Owen used his little bunny bag from school to hold his eggs.

Ava used a bunny basket Chris's grandma made.

Owen peeled an egg for breakfast.

She didn't have enough hand for all of the eggs she wanted to carry.