Spring Has Sprung

Even though we do a lot of this these days...
...we've also been able to have a lot of fun with this beautiful Spring that we are having. I have a picture on my blog on April 8th last year with about 8 inches of new snow in my backyard. In contrast, we did hot dogs and smores around the fire pit last night in 65 degree weather. I know that the farmers need the moisture, but it's hard to be too upset right now. :)

To start, I almost forgot to post my cute little leprechauns enjoying their St. Patrick's Day breakfast:

These pictures were taken about three weeks ago. Spencer, on the red 4-wheeler, and his buddy Ben tearing it up in the pasture.


Not wanting to miss out on the 4-wheeler action, Claire hitched a ride with Dad.

For Spring Break we stayed overnight at Uncle Tom and Aunt Anneke's house. On day 1 we went to the zoo with the cousins. Here is Matt with 8 of the 9 kids outside the reptile house.
Spencer, Corinne, and Nicole in a photo-op with the fierce tiger.
Anna and Corinne and the tiger.
Kate and Paige with the ostrich (if you squint).

Matt and kids with the giraffe.
Paige and the giraffe.
Llama, llama, cousin-o-rama!!
Two tom-turkeys that gave us quite a show, strutting around in front of the fence and gobbling at Matt's hen calls.

You just never know what kind of animals you might see at the zoo! :) We rounded a corner and ran right into Eric, Spencer's buddy and nurse practitioner at Primary's. It was so GREAT to see him!

Kate and Claire strike a pose:
Spencer and the orangutan:
Claire and the gorilla:
She was SO excited to be the same size as a juvenile gorilla!
Nancy and the kids in the gopher caves:
A group shot of the cousins:
Our cute family!

On day 2, after Spencer's biopsy, Anneke and I took all the girls and toured Mrs. Cavanaugh's chocolate factory. The tour was entertaining in it's own way, but the chocolate--yummmm!

The grand finale to our Spring Break was Easter weekend. We colored eggs, hunted for eggs, ate too much candy, WENT TO CHURCH AS A FAMILY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER SIX MONTHS, and enjoyed a beautiful Easter dinner and candy hunt at Grandma's with plenty of cousins to keep the fun going until bedtime. Whew!!
Nicole getting ready to make a green egg:
Corinne putting her personal touch on her egg:
Paige, too deep in concentration to give me a smile:
Spencer and Claire, working hard:

My cute little bunnies did an egg-cellent job!

Here are two pictures from our cook out last night. It was Grandma Pat's birthday and the kids were very happy to help her with her cake.

A few weeks ago Paige participated in a drama workshop put on by the high school. Here she is receiving her certificate of completion, followed by her cousin, Jessica. They had a great time!

And finally, a picture of our Nicole, looking all grown-up and ready to wow the audience at her concert last month.