Spring Break: day six

Phew!  Today marks the halfway point of spring break so we made it extra fun!  The day started with a trip to the Children's Museum.  The kids had a ton of fun in the construction zone to start.

 

 

 

Caleb always makes a stop at the train table!

The featured exhibit right now is "Just FORT fun" and Caleb had a blast!

Liam loved the twisty slide that was just his size!

I always get nostalgic over the giant Lite-Brite!

And, Lillian never misses out on the craft table.  This time the whole family got involved!

We went to McDonald's for lunch and even more playtime after the museum.  The boys were ready for naps after that and Lillian and I had some mother-daughter time checking out the new At Home store in Jenison.  

After naps we surprised the kids once again!  We have never taken a family trip to Chuck E. Cheese but Caleb has been asking to go for a while.  He was THRILLED when we pulled into the parking lot!

The kids did a ton of playing, we ate pizza, and no one was scared of the big mouse - I call that a successful trip!

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Break: day five

I know I just said our kids LOVE the aquatic center, but they also LOVE the library!  For a while in the fall we got into a habit of going once a week.  After the holidays we fell out of the habit and for the past several weeks Caleb has been asking when we would start going again.  This morning we went to the library for a special Spring Break event.  We got to hear one of the elephant and piggie books, I Love My New Toy, make crafts, and, of course, check out lots of books and videos.

 

 

The kids had fun making a "break and snap" toy and elephant and piggie puppets.

 

 

 

Liam had fun destroying looking at books.

Yep, we wound up wih a few books and videos to take home!

Spring Break: day four

Last year we brought the kids to the Holland Aquatic Center for spring break and they absolutely LOVED it!  We knew we wanted to bring the kids back again this year and today was the day!  They all had fun in the splash zone.  Once Liam worked up the nerve to go down the slide he loved it and did it again and again and again and, well, you get the idea!

We even got to see the kids' former swimming teacher who was on lifeguard duty that morning.  Thankfully she took good care of Caleb when he slipped in the pool and got a bloody nose!  We just had to add a little excitement into the morning, I guess!

We continued with the "beach" theme by having coconut shrimp for dinner - a family favorite!

Whenever Caleb sees pudding cups at the store he asks for them.  As a good Dutch girl I just can't justify buying them since it is so much cheaper to make it yourself.  But, between deals and coupons this week they were even cheaper than the mix iteslf and I knew the kids would be excited.  Oh, the little joys in life!

 

Spring Break: day three

Today went a little different than planned.  The kids and I were ready to walk out the door to go to church when Lillian declared that her stomach was still bothering her and she wanted to stay home.  She had a stomach bug a few days ago but it was acting up a bit more this morning.  As the day went on she felt better but we stayed home just in case.  So, what do you do when your kids are all dressed up with nowhere to go?  Take pictures!

 

 

 

 

Since we couldn't make it to church we had our own service at home - complete with songs, Bible stories, doughnut muffins, and, of course, a craft!

Spring Break: day two

Our kids love doughnuts.  They eat them almost every Sunday at church and are disappointed, to say the least, if they are all gone!  This morning we took the kids to the fabulous DeBoer Bakkerij for some delicious doughnuts. 

 

We ran some errands afterward and then took the kids to Barnes & Noble for a special storytime to hear the new book, Pigeon Needs a Bath.  

 

Later on we went to Lillian's school to play on the playground.  Lillian has been asking for the last few days to go there so she could show us all of her new tricks!

 

 

 

The weather was chilly but everyone had a great time!

Spring Break: day one

Today is the official start to spring break!  We are not travelling out of the area this year but will be soaking up the time together as a family and enjoying some little outings each day.  Today we went to the mall for lunch, playtime, and the movie "Frozen."

 

The kids LOVED the movie - even though it was their second time seeing it!  Later in the evening we were listening to our official spring break song and stumbled upon a "how to draw a minon" video on youTube.  Lillian loves art, so I thought we'd give it a try!

Lillian and I each drew a minion and Caleb colored mine.  They really got into it and did a great job!

 

 

April Fool's Day

I can't say April Fool's Day is a big deal in our house.  Any potential pranks seemed to either be cruel or require too much work to pull off.  I had some inspiration, however, to make a small effort toward the day's festivities as I concocted "sushi" for part of our meal tonight.  I didn't think I would actually fool Lillian since we actually saw this idea months ago in a magazine (or on the computer or somewhere...).  But, it made for a fun dessert and photo op!

Faux sushi is kind of hard to eat when you are missing your front teeth!