a month in pictures

I bet you are dying to know what we have been up to right?  Well it has all been so thrilling I haven't had a chance to write it all down.  Wait, maybe not.  maybe it has just been busy but mostly with the day-to day stuff like folding laundry, making dinner, saving the world one child at a time...you know, boring stuff like that and who wants to hear about that?  ;)  

I was typing up our family newsletter tonight and I realized I have not posted any of our April stuff on here so I am getting busy now.  Obviously April started out with one of my favorite holidays, April Fools.  I love that I can play tricks on people and for 1 day, it is not considered mean or rude.  Having kids has made it all the more fun.  I wasn't really wanting to do the whole "elf on the shelf" idea simply because of the creativity it would take every single night.  Soooo...we did a little "toy comes alive and makes a mess" for 1 night and it was so much fun.  Our dinosaurs sure did make a mess on the kitchen table though.

This guy was pretty hungry.

 An apple a day keeps the Paleontologist away 

Don't fight guys, there is enough food to go around.

 I had to do the mustaches again.  I was so lucky that Addie wasn't aware of what day it was and couldn't plan her own attack.  I still did lock my door though.  I'm so glad the girls are deep sleepers.  It makes April Fools day so much more fun.

Kimball wasn't such a deep sleeper.  I was able to paint his toenails red but when I tried to put on lipstick, he woke up so I couldn't take a picture.  When he woke up in the morning, he was not a happy camper that we had painted his toenails.  He was ornery the whole morning.  I wanted to ask him "who peed in your cheerios" and then I remembered that the dinosaurs probably did.

My sister Valerie and her family came to visit and it was so great to have them here.  The kids loved all the cousin time and it was so fun to play and shop and dance with Val.  We got to take them to some of our favorite places here in Omaha.  We took them to the pedestrian bridge, Winterquarters, the Zoo and a few other things.
Here they are on the border of Nebraska and Iowa.  Now Val only has 4 kids but you may notice a 5th one in there.  Kimball has discovered the joys of "photo bombing" and I think it is hilarious.

 Notice in this one however that Kimball is in the back right, sitting on the grass and not wanting to be in the picture at all.  It's highs and lows with that boy.  We had to stop and take a picture in front of this amazing sign.  It signified a treaty that changed the world known as the.....okay, it actually was just a sign at the end of the pedestrian bridge that tells all the rules and stuff.  I have no idea why we chose that spot to take our picture, oh yeah, because there was a trash can near-by that I could set my self timer camera on.

We went down to the trains and enjoyed looking around.

I think this next picture would have made a little more sense if you could have actually seen the train we were "running" from.   Yes, Val and I were twiners because we're dorks like that.  Okay well maybe I'm a dork like that but when I saw her outfit that she brought and realized I pretty much had the exact same outfit I couldn't help it.  

As you can tell, Matt also has the same outfit as I do as well...or maybe that IS my outfit... Hey..... Doesn't he looked pleased as punch to be wearing my adorable apron?

 As many times as we go to the zoo, I never bring my camera.  I need to go take as many pictures as I can since we aren't planning on renewing our membership this last year.  I'm going to really miss this zoo.  It is truly amazing                                              Inside the Butterfly habitat.

 Enjoying the penguins

 Addie and TJ got to go swimming with the penguins...aren't they lucky.  Is that Eliza underneath the water?

 Avonlea and Eliza in the shark tank...I think that is a sting ray behind them.  I need better pictures.

 It was so nice of Jarom and Milo to take a nap while we walked around so we could all stay at the zoo.  They looked like twiners. They weren't wearing the same outfit though because they weren't as cool as Valerie and I ;)

 Our own little monkeys

 Inside the indoor jungle.  I love this jungle because the animals aren't in cages.  You are just on a path that they can't reach.

 petting some small sting-rays.

 While we were at the zoo, Valerie's little boy Cooper was playing at the jungle gym and when he jumped down from the monkey bars, he landed wrong and sprained his foot.  He couldn't walk on it the rest of the time they were out here but he didn't wine or complain. What a trooper.  He just sat in the stroller and enjoyed the scenery.

It was sad to see them leave but it helped knowing that we will be seeing them in a few months when we go out to UT for a few months this summer.  I'm sure they will be sick of us by the time the summer is over. 

 Valerie and I were always pregnant at the same time so it's really fun that each of my kids has a cousin their same age.  I can see this picture as being one of those that you re-enact when the kids are all grown up.... I sure do love these kids.

 OK, onto a few other pictures and then I will be done with April pictures.  The last couple of weeks in homeschool, we have been learning about the Greeks and it's been a lot of fun.  I thought I would try and be a fun mom one day and do a Greek lunch.  We dressed in sheets....uh I mean Greek dresses and bathed our feet and perfumed them.  Then we layed on our couches and had "parthenon breadsticks" dipped in oils, olives, almonds and fruit. I thought it was a lot of fun.

 Addie however, was too "embarrassed" to participate and just sat in the kitchen and ate alone. Oh well.

 We had a wonderful Easter and had to take a few pictures.

This little guy was ready for a nap.

  

 Darn that bright sun...it just makes it a little hard to open your eyes, doesn't it Avonlea?

  But then of course you can always do the "I have pretend binoculars that block the sunlight" pose that looks totally normal in pictures, right Kimball?

 And that was April