The backpack cleanout

Just another Sunday around here. After the kids went to bed I was picking up around the house. I wrote a note on something I was sending back to Zach's teacher and I went to put it in his backpack and just couldn't avoid it anymore. It had been months. When I can't walk outside and shake out the backpacks in the fresh air I kind of avoid the bottom. As long as there isn't a catastrophe forcing me down there I just assume nothing needs attention.

Tonight Chris found himself lucky enough to be sitting close to the front door where the backpacks are hung. I decided to pass this household chore off on him. Possibly for the first time.

"Hey Chris... would you please clean out Zach's backpack while you are watching TV? All that needs to go back in is this. this. and this. Hannah's could use it too."

"Sure" not really knowing what he was in for

Zach's had tons of class work he had done. 3 or 4 art projects and a rock that had been painted and jewels glued on it. We think Hannah made it for him awhile back. A few random pairs of underwear and a sock. And a little tractor toy. A pair of Buzz Lightyear gloves. There was also a lot of glitter. That ended up on the carpet. A few things I am sure I am forgetting. Chris just shook his head by all the randomness.



My mom got these things for the kids to hold certain creations or school work of theirs that are extra special so we file them away in here.


Next he moved on to Hannah's backpack. He started saying what things were as he pulled them out.

Socks. Socks. Underwear. Leopard pants. Bandana. Papers. Egg carton caterpillar. Bean thing. Dinosaur. Broken headband. Another dinosaur.



The girl hates socks and generally always takes them off and sometimes if I am lucky they end up back in her backpack.

What fun things did you find in your kids backpacks lately??

As heard...

Zach was in showering the other night and Chris went in to check on him. Zach told him "I used your soap daddy! I smell like you! I getting big!"

Happy Easter!

We had a fantastic Easter weekend.

We spent a great evening with friends the night before we left out of town for Easter. Mandy hosted. The main reason for gathering was to dye Easter eggs with the kids. We made homemade pizza. Mandy and I shared a bottle of red. Sarah and her beautiful pregnant self brought the cheese and plastic eggs filled with goodies for an Easter egg hunt. Luckily Holden's mood improved and Tara and Arabella were able to join us too. Poor Chris ended up being the only guy but as we all know... he is a good sport. :) Zach chose to go out of town a day early with Nana and miss the gathering so we missed him!

The kids waited patiently before wandering the yard looking for the eggs. They were each given a red solo cup to collect their finds. Joseph started singing some red solo cup song??






The hunt is on


We then lined up more red cups to do the egg dye. We all agreed that doing this process as a group was definitely less stressful and fun for us all!




Mandy recently got the OK to have her chickens and this was their first day in their new house. They were a little sketchy over the kids chasing them trying to pick them up and then all these eggs. They kept trying to jump up and peck at them.


At the end of the night the kids were happy that the chickens were tired and they were actually able to carry them to the coop.

(Jackson - he said he is going to marry Hannah and brought her a flower to school :) )

I think technically Arabella picked up the chicken(s) and handed them to Hannah but she was SO excited to hold them




The tree got a workout this evening. Only 1 incident that was fixed with kisses and a band-aid.


The next day we headed out to my hometown and had an early Easter dinner at my grandmothers house. GG is 88 this year! It was nice and relaxing and I failed to take many pictures so here's all I got.





The next morning we had an egg hunt and brunch with Chris' mom and step dad.

We had an uneventful drive home and we spent Sunday afternoon home preparing for the week ahead.

I definitely feel blessed this year!! Hope you all had a memorable weekend as well!