Easter 2016

We had a great Easter this year.  (Although it did throw me off that it fell so early this year, and that spring break wasn't tied into this weekend!)

The festivities began on Thursday, with both Taylor's class and Parker's class having egg hunts.

Parker:

Taylor:

The girls had off of school on Good Friday.  The local Mom's group hosted an egg hunt at a nearby park!

This is his "I'm up to something" face, trying to hide candy behind his back.

Before the Good Friday service that night, we spent some time dying eggs.

Turning into the Hulk... (she wasn't too thrilled)

Saturday, our church hosted their annual egg hunt.  It was chilly and drizzly, but lots of fun!

Fishing for some prizes...

Egg on a spoon race.

Hay ride!

Sweet Evan gave Parker all the eggs he found.

Sunday, we all woke up to see that the Easter Bunny had come!  The excitement!  The kiddos got little Easter baskets from the Easter Bunny and were very excited about them.

Sydney's basket

Taylor's basket

Guess who?  Parker's basket

After breakfast, we went to church, and had a great time worshiping.  Oh, the music!  Afterwards, we took 8 Easter lilies to a nearby nursing home.  The people were so happy to receive the flowers.  Sadly, many of them didn't/couldn't go to church, and may or may not have had visitors that day.  Each flower had the residents' names on them, so it was very personal.  A great feeling, and a great thing for my (often ungrateful) children to see.

Then, we headed to my sister's house!  My parents, sister and her family, and our family got to hang out, eat a great lunch, and have an egg hunt in the basement.  (too muddy outside!)

My silly nieces.

All in all, it has been a great Easter season.  Thank you, God.  He is risen.  He is risen indeed!

Sydney's Field Trip

Winding up our week of field trips is Sydney's adventure to the Mayfield Dairy today!  All the 1st graders headed there this morning.  I got to ride the bus again as a chaperone, and plenty of parents met us all there.  The kids played in a big field with balls and frisbees until it was their turn to go on a tour.  We watched a movie on the history of the Mayfield Dairy, milked the pretend cow, then toured the plant.  It's pretty amazing how milk is processed from the farm to the jug.  (However, the kids said the tour was "boooooring").

After the tour, we had a picnic lunch outside and then got ice cream (which made up for the boooooring tour).  Then, back on the buses we went!

Taylor's Field Trip

Last week, Taylor's class got to visit the Yellow River Game Ranch!  This place is like a cross between a zoo and a farm.  You walk through the trails and you get to see the animals, like bears, peacocks, a bunch of other birds, alpaca, llama, donkeys, etc.  No big zoo animals are there, and a lot of the animals roam the paths!

I got to tag along as a chaperone.  I had my little group of 4 kiddos, including Taylor.  (Luckily 2 of their moms met us there, so I really only had Taylor and 1 other girl!)  Taylor was probably more excited about riding the bus than going to the ranch.  This girl was counting down to this day for two weeks!

We made it over there, and my group did the fast-forward tour.  They ran through the whole place, and we even lapped the rest of the group.  Some control I had, huh? ;)  I definitely got a lot of steps on my FitBit that day.

Afterwards, we all met back up at the playground, where the kids played until everyone was back.  We all ate lunch at the picnic tables, then headed back home.  It was fun!

2 of my group members...

...and the other 2.

The peacocks were beautiful!

Smelly pig.

This was my group running the whole thing.

Feeding the... goat?  Taylor wanted me to but she refused.

Playground.

Taylor's first bus ride!

The whole pre-K group.