What Have We Been Up To??!!

It's a sad day month when I can't even throw together a 7 Quick Takes on Friday.  What can I say...my non-virtual (read "real life") has been busy with four birthdays and Easter.  I've had zero time to document anything but have lots of pictures downloaded to the computer.  So, for anyone out there who cares, here is what we've been up to at our house....

Starting with Soccer Boy and his Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet.  This was technically at the very end of February but I'm counting it because that's when the craziness started at our house.  Plus, I realized I didn't do a post about it, so there you go.

Soccer Boy receiving his Arrow of Light Award

Soccer Boy's cross over to Boy Scouts
Receiving neckerchief from Firstborn

This is our first year doing Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts (well, we did do Cub Scouts with Firstborn when he was at Tiger level).  I've got to say, the boys really love their Scout Troop.  Bonus for us, it's chartered by our Christian homeschool group, so it's a great group of young men and the leaders are awesome.  I like the time they get to spend with the guys, "iron sharpens iron".  I was a bit worried when we first joined because I knew how time intensive it could be but the Scouts have turned out to be a good fit for our family.  Plus I'm very proud of Soccer Boy because he worked really hard to earn his Arrow of Light, so Congratulations to Soccer Boy!!

Next would be Princess' 5th birthday, which I managed to do a 7 Quick Takes post on (which I realized was a month ago, hence this catch-up post).  I did have to include a picture of her birthday present, since I didn't include it in the other post...

Princess was thrilled with her dollhouse...

Toddler Boy liked it too and sneaked in
to play with it while Princess was away!

Toddler Boy and Game Boy have birthdays right next to each other (I was actually scheduled to be induced on Game Boy's birthday, but Toddler Boy came a day early).  I guess he wanted his own birthday!  However, we tend to celebrate it on the same day just because Toddler Boy is so young he doesn't know the difference.  Here's the pics:

Playing laser tag with Game Boy
(Pictures don't turn out as well in arena)

Ready to eat!!

The whole gang (Dad taking picture)

Ice Cream Cake for Game Boy

Make a wish before it melts!!

Then there was the March madness snowstorms that hit the Midwest.  We missed my nieces' confirmation on Palm Sunday due to the 9 INCHES of snow we got that day!!  Hard to believe that these were taken near the end of March.  Lots of snow pics...

Princess enjoying the white weather

Game Boy

Soccer Boy's snowman named "Bob"

We celebrated my birthday near the end of the month.  My folks came for a surprise visit and watched the kids so Doug and I could go out to eat.  We had pumpkin pie (my favorite) to celebrate.  Oddly, I have no pictures from my birthday, save this link:

Keurig Mini Plus Coffee Maker...I'm in heaven!!

So after hearing all you folks in the blogsphere talk about how much you adore and can't live without this little contraption I thought I'd splurge on myself (read there was a sale at Kohl's and I had a 30% off coupon).  I have to admit I haven't gotten this thing down quite yet.  I love how fast it brews the coffee but it makes it way too strong for my taste.  I do tend to drink just a little coffee with my sugar and cream so that might be the issue.  I tried brewing two cups on one k-cup to try and weaken it but the second cup is also pretty potent.  I haven't had time to tinker with it and get it figured out and I honestly don't drink a lot of coffee but I'm sure it will come in handy when I have people over...which doesn't happen nearly enough around here but entertaining more is on my bucket list.

Finally, last but definitely not least, there was Easter!!  I would have made it into it's own post if it wasn't so late in the game.  Actually kind of embarrassing how late I am getting these pictures posted.  I'm taking the better late than never attitude.  Christmas and Easter are my favorite holidays of the year and now that I'm Catholic it also means that it is the end of Lent (Alleluia, alleluia)!!  I actually had a good Lenten season, I tried giving up chocolate again (I gave up chocolate my first Lent and totally crashed and burned...but it could be I took on a bit too much considering Toddler Boy was born the weekend after Ash Wednesday and I was coming into the church that Easter too...I had a lot on my plate that year).  This year I worked on simplifying my life and settling down to hear the Holy Spirit more in my prayer life.  Lent went so well that I feel a bit odd eating meat on Fridays and chocolate.  I'm enjoying the new peacefulness in my life and don't want to go back to how it was before Lent.  Which is nice and I'm thinking that is what Lent is suppose to be about.  (Another post that didn't quite get done, maybe next year).  Anyway, here are the fun photos of the weekend...

The Easter Bunny comes for a visit

Lots of egg dyeing going on at our house

The bunny helpers (aka egg hiders)
How quickly they graduate from hunters to hiders!

Toddler Boy on the prowl for Easter eggs

A yellow one!

The hunting group (with cousin too)

Toddler Boy is still looking for eggs every time he goes outside at Grandma's house.  I'm still trying to get all of the Easter candy out of my house!

So, there you have it, our month wrapped up in one blog post.  I promise to be more prompt in the future.  In fact, we went on a field trip today and I already have the pictures downloaded and just begging for the next post.  Plus, Firstborn's birthday is this week and we celebrated last weekend so I have those pics too!  Maybe I'll try to do that post on his actual birthday (there's an original idea)!!

Happy Belated Easter everyone!!