Celebrate the Earth!

I think Earth Day is officially this week sometime, but Alaina and Sawyer and I celebrated it by going to Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center. Jonnie opted to go to the farm with Jon to get started on picking rocks, so I just had the two of them with me. They were having activities and games and giving free trees, etc. We learned about conservation, organic gardening, saving our wetlands and the different animals that need them to survive, alternative forms of energy, etc. The best part it was all free and that was really good for the ole budget (:

The kids were able to try out the rock wall, but I couldn't talk either into trying. I knew Jonnie would have if he were there-he loves that kind of stuff. We had fun watching other kids doing it.
The kids also had a lesson on soil erosion. The lady explaining everything got really into it and gave a bit too much information to a 2 and 10 year old. I could tell by their faces that she was losing them. They liked playing with the plastic beads, though.
We walked along the trails and here they are taking a rest.
Sawyer loved just running around.
It is so peaceful and beautiful out there.
Here we got our free trees! They were bigger than I thought and Alaina was pretty excited about it all!
Once again, the kids found a frog! Everywhere we go, the kids' find frogs, I swear.
After this we picked up Dex and brought him out to the college. The Vet Tech department was having a dog wash for pretty cheap, so off we went. I laughed because he had four pretty girls all brushing and fawning all over him. He just sat in the middle of it all looking very happy-you could just hear him thinking, "ahhh, this is the life."

On our way home from the college, we saw Jon and Jonnie in the field picking rocks. Alaina felt bad that her little brother was out there by himself, so we ran her home and she changed her clothes and went back out there to help. I was proud of her for wanting to help them out.

Here's Jon and Jonnie when I stopped on the side of road and took a picture (:
When I dropped Alaina off, daddy came and grabbed Sawyer for a ride. It made my heart smile to see my family all working together (:



Later in the afternoon, we planted the trees and now I am going to pick up supper and just be cozy at home watching movies. I love my family and spending time with them. Now to decide what to pick up as we all want something different!

Official first haircut

Sawyer had his first haircut today. He seemed o.k. with it until we sat in the chair-then the tears came.....

They didn't last long and he sat very nice. He was just really sad about the whole thing.
Wow, that is some crazy hair-it was definitely time.
No matter what the girl did, he would not look at her and would only nod yes or no to her questions.
What a long 5 minutes it was for him (: He still wouldn't look at her in the end for a final picture.
All done and he got a sucker! He didn't think it was so bad AFTER we left. It looks pretty cute, and after his bath tonight, it was adorable!
After the haircut, we went to a new pet store in town to check things out. The guy working asked Sawyer to help him feed the Koi in the fish pond and Sawyer thought that was so cool! He also got to touch a sucker fish and a turtle-I was so glad we stopped in there (:
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Easter Weekend

Our Easter weekend started Friday night at my in-laws. Sawyer and I went over to dye some easter eggs. Alaina was at a movie with a friend and Jonnie went to Colorado with my parents for 5 days. I always felt like something was missing this weekend without him, but it sounds like he is having a great time with his cousins. Melanie, Hunter, and Katelyn were there, too and they made some beautiful eggs!



Alaina joined us later after the movie. She went to Hanna Montana and thought it was good, but not as good as she thought it would be.
The next day, my sister Danielle came over with Aidan and Nevie to color eggs-I think this is the 3rd year in a row we've done this. Aidan and Neve were excited and I wish I had more eggs to color-is it ever really enough at there age, though? Aidan was Mr. scientist and mixing and creating all sorts of colors-I loved watching his excitement! Nevie on the other hand only wanted pink and that was the only color she used. She had fun using stickers, too.


Maybe we should color that easter egg under your shirt? Hehehe.


Easter morning I decided to do a treasure hunt for the kids to find their baskets. They had so much fun and Sawyer got sooo into it! Alaina said this was a great thing to do (: I was secretly sad that Jonnie wasn't here to join them. I'll have to create his own treasure hunt went he gets home.
Alaina is so good with her little brother-so helpful and kind.

Yay, they figured out all the clues and found their baskets under the kitchen table!
Here's Alaina trying to act excited for the picture.


After our own basket hunt and breakfast, we headed off to church and then to Grandma K's for an easter egg hunt and lunch. I love seeing all the excitement from all the kids running around! Each child has there own color to search for, which prevents a lot of fighting (:


Here's Tucker. Next easter he will have a little brother or sister to help find eggs!
Here's Alaina in her Easter dress. I should mention that she broke her little toe yesterday (we think anyway) so we had it wrapped up and she couldn't wear her dress shoes. Luckily she had some white flip flops that she could comfortably get her toe in.
He is such a happy boy!

Alaina and Kate.
Here's the crew minus one. Sawyer, Alaina, Kate, Tucker, and Hunter. They all received some pretty cool stuff from Grandma after this, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the baskets.
After eating lunch, the dad's took the kids out and flew kites. It was adorable! I have to get pictures from Karen because I was all out! Daddy and Sawyer got their's up right away!

So, that concludes our Easter weekend. I had a great time watching the kids' joy and excitement once again and hope that you all had a great Easter, as well!

April (snow) showers

It is strange that it is already April, isn't it? Pretty soon Easter will be here and then we will finally have spring. I can't wait for the buds on the trees and for my flowers to start coming up. It is so close, yet it seems so far away when we keep having snow!! This is one of the things I love about living in Minnesota, extreme weather in all seasons. I just wish winter wasn't our longest season.....

I rang in April by being woken up by Jonnie yelling in my face "Mom it's after 8:00, we missed the bus!!!" It was only 6:30. As you found out in a previous post, I do not like to wake up any earlier than I have to and loud noises and me do not mix well together in the morning. He quickly said, "April fools!" because he couldn't contain himself any longer and thought it was the funniest thing ever. I had to smile because he got me (: So, Jon and I decided to trick the kids later that day. The kids and I were upstairs and Jon started yelling, "Lorrie come quick, you have to help me, hurry, hurry!!!" He came running upstairs and said he sliced his hand on his pocket knife and he was bleeding all over. He had pored ketchup all over it and into the palm of his hand so he could squeeze some out to look like he couldn't stop the bleeding. I was covering my face to look horrified, but I was actually trying so hard not to laugh!! I even sprang a few tears for a more dramatic effect. I told Jon we needed to go to the ER and stitch it up, so I told the kids to quick get there shoes on. Alaina is very strong in these situations and was helping her brothers get ready. Then Jon and I looked at Jonnie at the same time and felt like complete jerks because he had tears streaming down his face. He was so worried about his dad. That totally took the joy out of it all and we quickly said, "April Fools" but felt crappy about it all. They were all relieved it wasn't true and later laughed about it....next time we won't make our jokes injuries.

Not a whole lot new going on with us. Spring Break is over and we didn't really do anything then either. Just (not so) patiently waiting for the weather to warm up. Hope all is well with everyone!

Happy Friday-no dancing tonight, but forts are made and popcorn, cookies, and tea have been eaten. Have a great weekend everyone!!