Two Egg Hunts and a Pancake Breakfast

The weather was nice today so we decided to head outside and check out the Easter Egg hunts in town.

We decided to go to First Assembly of God Church on Merle Hay Road, where they were hosting an Easter Egg hunt for kids, and along with the egg hunt, they had a pancake breakfast.  It was pretty impressive.  Chris Cakes, the family doing the pancake catering, were obviously professional pancake people who do this quite often, as their set up was amazing.  Plus, the flap-jacks flying through the air to get to your plate made it really entertaining!  Some were dropped, but it was fun to try and catch them as they shot through the air!  Check them out to see the photos on their website.  It is a very extensive pancake operation!

After the pancakes, everyone went outside to go to their "zones" for the big egg hunt.  There were eggs all over the place!  The kids were so excited to get started!

Elliot surprised me by his reaction when they started the count down for the hunt.  Normally he is all up for anything his big brothers are doing, and with Ethan helping him along, I thought he would do fine, but as soon as they shouted "GO!" he froze, threw his bucket down and started crying.

Ethan, coaching Everett on the best plan of attack.

Redy... set... GO!

Everett was having a great time!

Finally Elliot started to pick things up, but he did continue to cry the whole time.

Poor guy!

I don't know if it was the energy of the crowd that startled him, all the kids running in different directions, screaming, and going crazy or if he was mad that kids were picking up the eggs that he thought were all his... but he was VERY upset (angry upset) and it took sometime for him to calm down.

After the smaller kids did their hunt it was time for the older kids.  Ethan and Derrick were discussing a plan of attack along the fence while I sat with Everett and Elliot.  In no time the announcer shouted "GO!" and all the kids went running in all directions.  It didn't take long and all the eggs were gone.

Do you see Ethan in the center of the photo?  He went right to work!

After the hunt they had a drawing for special gift baskets inside the gym.  It really was a well organized event.

Against my better judgement, we decided to hit the Carousel of Colors Egg Hunt (put on by Des Moines Parks and Recreation at Union Park) on the way home.  It was organized by age groups too, but they started all ages at the same time, so we had to divide and conquer.

When I got to the hunting area for Elliot and Everett's age group I was surprised!  It wasn't just candy and eggs, the whole area was scattered with toys as well.  They told parents to stay against the fence when they let the kids go and left the hunting for the kids to do.  It was chaos but over quickly.

This kid was pretty proud of his egg gathering skills.

Overall, the kids were happy with their loot and we headed home for naps.  It was a beautiful day to be outside!

Mystery at Greenwood Park

The weather is warming up here in Iowa and the sunshine was plentiful this afternoon!  It is so nice to be outside!

Our morning started out with some school work at home and then we packed everyone up and joined some friends for our monthly Clover Kids meeting (which we haven't been able to go to in a few months).  The kids planted chives, played with a frog (it jumped on Elliot, which startled him into a 3 minute "freak out") and pet an Angora Rabbit and discussed uses for her "fiber" or fur as I would call it.  It was a fun, and besides the frog jumping on Elliot, they all had a good time!

I had contacted the Art316 Building downtown a few days ago to find out about what they had to offer and what their building was all about.  The woman I spoke with suggested I come for a private tour of the RDG Dahlquist Art Studio to see if we could possibly set up a future tour for our homeschool art class, so we decided to do this with Amanda and her girls then grab lunch outside and play at a park for the afternoon. 

Regarding the tour, I will say WOW!  Such a cool place!  I didn't take any photos because I was trying to wrangle Elliot and still be able to pay attention to what the lady had to say, but I can't wait to show you photos when we take the kids through next time!  I was so inspired and can't wait to learn more!  There were so many cool artists to speak with, lots of things to look at, and the highlight of the tour was a toss up between the large "playdoh" machine and the freight elevator.

The kids attention span had expired so we didn't get to explore the other two floors of artists, but I will say that it was a great experience for all of us.  I can't wait to take a few clay classes with Ethan and go back and meet the cartoon guys!  Sooooo fun!

After the tour we lunched on the Palmer's Deli patio and then headed over the explore Greenwood Park south of the Des Moines Art Center.  The sun felt so nice as we walked all through the park and around the pond.  While there we noticed that the water level was very low and there were some police gathered together on the opposite side.  They seemed to be looking at the water and discussing what they were seeing.  We were curious so we walked over to check things out. 



The kids tried to find a geocache, but we couldn't spot it. 
Ethan did retrieve a massive snail shell though, so it wasn't a waste.
(Don't you love Little Miss Laila with her pink gardening gloves?)

After asking what the scoop was, they pointed out that there was a vehicle in the pond.  I looked closer at what I thought was a log at first glance, and sure enough, it was a car!  Hmmmmm.  They said that it looked like it had been there a long time, so they were waiting for the SWAT Team to come to investigate and then pull out the vehicle. 

 

 

SWAT Team?  Pulling a vehicle from the pond?  Well, you don't have to convince me that this sounds like something fun to watch!  Kids were excited too!  We all walked back around to the other side of the pond and took our places to watch the event unfold.  While they waited the kids rolled down the hill, sorted rocks (and glass), and had a great time talking about the things in the water.

 

It seemed like forever had passed, but before long an unmarked, white "bread truck", as Amanda called it (I thought it was more like the "Three Men in a Truck" moving truck), pulled up and out jumped a few "SWAT" members in their wetsuits and O2 tanks.  So cool!  Right after that, the tow trucks arrived and the kids all sat down to watch the process unfold.  It's not every day that you see a car being pulled from a pond!

 

 

They removed the car, and from where we were, it didn't look as old as I had expected.  It had a sunroof and all the windows were down, but it looked newer to me.  The police took their time pulling it out, recorded the VIN number from the dash and the license plates and stood around talking.  The flatbed wasn't there yet and one of the kiddos in our group had to go #2, so we called it a day and headed back to our vehicles. 

It was a pretty exciting day and after we started driving away Ethan asked, "Mom, when can we go back to that park?  I had so much fun today!  That is my new favorite park!".  I asked him what he enjoyed the most and he said, "Watching the car being pulled from the pond!  I can't wait to see what else they will find once all the water is gone!" 

Overall, it was good day of school!  Don't you think?? 

UPDATE: So far, authorities have said that the vehicle was reported stolen in 1999.  They currently do not have any other info on it.

Be Still...

It's been one of those days.  The ones where I count down the minutes until nap time so I can possibly have a slight moment of peace and regrouping.  The ones where all I can do is to pray for God to grant me a sliver of peace and quiet so I don't run away screaming from all the chaos in this house!  The ones where no matter where you look, you find yourself in a mess within a mess within a mess, struggling to figure out where to even begin?  Yep, that was today.  I'm making myself nuts with the constant repetition of "stop touching your brother" and "hands to yourself".

 

Lunch time was even worse, with Elliot tossing food at the dog and the other two egging him on like they enjoyed watching the steam roll out of my ears, it was all I could do to keep the peace!!  I even made a large salad, complete with hard boiled egg and all my favorite veggies, and because of all the craziness, I didn't even get to eat it!  I dismissed them from the disaster of a lunch table, and started to clean up, moving my untouched salad to the side.  When just then, I looked up, and saw the beautiful sky outside.

 

Now, you will know, one of my favorite things about the sky is when it turns the beautiful ocean blue with large white puffy clouds.  Today was my lucky day.  Although it was windy and cold, the sky was beautiful and the clouds danced as the strong gusts pushed them about.

 

I had dismissed the boys to the basement to play while I cleaned up lunch dishes, just so I could get a little quiet time before fighting them for naps, so I stopped what I was doing, grabbed a blanket from the hall closet, picked up my untouched salad and my bottle of water, and went outside to take in the beauty of the day, leaving the door to the kitchen open so I could have an ear inside if needed.

 

Oh, how the sun felt so warm and re energizing on my face.  It was like my battery was teetering on that last 1% before everything begins to shut down, and now, with the sun on my skin, I was plugged in and recharging.  The wind was cold, so I wrapped myself tighter in the blanket, but there I sat, enjoying the clouds, the sound of the wind through the trees, the beautiful spring season coming to life, the rays of sun warming my face and the yummy salad that I could now enjoy in the peace and quiet I so much needed.

 

I sat and took it all in.  Every last drop of beauty and peacefulness.  I just sat, ate my salad and enjoyed the gift that God provided me.  Every now and then I had to brace my salad from blowing off my plate as a large gust of wind came, trying to disrupt my perfectness, but still I sat.  My heart rate slowed, my body relaxed, I sat and gazed on the perfect moment created for those that take the time.  I thought about His promise to me, His peace and comfort and complete stillness in the storm of this world.  His beautiful way He speaks to each and every one of us and how this sky and sun and all this beauty was for me in this moment.  Psalm 46 rolled over in my mind "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 46:1; He says, “Be still, and know that I am God" 46:10.

I sat until every last piece of salad was off my plate.  Then, as I sat my fork down, little voices could be heard from the kitchen.  "Where is Mom?  She was here a minute ago.  I don't know but you are in trouble when she finds out." and soon enough, three little faces peeked out the open door.  "What are you doing out here?" Everett asked as I picked up my empty plate and started inside. 

"Enjoying the beautiful day" I replied... and our day got much better from there. 

Thank you Lord for being everything I need to recharge and keep going.  It is only when I take the time to sit, listen, and bask in your glory that I am rewarded and blessed with your strength to keep going forward.  You are everything I need, and strong where I am so weak.  I am ever so thankful for the sacrifice Jesus provided for me to be close to you.  Thank you for my little blessings and thank you for providing that moment when I needed you most.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

 

Distractions of All Kinds

Schooling this morning was difficult on so many levels, it was one of those days you can't wait to end.  Then, right when we were being productive, we had a visitor show up and cause a huge distraction.

He was too cute not to enjoy him, sitting sweetly on our deck railing, nibbling on the fallen seeds and nuts from our window bird feeder, and that made me realize that sometimes we just need to slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy what moments we have.  The books will still be here tomorrow.

He ended up sticking around for quite a while, and we were still able to get a bit of work done while he cruised around, foraging for seeds and nuts.  Sometimes distractions aren't always a bad thing.

Tap Water, Friends and A Few Nice Golfers

Sometimes, I allow my children to do things that I don't know if I should openly admit.  Today was one of those days.

The weather was nice today and the kids were outside playing with the neighbor kids.  After a while they all came inside to ask if they could have a lemonade stand and sell to the golfers.  Usually we are prepared during the summer, with a stash of powdered mix so I can mix up a batch and some prepackaged snacks to sell, but today I was out of EVERYTHING possible to sell and I was not interested in making a batch of cookies or brownies with all I had already going on.

"I don't have anything for you to sell.  I don't think this is a good idea.  Why don't we wait until next time when we are prepared?" was my reply to their question.

That wasn't good enough, and all of the kids instantly started to suggest we try and think of things to sell along with their small golf ball stash.

I gave in, and remembered that I had some little smarty candies and a little leftover holiday candy in the cupboard, so I grabbed that and looked around for something else to sell.  I had a small bag of tangerines... hmmm... do you think golfers will by tangerines?  Why not?  

I handed over the crazy stash of goodies and waited for them to trot out the backdoor, eager to get selling.  

"What about a drink?  Do you have any lemonade?" one of the neighbor girls asked, standing there with her blue, empty pitcher from home.  "My mom didn't have anything."  

"No, but I have cups."  I said staring into her disappointed face.

Then I did the unthinkable... I sent the children outside with solo cups and a full pitcher of TAP WATER!  Ha!  I am that mom.  Holly Homemaker I might not be, but pleasing kids is my business, so off they went!

So, you might wonder, did they make any money?  

Yep.  They sure did.  I don't know if it was the nice golfers that felt sorry for four little children, working on such a nice Saturday afternoon, selling tap water, tangerines and their leftover holiday candy, or if the guys just couldn't say no once they came over to the table, but they did end up making enough money to share when they were done.

Oh, and the going rate for a solo cup of chilled Copper Creek tap water is $0.50 in case you were curious.

Painting with Spaghetti

Our monthly HUGS Art Class was a "bowl full of fun" today!  The youngest kiddos enjoyed playing with cooked spaghetti and tempera paint; making lots of fun prints.  Everett had a great time!  He LOVES art class!

 

Firefighters and Two Excited Boys on a Rainy Thursday Morning

Every Thursday, during the school year, we drive to West Des Moines to take Ethan to his enrichment classes for a few hours (he has Science and Art for an hour and 50 minutes).  Everett and Elliot are too young for the classes, so we end up going to the Valley Church Community Center to let them run around and play while we wait.  

Today, as we were in route to the community center, we noticed some firefighters running some drills in the near by parking lot.  We decided to stop and watch.  

When they were finished I drove over so the boys could meet the firefighters.  Everett got to shake their hands and they ran the drill again before we left.  It was a nice break from our regular Thursday routine.