Easter Weekend

I'm a little late posting about Easter, but here you go. We celebrated Easter all weekend, starting with a community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. Then Sunday the kids hunted for eggs inside the house, outside in the front yard, and at a friend's house after Easter brunch. Owen and Adler had a BLAST!

The Easter Bunny had to hide eggs inside the house on Easter morning because it was too cold outside......very different for me, who grew up always hunting eggs outside in the yard.

Silly Daddy.

At the community egg hunt, waiting to get started.

Before the announcer told them to GO, the 4-6 year old group stormed the field!

The eggs were gone in about 25 seconds.

Owen and Ryder showing off their loot.

Micah took Adler to the younger field where she collected some eggs too.

Adler was a little concerned about her daddy here.

Sheep

About seven years ago there was a terrible fire across the hills west of Carson City. After the fire, seed was dropped all over the hills to encourage re-vegetation. So now, rather than just sage brush, there is grass that grows all over the hills during the springtime. And for several years now hundreds of sheep have been brought to the hills each spring to eat the cheat grass, which is a fire hazard.

We found the sheep last week and took the kids to check them out. Here is a cool panoramic picture Micah took with his iphone.


The sheep herder brings all the sheep down to the water trophs in the afternoon, and we just happened to show up at the perfect time.

Owen was fascinated with all the lambs.

What a great natural way to prevent fires. Munch away, sheep!

Catching Up

These are some photos of the kids from the past month to keep the grandparents happy!

Owen likes to try on all of Adler's barrettes at one time.

I don't know where he learned this from......

Helping daddy in the garden.

happy girl.

Wearing Uncle Brian's cap.

Adler painting at school

Adler and Olivia at school, playing with babies.

Uncle Brian

My brother Brian has been living with us since the beginning of the year, and his time here has come to an end. This morning he started his long drive back to Texas. It has been so much fun having him here and I can honestly say he will be terribly missed (by me and the kiddos). It was such a treat having family here and it makes me realize just how much I miss having family close by.

A couple of days ago Brian's girlfriend Elizabeth flew here so she could drive back with him. Yesterday they picked Owen up from school early and took him for a little hike to the Carson waterfall. I love all these cute photos of Brian and Owen together.

After Brian left this morning Owen told me, "I want Uncle Brian to live with us forever."

Last night after we put the kids to bed, we turned our living room into a dance floor! We stayed up until 1:30 am dancing the night away.....way too late for me! I have been exhausted all day long!

During Brian's time here, he fell in love with Miss Adler (the feelings were mutual). She would often asked for Brian to hold her.....

....and read to her.....

.....and dance too!

We are all going to miss you Brian and can't wait to see you again! Thanks for all the laughs, silly faces, sarcasm and good times.

FYI

It is possible for an old, unused cell phone with no SIM card to call 911. Just ask my son.

THE WHOLE STORY: So, I recently got an iPhone and gave my old phone to the kids to play with. There's no SIM card in the phone, but I kept it charged so they could dial and play with the phone like it was really working. A few nights ago we saw Owen playing with the phone, and then we heard someone talking back to him. We were totally confused and wondered who he could possibly be talking to since we didn't think the phone could work without a SIM card. Micah grabbed the phone from him and found out it was a 911 operator answering the call. He had to apologize and explain that our 4 year old accidentally called 911. Woops! Come to find out, phones are still able to call 911 without a SIM card and when there is no phone service. Good to know!!

Micah's Birthday - Part 2

After Micah's glider ride on his birthday we had some friends over for a friendly washer board tournament. Micah has been building these washer boards and I have a feeling we'll be enjoying them on a daily basis this summer. The game is pretty addicting!

The winning team even took home this hand-made washer trophy!! Micah's buddy Steve made it just for this event. Conveniently enough, Steve and his wife Gladys won the tournament and got to keep the trophy. Hmmm.........

The tournament lasted much later than we had planned, so eventually we rounded up all the kiddos and let them watch a movie.

Micah's Birthday - Glider Ride

For Micah's birthday we surprised him with a glider ride! I did this a few years ago and absolutely loved it! So I'm glad Micah was finally able to experience it too. Here he is getting ready to fly.

Owen really wanted to fly too, but we had to explain to him that he is too young to go. Maybe when he's a little older!

Ready for takeoff.....

The tow-plane pulling him over the mountains for great views of Lake Tahoe.

Brian also got a ride yesterday, for an early graduation gift. Brian will be going back to Texas this week to finish his Masters degree this summer. So this was a farewell Nevada gift from our dad. Here he is getting ready to take off.

One of them being pulled by a tow plane.

I thought this picture was cool with the moon.

While we were watching Micah and Brian fly around, the kids and I enjoyed the nice weather and played outside.

View of Carson Valley

Micah landing safely

This is as close as Owen got to flying.