Pittsburgh Easter

The weather changed so we could enjoy our Easter weekend and then the April showers decided they had better start up so we could have those May flowers.  

The girls are at the age where the anticipation for an event, and helping prepare for an event is sometimes more fun than the event itself.  The saturday before Easter the girls filled up the eggs with jelly beans and peanut butter cups so they could have the long awaited egg hunt!

Their adopted brother Payson was hanging out in the backyard so we invited him to join us and I think Alex had the most fun helping him find eggs.

The next few hours were spent hiding eggs over and over again, and then filling them with dirt.

Easter Sunday was a bust.  The holiday ham was accidentally left out (hidden by kids bringing in groceries, and found hours later) and so we resorted to whatever was in the freezer.  I think it was super thick steaks that took a LOT longer to cook than we expected, so dinner was green beans and burnt rolls with meat for desert.  The minced garlic was dropped and shattered, I'm pretty sure there was some squabbling and tempers thrown around because I remember a general feeling of frustration and wishing for family.  I still smell garlic in my kitchen 2 weeks later, apparently there is a need for some deep cleaning.

Little Payson got a baseball bat and his dad has been teaching him to hit.  He is really good, so I figured I could teach my much older kids to play baseball.  One day when we discovered Heidi's bike tire was flat, we went to Rite-aid and bought a bat and ball to take to the park.  They got the concept, and then saw butterflies and ran off to chase them for an hour.

It was a great day, all the random neighbors were out with their kids or dogs or both, and we were all so happy to feel the sun and see each other again.

Quinn even got to sport her new sandals, not that she needs them, stubborn girl still refuses to walk!

A few days ago I went to the kitchen at night and when I passed the microwave a giant house centipede fell off the counter next to me.  I about died.  I screamed these horrified, pathetic, dying gerbil screams that had Tyler thinking Quinn was suffocating in her room.  I decided that house centipedes are worse than spiders.  They are bigger and they are faster and there are SO many hairy legs!  I thought about that while I was typing because I could hear a stink bug flying around the upstairs while I was loading pictures.  They are so big and noisey!  I hate them!  We found out as soccer practice that there are a lot of ticks in our neighborhood and a few of the neighborhood kids have even gotten lyme disease!  Pretty much in the last 3 days I've decided I'm done with rainy, weird buggy Pittsburgh, and ready to do summer out west!
   Tyler still has his kidney stones, 2 weeks later, and Alex finished school!  We pushed hard the last couple days and are very proud to say that she finished Kindergarten!  She wants to start "Mommy homeschool" right away, but I think I need a breather and a few minutes to think about packing for the summer.  Tyler takes his tests for this unit over the next 3 days and we can finally breath easy and know that we made it half way!  We survived the hard part!
    I've had enough going on between homeschool, Tyler's school, sickness etc, plus enough excitement coming to plan for that I haven't thought to much about friends moving away.  It's just crazy to have a mass exodus from the ward and neighborhood, taking away some of the people I've come to love and count on the most.  It's hard in general to find friends who have kids that your kids like, or spouses that you and your spouse like.  We were so lucky to have next door neighbors that fulfilled all of these requirements.  So Emily and Jess, if you are by some chance reading this- I'm going to miss you guys like crazy.  You made the move here so much easier and I hope and pray that there is someone waiting for you in our new town that will do the same.  You guys have special places in my heart, and we will always remember the fun times we had in the most magnificent Pittsburgh backyard ever!