Yay, it's Spring Br...Oh Wait, It's Over?

Alyssa starts rehearsals for the Ice Show tonight and those will continue on Wednesdays and Saturdays until the shows, on May 17-18. Wednesdays and Saturdays are the only days that I don't already have an extra curricular filled life so I figured if I didn't back pedal and get some spring break pics up today, it might never happen.

But first...did you read my last post about Skittles? Well, yesterday we were at the grocery store and Chloe got a bag of the new Skittles Darkside and there is a lime skittle in it. The other flavors are weird crap like pomegranate but I told you I only like the limes anyway so that didn't matter to me. It is not as limey as the original lime, tastes less like Cascade Dishwashing detergent, which you may think is a plus but for those of you who know how I feel about the smell of cleaning supplies you know that I actually liked the stronger flavor. Still though it was good to find that there is still a lime Skittle in existence. What's funny though is that today I got a package on my doorstep and it was a whole case of Darkside Skittles from Seth's cousin, Dan. I cracked up! Those darn gift giving Loveridges...you tell them you like something and they never do forget. Thanks so much Dan. In the two seconds that it took me to get to my phone to take this picture...

All three kids had already broken in to my stash. I was cracking up that you sent so many bags, but I guess you realized that I would have to share, which is fine with me as long as they pass the greens to me.


Oh and if you are wondering why the older two are in jammies mid-day it is because it was pajama day at school. Yesterday was mis-match day. Might as well sneak in a few pics of that while I am here.



Now back to Spring Break. It turned out to be a whirlwind of craziness and chaos and before I even caught my breath it was over, but my kids were SO, SO happy to have a handful of surprise visitors.

So here is how it played out. Seth's sister Sarah, was moving from Tennessee to Utah and when she realized that their family trips to Wisconsin would probably never happen again now that they will not be within driving distance, she decided to stop here on their way. Jonathon, her husband, had already left for Utah to start his new job so Seth's cousin, Dan (Skittles Dan, who also lives in TN) decided to drive up here to help Sarah with the kids, and to visit. Then Ann, my mom in law decided to fly in and force Sarah and her two youngest kids on to a plane, because driving cross country with 5 kids (2 babies) is not that awesome. So Sarah and Dan drove up here, Sarah and two babies flew out, Ann flew in and then drove Sarah's oldest three kids to Utah. Sound confusing? It was and I really felt for Sarah, because while all this was going on she was also trying to prepare to sell her house in TN and close on a place in UT. It made me never want to move, ever, but I am happy that they are now safely situated in their new place and only just massively slightly jealous that they are now within driving distance of all of their relations, well, except for us but luckily we did squeeze in lots of memories over the last 8 years while we lived close(ish).

All of our TN fam arrived the Wednesday after Easter. Sarah looked like she could use a quiet house and some rest so Seth, Dan and I took the 6 oldest kiddos to the Brewers game. It was cold but thankfully the Brewers have a roof.

Posing with Bernie Brewer, puppy man's namesake.


Chloe is Chorizo as always, and of course he won the real Sausage race that night too. Every single time we go he wins. Wish I could say as much for the Brewers.





On Thursday the kids begged for Jelly Belly, one last time. It was packed with Spring Breakers so we did not stand in line for the train. We just went straight for the candy shop.

Sorry, I used the crappy camera all week and it was bright,bright, bright out so we got some junk pics.

Since it was 50 degrees on Thursday, 20 degrees warmer than we saw the rest of Spring Break, we decided to go rock jumping by the lake. It was pretty windy though and poor Laurel was not a fan of the wind punching her in the face.

Whenever Olive comes she wears my Green Bay hats. I will have to get her one of her own one of these days.



 
 
We took Bernie to rock jump with us and he was scared of some of the big gaps at first but by the end he was having a blast and has been back for more jumping since then.

Since Laurel was leaving in the morning I had to get a couple pics of her. So glad we got to meet her while she is still a little bitty thing.



On Friday, Dan took Sarah to the airport at 4AM and Seth and I slept in while 6 little mice were in the kitchen playing restaurant. We woke up to a lovely menu of strawberries with Nutella, a flavored milk straw and Alyssa's Easter rolls. She made these at church before Easter and has made them for us many times since then, after Super in Six ended and we could actually eat them. You roll a marshmallow in butter and then cinnamon and sugar and ball it up in a crescent roll and bake in a muffin tin and the marshmallow melts and the roll is empty when it come out of the oven. A little empty tomb symbolism and they taste like little cinnamon rolls.
 
In the afternoon Seth had to go in to work. The girls really wanted to plan a birthday party for Grandma Ann (since her b-day was the day before) but the boys? Yeah, not so interested. Dan came back over and we took all the kiddos to lunch and then he took the boys to the arcade while me and the girls geeked out on a little party planning.
 



 
When we went to Walmart to get party supplies I admit that it was hard to keep my party planning dictator side from butting in and taking over. I did suggest/insist that they use more than one color though. They had pink napkins, pink plates, pink forks, pink tablecloth. I gave them the party hats and lanterns and told them to use those as a color scheme and then I promise I backed off, even as they hung crepe paper and blew up goody bags to hang up with the balloons.  
 
Oh and yes, we really did have a pinata, chuck full of candy. That was the one thing Olive really wanted so how could I say no? 
 
The girls also went in to our craft stuff and made some cute decorations.





A little bird told us that Ann was 62 but we were sure that couldn't be right so we flipped the 6 and put it after the 2 instead of before it...that looked better!

 
The kids stood outside and waited and waited and waited for Grandma to arrive.




 
When Ann got there she took a phone shot on Dan to send his mom and I realized that I had been so kid swamped that I didn't have any pics of him either since he was working when we went down to the lake so I jumped behind Ann and piggybacked on her shot.
 
Then we went to dinner and returned to party. This is my only shot of the actual party. We also played Jelly Belly Apples to Apples and broke the pinata, although that part waited til morning.


Saturday morning found cousins and Grandma packed up and on the road (with bags full of pinata candy, sorry Ann!) but we dragged Dan off to the Apple Holler breakfast buffet with us and bragged about the Apple Walnut French Toast, totally forgetting that he is allergic to walnuts. Oops! He still managed to find some yummy stuff to fill up on and then he took the goblins swimming while Seth and I worked out at the Recplex. Is that so rude of us? to workout instead of swimming? Maybe, but I am glad we kept up on our workouts that week because I have not been able to workout again since, thanks to an ear infection that has left me deaf in one ear and super dizzy. Back to Spring Break...Dan and Seth debated about whether to go to Priesthood Session of Conference or a movie. I have to be honest, they chose a movie and then we all just vegged out on the couch and watched the final game of March Madness.

Dan headed back to TN on Sunday and the rest of us honestly just sat on the couch all day. It was a great week to have General Conference. We cuddled up and I crocheted (working on 3 blankets right now) and we napped and it was awesome! But thank you so much to everyone who came up and made our spring break crazy and fun.

Alright, off to Skating to find out if Alyssa will be Snow White or one of the dwarves. The numbers are all Disney themed and so many of the costumes are super cute, little Mulan kimonos and such but her number is Snow White and the costume looks a bit young for her age. Of course, she is a bit older than most kids in her level. It seems that you have to choose and commit to a sport at 3 years old and we failed to do that. I feel bad because it is a very clique-ish sport and the girls her age and their moms as well actually, are pretty snobby and exclusive but she seems fine hanging out with the lower level non-competitive skaters. I wish all sports were like TKD, where everyone encouraged each other and were united no matter what level they were at. Oh well, so she will either be Snow White or she may be a dwarf and of course that is just a dunce cap, pants and a long shirt but it doesn't even matter because she is super excited to be in her first ever ice show and I am very proud that she has stuck with it and is actually going to face her shyness and perform in front of a crowd.