Bunny Business

You are forewarned, this is a long post with a lot of pictures.
Last month I was blessed to find a local photographer who was just starting out her business  She was kind enough to let me pay her whatever I could. I had her take pictures of mostly Breahna since she's growing so fast and changing so much every month. We also got some of all the kids together.
Breahna is usually a happy girl during the day. As long as she slept well the night before, doesn't need a nap, isn't hungry, you know, the usual human complaints. I told the photographer Breahna's happiest time was 8-9am. She didn't get to our house until nearly 10. By this point Breahna was past ready for a nap. Poor photographer spent 2 hours trying to get this girl to smile. I was a little sad I didn't get any pictures that captured Breahna's dazzling smile. This is one of many reasons that I would love to be a photographer. I want to be able to quickly set up a photo-shoot whenever my kids are having a happy moment.
There are still some great pictures though. I'm grateful for this snippet of time that was captured:

This picture makes me laugh. Alexander was playing with the photographers prop flowers. I have no idea why he looks so grumpy!

This past week:
Jake's sister Hailey and her husband came for a visit! Cam has been deployed for almost a year. They were making the rounds, visiting family. We feel even more lucky that they visited over Hailey's birthday. We loved helping her celebrate.
We all went out for a walk while we waited for Jake to be done with school. 5 kids and a dog, what a production! Good thing our neighbor had a double stroller we could borrow.

We went to the store first to buy Hailey a birthday cake and the doughnuts she had been craving for a few days. We stopped at the park on the way home so we cold enjoy the doughnuts.

Jesse and Carolina

Alexander gave Dixie a light saber and challenged her to duel:

Soon as Jake got home and we had eaten lunch, we loaded the car and headed out to spend a gloriously sunny day shooting lots of guns:

Hailey had a new toy that we all enjoyed trying out:

The boys loved their first gun shooting experience. Alexander has always loved guns. Even his light saber he turns sideways and holds it like a gun. He keeps asking when daddy is going to get him a purple gun. I don't know why purple. 

I thought once he realized how loud guns were he wouldn't be interested in them anymore. Opposite of that, now he can't wait to go again. He was in love at the first 'bang'

Kaleb enjoyed it. But one try was enough for him

He preferred engaging in his favorite activity; getting as dirty as possible:

Toward the end all the kids, except Alexander, were done. I hung out with them in the car until the big kids were ready to go:

Alexander was right there the whole time. Begging to go again:

Thanks to irresponsible shooters the kids had lots of shells to play with, they loved it:

And the best thing anyone learned this week? Cousin Carolina taught Breahna how to pull all the books off the shelf. I'm sure it was bound to happen eventually. Bre was happy to have an older and wiser mentor :-)

Hailey and Cameron were only able to stay a couple nights before they needed to move on the their next stop. But, lucky me, I am taking the kids next week to visit family and we get to see them again!

Then came Easter:
Saturday night we stayed up a bit latter and colored a few eggs. The boys loved being in charge of how their eggs would look. They were both very specific what they wanted.

One of these eggs Kaleb colored at school. Two of these eggs were not hard-boiled but got dyed anyway.

Sunday the kids all had colds so they had to stay home from church. I was so disappointed  I made Breahna a dress and the boys matching bow ties. I know they can wear them any other Sunday but the next church Sunday is 2 weeks away! I was so excited to show it off.

Even more sad, Jake sang a solo in church. I really wanted to hear him sing. If the kids had been awake I would have taken them just to hear that then headed home. By 9:00 two of them were still sound asleep!

Later afternoon I hid some plastic eggs outside. I didn't do much candy this year. The eggs were filled with different crackers, some jelly beans, and some m&m's

I also gave the boys a few Easter presents.

 They each got a water bottle. Hoping they will leave mine alone, doubtful. They also got a little M&M fan toy thing, bubble bath, and most exciting, straws!

The kids and I went out for a nice sunny walk while Jake finished up dinner prep. They were so excited to carry their water bottles the whole way. Every person Alexander passed he would walk around them, leaving a circle of water that he squirted out of his bottle. ha ha ha, okay?

Jake tutors on campus. He puts his schedule up online and whoever wants can sign up for his open slots. A crazy coincidence happened when a gentleman showed up name Frode. Jake took one look at his name and quickly asked, "snakker du norsk?" Why yes, he was Norwegian. The guy had just moved here to the U.S. with his family. Jake had a standing tutoring appointment with Frode through the semester (only 2 weeks left!) Jake invited the Gundersen family to join us for Easter dinner. It was a lot of fun getting to know them. Although their English is excellent Jake and the family spoke Norwegian a good portion of the time. It was fun hearing Jake switch back and forth between Norwegian and English. Did you all know Jake served his LDS mission in Norway? That's why he speaks Norwegian. Jake smoked the ham and also made amazing cheesy potatoes. Ham and cheesy potatoes is my favorite meal. I made rolls, broccoli and deviled eggs. For dessert we had a traditional Norwegian dessert; Norwegian waffles with ice cream, and/or chocolate syrup, and/or strawberries. You eat the ice cream off the top then pick it up and eat the waffle with the ice cream drippings. Norwegian waffles are different because they use more eggs and are done in a shallow heart shaped griddle. About a year ago I ordered a Norwegian waffle iron to surprise Jake. I asked a Norwegian penpal how she makes her waffles. The first evening I made waffles for Jake, soon as he walked in the door he was ecstatic. He missed that smell so much. He usually eats them with jam spread on it and a slice of swiss cheese.
The waffles were a big hit that finished off our meal perfectly.
They were a really neat family and I hope to spend some more time with Carolina.
I didn't take any pictures, but Alexander did:

 Tyttebaer, or Lignonberry jam - they eat this with meat:

I hope you all enjoyed Easter. I am so excited for the weather to start warming up. I am even more excited to see family later this week!

I will now leave you with an ode to opposable thumbs. It seems we never really appreciate things until we don't have the use of them anymore. Like, opposable thumbs. I still have mine, thankfully. But the use of the thumb on my left hand, my dominant hand, is pretty much non existant at the moment. Last week I noticed my thumb was feeling a bit tender. By Saturday it was swollen and excruciatingly painful to touch. It was starting to look a color it's not supposed to be. Saturday night I decided it was a necessary medical expense and went to Urgent Care. It was infected. I have no idea how that happened! I was given an instant antibiotic shot and a prescription for more. Of course, it's Saturday night in our small college town, there were no pharmacies open. Thankfully Walgreens was open Easter morning. My thumbs are an important part of my life and I do more with them than I've ever before realized. It's the ability to hold things steady while you do things, like open a jar of baby food, the ability to open said jar, the ability to get myself dressed, take care of my kids, brush my kids teeth, clean my house, etc. Yesterday as I was getting ready I realized, I can't put on my own bra! I had to get dressed before Jake left for school this morning so he could help me wear a bra today - ha ha ha - I am grateful for husbands! Everything seems to take me twice as long - typing, signing my name, filling out the doctor information sheet at the hospital, etc. I think I'll have to head back to the hospital tomorrow to have it drained, it's not getting any better.
Oh my thumb, I'm sorry I took you for granted. I miss you. Please be normal again soon!