Thursday, March 26, 2009

Spring Break

Last week (or rather week before last, as it has taken me all week to finish this post!) was Spring Break for Riley and Kaiya. I started teaching again at Austin Community College this semester (just one night class) and it was spring break for me too. We didn't attempt a big family vacation, but we did try to do something fun every day. Here is a run down of the week:

Monday

Riley and Kaiya each made their own loaf of banana bread. They both love to cook and banana bread (no nuts) is one of their favorites. We always use applesauce instead of the shortening the recipe calls for, to make it a little bit healthier. Monday we also had a "High School Musical 3" movie night.

Happy Chefs: Kaiya and Riley





The finished product--yum!





Tuesday


Tuesday was St. Patrick's day. Riley and Kaiya insisted on having green eggs and ham for breakfast. We also had green rice, green jello, green broccoli and four-leaf clover rolls for dinner.




Green eggs and ham look very unappetizing to me, but Riley and Kaiya like them. They would eat them in a house and they would eat them with a mouse, they do so like green eggs and ham...





The thought of green eggs kind of turns my stomach, but green rice I have no problems with :-)



Kassidy






Kaydence





Rustin





Kyndall






Ryder




Wednesday


Virginia and another friend, Chris, came over to watch the babies so I could run errands with Riley and Kaiya. We met Jayson for lunch at Chili's and had an exciting visit to Costco :-)




Ryder, Kyndall and Rustin play in the boxes from Costco. Sometimes I wonder why we ever BUY them toys, when they get such joy out of free things!



Thursday


Thursday was our big outing for the week. We decided to take everyone to the Waco Zoo. My friend, Tammy, came along with her 12-year old twin boys Jackson and Jamison. We also took my friend Brenda's kids Joe and Luvinia, so in all there were 2 adults and 11 kids in our group. When we got to the zoo, we realized that everyone else in central Texas had the same brilliant idea to go to the zoo for spring break. It was pretty crowded, but we still had a great time.



The whole crew: Back: Riley, Luvinia, Jamison, Tammy, Jackson, Joe, Front: Kaiya, Kassidy, Ryder, Kaydence, Kyndall, Rustin. The parking lot was full, so we had to park in a grassy field nearby.






Checking out the elephants






Kaiya with the buffalo






Riley with the snakes






The Rhino was nice enough to pose for our picture








Rustin, Kyndall, Kassidy and Kaydence. The zoo has a little playground with a treehouse and slide that the kids all loved.






Joe with Rustin











Jackson with Kassidy








Kaiya






Riley and Kaydence








Luvinia and Kyndall






Ryder and Jackson









Tammy, Ryder and Jackson. Tammy's family has "adopted" Ryder. They always take him for me during church and they even come and get him for playdates! With his olive skin and dark hair, I think Ryder fits right in with their family! It is wonderful to have other people love your children almost as much as you do.






By the end of the day, Kassidy was worn out!






Riley and Kaiya pose by the waterfall.





Friday


On Friday, Riley, Kaiya, Kassidy and Kaydence went over to play at our friends, the Woods, house. They jumped on the trampoline and played with the puppies (the Woods breed labradoodles). Friday night Jayson and Riley went on a fathers and sons camping trip with some other families in the neighborhood. Riley had a great time, and I think Jayson did too. Kaiya and I took care of the babies and had some "girl time".



Kaydence makes friends with one of the puppies.





Kassidy and Kaydence jump on the trampoline.




Riley getting ready for his camping adventure





Riley on the campout





When I wasn't looking, Kassidy smeared her blackberries all over her head---except for the smile, she looked like she could have stepped out of a horror film!



Pre-Spring Break


I must admit that I started my spring break a little early by going to a David Archuleta concert in San Antonio. I went with my friend Natalie and her two daughters Holly and Andrea. The concert was awesome and we had lots of fun!


Rachelle, Holly, Natalie, and Andrea. Doesn't this picture make you want to sing, "One of these things is not like the other...."?





David Archuleta


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11 comments:

Bart said...

"One of these things is not like the other...."

It took me a minute to get that, haha. Very nice post.

Anonymous said...

GREAT POST! LOVE ALL OF THE PICTURES!! it was so great to hear from you again and the kids are looking more and more grown up. i really liked the pictures of each of the babies going down the slide with the older kids. looks like you guys had an awesome spring break!

Andrea said...

Cute pictures! I don't know how you managed not to come home with that darling labradoodle, though!

Schauers Hours said...

Fun week! I'm just a tad jealous of that nice weather down there.

The Queen Vee said...

Rachelle your energy and enthusiam never ceases to amaze me. Loved all the pictures, nice to see one of Natalie. Did she ever sell her other house?

Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke said...

Do you ever think...when you're all alone....all that we can be...where this thing can go...Am I crazy or falling in love, is it really just another crush...

I like that song:) Fun that you got to sing along with him.

Wow, so many things to comment on spring break. I do love the Waco zoo, but I heard lots of people were there that day. Love the kids BYU shirts. And the Costco boxes.

Anonymous said...

i first thought that Kassidy was actually bleeding. i was like what happened?

ambyr said...

I just stumbled across your blog and I had to laugh because I JUST posted my photo contest....and kassidy would have fit right in with those blueberries!!!

libby said...

Hi Rachelle,
I have a quick question for you: my best friend is pregnant with quintuplets, and we are in the process of organizing her baby shower. I LOVE the picture of your quints sleeping with the black background and their diapers on (it was when they were quite young, when you compared diapers and chose Huggies as the winner--do you know the one I'm referring to?). Would you be okay with me using the picture of your kiddos as the picture on her shower invitation? If so, do you still have the original? The one on the blog is a little grainy because the resolution is pretty low. Please let me know either by email (libbijones@gmail.com), or you can link to my blog and leave a comment there. I hope I'm not intruding! Thank you!!

gilloth/Edina said...

Hi! I just came here now to wish you a blessed,happy Easter! May God bless you all.
Edina from Hungary

Anonymous said...

Your family is SOOO precious!! Thank you for sharing them. You are doing a wonderful job. The kids all look very happy and healthy. I love all the fun activities you do with them. I applaude you!! Keep up the great work.
PS. I was very happy to hear about the diaper donation. It must be a great relief to you.