I think March has this wrong.

Isn't it "In like a lion, out like a lamb"? That's what I thought.
Yup, it was one of our first days of spring break, and this is what we got...6 inches of snow. Click on this to see what we were doing a week ago...Hard to believe, isn't it?!

9 children: 8 boys, 1 girl...

...all in our house last night. Don't worry--Caroline held her own. We had some friends over for pizza last night. They just had their fifth boy! It was a busy house, to say the least. :) I do believe the kids had a blast.

At one point, I went upstairs to check on the kids, and while the older kids were watching a movie, I found the two year olds taking turns spinning each other on the computer chair. I was wondering what the giggling was all about! Then they both wanted to sit together, so I gave them a spin myself.

The kids were so worn out from last night that they ALL slept in until 7:30, including our youngest who usually likes to get a 5:30 or 6:00 start to his day. In our house, everyone sleeping until 7:30 is a miracle.

She's talked about it all week...

...and finally her big day arrived...the day she got to wear her pajamas to school!!! She brought her sleeping bag, stuffed animals, and pillow. She was even able to make a new pillowcase. When she got home, she and Evan played sleepover to their heart's content in the livingroom.

Dave and I went out for a date night tonight. We saw Slumdog Millionaire...great movie!

My Three Sons

I am so proud of these boys! The older two came home with wonderful report cards, improving in all areas we had focused on. Henry's teacher actually wrote, "Yahoo, Henry!" in the comment section! Love that!

So, I wanted to take a picture of Henry and Seth with their report cards before Seth left for cub scouts...of course, Evan wanted to be a part of it, in all his lasagna-faced, training pants glory. I'm proud of our youngest too. He continues to do a fabulous job potty training. And lest you think that I am not proud of our daughter today, I am, very much so. She was an excellent gardener's helper/worm collector this afternoon.

Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs!

This boy is all about dinosaurs...

Evan was playing in his room while I was cleaning the kids' bathroom. I went to check on him, and this is what I found him doing...sharing his favorite dinosaur book and a baby bottle with his frog puppet.

Its fun to watch his imaginary play develop. He was having his dinosaurs play hide and seek today...in Caroline's dollhouse!

His favorite shirt is the one that has a t-rex on it, compliments of his Uncle Mark and Aunt Nacibe. Oftentimes, it comes out of the dryer and right on to him.

Last, but not least, he finds it quite funny to have his dinosaurs use the toilet. Its always good to have potty-trained dinosaurs.

Art Gallery by Caroline

Our sweet Caroline...she always has crayons or markers in hand...and the fun ideas she comes up with...and the sheer quantity of artwork she delivers on a daily basis...she amazes me, and makes me happy. Love that girl!

(Speaking of art, one of Henry's pictures that he did in art class at school was chosen for the district art fair! He was sooo excited, and made me write down the date for the fair in my calendar right away.)

I love the detail in this picture, the leaves on the tree, all the clouds, pumpkins (in the spring!), a little girl with rainbow hair, and even, if you look very closely, a worm in the dirt!

Rainbow hair is a recurrent theme in Caroline's pictures

I had to include this menu Caroline made for lunch yesterday. Her restaurant was offering PB&J, carrots with dip, chicken nuggets and ketchup, as well as "chips with little green things on them" because they are her favorite (sour cream and onion chips).

Potty training update:
Evan had another great day! He had two accidents, but also made it a couple of times too. Keys to his success today: Elmo juice boxes (such a find I made at Aldi, he loves them!), his "Where's Spot?" book (I think we read it at least 10 times today), and squirting Mommy with his water bottle (that kept him sitting for long stretches). He's very proud that he can pull his pants up and down all by himself, and can climb up on the potty all by himself. He's a big boy!

Tales from the Toilet

Everyone has been cheering Evan on in his potty training. At first Evan was hesitant to sit on the toilet. His brothers and sisters cheerfully sat on the potty first, saying that it was their turn. That would usually get Evan over his hesitation, and he would call out, "Evan's turn!" We've basically turned our downstairs bathtub into a library so that Evan has plenty of reading materials to peruse while sitting on his throne. Caroline has discovered that she likes to read in the bathtub now, so she's been good company to him. :) When he is tired of reading, we've let him play with a water bottle, his superheroes or his trains, anything to help him stay there a little longer and relax a bit.

Anyways, its working! He peed in the potty 2 times today!! We danced and cheered, and gave him the traditional offering of an M&M. He was beaming! We are so proud of our big boy!

It was a busy day...

I think that it would have been tough to fit more in today.

The kids had a friend sleep over last night, so this morning we started by making pancakes and banana bread. The kids spent a lot of time outside making "campsites" in the tall grass behind our house, while I was watching them from inside so that I could work on potty training Evan. Dave (with some help from Henry and Seth) built some shelves in the garage, and between the afternoon and tonight after the kids went to bed, we've done a lot of organizing. While Evan napped, Caroline and I turned some of the mulch over in our garden.

We're tired, but feeling very good about what we got done.