Celebrating Easter at Big Cedar Lodge

For the past several years we have traveled to Big Cedar Lodge (just south of Branson, MO) to celebrate Easter. My parents meet us down there and if possible my other sisters will meet us too. We always have a great time. Generally, the kids are able to ride horses, play in The Lazy River, and have an outdoor egg hunt. This year ... not so much. In fact, it rained the entire time we were there. It rained and rained and just when we thought it might let up it rained some more. Nonetheless, we had a great time. Kira, Keenan and Keylee with the Easter Bunny after the indoor egg hunt. Imagine the madness with all the children running inside the Big Cedar Convention Center looking for eggs. Further imagine the madness with all the parents trying to snap pictures.

At times the weather was so bad they even closed the indoor pool. Kira, Keenan and Keylee were able to get some time in the pool.

Inside the main lobby area there is a place for the kids to play with Lincoln Logs.

This is a picture of the people in my family who were able to make the trip. We were glad that my sister, Tamie, and her husband, Greg, were able to make the trip.

Keylee paid close attention to the lady giving directions for the egg hunt. The lady told the children there were some golden eggs and the child who found a golden egg would get a special surprise (the golden egg was not actually golden it was more of an olive green color). After the egg hunt was over, I walked over to Keylee and looked in her basket to find that every egg in her basket was yellow. She passed up all of the other colors to get only yellow. She thought the yellow eggs were the "golden" color that the lady told the kids to find. My parents were pretty impressed with how well she listened and tried to follow the directions. I had to break the news to them that she doesn't always listen that well nor does she always follow my directions the way she followed the lady's directions for the egg hunt.

After the egg hunt the kids were able to decorate egss.

Given the constant rain, the kiddos were able to go into Branson and play indoor putt-putt golf and play at an arcade. As you can see Kira hit the lucky 1000 tickets on a game. My kids always have a great time at Big Cedar Lodge and we always enjoy spending time there with my parents.

Soccer Weekend

Kira had a soccer tournament in Hutchinson this weekend. The team played very well and ended with a second place finish. Kira played great. It is so much fun to watch her play. She continues to say that soccer is her favorite sport (until I remind her it is tennis, ha). Soccer weekends make Mondays come too fast. Kira and her team, Synergy

It won't be long until Kira is taller than I am.

When the wind blows

When the wind blows what else is there to do except blow away in Salina watching Kira play soccer. However, when we returned home the kids were able to fly a kite. Keenan had baseball practice so he and Joe had to stay back in Manhattan while I took Kira and Keylee to Salina for Kira's soccer. After baseball practice, Joe and Keenan decided to buy a kite. They attempted to fly the kite earlier in the day but the wind was too much, even for a kite.

Kira was so anxious to fly the kite that she slipped on Keenan's crocs on her way out the door. Clearly, Kira and Keenan don't wear the same size.

More Spring Break

Spring Break is almost over. I am ready for school to start back up. I am the only one in my house that feels this way. Keenan had baseball practice to look forward to over the break. He has been practicing for a few weeks with his team, Jr Force. They practice inside a warehouse right now while the weather is still unpredictable.

Kira spent some of the break working on a painting for my office. I have been looking for a new painting for my office but I cannot find one I really like. Kira offered to paint one for me. She has brought home some pretty impressive artwork from school so I told her I would love to see what she could create for my office. She spent several days working on it.

A work in progress....

Just a few more details and she will be finished. I think it will look perfect in my office.

Spring Break

We do not have a lot planned for Spring Break which means there will be a lot of time at home with the children (pretty much Joe home with the children). For the most part, the children get along pretty well with minor arguments here and there. However, yesterday they started to fight with their light sabers as seen in Star Wars. Keylee insists on being called Queen Amidala and refers to Kira as Ahsoka Tano. Keylee also insists on calling Keenan Obi Wan Kenobi. There have been times where Keylee even insists that Keenan put on his Halloween costume as Obi Wan Kenobi before engaging in "the fight." I am just glad that Keylee has decided she can fight in these fights without wearing her Cinderella dress. Hopefully, we are moving out of that phase.

I am just glad it is Joe at home refereeing these fights.

Keylee's First Haircut

Keylee turned three years old this past November. She has never had a haircut. I finally decided it is time to take some length off her golden locks. I told Keylee she was going to get a haircut. When Keylee arrived she asked Amy, the gal that cut her hair, "can you cut my hair like Cinderella?" I am sure Amy had to do some scrubbing on her hair considering Keylee insists that she wash her own hair when she takes a shower and I know she rarely gets all the shampoo out that she puts in.

The cutting begins. . . . snip-snip

The final results

Meet Baby Jesus

Today, Keylee came up to me and said, "Hey Mom you know what my baby's name is?" I said, "No." She said, "His name is Baby Jesus." I smiled as she ran back to her room to play. Then, tonight as we were going to Mass she told me "don't forget my baby Jesus." I grabbed him and out the door we went. I could not stop laughing during Mass. Every time Father said "Jesus" Keylee would shout out, "Hey that is my baby's name too." I can honestly say I did not hear much of the message at Mass tonight as Keylee was cracking me up. Next week, we will leave baby Jesus at home he was too distracting during Mass.