Spring Break 2012!

Thursday--Water Day


Our favorite theme day during Spring Break (and the only theme day to appear every year) is Water Day. We were more fortunate than last year to have amazing weather every day this week. Today the temps in sunny Mesa, AZ got up to 82 degrees! I think if we had just pushed all the kids outside with nothing but the hose they would have been happy. But we pulled a few tricks out of the garages to make the day even more fun!


Bradley and Bryson replaced batteries in the water guns we bought for Bradley's 12th birthday party and got those ready for a water war. Who knew the buckets we store them in would be so much fun?


Really, the buckets were supposed to be used to refill the water cartridges for the water guns.


But some kids just wanted to see if they could get stuck inside them.

Aunt Kaley brought her slip-n-slide with blow up boogie boards. Adam and Brock had the best time slipping and sliding and playing in the the little pool of water at the end of it. They just played and were pretty oblivious to everything and everyone around them!


After a while they started a Water War. Uh Oh. The phrase "This can only end in tears" comes to mind.


Brock must have won that battle because he is geared up ready to win the war!

The only casualty of the day was the kids necks and forearms. . . and legs. . . and noses. Yes, we forgot the sunscreen until they were almost ready to come inside. I know. How could we be that dumb? I have no idea. We totally know better.


On closer inspection, Brock and Adam both have a bit of a sun-glow about them. They were so wiped out they watched Toy Story (after 4 hours outside) then came upstairs to play on the computer--and did it without fighting! Hooray for exhaustion!


During Quiet Time, Kaley, Cassi and I got the food and tables ready for dinner. We luau-ed up again with Kalua Pork, fried rice (compliments of Panda Express), fresh fruit, chocolate chip cookies (compliments of Iron Chef Day) and to top off the taste of our Home Away from Home, Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts!


We tried to change up our tablescape a bit this year which was fun. The King stands in the background next to the grapes! Our homage to Ohau and our favorite island show Hawaii 5-0!


Grandma-ma came over to luau with us and posed with Miss Madi!


Do they look like hungry natives?


Aunt Kaley called the kids over in order of best behavior. Really at that point they were all hungry and sitting pretty quietly. But Megan won the honor of first crack at the macadamia nuts!


Bradley was smart and wanted a lot of pork so he stayed really quiet and got to go second. Man, this kid is tall!


Katelyn and Bryson were called next. These are two scary peas in a Hawaiian pod!


Adam went next. He was so tired he couldn't find the camera lens to look at and say "Maui."


No surprise, these two were last. Iggy and Squiggy both filled their plates and quickly got down to business eating. In fact, all the kids were really quiet at the table. They were HUNGRY!


Brett chilled in his highchair and watched all the chaos unfold. Grandma-ma informed us that March 15th is Rock Star Bret Michaels birthday and he turned 49 this year. I meant to completely confuse all the kids and sing Happy Birthday but I got so mesmerized by those Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts I forgot. So Happy Birthday Poison singer Bret Michaels and Happy First Spring Break Luau to our Brett Michael! Another Spring Break Day to remember!

Spring Break 2012!

Wednesday--Iron Chef Day

Today I wanted to teach the boys some basics of cooking and baking but have fun too. I think part of my job as a mom of all boys is to make sure they won't starve on their missions and at college. Of course, as long as milk and cereal is in their budget I know they won't starve! However, it was fun to spend the day teaching them how to make some things we eat all the time, some new things they NEVER eat, and a surprise here and there too. I realize we didn't get any where close to the Cordon Bleu Cooking School arena, but hopefully a thing or two will stick so they can at least impress some unsuspecting girl in the future.

So back to Iron Chef Day! We didn't really have an Iron Chef Contest, but by the end of the day the true Iron Chef of the group emerged. He was the only one who endured all the tasks during the day and was still smiling. His identity to be revealed later.

We started the morning by making homemade waffles, biscuits and cinnamon rolls. The latter two were thanks to our friend Mr. Pillbury. The little boys thought it was cool to watch me bang the can on the counter top to get it to pop open. I'm not going to lie--it was fun to bang it on the counter top! We were so busy eating and cooking that I forgot to take pictures but believe me when I say you have never seen cinnamon rolls disappear so fast!


After we cleaned up (come to find out Brock has mad dish scubbing skillz!), did a little exercising with the Wii downstairs, we started in on the first food assignment: spaghetti sauce. You might think that was a weird thing to have them make but it was fairly easy, it taught them how to brown hamburger and I needed some more to freeze anyway. Bradley and Bryson worked on the hamburger, Bryson and I opened all the cans of tomato sauce and paste (we did a double batch), Bryson and Brock dumped it in and Brock and I cleaned up the cans and recycled them while Bryson stirred the sauce. While all the goodness simmered I had them work on lunch which was Mac-N-Cheese. Again, you're probably thinking "Why?" My kids don't like most pasta in general but they do like spaghetti (hence, the sauce). So I thought we give Mac-N-Cheese a go and see if anyone's tastes had progressed. We did simple Kraft Mac-N-Cheese and taught them how to boil the water, cook the pasta without letting it stick, drain it in the colander (that was the vocabulary word for the day), and follow the directions to make the sauce.


The above picture is Brock's reaction to Mac-N-Cheese which was pretty much everyone's reaction too. Eventually, they all ate a small portion because they knew that the next food assignment was baking cookies!


When it comes to cookies Brock is my right hand man! He always pulls a chair over to help dump things in and snag a chocolate chip or two or 10 in the process. Today, he and Blake sort of took turns at the chair and Bryson also helped measure and dump ingredients in. After I scooped out a few cookies to put them on the cookie sheet Brock said he wanted to "roll them" (like little balls). So I scooped and he rolled and the oven baked.


He was impressed I could lift three cookies off the baking sheet at a time with our pancake turner.


Thanks to Aunt Kaley's extra arms and legs we were able to clean up in between each project and not go crazy. She and Brock finished baking the cookies while I ran to grab Egg Beaters for our last project. In the meantime we started dinner: Meat and Taters. You can't really mess up this three ingredient casserole, although some have tried. Bradley, Bryson and Brock watched as I smashed down the hamburger, they lined up the tater tots and then Bryson spread the Cream of Chicken soup on top. It was completely devoured an hour later!


It had been a little bit of a long day for the King of Rock and Queen of Everything. They did have fun playing on the floor and kissing each other--that will have to be stopped soon but now it's totally cute! Brett was so excited to crawl over to Madi's carseat, grab on to the seat part and pull himself up by hanging on to the bar. Madi and Kaley were getting ready to leave so he leaned over for a last good-bye.


Our last assignment was the one I was most excited for: My Grandma Partridge's Homemade Ice Cream! I have never made it before but somehow inherited their ice cream machine and felt like I was not living up to my heritage! The kids have asked numerous times if we could make ice cream but I always put them off. So today was the day and I think Grandma and Grandpa would be proud of our first time efforts! All the boys took turns mashing the strawberries. Bradley's height and muscles came in especially handy. Blake even came out of oblivion to help on this one and was excited to mash for a while. He and Brock helped me dump and mix the rest of the ingredients and watched me pour it into the ice cream machine.


We had a brief pause while Scott got some ice (duh, should have thought of that yesterday) and we got things churning. Brock stayed in the kitchen to monitor the ice level and helped me fill it up when it needed more.


Everyone was upset we weren't making vanilla but my childhood memories of Grandma and Grandpa's strawberry won out--it's my Spring Break too, right? So when it was finished Brock was curious to see if it turned into vanilla or was still strawberry. After a quick taste, he decided strawberry was ok after all!


Oh, the goodness!


It's heaven in a big ice cream bucket!


And so our Iron Chef of the Day was Brock. He did a great job helping all day long--even scrubbing dishes and dust busting crumbs under the table. He hung in there with me until the very end where we shared a big spoonful of ice cream! That's my Brock-lee!

Spring Break 2012!

Tuesday--Game Day

While trying to think of fun themes for each day, I also wanted to pick things that would satisfy some of Bryson's scout requirements for his Bear Badge. Game Day did just that for us. Here's how it went down.

We roped Kaley & Madi, Cassi, Katelyn, Megan and Adam into joining with us--it's always a lot more fun with a crowd. Plus, I am no expert on volleyball--one of the games we had to play for the scout requirement. Anyway, we went to a nearby park and ran relays with the kids for a while until my legs (I won't speak for Kaley's legs) were turning to Jell-O. Mom stopped by with some apples--a welcomed snack and break for my Jell-O legs. Cassi and crew came along shortly after and we got down to business.


While we organized ourselves Blake and Bryson tried their hands at the Monkey Bars. Blake was super excited to finally make it all the way across.






Bryson in action.






We (really Kaley and Cassi) explained the rules for Volleyball and we divided into teams. Unfortunately, I didn't plan very well and we were without a volleyball but made due with a cheap bouncy ball.


Cassi and I were supposed to trade in and out so we could keep an eye on the little boys but she was a much better asset to the team. I would have just been . . . well . . . not so much an asset.


I think Katelyn was trying to bump the ball over. Good try with a not so great ball!


The kids started to get the hang of getting the ball over and we have an actual volley happen a few time.


Brock and Adam got in on the action a few courts down trying to throw a beach ball over. They had so much fun!


Blake's turn to serve.


TOE-tally happy Brett, loving the outside world!


At half-time of the Volleyball game we decided to change games. So half-time became Final Score--everyone wins! We went out to the field and set up some rocks with paper towels under them for bases for a game of Kickball--another scout requirement. (Why soccer wasn't listed I don't know.)


This game was funnier than Volleyball. Brock and Adam of course had no idea which way to run. Just after Brock kicked the ball in this picture he ran to First Base, where Adam was baseman, and Adam started running away which led Brock to run after him. It was a reincarnation of "Who's On First?"


This was a great effort of compassion and teamwork by Kaley and I. Blake came running to 2nd base where I was baseman but he could see that I had the ball so he ran the other way. So I chased him--slowly. Kaley covered 2nd as we headed back that way and I must have thrown the ball a little too late because he was safe. FEEUUFFF!!! What a play!


It was a super fun morning followed by a picnic at a different park by Cassi's house. The kids ate well (Brett ate his toes!) and played some more on the playground and basketball court. We all got a little sunburned from all the outside goodness! Tomorrow is sure to be chaos as I attempt "Iron Chef" Day!

Spring Break 2012!

Monday--Service Day

As is now the tradition during Spring Break at our house, we have a different theme every day. Today is Service Day. I wanted the boys to have opportunities to work hard and be satisfied with knowing that what they did helped someone else.

I also decided that every morning this week I would get everyone out of the house and exercise in some way. I had these great pictures in my head of all of us jogging in line down the sidewalk and everyone stopping to watch us. Scary. But I braved the idea anyway. So I loaded Brett in the stroller and Brock in the umbrella stroller for Bradley to push and off we went. After quick jog down our street, we ran some sprints down an incline at our park. It was an incredible 70 degrees outside with a slight breeze--perfect for running outside. We ran around the street behind us and back to our house, took a quick water and potty break, then loaded up in the car for our next stop--Grandma-ma's and Grandpa Long's.


They had a great task for the boys--washing Grandma-ma's car. Grandpa gave everyone their instructions and the boys did a pretty good job following directions.


Grandpa hosed the tires down first, told the boys to get their rags wet in the soapy bucket and then make those tires shine! After that they moved to the other parts of the car as directed.


Bradley was Grandpa's right hand man and learned a lot about the right way to wash a car.


Baby Brett stayed cool in the shade of the garage and played with Grandma-ma for a while. After the crew had cleaned to make Grandma's car sparkle and cleaned up the rags and soap, they were invited inside for a soda and cookie break! Brock was so proud that he made Grandma's car sparkle! As we drove away they all agreed that washing Grandma's car was soooo much fun! The cookies and soda only sweetened the deal!

Next, we journeyed down the 202 to Kaley's house. She had a list of chores for them to do. And while not quite as much fun as washing a car and having Grandpa get them all a little bit wet (they loved it!) they did a good job cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting and steam cleaning.


Happy Aunt Kaley and her Cleaning Crew (Brock fell asleep in the car after our lunch break!)

After lunch, Bradley and Bryson went to Mom's house to help Dad with some yard work in the backyard. I took the little kids home for Quiet Time which was sort of quiet but no one really got a nap so there were a few cranky kids later on. I should have asked Dad to snap a picture on his phone because apparently they all but chopped down a tree in the backyard! Mom said Bradley had been sawing on the same piece of branch for an hour! However, when Dad dropped them off they didn't look as tired as I thought they would, so I sent all four of them to our backyard to hose off the table and chairs and clean up the toys outside. It was a GREAT day and a very productive day. I think (hope) they all learned to enjoy or appreciate serving others more than they did before. We'll have to have a repeat Service Day another time. In the mean time preparations for tomorrow are already in the works. . . . .