Fun Nature Park Field Trip

Today Matthew and his class took a field trip to the local Nature Park for an educational walk thru the park. It was such a fun day and I am so fortunate to be able to go along!

Matthew and one of his good buddies Silas enjoying the bus ride.

It was as beautiful day to be outside... but it sometimes made it tough to get good photos..haha!

Kids getting a briefing from the Park staff before setting off. One half of the class was going on a big hike around the park first, the other half working with staff and learning about different plants, animals and the environment. We would have lunch in between. 

My charges for the day... Emme, Miles, Aileen, Matthew, Silas, Hayden. Hunter and Celeste would join me after lunch. 

Such a silly group of kiddos!

We climbed on lots of downed trees!

We enjoyed looking at plants, water and finding bugs, snails, and even a snake! 

The boys chillin'

We made it to Lily Pad Lake before lunch! The kids were pretty tired from hiking for almost 2 hours but I was proud of them persevering to get to this cool spot in the park!

Ahhhh... lunchtime!

Our afternoon guide/teacher was Edison. He was awesome with the kids and kept them engaged. He had some cool stuff for them to look and and talk about. 

I paired these two up to work together finding seeds. "But we ALWAYS fight when we work together!" They said. This actually didn't surprise me in the least, knowing these two. I challenged them to try to make today different and try to get along. And you know what? They did!! I was so proud of them!

Getting ready to play a race "Race to the veggies" game.

Look at him go!

And this, dear readers, is why I am going to start buying his pants at Goodwill. He's only had these pants for a few weeks... and the knees are already busted out. Sigh...

It was such a fun day! The kids were tired (one kid fell asleep on the bus home!) but were talking about how cool there time at the park was all the way home on the bus. This will be a field trip to remember for sure!!

Play Ball!!

Another year of baseball has started. Matthew is on a new team with AMAZING coaches and is already enjoying it more than last year. Since his surgery (and working with PT) he is moving SO much better and much more agile on his feet... and he is stronger and boy, he can HIT!  It has been fun watching him have so much joy and passion at practice and at home (he plays catch with Doug or me whenever he can). 

 After three rain-outs, we FINALLY got a baseball game it today!!

My Dodger ready to go!

Coach Jerry giving the boys a pep talk.

The team played SO well together and made great plays for outs and runs. Matthew had four hits and helped make several outs (including a cool catch to end the game).  It was so great watching him play!

Coaches celebrating a huge win with their boys....

Aunt Mary came to watch her great nephew.. Matthew was happy to see her!

The game ended around dinner time so we went to Red Robin to celebrate a great first game for our boy. 

So excited for the season! Go Dodgers!!

Easter

He is risen! Hallelujah! He is risen indeed!

We had a lovely day celebrating our Redeemer with family.

Since spring break was this week, finding time to get ready to host 15 people was scarce, as I wanted to have some fun with the kids. I tried not to let it stress me out, but I still ended up running around kind of crazy yesterday and today. But I had a lot of help from Doug and the kids (that included Doug getting the kids out of the house so I could get things done...haha!) and everything turned out just fine.

The kids helped me set the table this year. 

They did a great job! 

I had forgotten that I was slated to help in the nursery at church this morning! Thankfully I remembered mid week and had things prepped and ready to go yesterday so I could serve this morning and not worry about having too much to do. 

Us in our church best! :) 

I took over hosting duties from this gem, Doug's Aunt Mary. Thankfully she still helps me plan, comes early, and always brings wine. She brought champagne this year too.. and made me a lovely mimosa as I finished getting things ready to go. She's the best!

It was really chilly outside so my plan for photos with everyone outside didn't happen. Oh well.. I got one of the kids and one with mom and Doug. 

They love Aunt Mary, too!

Doug and his dad...

The moms (well, Mary is technically an aunt but she pretty much could be one of our moms, too!).

Grandma Morris brought deviled eggs! The kids were just a smidge excited about that!

Uncle Don is in the hoooooouse! :)

Morris Men

Mom's Doug was so amazing and cut the ham for me. It's a skill I need to work on for sure, and I appreciate how he let me do other hosting things and took care of it. Thanks Doug!

The whole bunch! We were a little tight but we had a lovely meal with lovely conversation.

Evelyn wanted to take my picture with dessert. :) This is my "famous" (it is a fan favorite and I am asked to make it every year) triple berry trifle. I made a gluten free angel food cake so Evelyn could eat it. I was a bit nervous about that but it turned out SO good and you really couldn't tell the difference. Thankful it turned out!

The "younger" cousins... not so little anymore! Greg will be THIRTEEN this year...yikes!

The "bigger" cousins... who really don't like their photo taken! :)

My in-laws have a computer at home but no internet. Apparently Doug showed dad something and next thing you know they were looking at old cars and stuff for over and hour!!

The weather wasn't great, but the kids still had an Easter egg hunt. Always a fun time for all those participating and those watching!

Where's Evelyn?

The big boys put silly stuff in eggs, like orange slices and spinach. It was pretty funny. 

Not to be outdone, the younger ones led the big boys on a scavenger hunt of sorts. They spent a long time planning in secret and had fun with it. The big boys were good sports and went along with it! :)

The cousins ended the afternoon with a nerf war! 

I wish I would have gotten a big group photo... but it was a lovely day with lovely people. Thankful for the opportunity to host and thankful for my family. 

Happy Easter Everyone!