Goomie's 90th Birthday Party

Last week we went up to NY to celebrate Goomie's 90th birthday. She had a Hawaiian theme party at the church building.

 Here is the kiddie table with 8 of her soon to be 20 great grandkids.

 The youngest member of the party- Miss O was showing off her walking skills.

 Cousin JJ wanted to try on one of the huge party hats.

 Goomie opening presents from her great grandkids:

 Here she is with the pillow that big sister A made for her.  She even embroidered a nice big "G" on the front all by herself!

 Goomie loved the memory album from the grandkids. She spent a long time looking through it.  Then she went through it a second time!

 While we were waiting for the party to start we hung out in the church gymnasium.

 Baby L got hit by a rogue basketball.

 Hubby bravely taking on the role of basketball hoop:

 Uncle P looking extra tall next to all the little kiddos:

At the end of the party Goomie gave her balloons to the kiddos.  Big sister A was running in the gym with hers and it came off its string and went up to the peak of a 20ft-ish ceiling. Daddy tried to save the day by throwing up a hoola hoop wrapped with sticky tape. Then he and Grandpop came up with a new scheme.  They found a ladder that was only about 10-12ft tall and used Grandpop's tripod/camera stand extended it's full height of about 12ft or more with some sticky tape on its tip. Daddy was able to stand on the ladder and carefully maneuver the long tripod spear over his head to tap the balloon gently with the sticky tape at its tip. Yaay! Daddy and Grandpop were heroes! Sadly, I was pretty nervous about someone getting hurt in the attempt and forgot to take pictures.

Farm Fresh: Big Sister's Ducklings

 We got a call from the hatchery saying that our ducklings and goslings were going to be delayed. Then of course we went to Tractor Supply for some feed and they had tubs of cute ducklings. Big sister A really wanted some right away. They had some varieties (Black Swedish, Welsh Harlequin, and Rouen) that were different than the ones I had on order.  I encourage the kiddos to help with the animals as much as they are willing to, but it is mostly me doing the heavy lifting.  I was okay with getting a few more ducklings as long as they were not my responsibility. So we talked to daddy and big sister A brought home her very own 6 ducklings to care for.  She has been doing a great job.

Ducklings playing in their water are so cute, but they make a huge mess. The bedding needs to be changed about once a week. Here she is getting that all taken care of.

Visiting With Aunt S and Uncle M

Aunt S and Uncle M's family stopped at our house again on their way home.  The cousins were so happy to have more time to play together.  Uncle M split and stacked a couple cords of wood for us while we went to the aquarium. 

They brought their beagle, Mater, to visit us.  It reminded my kiddos of how much they want to have a dog... First we need our property fence.

 Playing with the stomp rocket.

 The Easter Bunny's adorable assistants refilled all the eggs for a second Easter egg hunt -- since these cousins missed the first one.

We only have another month on our aquarium pass for the year. We were glad to treat our cousins to a visit before it runs out. Petting the moon jellies:

  Petting the horseshoe crab:

 Amazon river fish tank:

 I wanted a group photo in Shark Alley, but the lighting was impossible for my meager photography skills.

Random Pictures from March

 These are some pics from Hubby's phone that did not get included yet in the blog.

 

Easter Fun

My sister S and her family stopped to visit us on their way to Dad's house for Easter. They kiddos had fun holding the bunnies together.

 We had our annual Easter Egg hunt with my brother P and his family.

Baby L really got into the egg hunting this year.

We always let the youngest 4 kiddos hunt first.  There were about 200 eggs hidden so there was plenty to go around.

The big kids raced around when it was their turn to hunt.

Happy Easter morning!

Peeps, coloring books, and a little toy for each of my kiddos from the Easter Bunny.