Spring Break Family Fun

After HelpWaterTaco we headed to FL to celebrate some birthdays!  Both my Dad and my sister April are born in April and since this year was Dad's 60th birthday, he wanted everyone to get together to celebrate. We don't need much of a reason to get together with family so this seemed like a great reason to hook up :)  

So, we loaded up the camper and headed to North FL because my Dad and his brother, Uncle Donald, have recently bought some property that we could all stay at. It was so great to be with family that we haven't seen for lots of years and that the kids had never met. I can't wait til we can all hook up and hang out again. 

But on to the birthdays.....

The cupcakes were arranged by Emily so we would know how old both April and Dad were. :)

Obligatory Family pictures.....there are lots of us and we are so bummed that Liz and Shannon were missing. But here's the rest of the Donald/Ronald Wilson Clan

 The Donald Wilson Part

 All the grandkids

 The Ronald Wilson Part

 The Wilson Girls -  minus Elizabeth

 The boys - yes they are identical twins :)

 And April - with Joy because she was helping hold the sign :)

 Everybody enjoying their cupcakes

I am so glad that we got to hang out with all this family. We were so far in the woods there was no cell phone service or internet and it was so much fun!  It's amazing how much you talk and hang out when there are no electronics to mess with. I'm thinking we should vacation here more often!

HelpWaterTaco

Every year over Spring Break we do an event called HelpWaterTaco which is a little serving, a little eating, and a lot of fun. This year we included all the kids - complete with sleep over at the church!  I didn't get many pictures of the event but here are some from the "water" portion. 

Things we learned from these hours in water were:
1) Baby Shaun loves the water and will be lots of fun this summer
2) Olivia is going to have to get used to water :)
3) Cadence is growing up WAY faster than it seems like she should be.

Phone Dump

Some days you just need to dump the phone and remember all the everyday fun :)

Breakfast with the two year olds

We are so glad that God has brought these two to our family!

Little Man is definitely loving him some real food these days :)

Since Spring is coming, Daddy has been pulling out the motorcycle a little more often. 

Here is the Middle's version of a motorcycle

We bought a new (to us) van this month.......after several months of debating on what to get ( i wanted a BIG suv and Chris wanted another minivan) we compromised on a Conversion Van. 

Yes, we are those people. 48 kids and a Conversion Van :)

 It's not everyday that people get to have an entire TV in their car (complete with VCR). Our kids love it and this Mama does too because I can stand up straight in it and buckle, spank, change diapers, pass out food, anything that could need to be done all without having to be bent over or reach around another seat. I'm telling ya, whoever came up with this automobile was a genius!

How we roll these days

We still try to get down to Discovery Place on our family day once a month or so. The great thing about it is that there are still sections that we haven't really played in yet so it's like brand new fun every time we go.   This day we stayed in the underwater part for a long time and the kids had a blast!

We also played outside - this will be better when it's warmer

 That same day (because everyone is wearing the same clothes) 

Creed decided that this was the way to dress. He makes us laugh often :)

Daddy took the girls to a high School Play rendition of the Little Mermaid. They were so excited for a date with Daddy - at least Cadence was....Olivia had fun on the inside I'm sure.......

 we took down our old swing set and put up the new one but the kids still enjoy the old one....on this day it was their ship and they were pirates ARGH!

 Chris sent me this picture one day while he was doing school with Cadence. You were supposed to mark if the activity would be done in the AM or PM. She had no idea of what the activity was. I don't know if this is awesome or shameful.....I'm gonna go with awesome :)

More Discovery Place pictures because they got all split up on the import from iPhoto 

and I'm too lazy to move them

It's the season for High School plays and so Chris and Cadence went to see another one. This time it was FAME (you know you just sang the phrase "I'm gonna live forever") and then they went out for dessert afterwards. Cadence didn't like this yumminess from Applebee's so they picked up a milkshake from McDonalds on the way home. 

and one last picture. Imagine all 5 of them this covered in mud because too many rainy days and a yard that doesn't drain well leads to this. It was really fun - until it wasn't then we had to give 5 baths.