An EDUCATIONAL Field Trip

Last Monday I was able to go with Jamahl on a feild trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center. We had a great time and learned a lot, maybe even too much... I know the picture is not a very good one but I had to take a picture of where Jamahl chose to sit. If you notice, he is sitting in front of the emergency exit. He says that is always where you should sit in case something happens. What five year old thinks about that you might ask? Well, one whose grandfather (who happens to be a little paranoid) went with Jamahl the first time he ever rode a bus. Jamahl does not forget a thing!
As we were finishing our hike around the property, the guide was telling us that they had a baby elk born in the wrong season and they were very proud of the fact that it had survived. Right before we walked away, the baby decided to give the kids a lesson in nature. Here was Jamahls reaction!!!
He is doing what?????

Growing up

The other day the kids were downstairs playing while Paul made lunch. He set everything in the middle of the table and we went to get the girls. We released them from their gated off area and they went upstairs. By the time we got up there, they were all sitting at the table, had their half of sandwhich in front of them, and were eating away. I think that they are trying to tell us they are ready to be done with highchairs! I don't think so!!!! I guess they grow up whether we are ready or not.
Even Keyan got up into the big chair by herself. She never ceases to amaze us.

Grammie's birthday

Today was Mom's birthday and we celebrated in royal style. All of us girls were princesses with tiearas. We feasted on champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries. Everyone had a great time as they are always up for a party!
Jamahl decided that if Grammie was the queen she needed some more make-up! He promptly found the red lipstck, eye shadow and mascara. Mom would kill me if I posted the end result but all I can say is she was a gorgeous queen! Happy Birthday Mom!!! We love you.

Easter fun

Saturday night we colored eggs. With 5 kids coloring we cooked up 36 eggs. By the time nap and dinner was done, Paul and I thought that we were ready for the action!! I now know that we will never be fully ready for what our kids have in store. Jamahl was very worried about getting dye on his shirt so I told him just to take it off. Well, you can see what he thought of that idea. I think that 90% of his eggs were green and you can guarnetee he did not get a drop of dye on him!
McKenzy on the other hand loved sticking her hands right into the cup and any time that I let go of the spoon she grabbed it and started DRINKING the dye. Don't worry, we checked on the box and it is supposedly "safe" fpr kids!!! She did not like waiting for the egg to be done but when we pulled it out for her to see she was ecstatic!
Keyan was also pretty facinated by the white eggs turing colors. She constantly wanted the "Puple" dye. Here she is proudly displaying her work of art for Poppy. She was a little rough with eggs and dye so we had a couple different casualties along the way but most everythig survived the Ki-Ki monster.

And then there is Abagayle. She was interseted in how the dye tasted also but she preferred licking it right off of the egg. If you didn't grab the egg off the spoon, it went right onto her tongue. She always wanted "Lellow" and quickly discovered how neat it was to watch the egg spin anround her tray. She kept us on our toes as usually!

Last but not least is Sidney. She did a great job. Her favorite part of coloring eggs was to color them with a crayon. The only problem was that she colored them so much there was no room on the egg for any dye. Oh Well, everybody has to do things their own way. Sidney enjoyed watching the eggs turn colors and she liked to leave hers in for a long time so that they were very bright. When you pulled the egg out of the cup she would ask, "What is happening?"

By the end of the event we had multicolred highchair trays, 36 beautiful eggs, give or take a few sure to breaking, four frazzeled adults, and five very happy children. It's just another night at the Hogans!

Has it really been over a month?

Oh! It has been so long since I have posted here. I feel really guilty because I said this would never happen. Oh well! After everyone getting RSV and Keyan finally making it out of the hospital, it was only a few weeks later that all 9 of us got the stomach flu. It was terrible. For 10 days there was someone in the house getting sick. Finally,we are all feeling better. Keyan is having some problems with tolerating her food but that is starting to improve as well. I attempted to take a family picture on St. Patricks day and this is as good as it got!!! Getting all five kids to look at the camera just does not happen. You would think that I would be used to that by now! Hopefully, you all had a great March!

With April came some of our first nice weather. The girls love to be outside and one of our volunteer/friends figured out how to get all four of them on one bike!! We still have problems with McKenzy wandering off and they are contantly falling while running and falling off the play structure but all they care about is being outside. We look forward to the nice days continuing but there is snow forcasted for tomorrow so we shall see! Happy Spring!