When you're a busy mom...

...you get really behind on blog posts.  I've not forgotten about this blog, and I want very much to keep it updated.  Every time I'd think about sitting down to update, I felt intimidated by how far behind I am.  So, instead of diving in, I avoided it longer and became more behind.  I always hate the feeling of being so overwhelmed that I don't know where to begin.  Springtime.  I'll start there.  Here goes...

Vera had her 1st grade musical in March.  Vera was lucky enough to be selected for a speaking part--a clown fish, and she was pretty excited.  The weather was really snowy right before the program, and school was cancelled.  I think the students, and especially Ms. Tipton, were nervous about missing a day of rehearsal.  It came together beautifully, and Vera had so much fun.  I was especially proud of her because she didn't cry about being nervous.  She was excited and ready!

All of Vera's fan club was there....

It was past the littlest fans' bedtime, and they were photo-disinterested at this juncture.

The kids & I were excited to celebrate dad's birthday.  Adam never makes much of a fuss for his birthday, but the kids love celebrating it!  Vera had an eye doc appointment right after school that afternoon, so dad, Vince and Annie met us at the Mexican restaurant, which is presently referred to as "Bell" at our house, for dinner.  ("Bell" because the restaurant is next to Taco Bell, creatively named by the always-working mind of Vinners.)  I also need to document that Annie must've told Adam "Happy Birthday" fifty times.  It was pretty hilarious.

Such a great picture!

Easter, as usual, was filled with family get-togethers and egg hunts.  We hosted the Pearsons at our house this year; it's always fun to host a party.  The kids, like last year, raked in candy by the bucket-fulls.  The folks at Midmark and my students may or may not have enjoyed our excess.

Listening (attentively?) to grandma's egg hunt instructions.

Restless natives.

Egg hunting in this (adorable) sweater jacket when there's snow on the ground = Mom Fail.
Annie was freezing.

Action shot.

I just love her hat.

Sisterly.

Too cold and excited to look at the camera.

The kids colored eggs with Grammie and Mindy on Good Friday while I attended the church services.  Thanks to Mindy for these pictures.  She's always so good about sharing them!

Paint shirts and smiles for everyone...almost!

Gang's all here!
It was also Opening Day, can you tell?!

Brinley is such a happy babe!

Easter Bunny made a stop throughout the night, and these surprises were left on Easter Morning.  Rain (actually, Mud) boots for the oldest two and flip flops for Annie.  Perfecto!

Our guests arrived around mid-afternoon and it was all but calm and quiet after that.  We had good food and good company with the Pearsons that afternoon. 

Kids table upstairs = no messes on the carpet (theoretically) 

This boy never has time to smile for a picture.

Missing Brinley but managed a good picture of everyone.

Still too cold and excited for a picture.

And finally, a few weeks after Easter was the Bertke family gathering. 

Egg hunt anticipation...err...chaos!

Annie wore a winter coat this time.

Most of the great grands.  L to R: Vince, Cohen, Eli, Blake, Scarlett, Amelia, Vera, Audrey, Nora, Beau and Annie.
Aubrey in the foreground.

Annie and Beau

Nora "Monkey" Homan and Vera

Turning 7 for Vera was also a highlight of springtime.  I love how the excitement builds for the kids' birthdays each year.  Vera had trouble deciding what she wanted to do for her special day.  She elected to take her friend Jenna to see Anything Goes!, the school's musical, and then a little play date at home afterwards.  It was a success.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I didn't have to entertain the two girls.  Vin and Annie had an outing with dad, which meant Vera and Jenna had the run of the house.  They played and played so well.

Vera had an awesome cake.  I was sad to lose my old cake lady, but my replacement has stepped up nicely!

7 candles & Barbie says "touchdown!"

Some crazy faces with grandma & grandpa.

Around mid-April, softball practices started.  When it was time for the season to start, it just felt so early.  Spring was so chilly this year!  Vera was excited for another season of softball.  Adam coached her team again this year, and that made it all the more fun for Vera.  

Coach Dad

For most of the softball games, this is how it looked.  I had a bag full of toys that Vince & Annie played with during the games.  They usually did pretty well, but there were certainly weeks when they tried my patience.  I love this picture, because it captures their age and behavior perfectly.

 I bought a Giant Jenga set for an event at school.  Since it shipped to the house, I decided to get it out and give it a try.  Surprisingly, Vince & Vera caught on to the concept quickly, and they  had a lot of fun watching the tower wobble and grow.  At the end of the game, the tower was taller than Vera's reach.

At the end of April, I went on a field trip to Victoria Theater with Vera's class.  It was a rainy, dreary day, but the show was cute.  It's always fun to visit Vera's classroom and meet some of her classmates.

At the end of March, we bought a new camper.  It was so cold when we brought it home.  We wore hats and winter coats as we cleaned out our old camper and loaded up the new one.  After taking the old camper from storage, we had it sold within 3 days.  I always get a little sad when we sell things.  That camper housed many memories for us.  I am really excited to have our new one though, and I'm sure it will be filled with years of camping memories!

The storage compartment houses two kids.

 We went on our first camping trip the first weekend in May with the Millis family.  We lucked out with pretty nice weather.  It was free fishing weekend, so Adam took the kids fishing with their new poles.  They each caught one fish, which worked out perfectly.  Vince caught on to the concept of fishing quickly (no surprise there) and was elated to catch his first fish.  His smile in the picture captures his excitement perfectly.  He still remembers that he caught a crappie. 

We enjoyed going to a few of Kurtis's baseball games when we could.  Vince loved watching the Tigers.  The girls were mostly interested in eating snacks, and all are still too distracted to take a group picture.

We celebrated Mother's Day at Uncle Brian's house...

May was a busy month.  We attended the Dragon's Game one Saturday evening.  It was fun to start out, but the kids quickly lost interest.  It felt like herding cats toward the 5th inning, which prompted us to hit the road. 

 And at the end of May, we did lots and lots of yard work.  We mulched the flower beds, which is always a dirty, sweaty job.  Vince could hardly wait to get started.  He worked and worked filling and dumping his wheelbarrow loads.  This boy just loves to work.

It's always exciting to have farming in our back yard.  Vince, especially, was completely enthralled.  He watched from the swing set tower while the girls ran their water stand.

Adam planted the garden.

Annie's telling us she's 2.  Can't leave her out of the photo-taking.

And when the work was done, the kids played in the water and enjoyed popsicles. 
Summer is just around the corner!!