Wait, you did what?

So, I fairly regularly walk a mile down the street to Target.  So today I decided to go the other direction.  I needed to get some au jus mix for our roast beef sandwiches tonight.  I never did find any.  King Soopers is a mile away, so no big deal, right?  Except that going west is MUCH more hilly than going east.  And, for some reason, I decided I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby, which was another mile away.  So today we took a 4 mile walk.  I've got blisters on my feet and a terrific sunburn (not blistered there though, thank goodness), but it was a great walk and a great workout.

The kids, ready to go

The pond beside our complex

Oh, the hills! >_< (I would have taken the walkway by the freeway, but I had to stop by the office first.  The road is hillier than the freeway, so the walkway would have been flatter.)

Erin was so excited about the flowers that I picked her a "danny-lieyun."  She wanted a tulip, but I was sure someone might be upset about me picking their tulips.  Nobody cares about dandelions though.

On the way home Erin decided that she wanted to walk.  I was glad to let her, since it meant 35lbs less I had to push and that she'd maybe wear herself out enough to nap when we got home.  It was rather nervewracking for me though, as she's never been on her own like that on a sidewalk by a busy street.  So I made her walk on the grass.

And Patrick just sat, lol

We moved to the walkway by the freeway as soon as we could, since (like I said before) it's flatter by the freeway.  Erin just loved running.

There was a bridge over a stream.  It was very pretty.

And we passed a colony of prairie dogs.  They kept chirping at us.  I think it was at us, since they'd stop once we passed and the ones we were coming up to started.

Erin had lost her dandelion and really wanted another, and that's when I noticed her nose.

I was so excited when we finally could see home.  I have a blister in the middle of the ball of my foot, and I was in pain.

There's a pair of geese that live by the pond!  Maybe we'll get goslings??

We were all very exhausted by the time we got home!

But it was a great excursion anyway.

Playground trip

We went to play at the playground for a bit on Saturday.  And then I misplaced the camera, so that's why you're not getting pictures until today.

Sidewalk chalk

The kids played with sidewalk chalk yesterday, and I played with the camera.

Silly girl

She does this all the time. =Þ  Won't put it on her head right though.

Long walks under the evils.

So, remember in this post how I was so excited about the buds on the trees?  Yes, well, that exact same tree now looks like this

My family calls those pollen pod things evils.  Why? Well, we have two big fruitless mulberry trees in our front yard who pollinate the same way.  My mom once said that they look like weevils.  Someone said "yeah, but evil ones," and it stuck.  These aren't as bad as the mulberries though. You couldn't see puffs of pollen falling off them.

But I'm still allergic.  And even though I've been taking zyrtec every day for the past nearly 3 months, I still felt horribly awful by the time I got home.

I actually didn't want to take a walk all the way down to Target at all today.  It was clouded over and windy and so it was fairly cold.

I was smart enough today, though, to bring blankets for the kids along.

So why go to the store?  I needed diapers.  I needed diapers because Erin's been telling me she's "stinky" every 5 minutes and INSISTS that I change her diaper.  But she screams and yells whenever I mention the potty.  She seemed to be doing so well for about a week, but then reverted to the screaming and yelling.  And to think, when she was born I was sure she'd have been potty trained by now.  Months ago.  But each kid is different, right? And I've never potty trained anything before so she gets to be my guinea pig.  Ugh.  It'll be so nice when she's done with diapers!

On the way back, Patrick decided it would be ever so fun to start yanking on Erin's hair.  He's been pretty fascinated with pulling hair lately, but it's usually mine.  But sitting behind her, I guess he just couldn't resist.  So we tried our hand at switching.  He enjoyed it, I think, being able to have an unimpeded view.

So I was trucking it home, feeling awful, when I just happened to look to the right and saw this

I love clouds.  They always look like you're looking through a perfectly clear window that someone has painted on.  It makes me smile because I can just imagine God with a paintbrush. =Þ

Easter baskets and coloring eggs

Matt suggested to me Friday night that we do Easter baskets this morning so that tomorrow we could talk to Erin about Jesus and have it be a special day.  Anyway, the last few years we've done one big basket for everyone instead of individual ones.  (the movie is Erin's, with a coin purse that she LOVES, the bead toy is Patrick's there's a black box behind Patrick's with a pearl bracelet in it, and the shirt over the chair is Matt's)

Erin found it today before Matt got up.

And of course thought the best part was the Lindt chocolate bunny

And then we colored Easter eggs before dinner

Matt put Erin's name on one and we let her put stickers on it.

So I then put Patrick's name on one and let him play with it.  He tried to eat it, and I think it tasted like vinegar, because he made a terrible face (that I didn't manage to get a picture of!)

Then Matt drew Trogdor on one

We weren't very creative

I think when the kids are all older we'll actually paint our eggs.

(I posted another post before this one today, so don't forget to look at it too!)

Playing on the slide

We went down to the playground Thursday, and I had fun taking pictures.  Of course I forgot to post them!  I'm uploading a vid right now...
We'd stopped by the office on the way there to pay rent, and they each got an Oreo.  Patrick got it all over his face of course.