Zingo in the springtime with some piano and eggs...

This is a fun time of year in the Blades house.  School starts to wind down, we start focusing more on homeschool projects than regular school assignments, and it stays lighter outside at night so we can play more in the evenings.  We have also been enjoying going to Delaney's basketball games on Friday nights, as well as Gracie's softball games.  My mom bought Luke this game and it has turned out to be something the whole family can play together, even Caleb!  It's called Zingo and it is like Bingo but with pictures.  The first one to shout out the picture gets to keep it!

 Gracie has missed a few softball games this season due to being sick, but has had a great attitude throughout everything.  Here she is wearing a medal for being "player of the game". Grammy has become a big softball fan taking Gracie to many of her practices and coming to most of the games!  She has also had Matt, Sarah, Uncle Chris, Grandma, Grandpa, Mr. and Mrs. Short, Uncle Bob, and Mrs. Senkle come to watch her play.

Deann also threw the kids a huge spring party with games and prizes.  She is always so sweet and generous with all of the kids. I discovered during this party that Luke has now developed the Blades competitive spirit.  He was determined to win every game!

 Aunt Gail helped Caleb learn how to play corn hole.  Although he spent more time climbing up on it and throwing the bean bags into the hole!

 Here is Luke's competitive spirit coming out again, he was determined to pull more duckies out of the bucket even if his glasses got soaked!

 Caleb and Weston playing corn hole together...

One of Caleb's favorite treats from the day.  He is still eating a few of these every couple of days.  We Blades know how to make a treat last a long time!

 Another great thing that has been going on this past school year is Gracie taking piano lessons from Jen.  Gracie has grown so much this year in her abilities and more importantly in her own desire to do well.  She wants to impress Jen so much that I don't have to "make" her practice.  She sets the timer and does it all on her own for 30 minutes each day.  We try to go once a week for lessons, but as would be expected when dealing with two moms with four kids, someone is always getting sick or life just gets in the way.  Jen and I cherish these few minutes we get to visit after lessons are over.

 Hanna, Aaron, Luke and Caleb love playing together in Jen's enormous living room.  Aaron is the biggest Buzz Lightyear fan in the world, and Luke enjoys bringing his Buzz over also to play together.  I enjoy watching Caleb and Hanna have conversations.  She speaks so well and most of the time Caleb is just trying to keep up!

 I am so thankful for Jen taking time to do this for us.  I would love to see Gracie someday be able to turn around and teach others the way Jen has been able to do the whole time I have known her.

 Jen has this wonderful wall of mirrors in her family room which the kids love to make crazy faces with.  These are just two of the twenty pictures the kids have had me take!  There are some pretty scary looking ones, so I will just stick with these two!

 Easter has always been one of those holidays that I could take or leave.  Lori always makes sure to buy the dye and new gadget that brightens the coloring experience each year.  She has always been this way, even when we were little.  My kids don't even get Easter baskets from me, because they get so much from their grandma, Grammy, and one or two others usually.

 Delaney helped Caleb with his coloring and tried out the new spinner that Lori bought.

 Caleb loves spending time with Madison and Delaney every time they come over.  Many times I find him cuddled up with one of them on the couch playing on the itouch together.  He prays for them every night and can often be heard pretending to talk to them on one of the old cell phones that the kids play with.  After church he always wants them to read a book to him, especially an old mickey mouse book which Madison refers to as the "Soviet Union" book because it still refers to Russia that way!

 We had a funny situation happen in the past two weeks with Bill and Chris.  The basketball job at Chaffey opened up, and then the next day the football job at Montclair became available.  Both of them have always wanted to work together and now here was the chance!  But Chris doesn't want to leave Chaffey for many good reasons, and Bill doesn't feel like he can leave Montclair right now.  Poor Dylan's dream remains on hold for now:  he has always dreamed to play football for Chris and basketball for his dad.  Who knows what the future will hold?

The whole gang, from age 16 to age 2.  Watching them grow up together has been a dream come true for me.  I always wanted a house full of kids and the Lord has blessed me beyond measure!