I am so behind on this blog but I am going to give it a whirl anyway! Spring Break was interesting (and fun) but interesting because my "big" first grader had definite ideas on what HIS break would be like and WHAT he would get to do...but after a few fits (and a few more) we had some fun.
I did make the boys clean some (especially their room...can you imagine what four boys ages 1, 3, 5, 7 can do to a clean room in a matter of minutes?). I 
try to pick up in there daily but I've been so busy at school that I was getting behind. This was, of course, a major issue with "Sam's break" but eventually he caved (phew) and grumbling, did some work.
We had a lovely Easter with an Easter party on Saturday that another ward invited us to and we even brought a neighbor with us! :) Hooray for us! The boys loved searching for eggs and enjoyed pizza and capri suns after the hunt! Easter Sunday was nice and we even got to have ham with the fam!
Monday through Friday flew by. :( But we did get to go camping twice. We cleaned some more on Monday (worked on the garage a bit) and then had FHE at Grandpa Marcroft's shop. He is closing it down :( but invited the boys over to ride the forklift for a bit before the new owner picked it up in the morning. Our friends from church (who also have a bunch of boys) joined us too and they all had fun! :)
Tuesday we met Adrian and Eric up at Monte Cristo Campground in the Angeles Forest. It was very nice camping with them as they are very relaxed and patient with the boys (which makes it easier on me!) Wednesday they had to go back to work so we stayed until lunch or so and headed home but not before we had fun with fire, smores, and just good conversation!
Wednesday we recovered a little bit and repacked for another day of 
camping! We found out that two nephews needed a place to stay and decided that we'd take them with us! The boys were ecstatic and wouldn't stop talking about it until we picked Jared and Lucas up on Thursday. We went back to Monte Cristo and Grandma and Grandpa Marcroft met us up there that evening. The boys had so much fun running, riding, exploring, "fishing" and even caught a frog in the stream.
Thursday was going well as I was making breakfast until I heard the screams...Sammy had taken Lucas on a little riding toy (not a bike) down a big hill and when they hit a speed bump in the road they went flying. Poor Lucas took a tumble and scratched up his hands, feet, head, mouth and even 
chipped a tooth! :( Auntie Allie was worried that the Fongs wouldn't ever let the boys go camping with us again, but I think that Cathy is still my sister and might ;) let us take them another time. After the screams subsided (which actually were coming more from Sam who had a bloody knee too--Lucas was quite calm for the way that he looked) they acted just like boys who started running, playing, riding, eating, chasing and getting even dirtier! We even headed down the mountain a way and went to Vasquez Rocks and also to Blum Orchard and got some honey.
We left late on Friday just in time to get home to meet Grandpa where the boys would be staying until the Fongs got home from their YM/YW trip.
Saturday was another recovery day but busy as we got up early for General Conference and our Yogurtland trip on the way home from the stake center. They do so much better at the church than at home so I'm glad that we go to the church--it is close and I need it!
Later on the boys played a lot and went to a neighbor's birthday party and we also had a bowling night with the baseball league. We watched Jared and Lucas again so that Daddy and Grandpa could go to conference and Jared, Sammy and Nathan got to bowl! They had fun and did quite well (although I got a lot of looks and stares as I walked through the alley with six boys (1,3,4,5,7,9) and one of the dads on the lane next to us said every five minutes or so, "go sit down if it is not your turn!" Sigh. Oh well. I thought that they were well behaved and the baby only ran away onto the lane (not the greased part though) twice--not bad! ;)
Sunday we were back to church and then over to Grandpa's house for afternoon conference which was a bit crazy but we survived! I think that the boys were tired and a bit grouchy. We headed home and tried to get them in bed and ready to start school again on Monday. I couldn't believe that it was almost time to go back to work. Where did our week off go?
Here are a few more pics….I won’t post them all! :)
Thursday was field trip day for the boys! I, sadly, was only able to go to one since I have not yet figured out how to easily divide myself into two although it would be helpful at times. ;) Sam’s teacher had asked me in the fall to save up this date so I went with them to Centennial Farm at the OC Fair Grounds. First we stopped at the farmer’s market to look at all of the produce before the Farm opened at 10 am. YUM! At the farm we had little tours by some 
cute, retired farmers-ours was Farmer Tom! I got to take my own group with two more parent helpers and it was fun. We saw lots of farm animals, I learned that ox was more like a job description that they give to cows that are trained to work, we learned about eggs being fertilized and the steps until they hatch and then held some baby chicks, planted radishes (which we got to take home), saw tons of cool plants, learned about milking Holsteins and Jerseys and the difference between the milks, and more! Fun was had by all! :)
Nathan’s class went to the La Habra Children’s Museum. I was glad that his best buddy’s Skye’s mom was there so that I got to see lots of pictures of the museum. It looks pretty cool and I’m hoping to take the kids there this summer! Saturday, June 1st it’s free (Target free days) but then in July it’s changing to the first Sunday of each month :( but oh well. 
Sarah said that they had an area with taxidermy animals that you could touch, a pretend store, an excavating site, a pirate ship with dress up clothes, a carousel (that was included with admission!) and more. Nathan loved it! I definitely think we’ll have to go back this summer. 
