Zackary and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

It wasn't the best night for a concert. Thursday night was busy. We were trying to get things ready for Mom's surprise party, the Easter egg hunt and Brittni was styling hair. Zack worked hard to set up chairs outside so I promised him that on Friday I would take him to the store to buy some concessions and we'd have the concert on Friday night. 


I should have checked the weather: 

I did my best to keep up my end of the deal. Zack & Haylee picked out some treats and got them all ready.  

By concert time it was still really cold. The chairs were snowy and wet. Unfortunately, the audience wasn't patient enough to deal with stage fright and the giggles. 

So after two little songs we all went inside. It just wasn't a good night. I know this because Zack spent the next hour telling me about how it was the worst day ever. Tired of his complaints, I told him to find some paper and write down everything that happened that was bad. He did: 

Man, rough day.  All that and he had to play all day with his cousins, watch Wrath of the Titans in 3-D, go to an arcade, have McDonald's for lunch and pizza for dinner. It really was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

Easter

 Easter egg dying:

Easter egg basket finding:

Easter surprises:

And a long drive home. (No more gummy candies in the car.)  

Sweet 60

My mom is one of the most creative people I know. I can't even count the number of times I've needed a creative idea for a lesson, hand out or gift and she's come up with something in a matter of minutes. She's amazing. So when Dad wanted to surprise her with an early 60th birthday party my first instinct was to call her for ideas.  Since that wasn't going to work, it was up to us to pull off something good.   We decided to throw her a "Sweet 60" party with lots of candy for decorations and sentiments. 


The day before the party, Dad took mom on a romantic trip to Billings. Correction: Dad took mom to Billings to buy some bulls. This gave us a chance to get everything set up. It was relief to be able to speak freely about everything. One of the big challenges was to keep the secret. Since we had the Easter egg hunt going on too I had to keep checking my emails and conversations to make sure she was included on the right things and that I didn't say something I shouldn't.


Kelli & Lacey were in charge of decorations. 

Ashlee made the cake. It tasted yummy too. 

Michelle was project manager (if ever a project needed managed this one did) and provided the venue. I glued some stuff and arranged a few things. 


Surprisingly, everything went according to plan. After the Easter egg hunt, Michelle invited everyone over to her house for dinner and to celebrate Jeremy's birthday which was the day before. Dad made some good rancher excuses (cows always need to be checked) to delay their arrival. And... SURPRISE. 

Our surprise could have used some work. There was talk of yelling, "surprise, happy early birthday!" But all anyone said was "surprise" moment of awkward silence then someone started singing Happy Birthday. Not the plan, but it worked ok. 

After dinner, we took turns presenting her with 60 candy items related to her life. 

Some of my favorites: 

Michelle with a raspberry picking bucket around her waist giving her raspberry candy.

 Logan telling Mom that he "wouldn't know because he has 39 years to go, but he's heard that 60 blows." (gumball joke.) 

Other awesomely punny candy sayings that, being my mom's daughter, I can appreciate: "You are a great Relief Society 'Pez'-ident. (Nice work, Lacey). Attached to a Slo-Poke-- "umm...we think you know." And references to being married to a "jolly rancher," knowing a few "cow tales," and staying sane after raising seven "goobers" and "cry babies." 

Afterwards, the kids all came in for a big group hug. I question their motives. I think they were kissing up to get some of her candy. It worked! 

Because her actual birthday is in a month, she didn't expect this party. I think we did a great job, but it definitely took all five of her girls several months to put together this party that she probably could have done in a few days all by herself.

The Big Hunt 2012

Ever wonder what is involved in pulling off an Easter egg hunt for 18 adults and 9 kids? We've been doing this for years now and still it seems like every year is the first time. We've definitely become more organized. We use spreadsheets. 

But none of us can ever seem to remember all the details. For instance, we separated the boys and girls eggs and stored them for the next year. I have no recollection of that little bit of organization. But I must have done it because it was my writing on the Ziploc bags. 


The adults are lazy and we don't actually hunt for eggs. We grab one from the correct basket and then find out the prize. Last year we decided that instead of putting numbered papers inside the eggs, we'd just number the eggs. Genius! A few of us (Dad, Kelli) were a little slow to remember that and quick to think that I'd made a mistake. 

The mistake would come later when we somehow ended up with two extra prizes.  Trust me, 9x4=36 and there were 36 items on the spreadsheet....


Anyway, although it is a bit of a production, the annual Easter egg hunt is a much anticipated family event. Everyone was here this year, including Wacy (aka Elder Johnson) and his fiance Kat.  

We probably should have prepped Kat more on what to expect, or at least alert her to the fact that it was going to be noisy.

 Really noisy. 

The kids went first and once they understood exactly which eggs they were searching for.. 

..each Francis boy could find 4 yellow, orange or green eggs, 1 pirate grand prize egg and 6 candy filled eggs that either had stickers on them or were shaped like bugs. It's easy!?!

 We set them loose to search...in the house because, of course, it snowed the day before. 

  All those confusing egg color rules ensure the kids get the right prizes. The whole process is a little time consuming, but in the end it's always a good time. 

 Noah is lobbying for the kids to hide the adult eggs next year. Maybe we should because the youngest child goes first rule is getting old. Why should Logan get first pick every year?? Now that I've written his idea down maybe we will remember it for next year. I doubt it, but maybe. 

Spring Break Sacrifices

If it wasn't for this: 

(I wish I would have taken more pictures. This is the only one with any of the kids.)

And this: 

Sorry, Jilynn missed the photo. :( And that our stop was so quick.

And this:

And this:

I would not endure this:

Snowmen should be built during WINTER break!!