Crack For My Neighbors

How is your summer going? I'm enjoying these longer days with less on my plate. It doesn't mean we aren't busy...we just aren't over scheduled. And that is all I could ask for at the moment. Especially with my pile of blog posts waiting for me.

Today we are going back in time to our final Crack Offs. I really didn't like leaving our neighborhood one until after the cruise, but I couldn't fit it in beforehand. And it doesn't really matter. I could do a Crack Off in the middle of July and be happy.

I think my absolute favorite part of any Crack Off is seeing the egg designs people come up with. Some are simple and fantastic. Others are intricate and amazing. Some I wish I had thought of first. Let's take a look at what our neighborhood produced.

The Shark and Scuba Steve were done by Megan. I have to give her some props because she has never decorated eggs in her life. I'm glad I could be there to see her first creations!

Here is our group (for my memory). You have the Keens there. I think this is their fourth year coming in a row. Jana won 2014, and Chris won '15 and '16. Next around the table (going counterclockwise) is Burgundy and her brother Bronson. (Her hubby Dean ended up with another obligation, but I'm so happy that Burgundy came anyway and roped her brother into coming.)

Vicki was still hanging out at our place, so we included her. Thania and Steven Budd came and then the Tenney's as well -- Megan and J.J.

I feel awful that I didn't get a picture of the winning deco egg. Bronson stole the show with Eeyore. I think Tyler came in second with Maui and Megan, third, with Scuba Steve. There were some great eggs!

The cracking is always fun. It is even better when some people have never done it. Weirdly, I think we had more double cracks than ever before. We had some extra eggs and almost all of them were used up.

I was killing it. I actually thought I was going to win a neighborhood Crack Off for the first time. But it wasn't meant to be. Here is me losing. Look at Pearl's face. She is so distraught for me.

And who did I lose to?? Jana!! The best irony is that her original eggs had cracked in a double break, so she was using one of our extra eggs. I was beaten by a Cazier egg wielded by a Keen. (I never saw it coming.) That makes the Keens, champions, four years running. They have won every neighborhood Crack Off we have had in this house. Is it magic? Or a curse? I don't really mind. They can keep coming.

Also, I did one Crack Off at school this year in Ivory's 5th grade class. Since I was running it, I didn't get any pictures, but another mom sent me a few. The kids had a great time. Ivory wasn't in the pictures, but she was there, I promise. Our winner was Xander and Olivia came in 2nd. Good job!

That is enough cracking for this year. Sorry to be slow, but it is worth it to get all the eggs on here.

Monkey Highlights One

I haven't had the time for blogging that I thought I would be swimming in, once summer arrived. Instead, I have monkeys who are under foot and more often than not I am playing a game or making a meal than sitting at my computer. (Why is the plural of monkey, monkeys instead of monkies?)

I have a LOT of back posts piled up, but I am stressing about summer slipping away and then being behind on it as well. Luckily, our summer is not the jam-packed schedule it usually is. Instead, we are taking it easy and throwing in events here and there. So I'm just going to do weekly highlights. And I will add them as the summer goes, despite how behind I am in my blog posts. So it won't all be chronological like my OCD would like, but it will save my sanity at the end of the summer. (Small concessions.)

So let's highlight this first week of summer.

The kids got out of school before Memorial Day weekend, which was nice. The first thing we did was take Ivory in for a haircut. It was supposed to be Pearl, but long story short...it wasn't.

Ivory looks super cute with her new shortness, although she has always been short. (Good thing it looks good on her.)

Our Memorial Day was so chill. Tyler and I were supposed to see a movie, but our friends got sick so we stayed home and played with the kids. Mark came over for dinner and we BBQed some dogs and soaked in the stillness of no homework. Then the twins came down and we played untold numbers of games of Ninja Destruction. (It is the new favorite.)

The rest of the week included things like birthday lunches, swim team, piano lessons, a strange rash, orthodontist appointments, babysitting, percussion lessons, well check-ups, physical therapy, chiropractic, night games, and you guessed it...lots more Ninja Destruction. (Actually, maybe you didn't guess that.)

Finally the weekend arrived and we all jumped in the car to head to ID. Kaysen was getting his mission call and we wanted to be there when he opened it. I read to the kids in the car, which means I sat in the back for a bit. (Man, the back seat is uncomfortable. How do the kids sit back there all the time?)

Driving by some mountains we saw a bit of snow that had melted into the letters 'il'. Looks like this mountain is partly ill.

In Idaho, we kicked it with one of our favorite crews. Kolby, Kat, and the boys came over. They are always a good looking group.

So we played some (guess what?) Ninja Destruction with them. Even Granny V was getting in on the fun.

But the real fun was going to see Kaysen open his mission call. There was a globe with a hoard of guesses. Our family picked place from Alaska to Australia. Where do you think he's going??

Check it out to see if you guessed right...

Oddly enough, no one guessed Mexico on the globe. Kaysen will be an amazing missionary. He has a strong testimony of the gospel. In the end, it doesn't matter where he goes. He is called to serve, and that is exactly what he will do.

Here he is checking out his papers. There is a lot of info in there. He has a few months before he leaves. Maybe he will try to get a head start on his Spanish. His official mission is the Mexico, Torreon mission if you couldn't hear the video.

Kathryn is a proud mom. And she should be. She has great boys. We are proud of you too, Kaysen!!

What did you Eggspect?

We left for our cruise on Easter Sunday. That wasn't the best planning ever, but it worked okay. We told the kids that we were going to celebrate when we came back. Mostly because we were busy packing up until we left. So after returning on a Friday evening, I got my act in gear for a Saturday egg hunt.

Granny V was so kind to take the kids to a movie to keep them out of the way. (They got the best deal...she took them to see Beauty and the Beast!) Once they were back, we went right to work, mainly because I was worried about chocolate melting in the sun.

We still have the rules that kids are released in reverse age order. Pearl will never tire of that. But we did mix it up and let them out the front door instead of the back this year. Pearl is ready, set, go.

Daisy was only 30 seconds behind. She came out swinging.

Ivory rushed right out and started gathering. Amazingly, there are still eggs in plane site up until Robyn.

 Speaking of my songbird, she didn't stand still for long. She immediately headed for the back.

And finally June. I think it is the longest 30 seconds of her life. Dad stands guard and makes sure she waits.

Then it is fun to walk around and see how the kids are doing.

Did I spy a photographer next to June? Looks like he found me too.

We even found a Pip with Granny V.

The littles eventually started counting their eggs and realized they had too many. Oops. It is hard to keep count in the frenzy. I simply took the extra and re-hid them for June. (I love how Daisy chose fancy over practical in her foot attire.)

Now let's play SPOT THE EGG. See if you can see what the kids are missing?

I admit that I couldn't find the one on the car. (Tyler helped hide eggs this year.)

Then it was time to open the loot. The big hit this year was the chicks. There were blue, pink, and yellow chicks. They were worth tokens in the token store.

And of course the camo eggs full of money. There was a 2 dollar bill this year. Daisy scored.

But our big winner of the $5 was June. Seemed fitting since she just missed it last year.

I did feel bad that the littles harvested some of the June's eggs. Maybe next year I will hide them by color. I have plenty and it would be a fun twist. Someone remind me next March.