Birthday girls, pigs and ham...in that order.

 I came home from my lovely weekend away and jumped right into the second day of Spring Break.

We have gotten out just a couple of times but really I think their favorite thing in the world has been to just play outside and laze around (with intermittent nagging by me to pick up every once in a while.)

One day this week we hit up the local farm.  Lots of baby animals to be oogled at.

I'm not sure I appreciated the pigs as much.  There were 3 or 4 big sows that have all had litters over 11 piglets in the last month or so.

I watched this poor mother laying on her side, being rocked by the aggressive, greedy piglets, the mother snorting grunts here and there and questioning how much I really love nursing a new baby.  I'm glad I will only have one baby to nurse and  not 11.

 Greedy little pigs.  My favorite part was when the mother decided "kitchen is close" and just stood up and walked away.

 On the 5th we celebrated Hazel's 4th birthday.  What a doll.  She is so easy to please.

We just love her to pieces around these parts.

 Clark asked if we would come meet him for lunch on Hazel's birthday so we loaded up and headed downtown.  This is the last point at which you won't be shot on sight for taking out your camera, so we took advantage.

 I had all the best intentions of having a fun meal and even making a cake (things I have not had the energy or motivation to do for several months.) We were having a "mini meal" complete with mini hot dogs on buns, mini fries, tiny forks and plates and itty bitty cups (it was like we were drinking shots the entire meal.) Things took a turn for the pathetic side.  Pretty much nothing turned out and Clark got stuck at work and completely missed dinner.  It's fine, we had Hazel's little friend and her family over for a yummy pink lemonade cake and all was well with the world again...even the part with the spanking machine.

 We dyed eggs.  They stank up the fridge.  The girls say they want one just so they can peel it and then they conveniently change their mind.

 But it's a ritual.  They love it.  And so we do it.

This year we experimented with kool aid for dye.  It works amazingly well - brighter eggs and less stinky but I had a difficult time finding a huge variety of colors so we supplemented with the good old fashion pellet kind too.

 We have a dog a few doors down that the girls love and adore.  Every time she is walked (which is 3 or 4 times a day) she lays down in front of our driveway because she knows that in no time, 4 little girls will race out to pet her.  On this afternoon I let the girls follow Miss Trudy down to her house to play with Jamie.  This is what I witnessed out my office window.  Hazel with Mia on a leash.  Mia walking on all fours, sidling up to Miss Trudy who proceeded to pet her like a dog while Haley and Abby ran around with the real dog.

We have nice neighbors.

 And then it was Easter.  The day before we attended the yearly picnic/potluck/easter egg hunt.

I loved seeing all of the kids lined up ready for the hunt and chuckling about how talented Mormons are at procreating.  They sure do procreate cute kids :)  There were a lot of fun friends to play with and lots of great friends to visit with.

We are lucky.

 My favorite was watching Hazel and the little posse of 3-4 year olds up on the hill.

 The girls played frisbee and kickball while I sat by and watched.

 I wish I could say the Dads went easy on the kids but I suppose they are entitled to a competitive game of kickball every once in a while too.

 And then real Easter arrived and we all dressed matchy matchy.  It's the one time of the year that I allow myself to be so hokey but I love it.  How can I not with all those beautiful little girls?

Clark even obliged by wearing the tie I set out for him.

Some friends had us for a delightful brunch before church.

After church I ate seconds of everything because I just love Spring/Summer food.  I couldn't help myself.  But it did make it especially difficult to roll myself out of bed this morning.

 Happy Easter everyone.