Easter, Karina Birthday, End of School Activities

When we got back from the Outer Banks spring break trip, of course Mimi and I had to play against the kids in soccer.  Lydia is hugging him here, but really, I think she was trying to guard him extra closely so he wouldn't score a goal.

Story time with Mimi.

The kids were excited on Easter morning to go and hunt for eggs in the yard.

The grass is tall since I waited until after Easter to mow for the first time and it made for lots of good hiding places, especially for green colored eggs.  But ultimately, all three kids managed to fill their baskets with eggs they found.

Lydia found a new way to decorate with eggs.

Karina celebrated her 11th birthday.

Derek was particularly excited for this laser tag game that Karina got and he insisted on playing with.  he was really good at it too and won every game against his sisters that first day. 

Karina learned a silly song in math class that goes through the first 100 digits of pi.  I don't know if she has managed to memorize all 100 digits in the song, but she knows 20 or so of them, and decided to spell them out with Magformers.

She joined with some of her friends a few days after her birthday for a party.  Here they are having ice cream at our house, after eating Chick-fil-A take out.

Then they went to an escape room.  The premise was that a volcano had suddenly erupted on the deserted island you are on and you have 60 minutes to find the keys to a boat.  If you find the keys, you escape, otherwise the lava will reach you first.  Tanja went with the girls mostly as an observer and they managed to escape after 52 minutes, which is better than most adults. 

Pictured: Maeve, Mabel, Orly, Karina, Ruby

We also made a trip as a family to Hersheypark as part of Karina's extended birthday celebration to enjoy some of the rides and have fun there though we didn't bring the camera with us on that trip to document the trip since we have taken pictures on many previous trips.

As the school year was winding down, the kids had various activities and performances.  Karina worked hard in the 5th grade production of the musical Aristocats and played her part in the jazzy alley cat chorus well.

Karina with her friends Maeve, Orly, Mabel, (Karina), and Ruby who were all also in the play from left to right.

Derek one day decided to be silly and put on Lydia's church dress (backwards) and then hammed it up for the camera.  The sash around his waist made for a convenient belt to hang his weapons I suppose.

The PTA hosted an end of year celebration at the school that got good attendance.  Lydia and Derek got their faces painted - Lydia with a dolphin and Derek with a dragon claw.

They had a caricature artist there who drew detailed cartoons of the kids (though admittedly all his faces seemed to have the same shape, so I don't believe they were particularly custom made to bear a particular likeness to his subjects).  Karina and Lydia both had a drawing done of them playing soccer.  Poor Karina wondered if her chin really is that big, and it is not:-)

There was a photo booth with silly props for the kids to dress up with.  Karina below with Saarah, Maizy, and Ainoor.

Karina with Ruby.

Lydia with Caeleigh.

Derek decided to cut his hair one morning before school.  Tanja was not happy.  When asked why he cut his hair, he responded he wanted to see if the scissors would cut his hair as a science experiment.  He got a haircut that afternoon to correct it.