The Ducote Family: April Memories

April had a little bit of everything in it which is just what we like! It was a full month with school (on April 26th they switched to a modified full day schedule which had them going from 8-12!), sports, spring break, Easter, cousin time, friend time and family time.

Easter was early this year which felt a little strange but everyone was looking forward to it. Charlotte had an egg hunt on the Friday before Easter at school and she loved it!

We were lucky enough this year to enjoy a visit with the Easter Bunny. Ava Reppas' girl scout troop put on Easter photos and it was absolutely adorable. We hope that they continue this yearly as we will definitely do it again.

We colored eggs the day before with Syd and Cole which was a great time!

On Easter we started off with the basket and egg hunt at our house which is always a great time. After breakfast we headed to church which was so nice to be back in person this year, too. Love our tradition of the stairs photo on holiday mornings!

After church we got everything ready for brunch at Nani and Poppa's and headed up there. It was a full, fun day of egg hunting, swimming, eating and hanging out. We also got to meet baby James for the first time from a distance which was wonderful! He is so tiny but oh so sweet and we are so thankful that he is home from the hospital and doing so well.

Ella modeling her new bathing suit from the Easter Bunny!

Waiting for the egg hunt in age order!

Baby James found the golden egg! Sydney was the one to hide it this year and had the fun idea of hiding it on him which was hilarious to most everyone...except Cole, who was not pleased.

Hopefully next year James will find it in a spot for Cole to find it ;).

It seemed to go by so fast but Ella wrapped up her first softball season. She absolutely loved it and seems totally hooked. She has told us that she no longer wants to play soccer and only do softball but we'll see...she had the best time though and we are so happy that she loved it.

While Ella wrapped up her season, Joseph was definitely right in the middle of his. He had an amazing game at the beginning of spring break, earning him a game ball with an in the park homerun as well as a double. He was so pumped and it was so fun to watch. His team is doing ok-they have some good kids on the team but they aren't consistent (Joseph included) so if they play really well they can have a great game but still lots of errors and just not coming together. He is still loving it though.

Ice cream after earning the game ball!

Julia and Charlotte are still playing soccer and their seasons are going well. Rich has become Julia's personal coach during the games which has really helped her tremendously gain confidence and skill level.

We had a few really warm days so the pool seems to be getting more consistent use these days which we are loving.

And, a rainy day of swimming, too.

Rich took Joseph and Ella to the range one morning with Justin and Jeremy and they came back raving about it as always. They really enjoy going there!

When we arrived on Friday afternoon we set up our tents and got somewhat settled and then set off to explore. There were lots of hikes from the campground so we attempted to go on a shorter one to find a water source...we never found the water source but still had fun exploring. Our spring break was the second week in April which was a fabulous week although a part of me does wonder why we even have the breaks this year since it seems like they are in such little school ;). It was good for everyone though and of course I loved spending the extra time with them without any schoolwork to do. For the first part of the week we just hung around San Diego, whcih isn't a bad place to be for spring break!

We met the Ozecks and Finn at Kit Carson Park on Tuesday of spring break and explored there all morning. The kids found this cool sand area past the lake and spent a long time jumping over puddles, sliding down and just having the best time. They loved it!

We fit in a bay day over break and had a great day!

Then on Friday we headed to Julian to go camping!! Back in August I was itching for places to go so booked two camping dates-the first was in November which we had to cancel due to going back to Atlanta but this one worked out and luckily enough there was space available for the Ozecks to join us! We had the best time! The kids absolutely loved every minute of it and our campsites were awesome, the weather was perfect and it was just a great experience.

On Saturday we did a longer hike with beautiful views!

We had lots of fun at the campsite, too. It got chillly at night but thankfully warmed up fast in the monring so wasn't too bad.

The view from our site!

On Sunday we snuck in another hike which took a little extra bribing for the kids but we are glad that we did it before heading home. We stopped outside of Julian on the way home for pizza (and the longest wait ever!) but it was a fun way to end the trip.

The school board voted to reopen the schools for longer after spring break which everyone here was excited about. Well, I admit, at first I had mixed emotions since they announced that they would only be opening the school from 8-12 and sending the kids home for lunch. This was frustrating knowing that other states had students in person all day (since the fall in some states!) but decided to be continue with the motto from this past year of just making the most of it so we were happy that they'd be going for longer and adjusted to the new routine of being up and out of the house early. It took a few days but we got into a good routine quickly and soon enough in a routine where everyone would be gone from 8-12, picked up and hanging at the grassy area until about 1ish and then come home for lunch and for a bit to finish schoolwork and then off to sports practice or to play. It was weird not having the kids do as much schoolwork at home but it did work out nicely where I now had 3 mornings a week without anyone at home. That time went by quickly but I was pretty productive and more importantly the kids were happy to be back in school longer and it was feeling more and more normal.

We still had some schoolwork to do at home so here are a few pictures from that:

This was from an exploration video lesson that Ella wanted to do about condensation.

Ella is always so great about all of her extension activities-she never complains and just gets her work done. I have been so impressed by her this year!

Almost at the end of the month, Charlotte gave us quite the scare towards the end of April. We were all home getting ready to go to the cul de sac later shortly so I was vacuuming while the kids were all upstairs playing. While I was vacuuming I hear an ear piercing scream from Charlotte-louder than she has ever screamed and definitely a "something is wrong" type of scream. I turned off the vacuum and bolted upstairs and she is closing her door and coming out of her room crying, "There is a fire in my room!" I looked at her and not knowing what to find, I slowly opened the door. thankfully there wasn't any fire but my eyes did directly go to the outlet across the room and I saw this:

And then in front of the outlet there was a paperclip unraveled. For whatever reason Charlotte decided to stick a paper clip inside the electric outlet!!!!!!! I was so shooken up as was she. Thank God she was ok. After I realized what happened i just kept hugging her asking her if she felt ok and if she was hurt. she said she was ok and had two very small cuts on her fingers but said nothing hurt. I wasn't sure what to do so called the nurse and she suggested a video visit with the doctor. Our normal doctor wasn't available but we were able to talk with another doctor who asked a bunch of questions and although Char was acting totallyh fine and said nothing hurt she advised us to take her to the ER to have her checked out. Laura came to pick up the kids and we headed down to Rady's. Thankfully she checked out just fine (they did find a slight arrythmia with her heart but said that is actually pretty normal/common and to just follow up in a few weeks with the regular doctor). The wait wasn't too bad either and we were back at Nani and Poppa's in time for pizza that night. I was definitely nervous but just so glad that she was ok. I thought that at 4 1/2 we were past this but apparently not with Lars...she likes to keep it interesting for sure! She wouldn't sleep in her room for a few days and we did end up buying electircal outlet covers for allt he rooms now just to be safe although I'm pretty certain that she will never do this again!!

She put the paper clip on her jewelry box after and it burned the top of that, too.

She was a trooper at the ER.

Sweet girl. So thankful that she is ok!!

The other kids didn't mind the extra time at Nani and Poppa's that day. We always love being there!

And finally there was also just some hanging out at home this month, not a ton since we were definitely busy and I'm not sure if I'd necessarily call it "hanging out", as shown by this next picture and since there always seems to be something crazy going on at home but here are some random photos from home from this month!

Joseph always wants to be exploring. It is getting to the point where he never hangs out inside but always wants to be at the rock, down the hill or at the tree. He complains that we don't have enough woods-ha!