Spring Break 2026

Spring break 2026 sure was eventful! There were play dates, a birthday party, a softball game, Story Time, a rash that looked way worse than it was, and far too many egg hunts. Mom and Dad even managed to get some time alone! It was a good week.

Quinn had the first egg hunt on the Thursday before school let out for the week. He was so sweet and let Ash help open his eggs and then shared his candy with him 🥹. This was the second time recently that I was proud of him for being a good human. The other time was when he went to the Book Fair at school and bought something for his brother. It was entirely his idea. Ash and I were both pleasantly surprised when he got home and told us.

Ash's first egg hunt (which I will never do again 😅) was during Playgroup. There were like 500 people crammed into too small of a space because who could've anticipated that many people showing up?! They came out of the woodwork for this event because they are definitely not regulars. 

It was a cute idea. He enjoyed it, I did not 😂

We went to a birthday party for Crew, my friend Tiffany's son. Knowing what I know now, I feel bad for putting Quinn in time out while we were there. But let's start at the beginning because this is a very convoluted story 😂. It started on the Wednesday before break. Asher had a squishy Sonic toy that he brought to me and said that it had busted and was leaking. I told him to throw it away and asked if it got on anything or in his mouth. He said it didn't, but I knew it had busted from him chewing on it, so I took all of the squishy toys and put them away. I don't know when/if he's getting them back. Quinn still chews on shit he shouldn't so it's truly not safe for them to have. Anyway, later that evening, Ash had a rash all over his forearms, so naturally, I assumed it was from whatever was in that toy. I gave him Benadryl and a bath and waited it out. The next morning, he had a long sleeve shirt on and I was in panic mode about a lump on Sophie's neck, so I honestly didn't think to check until later. While we were at the vet's office, he pulled his sleeves up and I saw the rash was back. We had been outside the day before and I had forgotten to sunscreen him (ughhhh), so then I wondered if it was sunburn. I consulted my used-to-be-a-nurse friend and she suggested I put hydrocortisone cream on it and see if that helped. I did and while the rash didn't completely go away, it faded some. The next day it was on his upper arms, so I was sure I had pinpointed the culprit when I remembered that I had recently switched laundry detergent. I found a shirt in the back of his closet that I knew hadn't been washed in it and put that on him. The rash seemed to go away for a few days, but while we were at the birthday party, Ash came to me and said that Quinn had hurt him. His nose was bright red and so was my temper 😂. I put Quinn in time out for a long time, despite him insisting that he didn't do anything. I was like, "Look how red his nose is! It didn't look like that 2 minutes ago! Something happened!" Weirdly enough, Quinn also ended up with a red streak up his cheek by the time we left, so I thought they must've been extra rough with each other. Their redness came and went, and on Monday I finally did a hard google and figured out that they had Fifth Disease. Quinn never had more than a red splotch on his face, but Ash's progressed into the full 'slapped cheek' look. According to the internet, once the rash appears, they are no longer contagious, and I messaged their doctor to confirm. So, luckily, we didn't pass it along during the party! Ash was also cleared to go to school that week, too. Fifth Disease is a common childhood illness and is usually preceded by a low-grade fever, headache, runny nose, sore throat, fatigue, and sometimes diarrhea or nausea. He did have a few of those symptoms--fatigue, headache, and diarrhea, but not at the same time and they could be from literally anything else, so how would I even know? The rash also comes and goes, so it's super fun to try to figure out the cause 🙄. He never even complained about itching and pain, so I wouldn't even have known he had it without having seen it. 

They both said they felt fine 

Anyway, before that lovely discovery, Philip and I had a great day out without the kids while Kate watched them (Lincoln came too and definitely thought he deserved some of her pay 😅). We never wanna add to anyone else's plate, so I was happy that she was willing to give it a try. Her parents are literally a block away, so it could be a great arrangement to give us a break every once in a while and she can make some money. Win win!

We did the dullest thing and went to Kroger. I prefer to use self check-outs, but Kroger has the worst of the self check-outs and always makes me wanna punch something. It continually tells you to put the things in the bag, as if you're going to do something else. For a while they had it to where you could mute it completely but that feature has been removed, apparently 🙄. However, turns out, without children asking me 15 questions or wrestling each other to the dirty ass floor, I don't despise the Kroger check-outs nearly as badly as I thought I did 😂.

On our first official day of spring break, I needed to get out of the house, so we went up to the bike trail to hunt for frogs and to visit Nana and Juju. We saw this guy hiding among the rocks, as well as a few others who jump scared me, but no baby tadpoles yet. We’ll check back in a few weeks!

On Tuesday, Quinn was very excited that he was going to get to spend the day with Iris, but unfortunately, she was sick. We did our usual Tuesday routine, that Quinn doesn't normally get to do, and went to the library for Story Time. It was nice out, so we walked, but I took the wagon as a precaution (I won't next time. At least not for them. Ash makes longer walks with me all of the time and Quinn needs to not be lazy 😂). Quinn decided he wanted to be a vampire for Story Time, and they had a barn themed piñata to end the month's theme. The pole Lacey used to hold the piñata was shorter than the broom the kids used to hit the piñata, and I imagine a lesson was learned for next time 😬😂,

The next day was April Fool's Day, and I had several tricks up my sleeve. I don't usually like tricks, and I'm a terrible liar, but I figured they would enjoy it. The first thing the boys do in the morning is come downstairs and sit on the couch, so the night before, I brought the majority of their stuffed animal collection down and filled the couch with them so they wouldn't have a seat. 

I put squishy slugs in one of each of their shoes, and strapped a stuffed Spiderman and Hulk into their car seats. Ash still had school, and Quinn didn't actually need to come with us to drop him off since Philip was home, but I talked him into it so that he would have to put on his shoes and see his seat 😂. Ash saw his slug before putting his shoe on and pulled it out, asking what it was. As I was telling him it was a slug, Quinn was laughing at Ash and didn't even think about checking his own shoe, so I got to trick him. He stuck his foot right on it and was grossed out 😂. 

I had my camera ready for the moment 😂

Blurry but you can see his surprised face 😂

While Ash was at school, Quinn had a play date with his friend, Ravi. I had planned to trick our boys with an Oreo/toothpaste prank, but decided to do it to Quinn and Ravi instead, after his mom said it was okay. I told them I got some new Oreos (which I did, they were the color change superhero ones) and asked if they wanted to try them. Quinn took one bite and spit it in the trash 😂. He hates anything mint flavored. The boys have fruity toothpaste, so I had to use mine and Philip's. Ravi, however, thought it was good! 😂. Ash would've been the same, he loves mint and chocolate, so it wouldn't have worked on him anyway. We had another play date with our Clegg friends later that same day but, lucky for them, they got in and out without any tricks because I was too tired to pull them off by that point 😆.

After I told him it was a prank and they don't all taste that way, Quinn ate another one, which did indeed change colors!

I tried and tried to convince someone to eat cereal on Wednesday because I had frozen a bowl of it for my pranks, but neither one wanted any. When Quinn asked for some the next day, I was excited my prank wouldn't go to waste 😂. 

He was like, "Mom, what's wrong with my cereal?"

For someone who doesn't usually like pranks, I enjoyed tricking them this year. They kept swearing they were gonna get me back, and I kept reminding them that pranks are funny, not mean, and we don't hurt people. I was the one who pranked them, but they kept wanting to come up with ways to prank their dad 😂. I like how that works 😂😂. 

One Thursday, maybe for a little bit of retribution, we visited No Crumbs Bakery. Quinn loves Patrick's cinnamon rolls, so he was very excited!

Ash still had a touch of his Fifth Disease rash 😥

I'm not sure why I chose Thursday to sugar them up when I knew the egg hunt at Ash's school was later that day and would certainly do the job 🤦🏻‍♀️.

 

Ash was happy Quinn got to do it with him. The teachers had some activities to do after the egg hunt to kill time until the pizza arrived, but they're not big fans of doing anything other than being stuck up my butt 🙄. I did convince them to do a hopping race, but Quinn got mad because some of the kids didn't hop on one leg the entire time so they beat him 😂.

On Friday, we got a surprise visit from Mimi, who dropped off a cookie coloring kit. It had edible paint for decorating! 

We also got to catch Kate's softball game, which they won by 10 run rule in the fifth inning!

The boys had fun playing with Lincoln and Oliver

⛟🚚 🚙

Uncle Greg found a robin egg on the ground. He tried giving it to me, but I wouldn't take it 😂. I'm glad the kids got to see it, but I'm not being responsible for a bird egg 😂😂. Lori held that thing forever until she finally decided to just put it down in a safe space. Quinn said another boy there smashed it 😑.

I can't tell you how many times I've said, "Boys, look at the phone!," and then I was not looking at the phone 🤦🏻‍♀️😂.

On Saturday we had our third egg hunt at Bruce Park. Ash got to move over to the big kid (4-6) area this year. It was over in a flash and now we have two buckets full of candy 🤦🏻‍♀️. 

 

The line for the Easter Bunny was a mile long, so we got a pic with Dollar Dog instead. I told them the Easter Bunny was going to be at Walmart after the egg hunt and we could maybe see him later. I didn't expect them to remember or want to, but they did

Their youngest Eagleson cousins got to do the egg hunt, too, although we weren't in the same area. It's a good thing we have a huge kitchen table. They got a ridiculous amount of candy between the four of them! Thanks, New Martinsville Parks and Rec!

     

Later that day, Ash and I tie dyed some eggs for my macaroni salad. Quinn didn't want to help because he had a bellyache from eating so much candy 😂.

Ash was very excited about the results

🤩🤩🤩

Because my birthday fudge rounds turned out so amazing, Philip was in charge of making dessert for Easter dinner. He had enough leftover batter to make one giant one, which he gave to me. It was almost as big as my head!

That was the best 9,000 calories I've ever eaten. Okay, it probably wasn't that many, but close enough. Worth it!

I didn't remind the boys it was going to be Easter the next morning when they went to bed Saturday night, so they didn't even notice there was anything in the living room when they went downstairs 😂.

  

Quinn made the best faces this time 😄

Ash was happy, too

 

The roll of paper from Philip's parents came in handy again later Easter day, when we had dinner with my extended fam. We created some pretty Easter art!

Well, except for my brother, who's a weirdo and drew a dinosaur with eyelashes 🙄

**updated to add: We thought it would be funny to mail Greg's masterpiece to him. Turns out, it weighed too much for one stamp, so he had to go to the post office and pay $0.85 to get it 🤣🤣🤣. When Lori told me, Philip and I laughed so hard!**

We had our final egg hunt at home, where each kid could only find their own color eggs. Quinn and Ash both walked by several without spotting them 🤦🏻‍♀️

They did find some....eventually.

I mean, they were kinda tricky I guess 😜

Oliver cracked me up playing with his new bubble wand and by using his mom as a bench 😂

We had an event packed spring break, but I enjoyed having Quinn home. It was a good week! 🐣 🐇 🍫

 

 

 

 

End of March 2026

March is finally over, and man, was it a long month! It probably seemed longer because Asher mentioned his birthday (March 1st) pretty much every day in February, so I was often thinking about March the whole month before 😑. I already covered the first half, previously, so let’s talk about the rest of the month. St. Patrick’s Day, which meant nothing more than you should wear something green when I was a kid, has since turned into its own commercial holiday 🙄. The boys didn’t have to build a leprechaun trap for school (yet), but Ash wanted to build one for home. He kept asking and asking, so I finally gave in with 12 days still to go, just so we could stop talking about it 😂. Quinn was less enthusiastic about it, but I like a little magic in our lives and wanted to do a little something for them, so I annoyed him until he did it. 

Ash worked really hard on his. We repurposed some of the wall decor from his birthday party for gold grass 

They didn't catch a leprechaun, but he left them a note that said, "Better luck next year 🍀," along with a candy rainbow over marshmallow clouds, and chocolate gold coins

The day before, Ash dressed himself in all green and proclaimed that he was ready for Leprechaun Day!

There was no school on the Friday before St. Patrick's Day, so we went to Playgroup at The Center where Ms. Megan had a fun rainbow snack for them 

I accidentally created another tradition last year, unbeknownst to me (like the half birthday celebration), and Ash kept saying he couldn’t wait until the first day of spring. When I asked why, he said so that we could make spring gingerbread houses 😂. We did do that last year, but a) I didn’t intend to do it again, and b) I couldn’t believe he remembered that. So, I had no choice but to carry on, but I wish St. Patrick’s Day and the spring equinox weren’t so close together because it took more effort and candy than I really wanted to provide 😂. Oh well. 

I had a fantastic time celebrating my birthday! I got to go shopping ✨alone,✨ which provided some much needed quiet time. While I was gone, Philip and the boys worked on baking me all kinds of goodies--a cake, brownies, Levain style chocolate chip cookies, and homemade fudge rounds, which were easily the best thing I've ever eaten! It was quite the spread. I have the best husband 🥰. Philip and I have been committed to using Owala water bottles since they first appeared on Amazon like 8-10 years ago, and they've been great. Aside from the occasional lid breaking, which is easily replaceable, the only complaint we've had is that they don't fit in our car cup holders. We both use the 32 oz bottles and they're just slightly too big. Wellllll, with their new Free Sip Sway line, they've remedied that with a new tapered bottom. Philip got me a new water bottle, and a new coffee cup, as well as Lego sunflowers. Those things were perfect enough, but he had each kid do a survey about me, and I always love those. I got other gifts from family and friends who are like family, and the weather was amazing, so it was a pretty great way to commemorate turning 39 😊. 

Philip's parents got me one of the best gifts: a huge roll of paper! Philip covered the table with it and the boys decorated it so beautifully 😍

🩷💜🩷💜🩷💜🩷💜

I got a beautiful piece of art and a handmade bracelet from Iris 🥰

Speaking of art, we got to see lots of impressive artwork during the Evening with the Arts at Quinn's school. He was supposed to get on stage with kids from his grade and sing a few songs, but one of them had choreographed butt shaking, and he said that was too embarrassing, so he sat that out. We went to the Kindergarten wing and found his pieces, or at least the pieces that had his name on them--one of them, the flower piece below, already came home with him, so I knew the one of the wall wasn't his. There is another Quinn in his grade, so I suspected it belonged to her. Sure enough, whenever they sent them home, I looked at the name on the back and it said "Quinn J," in handwriting that definitely wasn't his, while the one we already had definitely was 😂. His N's are distinctly slacker and easily identifiable because he writes them like upside down U's. I tried sending it back to school so it could go to the right Quinn, but they sent it back to me 😑. Sorry, Quinn J's mom. 

His artwork

Not his artwork 🙃

 His artwork that we'd had for a few weeks already 😂 Apparently Quinn J. learned about using last name initials and Quinn E. did not learn about apostrophes

Quinn is always drawing something when he's at home (especially when he's out of iPad time), and he made me the picture on the orange paper. He said it was supposed to be like the tattoo on my arm, but I can only see it as a rendition of The Scream 😂

I'm trying to incorporate more activities back into our day for Asher. I wasn't sure if this would be age appropriate, but Ash surprised me by being able to complete the worksheet I created for him. He really liked the challenge involved in doing it, so I plan to make more for him. 

 Aside from some initial instruction and guidance on what number he was on, he did it on his own! I was super proud of him!

He also worked on matching lower case to upper case letters, while practicing his scissor skills (which need lots of work 😬). I wrote the lower case letters on masking tape and he cut them off and then put them on top of the matching upper case letter. This is a new skill, so I wrote them in order, next time I will mix them up.

sophie pupdate 🐾

It's been awhile since I've given one of these because I've been switching up my topics and format, but don't worry, they will still be here occasionally!

On the morning of March 26th, she came to greet me when I came downstairs, and when I petted her, I noticed she had a large lump under her chin on one side. We've had enough issues with dogs that I knew it was an enlarged lymph node. Pretzel, our boxer who died in 2016, had lymphoma, so I'm very familiar with what that feels like. I went into panic mode, but after having a breakdown and talking it out with Philip, I was reassured that it was only one side, not both, so I was holding out hope that it was just an infection. Luckily, I was right about that, and the doctor at Glen Dale Animal Hospital got her all squared away with an antibiotic. She has finished the course and her lymph node is back to normal size 🙌🏻. 

Her neck was so swollen 😥

Since we got the Tesla, I don't drive my Jeep much anymore, but I decided to take it when she went to the vet, so that I wouldn't have to vacuum it right away. Even with a sheet, the car is always a mess with her hair.  As I was preparing the back seat for her, she decided to seat herself in the front, since I left the door open after I scooted the seat up 🤦🏻‍♀️. Really, dog?!

Also, after primarily only driving an electric vehicle, my Jeep feels like driving a freaking tank! It's crazy how much it rattles and vrooms 😂. I was happy to have it when the side roads were a solid sheet of ice last month, though. That 4 wheel drive came in handy!

The leprechaun left a gift for Sophie, too 😉

 Why is she always touching me?? 🤦🏻‍♀️

  

   

  She is always in the way and she does not care 😑

My puzzle table or Sophie's fort?

No sun beams are safe around her! She will soak them up ☀️

"Are you talking about me?"

 

Philip's nose is also not safe around her 😛 

🤦🏻‍♀️

She randomly sat like a goober on the couch. She couldn't have been comfortable like that, yet she stayed in that position forever. Just another kid invading my space 😂

😍

For his 100 days of school project, I drew a Sophie shape and Quinn put 100 heart spots on her. 100 Heart Spots on Sophie for 100 Days of School