Vermont Maple Festival!

We went to the Vermont Maple Festival yesterday. It's one of my favorite things for a few reasons. First of all, I really love maple syrup. I htink it's a requirement of living here. Also, the maple festival marks the start of spring for me. Yeah, yeah, I know it's been spring for over a month, but this is Vermont people!

We had a great time. We started the day with the annual pancake breakfast. There was a great little band with fiddles and guitars and a guy playing the spoons. The kids LOVED that, and Aisling discovered her dress was great for twirling! Next we headed out to a craft fair at the high school. This was a little dissapointing. We were looking forward to doing some Christmas shopping, but we really didn't find much. We also had a bunch of stuff with us, and it was hard to navigate. We had Wyatt and his wheelchair. (It's just too much for him to walk all day). We also had the baby in the Ergo carrier. Then we had the wagon for the biggers. It's an extremely long day, and Aisling still gets a bit tired. We also had it for Siobhan so she could sit in the wagon and see better. This is our wagon. However, ours also has this attachable trailer on it. So, when you have insane amounts of children (and things) like us, you can drag it all behind you. This is actually really convieneint for things like the diaper bag, the kid bag (which had water, and cameras, and sunblock) and things we bought. But, we were like the shriners in a parade.
Annoying small people that just keep coming.After the craft fair we went on some carnival rides. This was great, but so super hot. Then we went to our annual meal with our friends. Between all of us and our children we realized we were 11 people! (And only four adults! I bet you wish you were there too!)

Finally with some sugar on snow, maple cotton candy, and maple creemees, we were on our way home!

The ice princess

The matching sister on the carousel

Argh

Also, Here's a quick picture of Siobhan and her walker: She's making some great strides!

Not in chronological order.

I noticed I haven't updated this in a while. I also notice I've been falling asleep on the couch every single night right after putting the kids to bed. Sad. At any rate, I have a lot to update.

First let's talk about cub scouts. Connor participated in the Pinewood Derby. The first three kids from each den get to move on and go to the district finals. (Connor has four kids in his den. Bummer for that fourth kids, eh?) Connor came in second place, and off we went. The district Derby was a pretty cool event, but it was extremely loud and busy. What seemed like over 100 boys and their siblings packed into a very small concrete building. It was a tad overwhelming. (And when I say tad I mean I was trying hard not to have a temper tantrum along with the kids). Connor did extremely well. He held himself together like a champ. His car was also quite fast. They did not give us the rundown, but watching times I'd wager a guess that he was in the top five. Not enough to move him onward, but enough to be proud of himself. He left with a medal and a patch. Good day.

(Connor came in first in this round!)

(Aisling played outside during the races.)

Then of course, there was St. Patrick's day. Even amongst the anxiety of taking the baby to the hospital, we managed to make a few leprechaun traps. Still no leprechauns captured this year, but not for lack of trying. Those little buggers are pretty tricky. They did, however, leave the kids some chocolate coins and a necklace kit. They also turned a few things green, like cereal milk.
Aisling and I went to the town Easter egg hunt. It was for kids under age 6, so she was very excited to have her own special time.

Easter was a blast as always. I love getting the kids dressed up! (Although they only stay clean for milliseconds...) We took them to Sears for portraits, which was interesting at best. I think this particular clerk was unprepared for the storm which is the Frugoli clan. Oh well, they're not awful. We also has our annual Easter Egg hunt. We had eight kids participate this year, which meant I was up filling 80 Easter eggs! The kids had a blast, and we found all the eggs! (Unlike last year where we found some a few days later!) This year it was bitterly cold, so some eggs were, let's just say, hidden quite easily (and quickly).(The children's choir singing on Easter)

(8 1/2 egg hunters =83 eggs for Heather to fill and hide!)

The baby is just changing every day, as babies do. She's crawling all over the place now, and working on walking. She's absolutely hysterical and loves to make her siblings laugh. She also has a mind of her own and has no shame about going in for the kill when manhandled too much. I think she'll survive this big family with no problem at all!

Lastly, we finally took down the baby cradle. I cannot believe that the kids were all small enough to sleep in there!


*Phew* That's it for now. Hopefully I'll update more often!