Spring Break

Our Spring Break has been pretty low key this year.  Jason's sick time from his shoulder surgery ended and we've already taken an unexpected vacation, so we've been hanging out at home.  On Monday, the kids and I had a play date at our neighbor's house.  Actually it was a coffee date for the moms and you were invited to bring your kids, but for the sake of the kids we called it a play date.  It went well considering we had seven kids there aged 7 and under.

Xander and Jordis got these fun glasses from my dad and step-mom in their early Easter basket, so we've been laughing about them as well. 

We've been letting the kids stay up late and play their DS's together.  We give them until 10 but they usually can't hang that late and end up in their rightful beds, sound asleep, all on their own.  We've really lucked out with these two and the disciplined sleep habits they both have.

And of course Mr. Jake has been getting lots of extra love and attention this week as well.

Spring Break is almost over, but the excitement is just beginning.  Tomorrow is Easter AND Xander's birthday.  I feel a sugar rush in our future.

Is it July already?

Last week went by really quickly. It started with a lovely evening at my aunt and uncle's house. They usually host a family cookout two times each summer and the kids love it because they get to play with their cousins and we let them eat junk. The weather was great and we stayed until dark.

And what color do popsicles make YOUR tongue?

We walked to our neighborhood pond one day to feed the ducks. The kids especially like it if there are duck babies. Xander also found some pinecones to bring home.

The rest of the week I forgot to take pictures. But we went on a play date with our moms group, where Jordis ran into another girl, then fell and hit her head on the concrete. Luckily no stitches but some lovely scrapes on her forehead and eyelid. We also went on a picnic dinner with my friend Catherine and her boys one night. With jackets on, mind you. It was definitely not warm enough to use the pool last week, and I loved it. We even found some time where Jason and his mom were both not working at the same time, so we went to visit his parents for a few hours. It was a busy week, the kids definitely wore me out.

Last week's summer fun

We were pretty busy last week. Over the weekend we went to a wedding reception for my friend who got married last month in Florida. I had so much fun catching up with my friend, Vicki. We went to school together from 3rd - 8th grade and also played violin together in the orchestra. She moved right before high school so I didn't see her for years. Ran into her briefly about 5 years ago then had lunch this past winter. She's a music teacher now and so much fun to talk to.

Jason had school during the week which meant really LONG days for me. On Monday we went to a play date with about 20 kids. Yikes! My friend Liz was pretty brave to host that at her house. And somehow by the time we left I was co-leader of next years' MOPS group. That afternoon we went to the library to get books and movies.

The rest of the week we studied pandas and bats. On Tuesday we went to RAVE for the free showing of Kung Fu Panda. My friend Jen met us there with her little guy, Arjun a.k.a. Prom Date (he and Jordis).

The movie was a bit scary for the younger two, but Xander said he wasn't scared. Afterwards they spent quite awhile running up and down the ramp outside.

On Wednesday I had the kids signed up for a program at the park called Going Batty. There they got to make bat hats, color bat pages and read books. Then we took a tram ride where they told us that bats are mammals, sleep hanging from their toes, have babies called "pups," and are nocturnal (like Daddy). But we already knew that because we learned it from our library books.

Jason's mom was off of work on Thursday so she and his dad came to visit and I got to go to the grocery store by myself. For some reason it still took the same amount of time, I think maybe because I actually had time to read labels and am still getting used to where things are at our new Meijer. And because I have a knack for picking the s.l.o.w.e.s.t. checkout lane. My mom was off of work Friday so she joined the kids and me at the zoo. Our zoo doesn't have pandas, but we did visit the brown bears. They were having so much fun!

And of course we saw the bats.

The kids always have to climb on these animal statues and it's so hard to get pictures of them without someone else's kids running around and getting in the way.

On Saturday Jordis' friend down the street turned three and we were invited to her Dora the Explorer cookout. You'd never know by looking at them that Jordis is actually older, but Megan (even though her parents are each about the same height as Jason and myself) is in the 100th percentile for height in her age range.

The kids had fun eating hot dogs, cake and ice cream and playing in the pool and slip n' slide. We had fun socializing with other adults and getting to meet some neighbors at that end of the street.

What a busy week we had! And I spent no money on the kids' outings. The movie and the bat program were free. We have a zoo membership so I guess technically I "paid" for that trip, but it pays for itself in just a few visits so it's kind of free at this point. What is everyone else doing on-the-cheap for summer?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

What beautiful weather we had yesterday for St. Patrick's Day! I tried to get a photo with Jordis in our green shirts, but she wasn't very interested. The only decent picture I was able to get of her facing forward is blurry because she kept trying to escape.

After Xander got home from school I made the kids a green lunch...green scrambled eggs with (normal) toast, kiwi and green milk. On green plates and glasses that have some green. They were pretty excited until they saw the kiwi and Xander shouted "I hate pickles!" I made them each try a bite. Xander said it was gross, Jordis said it was good, but neither of them would eat any more of it.

Afterward we went outside to play. Jordis has decided to try and ride Xander's big bike, and she can reach the pedals on it better than she can on our big wheel or tricycle.

Then we painted the driveway and played bubbles, then took a walk after dinner.

It was a great day!

Of berries, bikes, bad weather and brides....in no particular order.

I'm starting with weather first because I'm sick of it. I don't know why it's so hard this year for the weather people to tell us if or when we are having severe storms. They're either popping up out of nowhere, or they tell us they're coming and they don't. My personal favorite is that of last Friday and early this morning, where they say things are weakening or just not coming near us at all, and yet I'm awoken by some thunder and lightning only to discover there's a tornado warning nearby. Poor southern Ohio will have been under a tornado watch for about 20 hours straight by the end of the day if the current watch stays in effect. Luckily the weather was able to cooperate for Memorial Day weekend. It was quite lovely and we had a nice cookout at my mom and step-dad's that Sunday.

At any rate, this rain of late is doing wonders for my plants. The strawberries are a little experiment I was trying with Xander, but then I discovered my neighbor Dena gardens and she offered to start some seeds for me. I'm doing all containers this year until I see if I'm successful, as I don't want to rip up my yard to find I'm not good at growing things. I'm horrible with houseplants so I wasn't expecting much from these. The strawberries are looking great though, and it was fun to watch Xander learn how to plant them, then put them in the sun, and he even helped me water them. I discovered, however, that 12 strawberry plants isn't going to put a dent in my kids' consumption of the fruit. Xander is very proud of the strawberries so I took a picture of them yesterday. The other little plants you see are the ones from Dena that I need to re-pot. They're tomatoes, cucumber and green pepper. One of each, just to see how they do.



Xander also just got his first big boy bike. Jason had told him he could use some birthday money to buy it so they went last week and picked it out. Just so happens that it matches the helmet he got last summer at the Safety Fair. Xander loves his bike and is quite good at it, just got on and took off. He's already riding it around the block and we've been leaving the cars in the driveway so he can ride in the garage on days that it rains.



Nomey has a helmet, too, and insists on wearing it even if she's not riding her tricycle. They even wore helmets to help me wash the car on Sunday.



Other than that we've not been doing much. The kids and I have gone on a few playdates with our MOPS (Mother's of Pre-schoolers) group and I went out for Mexican and dancing with some friends last Saturday night. Something about having two kids and turning 30 has reduced my ability to decide what makes for good "going out" clothes, so I let Jason choose my attire on Saturday. He was quite pleased with the end result and even took my picture. He attempted to go fishing with Xander and his dad last Sunday but that didn't go so well.





Our next big adventure is a garage sale at my mom's next weekend. She already sold some of our baby stuff to a girl at her work, but I have tons of clothes and other things here that I hope to get rid of as well. So please pray for me that it doesn't rain next Saturday, so I will not have spent hours pricing all these things for naught.

Also, Jason's cousin is getting married this weekend, so congratulations Nellie!!! All of you family members making the trip to Punta Cana we hope you have a fabulous time.