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.

It's that time

Spring is officially here, although the way the weather has been lately you'd think it's arrival had preceded the real date. My hyacinths came up two weeks ago and my neighbor, Dena, split some of her daffodils and I added those to my collection. Actually, the kids did it for me. I was so impressed.

The kids have also been enjoying some time outside, which I love.  The winter's are usually long with them cooped up in the house.

And Jason's time off from shoulder surgery has come to an end, so we've been enjoying as much time with him as possible.

As well as enjoying some beautiful days.

Hope you're enjoying your Spring, too!

Fire Prevention Week

Last month we stopped by the local fire station near Jason's work for their open house. The kids had fun and Jason visited with his firefighter friends. I took pictures, of course.

It's that time

School supplies

New backpacks and lunch boxes

New fabric napkins to pack in lunches (because we are all about recycling and not making extra trash in this house).

Ridiculously expensive name-brand shoes that I swore I'd never purchase

Two adorable kids wearing new outfits

One really sad mom who doesn't want her baby to be old enough for school
(definitely no picture of that)

Two kids who couldn't wait to tell us about their first day

Happy Back to School Xander and Jordis!

Out of the mouths of babes

It's not uncommon for our kids to say some funny stuff, but over the past week or so they've been on a roll. Here are a few of my favorites:

Jordis

While watching me do my makeup one day, Jordis asked me what I was doing to my eyelashes. I explained to her what an eyelash curler was and she asked if we could curl her eyelashes, too. I agreed and set to work. A few seconds in she says,

"I don't think my eye likes this, it's a little bit distractive."
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I took her to the mall one day and let her run around for awhile in the play area where she made a friend. This is the conversation we had after leaving....

Me: I'm glad you were able to make a new friend while you played.

Jordis: Her name is Sophia and she's four.

Me: Nice, she's even the same age as you.

Jordis: No mom, she's four. I'm four and a HALF.

Xander


At Xander's parent-teacher conference I was discussing behavior with his teacher and she told me that when he does something inappropriate at school they say "Good choice, bad choice, what's your choice?" and he will supposedly think about it and then usually make a good choice whether it's ending a behavior, saying sorry to someone, etc. I thought that maybe trying this method at home might be good for consistency, so later that night I used it myself. Clearly, Xander was not impressed that I knew about his school routine, because after I asked him "Good choice, bad choice, what's your choice?" he said,
"You don't think I'm falling for THAT do you?"

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The day of the Super Bowl, Xander was upset that we weren't letting him watch a TV show before bed because we wanted to watch football. To soften the blow, we informed him that the Black Eyed Peas would be performing at halftime and he would probably like it since he likes their songs. He then says,

"Oh cool, tonight's going to be a good night."

(the name of a Black Eyed Peas song if you're not familiar)

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The other day Xander asked me if he could have a Justin Bieber poster for his bedroom. We don't listen to Justin Bieber and couldn't figure out how he knew about him, but apparently the bus driver lets them listen to his music as they ride to and from school. *Sigh* He has a cute, boyish Cars-themed bedroom and I was hoping to keep it that way for awhile. A new Cars movie is coming out this year so my plan was that he might regain some interest in it and we could hold on to the room a little longer. A Justin Bieber poster just doesn't fit in to my plans. In my attempt to dissuade him I said,
"Buddy, that poster wouldn't fit the theme of your room. And besides, do you really want to look at Justin Bieber all day?"
To which he replied,
"Mom, I'm not in my room ALL DAY, just for a little bit."
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It seems that being literal is really starting to bite me in the butt, because I've apparently passed on that gene to one of my own.

June no more

Where has the time gone? The first week of July is already over. Here's a quick summary for the end of June.....

The kids made their own kites. Out of coloring book pages and yarn. On a day with absolutely no wind. As Xander would say, we like to be "resourceful" here by using what we have on hand.

We have a garden this year. If you could call it that. It's about a 5' x 5' square Jason tilled for me that I filled with WAY too many plants. I have a LOT of lettuce, so I decided we'd have taco salad one night. There might be other vegetables out there as well, but if so I can't find them.

The kids went to a birthday party for our neighbor, Megan. It was a candy-themed party and the kids were super excited that I let them eat a bunch of yummy junk food. Xander's girlfriend was there AND he won a game. It was a banner day for him.

We've had out the pool.

Jordis hid from the camera, as usual, though getting creative this time in her escape. I thought I had her cornered on my mom and step-dad's porch, and then she just climbed right up on their garden hose reel.

Yep, that about sums up the end of the month. July is super-busy, so stay-tuned.

A day at the zoo

Last Thursday the kids and I went to the zoo. My mom is between jobs and had the week off so she went with us as well, and my friend Amy met us there with her two boys. Before we even got in the gate we had to stop and take pictures of the little ducklings we saw in the grass. They were so cute and fluffy.

Then the very first thing we had to do was go see the snakes.

For Jordis.

My girl.

The reptile building has a desk where a zoo employee will usually sit holding a snake and you can go pet it. Jordis loves to pet the snake and the past few times we've been to the zoo no one has been there with it, so I promised we could go to the reptile building on this visit. Xander actually pet it this time as well, so I was really proud of him. I think it might be the first time he was willing to touch it. Then they wanted their picture taken here:

And here:

Then of course all the kids wanted to see the penguins, one of the stinkiest animals at the zoo. They were pretty active though so we enjoyed watching them. Then the kids wanted more pictures.

Wes, Garrett, Jordis and Xander

And of course you can't forget the petting zoo.

Easter

The thought of spending Easter away from home was a little daunting at first, but when it came down to it we had a really fun time. Saturday night before bed the kids colored eggs. Xander went last because he wanted to mix all the dye colors.

We were concerned that the kids might worry about the Easter bunny not finding them, but it wasn't a problem at all. All four of the little munchkins were so excited when they woke up.

Somehow we all managed to get ready for church.

And I thought some of these were cute as well.

After church we hid the eggs the kids dyed and had an egg hunt. Sarah bought them bunny ears to wear. We thought they'd put up a fight about it so we told them no hunting if they didn't have them on, but they actually seemed okay with it. To lessen the fighting they could each find a certain amount and then they had to be finished.

After lunch the kids played outside while Sarah and I made Easter dinner. We had a nice picnic dinner of turkey, homemade bread, sweet potato crunch, pineapple casserole and a black forest pie. It was a great end to a wonderful visit.