This middle section of March just felt like we were waiting for Amber and her family to come. Every day was a countdown (that I repeated at least 20 times), and to kids that are 2 and 4, saying 8 days, or 1 week, is the same as saying 8 minutes or 1 second. They have no idea, so they just ask again after whatever task they are doing. I have tried saying after you wake up 8 times, but then they close their eyes, open them, and insist that they have slept so the count should go down :). In any case, we were all really excited for our spring break visitors.
St. Patrick's Day was a thrown together affair this year. I have a pretty strict rule against wearing green as a primary color for anything, so I always settle for a Beaver shirt with green tank under. It counts, and still works for the kids :)
Here is our hodge podge of green for the day...it's not a color that we have a lot of, but the kids make it look cute.
Hunter and Carter had a fun wresting match when C was laying on the ground in the path of Hunter getting to the open door, so he just crawled right over Carter's head :) He could have gone around in any direction, there wasn't much else on the ground, but the shortest path is always the best, right?
The night of St. Patrick's Day, after the leprechauns had spent a whole day causing mischeif and playing tricks (so they were tired, of course), Olivia put her science project, a leprechaun trap, to test in the kitchen. She was SO sure that she would catch a leprechaun, and her dad is a saint for making this cute setup when I said 'can you pull the leprechaun trap so the kids aren't disappointed? He doesn't do anything halfway, and I had a blast washing 100+ little leprechaun footprints off the cabinets the next day :).
I love Carter's face because he was seriously waiting for the leprechaun to jump right out at him. Also, he totally needs a haircut ;).
Later that day, Carter totally made Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa bites for dinner. It's an easy recipe that we all love; as an added bonus, it's totally healthy! The only complaint that evening was from Carter, who would REALLY like to have a more manly kid apron...I told him to put it on his Christmas list :).
Straw bowls are the best, especially when mom gives up on manners and lets this happen...
Our big project this summer is an overhaul on the main level of our house (living, dining, and kitchen). We are redoing floors, paint, baseboards, and getting some new furniture. The hardest thing is just committing to a product. There are so many different options, and SO many different colors, and then you find what you like and start pricing it out, and there are just as many brands and businesses and sales...we still haven't bought flooring, but we are planning to start the project (top to bottom puts painting before flooring anyway) in mid-May. That is exactly when we plan to lay the cement for our patio as well, so who knows what will actually get done by our soft deadline of mid-June when the kids want to have a summer kickoff party :)...wish us luck on the beginning of our big home project careers!
Just a couple pictures of our helping girls...they are always finding new and impressive ways to be helpful to their younger siblings.
Over the weekend after St. Patrick's Day, Alex took the kids on a part outing that ended in ice cream cones. That evening I saw online that free cones were happening the next day at DQ to celebrate the first day of spring. We definitely don't pass up free cones and a chance to support St. Jude's, so the kids and I headed over after school. I was expecting a half-hour wait at least, and no possibility of a table, but the place was practically empty when we got there, we didn't wait at all. By the time we left, closer to 5, it was getting more full, but it was magical for me to have our choice of tables and get everyone settled with ice cream without Alex there.
Hunter's first cone (no ice cream, but he loved it).
As a funny twist to our ice cream week, the next evening was Olivia's spring music concert, which had to end with yet another trip for ice cream :) 3 nights in a row was more than even I wanted, and I never pass up ice cream in any form.
Olivia's concert was really cute, she was her 'usual' reserved self, following directions and the actions perfectly, but never going crazy or doing anything that might be perceived as breaking the rules. It is still surprising to me every time I see this from our crazy, independent girl, but I'm very glad that she is a model student :)
Makenzie stood on her seat (in the 2nd row) using 'binoculars' for a while before the show started.
The next day we started to do some sugar high recovery, so I gave the kids some form of veggie for every meal. The two at home were beyond excited when they saw me chopping 'Groot' before lunch. They insist on eating him whole, then Carter started calling himself the Badoon, which after 10 minutes of explanation I figured out was the first enemy that the Guardians of the Galaxy fought after they formed. Groot was apparently a key player in that battle, so Carter had to join the bad side to eat Groot.
I can't get over how little this picture looks like Hunter, but it is him helping me sweep the floor. Sweeping is one of those things that's very hard to do with one hand, and it's also VERY hard to do with a not-yet-walking baby hanging on to the broom and using it as a walker the entire time.
I don't know when this fort happened, or who made it, or who took the picture (I have suspicions on all accounts, but I am just amazed that it got made, played in, and cleaned up without a single fight to referee, so I'm calling it a major milestone for our family :).
O showed us her leprechaun trap (and many others, they were made by every kindergarten student in her school) at the science fair the day before Amber+fam came, and was SUPER thrilled by her participation medal. She put it in her treasure box with her student of the month pins and other participation awards from various events this year at school. Alex is ready to break it down with her about how participation isn't something to be celebrated, but I suggested we give her at least her Kinder year to live in blissful ignorance :). We will never be parents who make science projects for our kids, so they may need to settle for participation awards for years to come.
Next up, our faux spring break with our cousins and Grandma/Grandpa!
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