More Spring Break

To pick up where I left off: Wednesday's unanimous request was for a trip to the pool. The pool here is three blocks away and has long been a favorite, but we've only been twice since Matthew joined the crowd, as the thought of shepherding that many children through changing and safe swimming is terribly stressful for me.  But, good sport that I am, I sucked it up, and M polished his halo and took a nice nap in the stroller while the rest of us were in the pool for an hour. After that I was happy to let the kiddos veg out with the kindles when we got home. Nice and quiet. 

On Thursday the kids had their buddy over to play for a bit in the morning, and after that we made a quick trip to the farm store, mainly to ooh over the baby chicks. The lawn mowers were also good fun. I picked up cat litter and food and what has turned out to be the miracle ant-removal product. 

If it weren't for the relief I feel about not having to worry about sweeping up the tiniest crumb, or storing EVERYTHING in ziploc bags, I would feel a bit guilty about the swift devastation this product wrought on what must have been a mighty colony under our house. 

Moving on. 

On Friday we we're having trouble agreeing on an outing, having used up most of the good ideas in our small town, but we happily settled on an indulgent trip to the tiny retro toy store in town - one where the owner declares that nothing requires batteries and everything is out to play with. I'm as bad as the kids when it comes to finding things to buy there, but we got out fairly inexpensively this time. After that it was off to pick up sandwiches and eat with Daddy in his office. And even better, he finished work and followed us home after that! 

Saturday was hugely busy around the house with egg dyeing 

And cookie baking

And a bunch of cleaning. Everyone was very helpful, especially Amy, who has a lot of staying power for projects like this and is fun to work with. I made pizza that night and we all watched a movie. 

Sunday of course was Easter! Church and home for a sunny afternoon just playing around. It was a peaceful and joyous day to round out a lovely week off. 

And of course here it is, almost Thursday of the next week. I do wish time would slow down a bit, but it shows no sign of doing so between now and our impending move after school is out. So much exciting stuff to tell about that but I'm biding my time until it is slightly more official. Will check back soon! 

Spring Break in Review

We are back to school and business as usual after a very lovely spring break week. Everyone has been thriving on the school routine in recent weeks, and I was a little concerned that there would be way too many loose ends and bickering during a bunch of days with the big kids home but happily it was quite the opposite. We had one featured outing each day but otherwise the rest of the time the kids played exceptionally well with each other and spent hours involved in activities that required very little participation from me. C often went along with the older two, and M thankfully kept to his fairly stable school-day nap routine. I still didn't accomplish much of anything outside the normal upkeep, but that seems to be about as good as I get these days. Let's see, how about a picture or two from each day? 

The highlight of our first Saturday was a bowling birthday party to attend. William's classmate, but all the kids attended and participated in one way or the other. Fun time for all! No pictures from that, so instead here is my sweet thumb-sucker: 

Palm Sunday found us at church, and outside a bunch later. C has Daddy wrapped around her finger quite tightly. 

Oh, and I made muffins in one of the new mixing bowls my mommy sent me: 

Mall Monday, as the kids dubbed it, was a ton of fun. Our tiny mall is getting a little pathetic as so many stores have closed, but nevertheless we found shoes at Ross and milled around Joann's, and had a delicious lunch at the Bakery: 

Tuesday was my birthday! This picture was from the day before, but if feel it is how I'll think of myself at 33: 

The day itself took us to the art museum which happened to be free since it was the local student art expo. 

Everybody found that fairly entertaining.  We picked up bagels from another favorite haunt on the way home, and later in the day had a little birthday celebration. The kids were so sweet about the little things they snuck around making for me. We had dinner and cupcakes and it was lovely. Oh, and Don humored me on my birthday request for a typewriter! 

 

Aaaand it's midnight now, so I'll save the rest of the week for a second installment! Stay tuned! 

Many Little Things

So, believe it or not we are down to about 100 days remaining out here on the left coast. That kind if seems like a lot, and yet not at all. Similarly, this boy will be four months old on Sunday 

And while he's still quite a little fellow, four months is a good chunk of time. I realized the other day that we arrived out here with a seven month old, and we will be leaving here with a seven month old. That helps put into perspective where all the time has gone, realizing that yes, just about all of my time here has been spent in the realm of the rinse-repeat baby-toddler days. Of course that's not all we've been doing either - there are now also the concerns of the older two which keep it all quite dynamic: Violin, multiplication tables, friends, school, kisses (oh, help me!), reading, swimming, growing. The days seem tremendously busy, and yet I often can't cross anything off my list, nor remember precisely what I've done by the end of it. 

But all that said there are so many profound moments these days that I wish I could have my blog plugged directly into my head. By the time I get a chance to write I am feeling very dull. Much easier to think lovely thoughts when one's hands are full. 

With our time remaining out here now very short, I also find myself focusing more on the things we will be leaving behind. This has been a place unlike any I've been before; I feel almost as if we've been abroad for two years, especially since our next move will take us "home" and I feel sometimes that it all will seem like a dream. I've been toying with the idea of some sort of blog series, pictures to represent the distinct memories of our time here. I also want to write more about the kids, to make sure I'm not letting things slip through the cracks. 

All of this is a long and rambling way of saying I hope to be back here more in the weeks to come, even though I expect that things will only get busier as we get closer to our move. Hold me to it! 

Busy Boy

This boy rolled over for the first time today, front to back, right on schedule. And then just to show off he rolled the other way, too, right from his back onto his belly and up on his elbows. This picture is actually from yesterday, before he did any of that. I've said it before, I know I have, about how remarkable it is the way babies (and children all the way along) seem to master a new skill so suddenly. One day they can't and the next day they do. I love watching it all unfold.