Day Four: Easter Eggs

The girls and I headed over to Jennifer's house to color our Easter eggs Tuesday afternoon. I think this is our third year to do this together, perhaps it is becoming an annual event! The kids always have a great time running around with Ethan and Jonas, and I always get some great pictures out of it thanks to Louis. The first five pictures I took with my little point and shoot camera with the low battery light flashing away. The last five Louis took. They are some of my favorites of the kids so far, and I will likely frame a couple of them for the house.

Day Three: The Park

We spent the afternoon at the park with friends: Sarah Jane who is in Madeline's first grade class and Guy who goes to preschool with Sophie. It was as crowded as I have ever seen the place despite being a Monday. I guess everyone was off for spring break and looking for a fun place to spend a beautiful day.

Day Two: Backyard Fun

Day two of spring break was spent almost entirely in the backyard. At Madeline's request, I took out and cleaned up the plastic wading pool that she outgrew about three years ago. But, the effort was well worth it, she and Sophie spent more than an hour splashing water and chasing each other around the yard. Leah had as much fun as the girls and was just as wet.

Blueberry stained teeth, face, and hands:

Kent, with the help of our girls, started building a table for our patio. We are looking forward to enjoying dinners outside this spring and summer. Did I mention that I am cooking this week? Yes, that's right, cooking. It is a nice adventure when I am not inundated with homework, grading, children bathing, going through mail, lunch, snack, and coffee making in the evenings, as is my usual week night routine.

Before:

After:
Leah having more fun than the kids:

Spring Break, Day 1: Surprises!

I spent most of the day rejoicing in the fact that I am not going back to work until April 5th! Whoo hoo! I loved every minute of my lazy morning and having very little on my agenda to do. I made the girls whole wheat pancakes for breakfast and neither complained that they were different from the ones I used to make, I cleaned and organized, and I started a new chapter book with Madeline. It was nice.

Kent went out later in the day to purchase some lumber for an outdoor table he is going to make this week, and he came home with some surprises for the girls. As a general rule, we don't buy our kids presents unless it is a really special occasion such as Christmas or a birthday, but I really wanted Madeline to have a new bike. So, we sat the girls down, explained how proud we were of their accomplishments: Madeline's efforts at school and with homework, and Sophie's success with potty training, and we surprised them with some rare gifts. Sophie got a new stuffed animal that she named Tinkerbell, and Madeline got a bike without training wheels.

The new bike came with excitement followed by some falls, frustration, and the breaking of a garage door sensor on Kent's side (sorry Daddy!), as well as some success. See for yourself:

Open House and Spring Break!

I survived the week! We were crazy busy around here with my school's parent conferences Thursday evening (I worked over 12 hours), Madeline's parent teacher conference on Wednesday, and Sophie's open house tonight. Whew! It's done, and now I can enjoy the next nine days hanging out with my girls and enjoying some slower-paced family meals and evenings without our usual homework routines.

Madeline has made lots of progress this year, and I was pleased (relieved) to see that her report card showed it. Kent and I are planning to surprise her with a new bike, sans training wheels, this weekend. Shhhhhhh! The poor thing has spent every night this week riding the worn out, too small bike she got three years ago.

Tonight was Sophie's open house at her preschool. I think, second to Disney, that her school might be the happiest place on earth. The teachers absolutely love their jobs, and it shows. I received so many compliments about my little one's calm, warm, and friendly demeanor (at school, that is. Home is a different story). Just look how proud of her work she is! She made a farm display and planted seeds, among about 20 other things on display.

Pony Ride!

Easter Party and Ponies

We spent the morning at Griffith Park at a friend's annual Easter party. The girls loved (understatement) the arts and crafts table, and I think Sophie spent at least 2 hours decorating plastic eggs. Besides the arts and crafts, there was a jumper, bubbles, and sandwiches cut into bunny shapes.

The Easter Bunny even made an appearance! Sophie was much more excited this year, but she still had reservations about getting too close.

After the party, we headed over to the pony rides. I was sure Sophie would change her mind once she was on the pony, but she didn't! She actually had fun, and I was happily surprised.

Madeline's line for the medium/fast ponies was much longer than Sophie's wait, but she hung in there for maybe 30 minutes, all by herself.

Party Time

We spent the afternoon at a birthday party for a friend in Sophie's preschool class. Wow, there was a lot to do! There was a jumper, face painting, a pinata, balloon animals, and a real life Dora (neither of my kids bought that) who played parachute, freeze dance, and limbo with all the kids.

Springing Forward

I can't wait to set the clocks ahead tonight so that we'll be able to enjoy more time hanging out in our yard. This evening, Madeline wanted to rollerblade, and Sophie wanted to use Maddie's old roller skates. They had fun.

My spring break is just around the corner, the forecast is calling for 80's this week, and the last day of school is just about three months away. Life is good, as long as it is either a Saturday or a Sunday.