Beach Day!!

On Sunday, the kids and I drove over to Daytona to visit with Nana and Bill. Bill starts his oral and his IV chemotherapy today (Monday), and Mom needed some help getting the dozen or so medications organized. The kids were great while I sorted through pills added the "short name" (trade name) to the pill bottles. Mom was squeamish about taking the dressing off of Bill's port-a-cath, so I took care of that while I was over there. Then it was time to tuck Bill in for an afternoon rest and take the kids to the beach.

It was another beautiful day! It was warm, but not uncomfortable. There was a nice breeze and we saw a few people flying kites.

Joshua is so brave, he runs straight for the water. He said his stick was his harpoon and he was fishing.

I think Daniel had gotten some sand on his hands and was making a face about that. He doesn't like to feel all sandy. He's happy to play, but prefers to stay clean.

Megan is happy to dig, dig, dig. Joshua was working beside her using the shovels to make the Great Wall of China. I love that the kids stay busy just being creative.

A Walk in the Park

Saturday afternoon, I took the kids to Lake Lotus Park. The kids were feeling grumpy because Keith had to leave to go back to work. The weather was perfect for a hike.

The kids love that we have to ride the big tram from the parking lot into the park.

We followed the boardwalk out over the water and watched some fishermen. Then we walked through the woods to look for flowers at Megan's request.

My handsome Joshua with the crazy hair. He was looking for alligators.

They are growing so fast!

Hoppy Easter

I forgot to take pictures of the kids all dressed up for church. Joshua was looking exceptionally handsome in a new button down shirt. The kids woke up this morning to find their little baskets waiting for them on the kitchen table. Their baskets each have their name embroidered on the liner, so it was easy to see which basket belonged to which child.

Keith had duty today over in Clearwater, so it was just me and the kids this morning. We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch and other fun festivities today. Grandma had set up a craft for the kids when we first got there. The kids used markers to color some hard boiled eggs.

While they were coloring, I went outside to help Grandpa hide some Easter Eggs. Then the race was on to find them!

The kids had a great time racing all over the yard to find the eggs. After they checked out their loot, they were off to go find their Easter Bags.

After a yummy lunch and getting some goodies, the kids played outside with Grandma and Grandpa while I took a little nap in the hammock.

We came back to the house by around 3pm so that we could get our usual Sunday evening chores done.

Daniel got some coins in some of the eggs he found today. He put them in his box for the March of Dimes campaign at his preschool. He is so funny to watch, he puts one coin in - shakes the box - adds a coin - shakes the box - adds another coin - shakes the box, and this goes on until he's out of coins.

Chuck E Cheese with the cousins

Tonight my little sister, Pamela drove over from the coast to visit. She brought along her long-time boyfriend, Bruce and their two great kiddos - Aidan (I think he's around 5) and Austin (he's 3). Pam and her posse came to the house to check out where we live and then we all went down the street to Chuck E. Cheese. Much to our surprise, Chuck E. Cheese came out to say hello to all of us.

Austin, Joshua, Megan and Daniel all playing video games.

Daniel wolfing down pineapple topped pizza in his Batman underoos shirt. I have to laugh - pizza, undershirts and video games - this is really a glimpse of my finest parenting! :)

Megan, Aidan and Joshua chilling out by the mechanical Chuck E. Cheese. Joshua and Aidan are great play-mates. We can't wait to have the boys over to swim this summer.

I knew we had to get at least one good picture for mom - so here we are!

Taking my dramatic darling to the theatre

(Forgive the grainy picture, the lights were low about to start the second act.)

I took Megan to see the Lake Brantley Players presenting the Broadway version of Annie. It was a fantastic production. I had not been back on campus at Lake Brantley since graduation. It was fun to be back in the same auditorium that I had sat through endless high school assemblies 15 years ago.

The production was wonderful. We were in row E, so 5 rows from the stage. I was a little nervous thinking the orchestra would be a little too loud for Megan, but she loved it.

The play got over way past Megan's bedtime. I certainly paid for that today, as she was a bit on the grumpy and weepy side all day today. But it is worth breaking out of our regular routine every once in a while to have a little Girls' Night Out.

April Fools Day!

Joshua and I had an interesting conversation in the minivan today on the way home from school. Joshua was trying to figure out what the point of April Fools Day is.

Joshua tells me it's a day to be silly. He was trying to explain some tricks he heard bigger kids talking about today at school. I had a hard time following his story, but it didn't sound like a very nice trick. And the end result was another child crying in aftercare today.

We decided that April Fools silliness is only fun if:
- it doesn't hurt anyone. Not just their outsides, but their feelings, too. If an April Fools day prank will embarass someone, make them sad, angry or scared, then it hurts their feelings and that's not having fun.

and

- it can be done honestly. Just because we are having a silly day, does not mean we can stop being honest. There are still consequences for not being truthful.

Dr. Seuss's book Green Eggs and Ham is a good example of a silly prank trying to get Sam to eat colored eggs and ham. At least until Joshua reminded me that Sam starts to get frustrated with not wanting to eat the green eggs and ham. Well, there went my one good example. Maybe next year we can have some good clean fun with April Fools Day - or at least learn about it's origin in our homeschool curriculum.