It's Getting Warmer!!

During the day,when I'm catching up on sleep from working the night shift, the kids try hard to be quiet. 

I woke up to find them all sharing a chair in the living room playing a wii game. 

The kids have been on Spring Break this past week.  Early in the week it was warm enough to get in the pool for a quick swim.  I should say the air was warm enough...the pool...not so much. 

"Mom, I'm freezing."  Guess it's a little early in the season to be in the pool. 

Meanwhile, Pam and Bruce and the boys were in Ohio for a conference, where they got to play in snow for the first time! 

We did have a couple of chilly days, but the weather warmed back up this weekend, and we got to swim in the pool again yesterday. 

And to drive over to Daytona Beach today....

We gave the kids their easter baskets this morning, because there were beachy-items in there and new boogie-boards. 

We got to the beach around 0930 and packed lunches so we could stay for a while.  We got home around 1500.  I love going to the beach, I don't really care for the post-beach clean up.  I did manage to clean out the minivan, but I need to vacuum out all of the sand.  

Spring has Sprung!

Yay!  Spring is here, and our irises are starting to bloom out front.  Last year, we dug them out of the back yard and transplanted them into the front yard, so we've been curious to see if our transplant was successful.  

I must have brought my cake cutter/server to a potluck or something and lost it.  Or perhaps it's floating around the house here somewhere.  But wouldn't you know it, shortly before leaving for Megan's birthday last weekend, I realized I had nothing to cut her cake with. 

 Megan said, "You need a cake cutty-thingy like you used when you got married."

I replied with, "You're right.  And I'll bet I can find that exact one."

Sure enough, in a box we've held onto for many years, was our wedding cake set.  Really, what good is it to anyone in a box?  So, we removed the flowers and cleaned the set.  I just might have to serve cake more often to break out the wedding set again.

By the way, Megan claimed the flowers for herself, after she let me snap a quick picture. 

Olive, our pet that looks like she might really belong outside, is shedding her skin.  Which gives me the heebie-jeebies to look at her.  Keith puts her in a warm bath to help the process. 

One of Daniel's Christmas presents this year was a potato.  Yup, a potato.  See, Daniel had planted a baby potato in a container of dirt many months ago and wanted to grow it into a plant.  When I saw this Bonsai Potato kit (which actually just contains a stand for the potato, and some scissors), I thought he'd love it.  Sure, I know, most kids get iPods, my kid gets a potato.

But....he loves it.  This week he wanted me to take a picture of his potato so we could track how much it grows. 

Look!  A double rainbow over our house! 

We had a house guest this week.  Zoey is Daniel's classroom mascot.  Everyone takes turns bring Zoey to their house and writing 3 sentences about something Zoey did while visiting.  Daniel took Zoey to gymnastics Monday afternoon. 

Megan wearing one of her new birthday shirts.  Her friend Bradley bought this one for her. 

I asked the kids to clean up the play room this week.  Somehow that got translated into: leave the playroom a mess and create an assembly line to rebuild all of the Lego people. 

Should I be concerned that an imperial army is forming?

Here's Zoey, spending her last night with us helping Daniel get his homework done. 

Some 4th grade math. 

Daniel clowning around.  If he had it his way, we'd eat broccoli for dinner every night. 

More Lego people.  Captain Jack Sparrow. 

A picture Daniel drew in school this week.  His green eggs and ham, look suspiciously like green eggs and stripples, being eaten with a pitchfork. 

My sweet Lily-girl sat with me late every night this week while I finished out my 3rd semester of grad school.  I keep reminding myself that if it were easy, everyone would do it.  I'm now on Spring Break for 2 weeks and really just want to relax, read for fun, and clean the house. 

Daniel's drawing of his favorite animals. 

On Sunday, Megan went to a tea party with Grandma Holloway at one of the Disney resorts.....

Whew!  A busy week for everyone. 

Megan's Birthday Party at Brown's Gym

We had Megan's birthday party today at Brown's Gym in Altamonte, where the kids take weekly gymnastics classes.  It was wonderful!  Other than a small handful of older kids/cheerleaders doing a flip-flop workshop (handsprings and such), our group was the only group in the gym.  I was initially concerned about the 90 minute time frame for birthday parties, but as I shopped around, I realized that was pretty much the norm.

Upon arriving this morning, I was given the option of the downstairs party room, or the upstairs party room.  Both of which are great, but I chose the upstairs room because it was a big bigger (although a smidge warmer), and it was close to the parent observation room.  The upstairs party room also doubles as the ballet and karate room.

Fairies, mushrooms, butterflies and flowers were the decorations Megan picked out. 

Because 1230 is such a tough time for parties (do I feed my kids first or not?), we did include on the invite to please eat lunch first.  However, I felt like a snack was necessary after all the playing in the gym, so we served up some cold red grapes.  And sent everyone home with a snack for the road, since some of our guests had a very long ride ahead of them. 

Warming up for some fun!

Stretching out their muscles. 

Goofy kids, waiting for their turn to run the obstacle course. 

 The big in-floor trampoline is always a big hit with the kids during class.  

Jumping down the long trampoline - clearly I need to invest in a camera with better action shots!!

Bradley getting some serious air with his jumping!

Anticipation building while waiting their turn so nicely. 

Austin getting ready to dive into the foam block pit at the end of the trampoline. 

These sweet girls just melt my heart. 

Group picture on the gym floor.  Such a fun crowd of kids.  The coach said it was the best behaved group of kids she's had in a while.  Yay!  

 

They even put up a bouncy house for some fun!  Oh my word, it was huge!  

After an hour of playing, the kids were wiped out.  They came upstairs to the party room, washed hands and sat down for grapes and water and got ready to sing Happy Birthday. 

This has been a really challenging semester for me, time-management wise, and I knew I wouldn't have time to bake a cake this year, so we pre-ordered a Costco cake, and WOW - it was so yummy, and quite inexpensive!

Nine candles and one more for good luck! 

Keith and Bruce snacking. 

 Grandma and Grandpa Holloway hanging out behind the kids. 

Look at the joy on that face!  

These three are a hoot together.  There is one more girl in their little posse, but she couldn't make it today.  They are all in the same classroom. 

After gifts were opened, we gave everyone a hula-hoop to take home....and chaos ensued as you then had 15 kids trying to hula hoop.  So funny!

It was a great birthday.  

Things that made us want to do this again:

I got to spend time with our guests, and with Megan and not have to worry about anything.

The coach allowed me to take off my shoes and go out on the gym floor to take pictures.

It didn't matter what anyone's physical abilities were, every kid felt included.  

I didn't have to clean my house before the party, or after the party!

Megan also got a cute shirt from the gym, that she can't wait to wear to school.