Hello Spring

Another chilly week has come and gone, and we are that much closer to spring! Or at least, what spring should feel like. Today is officially the first day of spring and it's still hovering in the 30s. Tomorrow will have a high in the 20s so I'm gonna soak up 30-something as best I can while it lasts.

A few days last week were warm enough to take walks and venture out to the town playground. It is only a few blocks from our house luckily. Sam and Molly love it. Will got some new tennis shoes at the mall and waddled his way over to the dirt and had a grand time. Normally he is in a much more winter-proof coat onesie that has covered hands and feet, so the fact that his feet were even exposed and able to make contact with the ground was probably incredibly exciting for him. He took his first steps on St. Patrick's Day (probably four in a row total), but thinks it's much funnier to just throw himself in my general direction after standing. It appears he will follow the developmental curve of his siblings and not walk until around 15 months.

The high school has open gym on Wednesday evenings during the winter and this was the first Wednesday we got it together enough to get over there.

Naturally this week is the last Wednesday they're open until next winter, but the kids had a TON of fun. As it turns out, their energy is endless. Huh.

Will crawled EVERYWHERE. He could not would not be stopped. As everyone knows, I am the biggest germaphobe in the world so this eeked me out for the entire two hours we were there, but he was completely worn out after it was all over and got a very thorough bath afterwards.

The kids used to have a bedtime of 7pm. Once daylight savings hit though, we decided we'd extend bedtime til 8. I know a 7pm bedtime gets side eye from some folks, but I comfort myself with the fact that "some folks" don't have to wake up at 6am (and sometimes earlier) with my kids every morning. You see, these are not normal humans. If you let them stay up late to watch television or play with friends, they do not sleep in to compensate for the sleep they missed. They simply wake up at the same time (crack of dawn), with the same amount of energy (where the hell does it come from), and usually, slightly more attitude than they went to sleep with (a lovely side effect). And for those reasons, my children have a very strict bedtime. I can't say extending til 8pm has made a huge difference in anyone's sleep schedule (LOOKIN' AT YOU, WILLIE), but they get the opportunity to do more things in the evening, like open gym.

St Patrick's Day! Everyone was so excited. Sam's class had been experiencing visits from a sneaky little leprechaun all week at school and he was really into it. The night before, at 10pm, I realized I had forgotten to set out St Patrick's Day stuff. I scrambled to write a note from the leprechaun, set out the Lucky Charms that I actually remembered to buy a week prior, and poured some green food coloring into the carton of milk. Nothing crazy, but he really enjoyed it so I'm glad I remembered!! Since it fell on a Friday this year, we didn't make any crazy green food (fish Friday- would prefer that not be green), but we did go to a family dance that the elementary school put on at the community center.

It was SO stinkin' fun. They had this photo booth, music that was popular from when we were in 6th grade, and just kids running around everywhere having a blast.

slow dance with Daddy

The PTO was selling dinner and juice and Sam got in on more than a few juice barrels. It lasted from 6-7:45, which is the most perfect amount of time for an elementary school dance to last, in my very humble opinion.

Turns out that no, I do not own any green clothing and yes, my blood stained chambray shirt made YET ANOTHER public appearance! #shame

We had too much fun

We got everybody home and bathed and put to bed before realizing how extremely OLD we both felt after dancing and chasing the kids around all evening. As we were sitting in the living room lamenting our achy bones, we heard the kids' door open. Sam was whining his way down the stairs and before he rounded the corner, Steve guessed that maybe he wet the bed (he did drink a lot of juice at the dance). Seeing him standing there though caused us both to leap into action as he was covered in vomit stew! So. so. so. GROSS. I showered Sam off while Steve stripped his bed and put on fresh sheets. He got it on everything (these kids have so many layers to their beds to stay warm), so the laundry that night and the next day felt endless. He finally got all cleaned up and back to bed (with a bucket) and luckily we didn't hear from him for the rest of the night. Pretty sure it was just a juice overdose coupled with a lot of running around. He woke up feeling fine the next morning.

Good thing too, because we had some trash to burn!

But first, a hot dog dinner

The previous owners of Rick and Monica's house/land had made a nice burn pile at the back of their property. They added some old carpet and we added some old doors and then Rick added some gasoline and a bit of fire.

It was fun to watch but I can't wait to have a regular bonfire and roast some marshmallows.

Finally! Some warmth!!

Sunday morning, Will woke up suuuuuper early and the big kids actually slept in, so we missed church. We played over at Rick and Monica's for a while since it was nice outside (nice = in the 40s) and then we all went swimming in the next town over.

We stayed until they closed and then had plans to go to the pizza shop in that town with our friends for dinner. We went into the locker rooms to get changed and mine and Molly's clothes were gone!! I couldn't believe it. We searched every open locker and trash can and stall and they were nowhere to be found. I wasn't (and still am not) mad about it, just kinda puzzled as to why someone would take clothes. I went out to the front desk and told the sign in lady and she was horrified. "Do you want me to call the police?!" Well, no. Not for clothes. I'm sure there isn't much else going on, but I don't think my old clothes warrant a police report. She kept apologizing like it was somehow her fault and kept insisting that she run home and grab some of her clothes for me to wear. I told her it was fine, it's warm out, we will just be sitting in the car until I change, no big deal.

I'm literally glowingggggg omg need sunshine

We all ended up skipping out on pizza since it was so warm and beautiful out (warm and beautiful = 55* and sunny). No one wanted to sit inside a pizza shop when there was weather like this to be had outside. We drove home and I showered the kids while Will napped in the car with Steve, got our clothes on, and then headed out to Rick and Monica's for a dinner picnic. A friend of theirs brought over some massive Legos and the kids played with those and then ate pizza and cheetos off the tailgate in between races and running.

We headed home afterwards, showered Will, changed sheets, more laundry, bedtime routine, zzzz....

Big kids at school today and at only 9:30, Will is already up from his morning nap. Molly's party is this weekend so it's time to rock and roll on some projects to get ready for that!! Happy Spring!