Spring Break

Seriously, Mother Nature! Could you be any kinder to all of these littles on the week they get to be free of morning routines, spelling words, and standardized tests?
I love you, MN. And I think I speak for a lot of other mamas and daddies.

I love this shot! It says way more than, "Look at me, I'm jumping super high!" I think it is also a loud exclamation of happiness that we didn't cancel this play date. We nearly did because he had a scratchy throat and E was recovering from croup. Neither had had a fever and both were eating and playing with good energy. His mama and I couldn't find reason enough to cancel an outdoor play date.

We did, however, tell them no hugging or hand holding. There were some sad faces and then some bossiness from my girl about how everyone that coughs should do so into their own elbow so that no one would spread the germs they had.
No hugging? No hand holding? Uh-huh, right! Those rules were broken once. Or twice. Thrice maybe.

Clearly, she is feeling better. She still coughs, mostly in the evening just before and after getting to sleep, then she's out in a deep, comfy, sleep.



It was so nice to walk and chat while the kids explored and laughed (and argued and made up) with each other. I didn't realize how windy it was until I looked at the pictures and saw little pigtails blowing every which way. Great company...what wind?


I don't have much else to say. Just loving friends and lunch dates and play dates and sunshine. And family walks, sidewalk chalk, playgrounds, and nature centers.
That's all.

Monday, Monday

Again with croup.
You wouldn't know by looking at her today. The cough is hanging on, but it's transformed from bark-y to breath-y and mostly rears its ugly head around bedtime.
We spent yesterday inside, taking it easy on what was a dreary day anyway. Today's sunshine and 70ish degree weather called us outside. It's like Mother Nature knew and gave us just the right weather on just the right day to accommodate our sick schedule.


Maybe she also knows that we need to get back in the family walk exercise habit.

I miss this so much during the colder months.



I miss this too. No complaints here about turning our clocks forward.

What's Going On Around Here?

We are keeping this plant alive!

She is a great (and very funny) school teacher.

She missed her daddy today.

More Easter egg hunts.

And again.

We found some steals at Hobby Lobby and are loving the new wall behind the sofa.

Silliness never goes out of style.

Elefun. Haven't had this game out for a long time.

Way fun!

What else?
Combo lunch, park, cul-de-sac play date.
Family dinner devliered by a train.
Thoughts about our oldest cousin whose high school team is playing in the state basketball tournament.
Perfect weather day.
Two family days straight ahead.

Mommy Day

She transformed into a fabulous, purple-themed magician this morning.

She "disappeared" and "twinned" multiple items from her toy trunk.

Every magician consults the "Magic Book" once in a while.

Then spring sprung at our house, and the Easter stuff came out. Goodbye pine cones, hello eggs, bunnies, flowers, and feathers.
I'm guessing this will be the first of many mock Easter egg hunts.




Enjoying this Easter egg hunting magician so much these days.

Indeed the Important Stuff

I'm having a little bit of an obsession with the word indeed lately. It's such a validating word and I'm all about being on both sides of that. Moving on.
I was thinking both Saturday and Sunday nights about blogging and realized that other than a way fun, long overdue, let's do this more often dinner with friends, there wasn't much to post about.
Then I started rethinking it.

While I was pregnant, T and I both read "Stong Fathers, Strong Daughters" by Dr. Meg Meeker. It was a great read, a book that we'll always keep on hand. Indeed (see?) she gives terrific advice on the big stuff. But she also addresses some of the smaller, more practical, day to day kind of stuff that actually ends up being some of the biggest stuff in a girl's life.
So all these years later, I bought another of her books, "The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers." Even though I don't feel like I need advice on how to be happy, I knew her insight and research would be thought provoking, and I wanted to understand her perspective on the formula for happy motherhood.
I finished the book some time ago. Our "happiness" formulas didn't exactly match up in that, according to her habits, there were holes (some gaping) in my way of doing things. With nothing to lose (already happy here, can only gain more happiness, right?) I decided to pay attention to her ten habits as they weave their way through my days, and try to make more decisions with these habits in mind.

This past weekend, I hit a few of Dr. Meeker's nails on the head. Hard.
Maintain key friendships.



Value and practice faith.

Make time for solitude.

Find ways to live simply.

Little things are the big things. Indeed.
There are still holes in my formula according to Dr. Meeker. The "let go of fear" habit is indeed (!) a work in progress. But it's enlightening to be more purposeful about making decisons that support her so-called habits. They are really quite simple and rather obvious. And being more aware of them means more time to connect with friends over dinner, more serious conversations about how to celebrate when our house is paid off, and that white kitchen cabinets function just the same as they would if they were black.

Friendship. Simplicity. Love. Faith. Money. Value. Solitude. Fear. Hope. Purpose.

.com

Indeed she is growing up in a different world than we did, and it is so evident, even at five years old. Anytime we have a question about who sings that song or what hippos eat or where pink dolphins live or when that President was born, we Google it. The answer is as close as a few keystrokes away. We always say, "Why wonder? Google it."

It's an interesting conversation, the "Why wonder" conversation. Isn't wondering a good thing? Even a great thing? It makes you stretch your memory, right? I'm willing to go one step further and say that wondering for a while, thinking it over, pondering, racking your brain might just teach us patience and stick-to-it-ive-ness. I digress.

E understands this convenience all too well, and is ready to "google it" at the drop of a hat. What's awesome about it is that she doesn't understand the search process, instead thinks that any topic has its own web address that is made up of said topic plus "dot com."

It has been a fantastic source of entertainment. We love it so!
Daddy, let's go to learningtoread.com
Mama, we could just look that up on dance.com
How about we check with hair.com

Daddy, since we don't know where Mommy put my dance bag, maybe we could go to findmyshoes.com so I'll have both tap and ballet shoes for class today.
Zelda.com is maybe where it all started. Of course, that isn't the actual name of the site, but the information they glean from getting on the computer to help them through the tough spots of their Wii adventure game laid this .com foundation.

Today, if we had any questions, we would have surely hit:
fairies.com
treeclimbing.com
swingset.com
whyismyhairsoratty.com
whosingsthissong.com
howoldisthisbroccoli.com
warmwinterweather.com
Just to name a few.

After dinner, she went to sit by herself, sad face, slumped shoulders. She had pulled a picture off the frig and was looking at it with tears in her eyes by the time I got to her. She looked at me with the saddest eyes, holding up the picture. I don't remember exactly what I said but she replied, "I just miss them so much." The flood gates opened.
I offered to call them so she could maybe chat with one or two of these people that are oh so special to her. Holding the picture tight, she said she didn't want me to call them, that she just wishes she could see them more often. Then we talked about the time they came to watch her play soccer and the times they've all played like maniacs in the Pa's basement. A tiny little smile showed up while we were talking, our cue to flip the switch and change subjects. She transitioned to something else soon after, all the while keeping the picture close at hand.

I'm thankful x 1000 that she feels such connections to people inside and outside our family. Fr-amily as we call it. My friend in California once said to me, "Friends are the family members that you get to choose." How true! My hope is that our girl will build and maintain more loving, healthy, happy, fulfilling, stable fr-amily relationships than she can count.
She has a great start.
Sibling talk hasn't stopped around here. She asks regularly about having a brother or sister. Or just going to get one somewhere, maybe this weekend. Let's just go this weekend and get a sibling for me, I know that is what she is thinking.
We do our best to answer questions and appease her curiosity and requests, but in her darling, social, relationship-loving little eyes, there is no answer that is good enough, because she wants a sibling and knows it isn't in the cards. I understand and respect her frustration. And worry about it. For her "now" life and for her "future" life. And while I'm over at ismyonlygoingtobeokay.com, you can bet your bottom dollar that she will be checking out howtogetasiblingwithoutyourparentsapproval.com.

Last Minute Treat

"Mom, I love playing with him because he talks a lot, like me."

They ran and jumped and yep, talked. A lot. But hey, who am I to talk about lots of talking?Their fun and energetic play date in this neat, albeit a little more run down compared to years past, children's museum gave his mama and me a chance to chat. Notice I didn't say "catch up." That's a pipe dream. A beautiful pipe dream that keeps us getting together. There is always something more to cover which works out just perfectly!
They rolled, dropped, shared, stole, threw, collected, and carried golf balls around ramps and steps and spinning things. Making baskets, missing baskets. Laughing and carrying on.

We took a couple play breaks for snacks. And silliness.


Art/craft room.




And they're off, back to the farm and market room.

E said this was her favorite room. She liked sending the lightweight scarves through these high pressure tubes of air, waiting and anticipating which hole they would come shooting out.

They played hide n seek in this big room as well and spent some time in both a rocket and a sumarine. It's the biggest room, likely what used to be the gym in this transformed elementary school.
"I'd like to buy a carrot, please." "Okay, that will be forty cents, please."

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF!

They took care of some animals and some babies in the vet/doctor room. They were allowed to wear the scrub tops but NOT the masks. And forget about the water room. Ewwww!

It was a few hours of fun and frenzy and....lots of sanitizer. So glad our friends invited us! And we're working on our next play date/chat date.
Let the "catching up" continue. Yay!