Spring "Break" and Other Stuff

I should have learned by now that spring break means very little to a stay at home mom of younger than school-aged kiddos. But I suppose I thought that since Blake is a student spring break would be an amazing vacation from routine, filled with awesomeness and adventures. I sort of forgot that Blake still works full time. And interns. And his classes are mostly online anyway which means he didn't even really get a break from school. So basically all that was different was that my normal weekly outings (Bible study and MOPS) were canceled. Which meant we were, well, home. Thankfully my mother in law was on spring break, so we did get a few fun outings in: Walmart, Bookmans, Warner's Nursery (a fish pond and playground!) and Joann Fabric (a store where the babies can actually touch things!). It certainly wasn't a terrible week, it's just that my expectations were grander than reality. The weather was pleasant enough to allow for some more outside play, and we did some crafting and accomplished a couple organizational tasks.

Over the weekend we enjoyed an Easter egg hunt put on by some friends. It was quite breezy and Rory kept grumbling about how cold her hands were. She warmed up as the weather did though and found her niche sitting in the sun drinking cocoa and eating muffins. Bash didn't quite grasp the whole purpose, but he loved wandering through the grass and playing in the dirt. Aurora was so proud when we ate the eggs they found (I love that they use real boiled eggs!); you'd think she laid them herself!

Speaking of Easter, we're really trying to impress on the kiddos the significance of Easter. I don't want to just show up at church when they're high on sugar and try to explain it all then. We bought a few board books a month or so ago and have been reading them with the kiddos, and we've done a couple activities to talk about the cross and Jesus having to die for us. I've found that it's difficult to explain the resurrection to my two year old; she doesn't really understand death, so rising from the dead doesn't mean a whole lot yet. This week we have some special things planned too: Another little Easter egg hunt at home, putting white carnations in red food coloring to represent Jesus taking on our sings (I think this will mean something to Rory), having a picnic lunch out of plastic Easter eggs, making an Easter garden on Friday (which will be dead and brown on Saturday) then making it bloom with flowers Easter morning, a "Son Rise/sunrise" Easter breakfast with a fun new tent and Easter baskets...it should be a great week! We'll keep reading our books and I found a couple animated videos on youtube that tell the Easter story to show them too.

I think it's going to be hunker-down time the rest of the semester. Blake will be pretty slammed with homework all through April. We can't wait for May 2014! We have lots to look forward to though; we had an ultrasound today and little guy is measuring really well (there was some concern that he was too small at his 20 week scan). We're thirty weeks along and have a tentative arrival date of May 31st. I'm not too phased at the thought of having another newborn; things are crazy anyway, so we may as well add to it! I'm not looking forward to nursing a new one right now though; I'll do it though! I'm excited to not be pregnant and to start my diet back up once these crazy hormones calm down enough to allow me to be rational and resist the siren's song of chocolate and pastries... Summer can't come soon enough! I envision sitting on the patio or in the back yard with the new little man while Rory and Bash run and play and get exhausted and make whatever kind of happy memories 3 and 1.5 year olds can make. But I envision lots of things in my mind that turn out a little different in reality (ie Easter egg hunts).

Mondays are my new favorite day of the week- Blake's off (except for a couple hours of class)! We do most of our errands on Mondays and try to accomplish anything crucial for the week. Today MOPS was doing a fundraiser at a frozen yogurt place so we went with my mother in law. Rory had a ball picking out flavors and toppings! Marisa took us to Chick Fila (I know I'm spelling that wrong) for dinner- I love that place! We actually went inside for the first time and the babies got to play on the little playground. It was so clean and everyone was so nice! Unfortunately, both kiddos climbed to the top of the play set (quite brave of our cautious Rorykins) but weren't keen on coming down, Rory because she was scared of the slide and Bashy because he was having too much fun playing in an airplane thing. We had to send Marisa partway up after Bashy. Rory ended up going down the slide and was very proud of herself. They had such a good time! Hooray for not being a germ-a-phobe mom!

Bathtub painting is a favorite activity.

We only do it right before bath time, of course!

Sebastian has been quite attached to Papa lately and cries whenever he leaves for work. My His blankie provides some comfort.

Crafting with contact paper! I covered their creation with more contact paper and cut crosses out of them to hang in the window. They turned out...okay. But hey, the kids had fun!

Barefoot, wearing a crown, singing to her baby doll.

She's quite nurturing and girly; one day last week every part of her outfit was a different shade of pink! She examined herself in the mirror, nodded in a satisfied manner and declared that she looked gorgeous! She did :)

They really are the best of buddies.

It's impossible to get enough of this cheesy boy.

Me: "Look, an Easter egg! Come put it in the basket!" Rory: "No, my hands are cold! You do it!"

He liked to throw the eggs into the basket as hard as he could. They ended up quite cracked. Any potential projectile is a ball in his mind, and he LOVES balls.

Oh, sweet boy!

Bashy loves hanging out in the car with Papa