Kara swung by with the kids on Friday (her girls had off from school, but unfortunately AJ did not) and we caught up about as much as we could in between Luke's Superman interruptions. That night the kids spent the night at David's parents and we went for a run together, had dinner, and came home for a DVR marathon. The next day we laid 20+ bags of wood chips on the playground, put out a dozen bails of pine straw, and finished clearing out the woods just on the other side of our fence. It's still our property back there and had begun to encroach on our backyard and look a mess. I had started the project earlier in the week and made an impressive dent, but was no match for David with a chainsaw. We joked that there had once been a time we could've gone for a run together and then done all that yard work, but sadly, that day ceased with our twenties. I think we might could have pulled it off, but not without still maintaining mobility.
We met Ed and Pam to pick up the kids and came home to dye Easter eggs. Stuff like that really gets easier and more fun every year. On Sunday morning, we went to church and enjoyed a great service. Back home, the Easter bunny had stopped by and the kids dug into their baskets. Afterward, everyone humored me through taking some pictures and then we had an egg hunt in the backyard. At some point a few days earlier, I realized that Audrey had gone from having about five egg hunts a year between preschool, Kara's that she did when she lived here, Alabama (we didn't get together this year), our neighborhood's, and then ours in the backyard to having just the one in our backyard. And I also realized I was totally fine with that. Kinda bummed for Luke, but he'll get one at preschool next year.
After hunting eggs, we ate a quick lunch and the kids went down for rest/nap while I started cooking a couple of things for dinner. We went for a little hike on one of the neighborhood trails and then back home for dinner. (That's another thing that has gotten a lot easier and more fun as the kids have gotten older - hiking/taking walks. They're able to go farther and there is a lot less whining from Luke begging for us to hold him halfway in.) I was really excited about dinner because it was the first gluten-free "holiday meal" I'd made and everyone enjoyed it. We rounded out the weekend by playing the game Headbandz that the Easter Bunny had given them. It was a wonderful Easter full of spending time with my biggest blessings and the perfect way to kick off Spring Break.
The week of Spring Break was a great mix of fun stuff and relaxation. I asked Audrey to pick three things she really wanted to do and she chose spending the night at her grandparents' (which they did the Friday before), having a play date with her friend across the street (which we couldn't because they were traveling, so we had play dates with several other friends), and going to the children's museum (which we did with friends on Wednesday. It was insanely crowded because of a field trip, but we made the best of it and ended with a picnic in the backs of our vans, which the kids thought was cool.) We also went to Kids Up and then ended the week with my mom coming out to spend the night. She brought along my niece Annelise who was in town and they all had a blast playing together.
The second Saturday of the break, David and I got up early and drove down to Roswell to do a 10K that ran by the Chattahoochee River. It was perfect weather, the pollen count was low (if you don't live in GA, you don't even know how big of a deal this is but trust me), and the course was extremely flat. All of that made for a great race and, despite his less-than-consistent training schedule, David ran the whole thing. We were super proud of ourselves and celebrated by swinging by Martin's for a biscuit...our first trip there in probably six years. It was as good as we remembered.
Unfortunately, David had to go into work that day as well as the next. My brother met us at church in the morning and then he left to get Annelise from her grandparents' and go back to Savannah while we grabbed lunch and surprised David at work. It was good to see him and lift his spirits for a little while and the kids always love checking out his office.
We drove home, I put the kids down for rest/nap, and started cleaning up the house for small group. David got home just in time to lead it and then we ate, put the kids down, and he went out to cut the grass while I worked. Suddenly that relaxing Easter weekend seemed far away! Still, it was a great break for Audrey and just left me wanting summer all the more.
We got back into the routine of things relatively quickly that next week. We didn't have much of a choice, though, as Kindergarten Market Day was the Friday after Spring Break and there was work to be done. (If you're unfamiliar with what that is, each class transforms into a place of business and half the kids are consumers while the other half are workers and then they switch after about 30 minutes.) On top of that, Luke had a check-up that Tuesday and I had a Volunteer Appreciation Brunch that Wednesday. All turned out well and Audrey had a fantastic time at her little Market Day. I told the other parents I felt like it was Black Friday for five and six year olds. They were insane running from class to class. There was a little bowling alley, a jewelry shop, a candy store, a disco, a movie theater, and her class was a pet store with live animals you could learn about. It cracked me up when about halfway into being worker she whined, "Mommy! This is boooooring! I want to be finished working." Well. Welcome to the real world, kid. Turns out everything you need to know you really do learn in kindergarten.
That night David and I celebrated making it through the week by going out on a dinner date and then picking up approximately thirty paint swatches from the paint store to begin the process of choosing a color for our exterior. He may have gone into work that Saturday, but truth be told, I can't even remember. I do know that on Sunday after church, we drove out to Douglasville for my nephew's seventh (wha?!) birthday party at a bounce house place. The kids were amazingly fearless trying out everything and had so much fun celebrating Carson. While watching him and the little boys he'd invited, I realized how glad I am to have a son. Their sweaty hair plastered to their little heads and the way they saved seats (by putting their hand in the actual chair, of course) is just precious. Of course I'm very glad to have a daughter, too. The best of both worlds for sure.
The next week was slightly slower. We celebrated Audrey's pretend birthday at school (since hers is in the summer) and I ate lunch with her and took the class popsicles to eat after lunch. She was so upset that morning as she worried about standing in front of the class and having them sing to her. I explained that sometimes the things we want to do (celebrate our birthday by sharing popsicles with the class) come with things that we don't care for (standing up and having them sing.) Good and bad. Pros and cons. You know, LIFE. I even had her sing it to me that morning while I counted and explained it was about 20 seconds and it would be over. That didn't placate her a bit. Finally I told her she could ask Mrs. Lynn if she could skip that part, but that if she answered no, that was that. She asked me to please write a note to "excuse" her. I said absolutely not. Back and forth drama all morning. Long story short, I showed up at lunch and asked her how it went. Her answer? "AWESOME! I LOVED IT!" :)
The rest of the week was filled with paint samples and play dates. David worked late nearly every night that week, missing dinner and bedtime. By Friday afternoon, I was done. I loaded the kids into the car and took them to the gym for a while. They were entertained and I got some stress out on the treadmill and bike. I picked them up from childcare and we walked out into the parking lot to find that someone had backed into my van. UGG.
Thankfully the guy had left a note and David called him and then the insurance company that night. We're still in the middle of getting all of that handled. But just, UGG.
The last week of the month we had an orthopedic check-up for Audrey. We saw a different doctor who said that either the first doctor was full of crap about her muscles shortening or that the stretching had done it's job, because she is fine. He also said most kids don't outgrow toe walking until the age of seven or eight. We'll continue to work with her and stretch this summer and follow up with one more doc that he recommended in about three months.
On Wednesday, I sent Luke to Pam's for the day because I just needed some time to get things done at home. I used the opportunity to catch up on some projects that have fallen by the wayside since I started work and, yes, I also admittedly used some of the time to catch up on the DVR a little too. Later that week I drove the van in for a repair quote and then met with the insurance adjuster for his quote. Turns out it's going to take 4-5 days to fix and involve a rental car. (Did I mention UGG...but still, yay for honest people?!)
I also had a realtor/designer that lives in our neighborhood come by and talk through some paint samples with me. When I thought we were just changing the siding color, I felt semi-capable. When it became evident that we probably needed to switch up trim and shutter color as well, it was more than I could handle. She offered some great tips and narrowed it down quite a bit for me. I think we may actually be able to make a decision sometime before the painters show up in a few weeks. We ended the month preparing for out-of-town guests and a crazy hectic first weekend of May, but that's next week's recap.
So, there's April. Its slogan should be: "Busier than March, but not quite as crazy as May." I could've saved both of us a lot of time if I'd just recapped with that statement, but where would the fun be in that?!
Catch up more soon! :)
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