Spring Break Fun

So apparently it's Spring Break.

 

After the world's longest winter - it's still here fyi, like, like there's still snow in some places - with almost a dozen snowdays, and that fact that Easter is still weeks away, it does not feel like spring at. all. 

 

Clay and I had really wanted to take the kids to Wisconsin Dells and spend the week with my bestie, Mary Anne, and Clay's brother, Scott, and Scott's family, and have another big family-style vaca like last year's trip to Florida, but with Scott's cancer treatments we decided to postpone that to next year. So we thought we'd take the kids to Baltimore to visit Clay's bestie Andy (do guy's have "besties"? his "bro", maybe?), but then we figured that'd best be saved for a long weekend rather than a week's vacation, and now here we are with spring break upon us and nothing planned.

 

But I really wanted my kids to have fun. They worked hard this year. Narls' behavior in first grade is much better than it was in kindergarten and he just had his best report card yet, and Em, well she's rocking the letters and colors and numbers.

 

So while we may not have stayed the week somewhere fabulous, we did make the most of our days off.

 

 

 

Saturday: Home Depot Children's Workshop where some pretty sweet birdfeeders were made.

 

 

 

Sunday: Sloan Museum to learn about space.

 

 

 

Monday: Castaway Play with a 5-floor play structure, bounce houses, arcade, and a build-a-bear workshop.

 

 

 

Tuesday: movie & popcorn.

 

 

 

Wednesday: Children's Museum.

 

 

 

 

Thursday: picnic at the park with bubbles & sidewalk chalk.

 

 

 

 Friday: indoor swimming.

 

 

 

Saturday: Sting football game that turned into a family affair with my stepdad & brother joining us. Plus we met up with my coworker & a bunch of friends.

 

 

Sunday: absolutely nothing.

Which was exactly what we needed.

Happiness is...

Our Marigolds

When we bought our house - almost two years ago now, wow. blows my mind. - it came with all of its landscaping. We very much enjoy the flowers and plants, which include hydrangeas and day lilies and various shrubs, and one of our top favorites is our pink tree. I personally swoon for this tree.

But I think my most favorite thing about this landscaping is that the plants and shrubs  and trees pretty much take care of themselves.  This is awesome because I'm not much of a gardener. At all. It's sad to admit but this small flower bed where the previous owner planted annuals got pretty overgrown with weeds. I hadn't even touched it last spring, let alone weeded it. I was determined to get my hands muddy this season and pull those weeds out and plant some flowers.

 

When the kids and I were at the Farmer's Market the other day, we purchased a flat of flowers that the salesperson recommended.  Before we could plant them, we had to tend to this flower bed.  This picture is mid-progress of my and Narls' weeding.  It was a tough job; way harder than I imagined.  Clay was busy mowing the yard and Em did a bit of this and a bit of that, but my boy stayed by my side the whole evening and cleaned out this entire flower bed with me.   

Narls: "Mom, is this fun?"

Me: "Nope, not at all."

Narls: "I didn't sink so."

He was a great help and provided a ton of insightful comments and comic relief.  I couldn't have made it through without him, even if he did demand to wear the only pair of gardening gloves we own.  I ruined a manicure in the process.

But it was so worth it because look how pretty our marigolds are! Narls and I are unabashingly proud of our first attempt at gardening. In fact, these cheerful golden flowers are now our favorite part of our yard.  It's been a week and they're not only still living, but they're thriving. We're naturals, obvs. 

Springtime Love

These pictures are actually from April, I just found them on my computer and they're too pretty not to share.  The little blooms on the plants by our front porch were just starting to blossom.  They have almost all bloomed now - as they've been loving all this springtime rain, and they're absolutely gorgeous. 

Friday the 13th

The morning of my Friday the 13th was exceptionally beautiful. The first day it hasn't rained in a whole week; the sun was shining and it was sunny and warm. I drove to work with the top open and listened to some perfect old school jams like PM Dawn's 'Set Adrift on Memory Bliss' and Paula Abdul's 'Rush Rush'.

It was a perfect day.  And not the least bit unlucky.

A Rainy Kind of Day

Rainy days are some of our favorite days around here.

We throw on our rainboots and search for the biggest, deepest puddles.

If we can't find what we're looking for in the front yard, then we stomp and splash our way to the back.

Good times.

Long Way Home

We took the long way home from Clay's mom's house on Sunday.

And we pulled into a harbor to watch the sun set on the water where Clay played when he was a little boy.

We need to take the long way home more often.