Spring

 

Katy and Diana have become closer and closer friends as this school year has progressed and Katy is old enough to play well with her sister.

 

We had General Conference and had a wonderful weekend learning and growing.

 

We had a huge family project planting things all Saturday. Here is the surround of the back concrete pad all prepared for plants.

 

The kids helped and we finally finished before sunset. We couldn't have done it without them we were so exhausted from the digging and hauling and mulching!

 

Jim went to Costa Rica and I sent him little pics of the kids throughout the week.

 

A squirrel was hanging out in Mike's troll garden.

 

The troll and fairy gardens were part of our Super Saturday projects.

 

One of my emails to Jim showing Diana's appreciation of my fine cooking.

 

A whole house to roam and I have three kids on my lap with screeching flying cheetahs all over. Love my girls.

 

Mike gets easily distracted from piano practice. One day after dropping the kids off at school I happened to see this on my phone.

 

Jim sent me some pics of his beautiful trip. So pretty!

 

The boys are on the same soccer team this season, I love that their close ages allow that sometimes!

The boys get to play on fake turf and the fields are really nice.

 

While Jim was gone, there was a Founders Day festival in downtown Apex, so I took all of the kids.

 

We had Venezuelan arepas

 

And I sent Nicole to get a pound of beef from a bbq truck

 

I was surprised all of the kids ate and enjoyed the different foods.

 

The boys sang and Nicole played drums to "What Makes You Beautiful" at a tent right next to all of the food trucks. The tent was to advertise a music lessons school and they invited people to come up and sing. I bribed the kids with some beignets (a kind of doughnut) and they happily sang to the crowd. I loved it when Mike pointed to people in the crowd, and by the end there was a small crowd gathered they were pretty fun to see.

 

Antique fire truck. The kids got kazoos from the music tent and the entire rest of the time I got to hear their lovely music. At the fire truck they all decided to make fire truck sounds that were quite accurate.

 

They had a confederate soldier reenactor and the boys were enthralled by the cloth checkers. The next Sunday at church the boys had made their own checkers set out of paper so they could stuff it in their pocket and play on the pew.

 

Another area had a lady demonstrating pottery to the kids and they liked touching the soft clay and watching how she could form bowls.

 

The boys and Diana were quite interested in the back of the cop car they had on display with policemen there to answer questions.

 

Katy and her police hat she got.

 

When Jim got back from Costa Rica on Easter Sunday, the kids got to spend time with their Uncle Luke as well. We lit fireworks and Jim began the process of showing the boys how to safely light fireworks with Dad's help.

 

We lit the fireworks before dark so the kids could still get to bed on a school night on time. Still super fun.

 

Diana on the merry-go-round at Pullen Park. She was a little frightened and I saw her wipe away a few tears, but she was loving it by the end and totally handled it on her own.

 

Katy and Jim

 

Jacob has never had a problem with heights until a few months ago, but when the merry-go-round started he thought the animals would keep going up to the ceiling and he kind of freaked out. Not too bad, but he was pretty scared. Thankfully he stuck with it and was fine by the end. Not sure if he'd redo it though!

 

Michael rang the bell the ENTIRE time his hand was within reach of the bell on his boat. Katy was grinning and steering happily, and Jacob was chilling in the back.

 

Diana really wanted to be in a boat by herself and experience it that way and she loved steering wildly.

 

Diana stuck to her uncle like glue whenever possible and he was incredibly patient with her. We all went on a train ride together around the park.

 

We took Luke to the chocolate factory and then discovered across the street a very good barbecue eatery. Love discovering new places to eat!

 

The next week was Spring Break and since Jim had taken off time to surf he was at work that week. We had fun playing at the park and being outdoors.

 

We also went to a museum and watched alpacas being sheared. The alpacas did not enjoy the experience but the kids watched for a good 20 minutes.

 

Nicole with one of many butterflies she held. Mike had several land on his head but didn't have much luck otherwise.

 

After this butterfly was removed from Katy's shirt, she promptly cried like the thing had attacked her and I held her until we left the exhibit. She does not like hands-on experiences for new things. She'd prefer to watch others first and then, at her own pace, explore the new thing. So the audacious butterfly that landed on her was not her thing!

 

Jacob about fell into a whole bush to get this butterfly and was so happy to get such a big one!

 

At the dino dig in the museum, Nicole found a frog! I love how Jim's love of reptiles and amphibians has totally transferred to the kids.

 

Digging for fossils. The kids could stay here forever, digging away.

 

Making a habitat for the frog before I had them release it back into the woods. We had a fun Spring Break around town and were happy to have Jim back safe and sound after his fun adventures.