Another day, another dollar

Exploring the woods behind our neighborhood a while back:

Jason loving some yogurt, and eating it himself!

From cold weather to summer in an instant! Leo loves watermelon!

Brothers in their car!!

Eating the cauliflower crust pizza! He loved it and practically ate the whole pizza in the course of two days!

I love Olivia's Kindergarten schedule and am happy that some days I can pull her from school at 12:45 without feeling guilty since she just had lunch and recess  after that! We went to Marbles last week and had so much fun on a slow afternoon!  Also, Jason is learning to love playing with blocks!

A family hike to Bass Lake near us! We are so lucky to have all these great parks nearby!

Another playground on a Tuesday morning:

Trying to instill in the kids how good we have it by giving to a good cause "Grow Our Kids." I'm challenging myself to do something with the kids for this cause weekly.

Someday I will give some real updates about what everyone is up to and how everyone is doing! Busy and great are the answers!

Leo's spring break 2016, plus

The Leo's spring break was pretty uneventful after three weeks of track out with Olivia and a weekend with cousins. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I worked while Leo "worked" next to me and Jason napped. We hit some playgrounds and had special reading time and went to Marbles on what seemed like the busiest day of the year! But, that gave us the opportunity to seek out the activities there that are less-popular, usually the more time-consuming ones! We had fun!

Jason's favorite part was "washing" the pets!

And he is often back to two naps a day since he has not been feeling great lately.

We also planted our very small garden--three cherry tomatoes, two strawberry plants, a cucumber, some lavender, and five or so herbs in the front.

Jason has been loving the playgrounds!! The video I don't have is of him crawling up the stairs to the slide, turning around, and going safely down on his belly feet first! He's amazing!

Olivia lost her third tooth Sunday!! She was very excited since it had been a while the tooth fairy visited!

Last week I caught the stomach bug and didn't eat one day, and probably didn't drink enough. That's a mistake you don't want to make when you are nursing. I woke up during the night shaking all over, my body cramping up, and my teeth chattering. Poor Nicholas had to get me a blanket, Gatorade, and a heating pad to get me calmed down. Jason hasn't been feeling great, either, and has been attached to me. It's sometimes hard for me to get dressed. This was one of those days that I just couldn't put him down without shrieks. So, life isn't always as glamorous as I post!  

The end of track out plus Easter with cousins!

This as the best track out yet--the weather was perfect!! We played...

We walked to vote...

We played at old playgrounds...

And new...

(Kelly Road park)

(Womble park)

We went to the Museum of Natural Sciences and did new things!

And we played so much that I had to turn the single stroller into a triple! Ha!

And the cousins came!!! We are SO happy Aunt Stephanie, Craig, Abby, and Luke came Friday afternoon for the weekend. We played outside, we walked to Olivia's school and played on the playground there, we played on the playground in our neighborhood and across the street, played in the street with bubbles, dyed eggs, and made cookies. We had a great time, all while Olivia and Leo were throwing up intermittently. Yuck! So thankful for my brave, amazing sister!

Stomp rocket fun!

Bubble machine fun!

Art fun!

Track out, Nicholas to Japan and back, and Spring!!

Jason is so happy to be walking so well!! He's able to do more of what the big kids are doing and that delights him and me! He's babbling more and looking at us to see if we are understanding him. This is the beginning of my dream: to kick all three kids out of the house and cook dinner in peace! It's happening! (Sort of...)

Nicholas headed for Japan March 5, and we played for the first time at Duke botanical gardens that day with friends! We had fun! Poor Nicholas had about twenty four hours of travel during that time.

Sunday we took Olivia to her last cheer/tumbling class and then the library. We waited on Grandma Dorothy that afternoon and were happy she made it in time for dinner!

It was fun to have Mom here--it broke up the time of me being the only adult and made the kids so happy! Monday we went to Pullen park in the afternoon...

Grandma was so good with the kids, including Olivia's constant want for hugs! Jason even did a sweet game of giving me a hug and then Mom one for about five cycles!

Jason is usually taking one nap now around 10:30, so Tuesday we went to the Life + Science museum in the afternoon. We had a great time not fighting the crowds!

Leo was fearless on the tree house nets and ladders!

Wednesday we had an at-home day after preschool since mom was leaving the next day, and with the warm weather, we got out the wading pool for the first time this season! Instant hit!

Thursday Grandma left and Olivia cried. The kids and I ran errands in the morning, stopped by a playground before Jason's nap, and played outside for the rest of the day. The kids wanted to dress up in Halloween costumes and play paw patrol, and I went with it. I gave them ice chips as pup treats. Ha! I made hot dogs for my "I'm so ready for Daddy to be home" last meal before he got home around 10:30 that evening.

Friday was Dads day at preschool, and fortunately, Nicholas was able to go! While Nicholas napped afterwards, we broke out the pool for round two! Jason is so tough--no tears when the big kids sprayed him!

We're so glad dad's home!! Here are a few pictures he took from his meeting:

Mount Fugi from the hotel: