Kids at the Creek

On Sunday, Zac took the kids to the creek in the morning.

In the afternoon, Simon's friend Elizabeth came over for a playdate and the neighbors also came over and played. They played in the backyard nearly the whole time, which was nice. We forgot to take any pictures.

And at the end of every day, no matter what, they end up clean and shiny and in their pajamas.

Duke Gardens

Saturday started out promising. Alice made the kids breakfast before we got up.

She sat in a chair and read for a while.

But then they started being annoying and making messes, and Zac had a lot he needed to do, so I decided to take the kids to Duke Gardens for the afternoon. It was beautiful.

 Alice took a picture of Simon and me, then a selfie.

Kids at a Concert

Our friend Everett (Donovan's dad) invited us to come to a free concert at NC State on Thursday night. We figured we'd give it a try, but the experience pretty much confirmed why we never do things like this, especially not on a weeknight.

We had to rush home from work and rush through supper to get there around 6:30.  Then the kids saw Donovan with a popsicle, so they wanted popsicles. Zac gave them money and sent them off (a step towards independence).  They successfully came back with popsicles, but of course they each only ate about half of theirs. (We finished them for them--but germs!) 

Then Simon whined most of the time.  Alice had a blast though. She spend most of the time on the lawn in front of the stage playing and running with the other kids.

Then we got home late and had to rush to get the kids to bed.  It was fun to try, but Simon was weird the whole time and didn't even play with Donovan.

An unfortunate series of events

On Wednesday morning our neighbor accidentally backed into my car.

I was parked on the street because the deck builders had boards piled in the driveway for the project.  I was parked right where he backs his truck up to exit his driveway.  He felt really bad about it, and it's not too bad (I can still drive it.)  But now it's one more thing to take care of. I spent my planning period during work today on the phone with his insurance company filing a claim.

Also, this is why I could never actually have a new new car.

Day #10 of Spring Break

If you count both weekends, plus the five weekdays, today makes the 10th day straight that I've stayed home with the kids. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through the summer.

Today we just hung around the house, so I could do laundry and the kids played with the neighbors. 

Also the deck deconstruction began. Simon found it very interesting to watch.

In the late afternoon, Alice had a playdate at the park with Emily, a friend that lives in the neighborhood and rides the bus with her.

Easter 2019 (and Sera's 39th Birthday)

For Easter this year, we told the kids to wait until 8:30 to do the egg hunt. They were supposed to stay up in their rooms until then. They did a good job, except Alice said that Simon snuck downstairs.

After celebrating this bizarre tradition at home, we headed out to Izzy's for the big Easter gathering there. Simon immediately got busy with the bubble bucket and some boy.

Around 11:30 the kids got lined up and ready to go find eggs in the field.

After the hunt, it was time to open the eggs and discover what candy and toys they earned.

In another part of the yard, Izzy this year invented a chick hunt, where they searched for peeps after lunch.

The kids had a great time, as always!  Around 2pm we headed home and Grandpa Arcaro came over to spend Easter with us (Ami and the kids were in Florida).

That evening after supper we celebrated my official birthday with a delicious chocolate cake that Zac made.

I think it's fitting that this is the first year my birthday fell on Easter Sunday.  My year of being 38 was terrible, and I certainly feel revived at 39 -- almost like I've risen from the dead.

Simon's weird jokes

Translation:

I hate everyone except* meow**!  

(*Spelled "prusept" **The cat.) 

"Help! Help!" turkey said. "I am dead."

"Oh, I see, your fatness is dead!"

Birthday Hike at the Botanical Gardens

To further celebrate my birthday, we had a family excursion in the afternoon to the NC Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill. I'd taken the kids and my parents there last spring break, but Zac had never been there yet. We wanted to get ideas for plants for our yard and there is also a fun hike down to a river with what they call Elephant Rock (but Alice insists it looks like a person's head drinking from the river). Zac took the DSLR camera and got some great pictures of the kids.

Simon's new mode of transportation is skipping.

The kids play this game where they make a blockade on the path and you have to answer a question to get through.

 

  

The kids ran on the trail quite a bit without falling but Simon finally bit the dust at the end.

In field, must do cartwheels (or try).

 

Alice tried to draw a picture of this little fairy figurine.

After the hike, we went out to a Chinese restaurant for supper.

It was good, but this is how I always feel in restaurants with the kids.