Spring Break with Grandma and Grandpa Shogren

For spring break this year, Alice was going to be off all week with me and Simon's daycare was closed the last two days of the week. Since spring break is normally when I "get stuff done" I imported my parents for the week to watch Alice and Simon. They came on Monday night and left on Friday night. The weather was glorious all week, and the kids had a grand time playing outside all day every day with Nelson and Stana. They rode bikes, hunted bugs, played in the creek and played at the park. I graded, took care of paperwork, ran errands, and went shopping. Zac and I even had two date nights. It was a great week. The kids were great too. It turns out all they need is to play outside all day with two devoted adults and take good naps.

Dead lizard shrine

Alice and Parker made a shrine on the side of our front porch for a dead lizard.

Simon happy; Simon itchy

Simon is really happy most of the time, and he has the best smile.

But when Zac gives him a haircut, he really hates the feel of the hair  on his neck and face and complains, then whimpers, then cries because he's itchy.

Keeping busy

While I cooked supper, Alice and Parker found the bag of craft supplies and kept busy.

Simon went outside with Zac and kept himself busy in the mud kitchen.

Kids and a creek

Alice had a playdate this afternoon with Anna and Lukas at Laurel Hills Park. We've been there a couple of times before, and it has an awesome, brand new, huge, state-of-the art playground.

But this time, the kids discovered that there is also a pond and a creek, and so of course the kids spent most of the time down there, getting increasingly wet and muddy.  But really, I'd be disappointed if I had a kid who saw a creek and was like, "Nah, I don't want to get in that."

By the time we made them get out, they were all drenched and covered in mud (not pictured). They were freezing too, so they warmed up with a bag of potato chips in the sun.  Oh, to be a kid again.

Windows are the eyes for the soul

Have I mentioned how much I love having big windows and a view? It's especially beautiful now that things are turning green.

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

Zac and I are still getting used to the perks of living in an organized neighborhood, so we're thrilled about every little thing. Imagine my happiness when I saw this sign when driving home from work with Alice on Friday:

Alice was so excited to have an egg hunt in our very own neighborhood! So even although we would really have rather slept in Saturday morning, we set our alarms and arrived at the neighborhood clubhouse just after nine.

First, they had donuts and coffee in the clubhouse, then after a critical mass accumulated, they set the kids loose. Like all egg hunts, this one was over in about five minutes. Simon didn't get any eggs because by the time he warmed up to the task, they were all gone. Alice kind of went the wrong direction, so she only got two.  Simon didn't care and just wanted to go fishing, but Alice cried.

After the kids ate a few of the hard-boiled eggs, they seemed to revive and played chase and hide and go seek with the neighbors.

Then Zac took them on a walk on the way home, and they found a nice tunnel filled with mud.  What a fun morning!

Survival

Alice: Daddy, you only have two bottles of wine left. Are you going to survive?

Alice's homework

Every week on Monday, Alice gets a homework packet that is due on Friday. If she could just focus and do it, the whole thing would probably take her 15 minutes max. But Alice is incapable of focusing, and so the homework follows us around all week, with her making minuscule amounts of progress each time.

Dinner on the deck

Grandma Cam's Visit

Cam came down to visit, see the new house, and watch Simon while his daycare was closed on Thurdsay and Friday so we could still go to work. We failed to properly document the visit, but she had lots of bug-hunting adventures with Simon during the day and they all went to the park on Saturday, where Alice demonstrated her advanced tree-climbing skills.