Spring Break and Beyond

(by beyond, I mean today)

I loved Spring Break. I got to sleep in until 8:30am every single morning. Matt woke me up for a minute or two while he got ready for work but I was thankfully able to go back to sleep.

(quick wink at Matt)

Lauren and Tyler are old enough now to quietly entertain themselves while I enjoy an extra hour or so of sleep in the morning. I even showed Lauren how to change the input on the TV and turn on the Wii. If I let them, they would play the Wii quietly for at least 4-8 hours.

The weather was beautiful this Spring Break so once I was up I outlawed the Wii and the crew and I searched for entertainment outdoors.

We went to the park to feed the ducks. Unfortunately, 300 or so children before us also fed the ducks and they were no longer hungry. That didn't stop us from getting rid of the end slices of a dozen loaves of bread I had saved in the freezer. Perhaps the ducks will be hungry sometime soon. (we left enough floating bread pieces to keep them fed throughout next winter.)


We also enjoyed the (you'd have to see it to really appreciate it) yellowish haze that quickly descended on anything and everything. Pollen season hit us hard. Normal pollen count for our area this time of year is in the low 100s...Spring Break blessed us with a pollen count in the 4200s. I don't react to pollen so despite the yellowish haze, I made the poor choice to open my windows one morning to let the cool morning air in. I had them open for only 2 hours before I noticed the yellow coating on EVERYTHING in my house. Apparently pollen can come through the screens on windows. It's going to take me weeks to wipe down every single surface in my house. Lesson Learned!

I blame these trees!

They covered Everything.

On a more comfortable note, Spring means new life so we were happy to have our caterpillars...turned into chrysalises/chrysalides?...turn into Butterflies. 5 out of 5 caterpillars made it to butterflies and I hope they are enjoying their 2-4 week life span. We released the butterflies the day after they emerged and we haven't seen them since. I hope none of them have allergies.

T and L proudly hold the butterfly habitat.

Matt is still infusing himself with the IV antibiotics three times per day. This has become such a part of normal life that it might seem odd when his PICC line comes out (if all goes as planned!) this coming Friday.
Other Spring Break adventures included a trip to the local Fire Station:

Lauren and a real Fire Man!

L and T got to put out a pretend fire

And also a double birthday party at the local Academy of Gymnastics. This was so much fun. Lauren is begging to do gymnastic now.

in line for the obstacle course

balance beam

foam pit

one of two birthday cakes they got to enjoy

Today (the beyond) Lauren went back to school. Tyler, in his Punch Guy outfit, tagged along with me to some Mom's Club functions.
Once Lauren was home from school the fun really began.
She brought home a bunch of prizes from her Jump for Heart fundraiser.

most importantly:

a rocket which launches up to 100 feet

and of course, a Jump Rope.

It's time for me to get to bed. After sleeping in for a week it's a little hard to get up again at 6am in the morning.