Category: Uncategorized (Page 40 of 201)

Sun Path Academic Celebration.

It happens every spring. It’s the night that parents can come into the school and see some of the artwork displayed around the school and students can submit their own special art and the evening ends with the 5th grade band concert.  It’s not a huge deal, but the kids enjoy getting to walk around the school and point out their art.  And every year up until now I’ve had to teach on SPAC night.  But this year I had an opening before supper so I moved my after supper lesson which gave us just enough time to zip over there and take a few pictures.  It was quite chaotic and we really should have brought the stroller since Levi is heavy.

But it was still fun.

Eating apples on the deck enjoying some sun!

The deck is our new favorite place.  I absolutely love having an attached deck that the kids can play on while I’m cleaning or making lunch or just sitting in the kitchen.  Levi’s favorite activity is opening and closing the screen door… which is fine now, but won’t be as fun when the bugs all come back.  Hopefully he’ll have moved on to something else by then.  😉

We added a gate at the top of the deck steps outside so they Littles can play out there without my worrying that they’ll fall down the steps or get into mud or any other fun things available in the yard.  That gate is wonderful.  I love it.  Plus, as a bonus it will work for dogs, so someday (not anytime soon, so don’t get your hopes up) when we perhaps get another dog, it will be nice.

Isn’t it funny how the things we love most about our houses change over time?  I suppose it makes sense since the things that you’re using on a regular basis will change as they get older.

I’m not going to lie, this past month was rough.

It was really tough to go seemingly backwards in time.  Instead of moving into Spring and the hopefulness of being able to spend time outside and seeing things growing and becoming more beautiful, we instead were back in January.  Nature totally covered by snow, the blank whiteness blinding us everywhere we went; snowpants and gloves trying to give one last valiant effort to last to the bitter end.

Chloe and Josiah were so ready to be done lugging their snowpants, hats, gloves and boots to school everyday.

But then this weekend, everything changed.  It warmed up and the sun started to melt away our blues.

And today I can officially say that Spring has arrived.  It took a while, but we made it.

The kids have spent hours upon hours outside over the past couple of days.  I’ve started deep cleaning the house. I’ve welcomed back my long lost friend:  motivation.  😀  Tim even blew the dust and leaves off the patio and put up all the lawn chairs again.

Chloe went to a sleepover on Saturday night and I cleaned her room, and I mean REALLY cleaned it.  It was a good thing she was gone.  I now fully understand why parents send their kids away in order to clean.  Ha!  And when she came home she was dazzled and leaped for joy with how clean it was.  Mom for the win!

This morning the Littles and I went on a walk.  It was glorious.  See?  No more snow!  And it was warm enough that by mid walk I took off my light jacket and was comfortable in my sweatshirt.

The studio door is closed most of the time.

So, on a rare occurrence that the Littles find the door open they make a bee-line for the piano.  They love it with a capitol L.   And sometimes you just need to all play piano at the same time.  Or in Levi’s case, he needed to be able to play piano while holding his precious toy, but he still needed to be on the bench…  Hehe!

Someday maybe they’ll actually play a trio for real!

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.  One thing is for sure:  they’ll have a much harder time fitting on the bench as they get older!

In this picture you’ll notice Maddie is wearing a butterfly hair clip, Chloe’s headband, Chloe’s bead bracelet, Josiah’s wand and a mischievous smile.  She likes it when the big kids go to school so she can find treasures (that don’t belong to her) to play with.  Ah, the life of the 3rd born.

Today I walked into Maddie’s room to find her with Josiah’s (sound reducing) earmuffs on her head and Chloe’s winter earmuffs around her waist dancing in circles.

Oh, that girl.

Just when we thought Spring might be around the corner… it was not.

I mean, how dare we assume Spring would come in April?  Mid April, even!  No, Winter has decided to hang on for an encore.

And what an encore it is.

It snowed non stop from Friday night until Sunday night.  We had rain on Friday afternoon first that turned to ice as the snow started that evening.  It was legit blizzard conditions for most of Saturday afternoon and we got between 15-20 inches of snow.  We even broke some records!

The kids and I went out to see a musical (at a nearby church) on Saturday afternoon because I had a bunch of students in it.  We left before it really started to “blizzard” but by the time it was over it was white out conditions.  We only had a a couple of miles to go from the church to our house and there were moments where I couldn’t see anything.  I couldn’t see houses right next to me, or stop lights, let alone where the road was.  I even made the kids stop talking so I could focus.  Needless to say, I was happy to make it home and then hunker down for the evening.

This is my ideal Christmas morning weather.  Lovely fluffy snow–and so much of it!  It really was quite picturesque as it was snowing.  Well, once I got home and safely inside…  then it was lovely watching from the comfort and safety of my living room.   So we enjoyed the rest of the weekend by living it up:  we drank hot cocoa, watched movies and played games.

But, now we wait. We anxiously and impatiently wait for the arrival of Spring.

Tim hasn’t been able to start work yet.  He did have one random job in March in that tiny bit of time when we didn’t have snow and we thought Spring was right around the corner, but he hasn’t been able to officially start.  They haven’t even sent out their first batch of fliers, because, let’s face it, no one is going to think about landscaping when everything is covered in a foot and a half of snow.

But on the plus side, I haven’t had to mow yet!

I asked Maddie to help me take some cups (unsupervised) to the basement the other day, and this is what Tim found… She definitely did her job!

I finally did it!  I FINALLY made the football food stadium pictures into a photo book!  And I’m excited.

Unfortunately, Tim was hoping I would have it done a bit sooner than now…. since he first made it LAST January.  Ooopsie. Well, better late than never right!  I’m so excited to see how it turns out!

In other news… still snow on the ground here.  We’re supposed to head up north to help Ryan and Stephanie move this weekend but there is snow in the forecast (again!) so we’ll see what happens.  I gotta say, I am the most ready for Spring as I have EVER BEEN.  Normally I’m excited to let the kids go out and play, but this year I am beyond ready.  I don’t want to complain, because it really could a lot worse.  I’m still thankful for the slightly rising temperatures and a big yard and friendly neighbors…

Tim and I have started eating better this past week.  It was his idea, so I happily jumped on the band wagon.  I always think I’ll hate eating better after a long break of being a sloth, but I forget how good it feels after just a couple of days.  It’s nice to enjoy foods again and be full faster.

I have another interview with a prospective tonight.  You think I would be past the point of getting nervous after all these years, but I still do… ugh.