Just Because

I can't believe how fast she is growing up.

Happy Birthday Ron!

I don't know who was more excited for this birthday, Ron or the kids.  I think James was excited because he thinks now his birthday is getting closer, as we tell him he always has to wait for Daddy, Brayden and then his birthday will come.  The girls were up bright and early making cards and were all about the party-presents, cake....I think they would have decorated the whole kitchen if they could have.  Ron was up early and enjoyed a bike ride with the Young Life Group.  A beautiful Saturday, cool but the sun quickly warmed things up.  This time of year is always a bit busy, so Brayden was off to baseball practice and then we all had fun watching Andrea play soccer.  Or I should say Ron and I enjoyed it.  Brayden usually finds some friend and has his own mini-soccer practice and James and Becca wait around till snacks arrive.

    Ron thought it would be nice to do a little mountain biking with the kids so after the morning activities we loaded up the bikes and drove out to Stillwater.  It has been a while since we had been to Lake McMurtry Park but the trails were still great for biking.  Ron took Brayden on a loop and then everyone on a mini-ride.  James was pretty proud of himself-such a silly guy.

The three younger kids were my exploring buddies while Ron and Brayden did some biking.  We found lots of rolly polly's.  Turns out James is still terrified of spiders-ever since he could talk his worse nightmares are always about spiders.  This trail and lake has too many!Becca was my clam shell finder and destroyer...none had muscles in them, just full of mud.  Another "beautiful" OK lake-trash filled and stinky, but the kids don't ever seem to mind.  I love their outlook...most of the time!

 As usual everyone was STARVING so we drove into Stillwater...by OSU and waited a LONG time to get into Eskimo Joes.  It was a fun day-long but lots of great memories.  Cake and ice-cream had to wait till today, after church.  I think everyone wanted to have cake for breakfast but we held off!  Happy Birthday our very special Daddy!  and Husband!

SPRING BREAK ENGLEWOOD FLORIDA

Link to all our spring break photo's

After contemplating the long drive to Florida we decided this year to tackle it and enjoy some sun and family down in Florida.  The drive was not terrible-kids were super excited going, not so much driving home but still smooth. Lots of books on tape and movies-Frozen was a new movie and Saving Zasha was a great kid book.
    The weather was a bit chilly but it didn't slow anyone down.  With cooler temps and wind the waves were up.  With the air temp about the same as the water the kids swam a bunch during the first couple of days.  They loved jumping the waves and surfing.  James made it in the water the last day when it was flat...and free of sharks! No sharks but we did spot a couple dolphins swimming in the swimming area one of the days. By the end of the week the sun was out warmed up everything.
The kids also loved the warm pool and the shuffle board court was lots of fun-pretty high quality, waxed and smooth-challenging
The kids loved exploring, most fun was taking out the kayak at low tide in the mornings along the mangrove islands.  We found conch shells, a hermit crab, starfish, saw a water snake, found a rotten coconut.  There were manatees that loved to just lay in the water in front of the dock by the house.  Ron and Andrea were almost over turned when one decided to flip its tail pretty close to the kayak...I think it surprised them and gave Andrea a good scream.  Dolphins also liked to swim the same channel...at time swimming at fast speeds and  tight circles stiring up the the water-quite a show.
Thanks to Ron's Uncle we enjoyed a day on boat-trying to find a "secret beach" for lunch turned out to be harder than we thought.  The entire week the kids hunted for shells, sharks teeth and any other treasure they could find on the beach.  We enjoyed a hike down stump pass-jumping waves and seeing Osprey and their nests.  It was the perfect week of activity and relaxation...do what you want when you want!

Ready For Spring To Stay

It has been about a week and instead of a snow day we were blessed with sunshine and warmth!  You could feel spring, how wonderful to here kid laughter drifting through the air in the neighborhood.  I even caught my little neighbor boy who is four secretly hunting us from his yard-pretty funny to look up and see a little guy shooting you with a stick!

 Now if only the pantry would stock itself and the dirty laundry figure it's way back to the closets clean I could enjoy a little more time relaxing with these crazy kids.  Today they were making up a story about a fire station-the three younger ones all had stars taped to their shirts...informing me they were all sheriffs!

Life is busy this time of year but these moments when we can just forget the work and responsibilitys of learning can be so refreshing together.

Brayden finally finished his basketball season.  They struggled for most the season but once they landed in the losers bracket of the playoffs they started having some great games.  Brayden had some great games-too bad they were late school night games so I didn't get to see some of the "great" plays.  It was nice for him to end the season with such excitment.

Thanks to a dad on the team for some great shots this year!

Andrea is all about her Pink Patriots soccer team.  She loves practice and games....although we all realized not in the COLD and not in the RAIN!  Saturday she played in freezing temps, wind and rain.  They either were running around or on the sideline huddled under blankets and umbrellas.  By the time we made it back to the car all the kids were crying and I really didn't have much to say as my hands were just about as cold.

 I love trying to keep up with the kids these days....just not the mom trying to keep uniforms clean, coats available, socks clean, homework finished.  It is these things that leave me frazzled, chasing my tail most days.

SNOW DAY!

Hopefully this is our last snow day!!  Going from near 70 degree weather down to below freezing wind chills is a bit much for me. Yes, we were riding bikes last Saturday and sweating!  The sun is out-who can complain.  

 Rosy cheeks after playing outside this morning.  I missed a picture of Andrea who came inside and snuggled back up in her robe and slippers.