He Has Risen!

Happy Easter!

The kids seem so big sometimes but lately I see them and they still seem so small and have so far to go in growing up-physically and mentally...a bit overwelming, exciting and challenging.  But taking these pics they made me smile-mostly the outtakes which are a bit more fun.

Lilly  always looks a bit confused because the poor thing has about three different people giving her commands-kind of funny to watch her try to figure out who she should really listen to!

A Full Week

So we hit the ground running after our spring break.  Everything hit with a bang and unfortunately my brain was not ready...I think it stayed behind in Florida.  Easter party's are still the thing for the younger grades.  Not really my thing but thankfully by fourth grade they drop them-Easter egg hunts and over the top parties at homes just seem a bit much.  Hard to teach kids contentment when we over indulge them and try to satisfy every need or want they might have!  James week was full a party Monday and then an Easter pageant on Wednesday followed by my favorite-singing at the nursing home.  I think this was the most special and seeing James go up to people and hug and love on them without reservation was pretty special.  He was James in his Easter pageant-I loved all the old hymns they sang.

I am so thankful to moms who thrive at party planning!

Funny thing was that everyone wants tons of eggs and the only one James cared about was this pirate egg which he brought and then found-didn't have anything special inside he just thought it was cool.

 Crafts, picture station, Food, Scavenger hunt, Resurrection eggs....they had it all!

The Easter Pagent was the Easter Story starting with the Lords supper.  They kids memorized lines and sang songs-a lot of work, Mrs Kelley really helps the kids learn and understand why Easter is so special.

Speaking part

James Singing

link to James Speaking part

Link to More Singing

Andrea also had her Easter party...complete with baby chicks!  I enjoyed tagging along on a field trip with Brayden to the Glass Blowing School Down Town Tulsa.

 Boys anyone?  It was quite the drive with this crew, a great group of kids but made me think twice about phones-I think it is the quest of every kid but after this field trip we will be holding off for a LONG while!

On top of all the extra's school through at us this week the spring sports also started with a bang-really, the whole week was terrible from a logistical stand point.  Thankfully not all weeks are like this because I was left wishing to escape to a small tiny town in the middle of no where to become a hermit!

 No worries for these kids, mini-rays and both playing their own baseball this year.

 Back to the fields-a little chilly this week.

Dug-out behavior....hats/helmets/gloves/water/ 5year old boys equals CRAZY.  James had a blast playing.  He loves that he can get outs this year and is all about hitting and running more than one base if he can-constantly asking his coaches.  I would add some pictures of the girls with soccer but that will come later.  I was too blown away from all the soccer kids out at hunter park at Becca's first practice.  This spring sport stuff if nuts!  But then again the kids love it.  Thankfully the sun is shining and the days a full.

Spring Break Vacation

It was definitely time for a break.  The kids were needing a break from school and we were all needing a break from the stresses of life in general.  We decided to tackle the long drive this year and head down to Englewood Florida.  The drive seemed endless but out time there was just the best.  Perfect for us right now.  The slower life and not having to look at clocks or schedules was so refreshing.  The kids ditched the electronics and we all enjoyed the outdoors and time together.  This is the life for us!  The whole school institution and race of family life thing was gladly thrown out the window and we all learned plenty, without the stress.  A nice change in our life for a bit-although I am wishing it could have lasted a lot longer.  Our days consisted of the beach and the pool with lots of exploring in between.  The kids found tons of shells, sharks teeth and never tired of looking for either.  The last morning we managed an early walk as the sun rose- a couple bigger shells but no huge finds. Best day was getting the kayak out and being in the water along side a dolphin as is swam in front of the house-I think my excitement matched Becca's!

 Brayden was either surfing in the water and laying in the sand finding sharks teeth...I think he found over 1000 at his last count.  He would take them back to the house, dry them in the sun then sort them by size and count them.

The girls were into finding cat paw shells and little flame augers...spiral pointy shells. After the first full day of sun non of the kids minded having a mask of zinc oxide throughout the day!

The first day the beach had huge waves.  The boys had a blast.  As the week went along the waves
 became smaller which made for not quite as fun boogy boarding but Andrea loved it a bunch more.

One sunset on the beach. We had a lot of foggy, misty days or evenings...not a big deal but the sunsets were not anything great.

 The girls were forever finding key limes and lemons, squeezing them and then trying to get us to drink them.  We did managed on pretty tart keylime pie.

The dock was just the best, the kids did a ton of fishing-lots of hours before fish were caught but those couple just keep them going.

 This was daring each other to touch a clear blob thing they found in the water...along with starfish, hermit crabs, sea urchins, conch shells.

They loved eating outside.

 Kayaks got plenty use.  Ron and Brayden made a little mini exploration to an island one morning.

We spent one morning hiking along the shore called Stump pass-what a morning hiking with the mist-really kind of cool.