Spring Stuff

Jeremy's parents visited and we went to our fave So Cal city, Carlsbad.  What a nice trip we had!

Towels at the hotel made into animals.  Annie carried hers around the whole day!

I took Annie on an early morning walk down to the beach and tried to convince her that most people in the world only dream of spending a cool early morning walking in such a lovely place.  She played along with me, but really just wanted to go back to the hotel to swim in the pool.

Awesome family photo complete with Concentrating Salsa Carrying Dude.

Despite recent knee surgeries, Gamma made it to the beach and we had a wonderful, just-right beach afternoon, complete with dolphins, close-up whale-sightings (after I told Glenda that I'd been trying to spot a whale from the beach for 15 years), and a baby sea lion. (or seal, still not sure which is which).

Pizza night using our indoor BBQ which probably won't kill us but still makes me nervous, checking everyone's vital signs often.

Jeremy's parents, John and Glenda, took the kids whale watching and they got an amazing show!

Sam's friend, Sophia, wrote a play with some other kids from their class.  Sam went to all the practices, and Annie got to stand in for someone who couldn't make it to their performance in the park.  I'm still not sure what the plot was, but the kids were cute! 

Annie's kindergarten friends had an egg "hunt" in the park.  All I remember was how stressed I was trying to get all the plastic Easter eggs I seemed to need that week between 3 kids and my own Easter party.  And all the while declaring to our students that Easter is about more to us than Easter eggs, oops!

We had an international Easter party and this is the only photo I got!  We had an egg toss (because eggs were on sale), volleyball, and lots of food!

On Easter Sunday, we went to San Diego to hang out with Kendra and Paul...our first holiday together with them as a married couple!  (But somehow they are not in any of my pictures!)

For spring break, my mom and I took a road trip to Phoenix to see friends and Jeremy's family.

Sam and Noah were determined (and convinced they really could!) to get into the Guiness Book of World records for the longest paper plane ever.  This was their beloved prototype.  At 10:30pm, we had to ruin their fun and kill their dream by calling them inside (after making them pick up all the sheets of paper they had spread down the length of the street).

Evan and his buddy, Luke

We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum--it was awesome!  The most whimsical and cutely-decorated of all the Children's museums we've been to (and we've been to a lot!).  It has a noodle forest, silverware chandeliers, and a flying bathtub.  Evan's fave was the DIY marble/ball run.  He worked on it diligently for a long time, and was so proud of his results.

Annie loved the pretend kitchen.  "With you, Mom!"  she still insists.  Aw

Jeremy's grandma and Papa.  I got sucked into puzzle completing and I almost went insane because I can't not finish a puzzle.  It was missing a few pieces, but it was good quality time on the porch with Grandma and Papa.

Two grandmas at one time!  Yay!

Sam participated in this cool competition at our local library, called Battle of the Books.  Kids form teams and read a long list of books and then participate in a tournament where they are asked questions from any of the books.  Sam's team went pretty far--there were a lot of teams!

I (along with 85% of the other 4th grade parents) got to "chaperone" Sam's field trip to Mission San Juan Capistrano.  The boys ran around haphazardly from room to room, challenging my value of seeing everything in order and reading every sign and properly considering the historical implications of the historical location.  I'm still a little confused about the missions, anyway.

And other randomness:

Triple frosted mini wheats, a reason to celebrate.

Our very own Cinderella!

And our very own Annie!

And our very own drowned baby possum!

And lastly, the kids (especially Sam), have been bugging me for a pet for 3+ years.  Sam is allergic to most fluffy things, fish are kind of boring, slithering reptiles are expensive and forbidden by me.  So, I kept putting them off by saying "We are moving, we have students, clean your room," etc.  One day, we found a tiny salamander in our pool.  We rescued him, named him Steve (Steven for short), and tried valiantly to feed him: crickets, blood worms, and meal worms.  He refused to eat, and I was starting to feel conflicted about keeping him (and irritated at how many times we have visited the pet store for more supplies)...when one day we realized he had gotten out of the aquarium.  I wondered what had become of him...until we found him shriveled up in a pile of dust bunnies under the kitchen table.  Poor Steve!  Well, then I was stuck feeling sheepish that I had spent money and bought food for a pet that only lasted 2 weeks.  We thought about getting another salamander, since we were already set up for one, but he was kind of boring for the kids because he was nocturnal.  I did some research and discovered that Fire-bellied toads eat the same food, require the same aquarium, and were on sale for $6.99!  We have two little "frogs" now, and they are perfect for us!  They eat all 3 of the foods we already had, are active at all times, can be held but don't move too fast or stink too much.  And I really love frogs!  I mean, the kids really love frogs!  So, meet Billy and Willy.  (Who we now have to figure out how to transport all the way to Chicago with us).  They have up to a 15 year life-expectancy, so the boys might be taking them to college!