2017 :: week 17

April 23

Our azalea blossoms only last about 2 weeks, and that is if the weather cooperates. I look forward to this each year and take as many pictures with them as possible during that short window. I tried to get a picture of the kids before church when the lighting was nice, but time got away from us. We had to settle for a picture after Elliott's nap when there were lots of shadows. I love these silly kids and the simple beauty of our home.

April 24

Lauren is usually quite a chatterbox on the way home from preschool. She wants me to guess which of her classmates was the sharing friend, what songs they sang and what areas she visited during playtime. We were singing along to a song from the new Beauty and the Beast soundtrack when I noticed she was quieter than usual. She fell asleep! It was the first time she has done that all year. Lauren should probably take a nap, but she resists sleeping any more than she absolutely has to. I unbuckled her and let her rest for a few minutes before waking her up to pick up Will.

April 25

Will came home from school Tuesday afternoon frustrated that due to widespread misbehavior in the classroom his class lost six minutes of recess. He marched inside, came out with a book and climbed our little Japanese Maple. It's not a big tree and not really meant for climbing, luckily his 45 lbs. didn't stretch it too much. That evening Will and Lauren joined Anthony in attending the YM service project for mutual. The kids love going to mutual with Anthony when appropriate.

April 26

Wednesday evening we took a walk after dinner. It rained off and on all day and we were able to sneak in a half hour stroll/playground session before getting ready for bed. Will has been using my sister Laura's old Razor scooter to get around the neighborhood. He stopped at all the corners to wait for us pedestrians to catch up and kept himself busy pretending to shoot down everything in sight. What is it with little boys and sticks?!

April 27

Thursday is favorite day of the year, Take Your Child to Work Day. Anthony's OPM office puts on a fantastic program for the children of employees each year and Will and Lauren really look forward to it. They were up and ready to go before 7am! Anthony planned to take a later bus since he was going to be taking the kids not realizing the excitement level was through the roof. Elliott and I joined the crew for a pizza lunch.

April 28

Friday evening was the OP-C Carnival. We waited in line for 20 minutes for Will to get his hair spray painted blue and Lauren to get her face painted like a cat. Anthony and I each volunteered to help for an hour and the other parent took the kids around. Anthony helped bag and sell kettle corn, then I ran the leapfrog game. The kids had fun, we got to visit with a few friends and I only was out $10 for the night. I feared worse. The school community is really great.

April 29

Our microwave stopped working Monday afternoon and our dishwasher is old and on the fritz. We spent part of this rainy Saturday shopping for appliances. The kids were excited about the comparative "wide open spaces" of the store. They climbed on this expensive yard equipment and asked me to take a picture.