April little things

April kicked off with April Fools Day. Now April Fools Day may just be the absolute worst with little kids. I know, me who loves all things holidays actually dislikes one of them. First, they don't actually get it so it's a constant stream of "Aprils Fools!" being yelled when water spills, or shoes are left out, or they tell a joke, or some other random thing that has nothing to do with actually playing an April Fools Day prank. We've tried explaining it to no avail. So after weeks of listening to them we played our own little prank. I froze their cereal overnight and then set it out for them in the morning.

They were not amused. 

I was told, "You don't mess with food!" by Cole. So we explained that this is what April Fools Day is---harmless little pranks---and were met with,"Well, it's not funny. I don't like this holiday." 

So maybe we're in the clear?

April also finally brought spring! We were so excited to finally be able to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. Amazing how everyone's mood instantly improve when we can get out. 

Cole grew grass in school and brought home his cup. This grass grew insanely fast and overtook the cup and everything around it so we had to "plant" it outside.

turning in my stuff on my last day!

we were so happy to finally enjoy our walks & runs without jumping over snowpiles

Number 3 needs to be doing what the big kids are doing at all times

family workouts at the Y

me & my buddy reading

Ava had to make an instrument for her Educational Fair so she picked a guitar which meant she had to spray paint it. She actually did a pretty decent job!

April brought Opening Day!

these two are super cute with Logan on the playground

a favorite jumping spot on our walk home

practicing baseball

last day of swim

and last day of swim again

Softball started {and quickly took over our life!} Ava played on her normal K-1 team and was asked to play up with the 2nd-4th graders. My little mama heart was so nervous about sending her with the big kids but she did fantastic! We were so proud of her {that's a whole other post too}

Ava, fresh from softball, at her Ed Fair with her home made guitar

two cuties on our DC trip which will also be a whole other post

March little things

March was obviously pretty crappy but that doesn't stop the world from spinning. The kiddos kept us busy with their swim lessons & various activities. This was the first time we had all three in swim and of course we couldn't coordinate any of the lessons---that's a lot of hours at the pool! Here's some of March's little things.

Logan lives for the fridge to open. You can't even put your hand on the handle without him suddenly right at your feet. Someone should feed that poor child.

Shopping with Logan means either he grabs random stuff and tosses it in 

the cart or tosses what you actually want to buy out of the cart. 

surfing at IKEA

Spring kinda stopped by for a bit. It was soooo nice getting outside again. These kids {and mama} do not do well cooped up!

Cole has been working so hard at OT . He's come such a long way from this grip to where he is now.

Someone drew flowers in the snow at Ava's school. How funny is that? Those were 

the only flowers we'd see for a while!

Logan loves his big sis and loves to sit down to do homework with her---and usually ends up trying to write on her paper as well. It's cute while it lasts!

And that, thankfully, is a wrap on March!

thank you & a few updates

A HUGE thank you to everyone who reached out after my last post. I appreciate it so very much. I'm so blessed to have Steve, the kiddos, his family, my aunt & cousins and family friends but it still feels very "alone" I guess. We have just been overwhelmed by the dinners, cards, offers to take the kids and everything under the sun. I can't even tell you how amazing that has been. We have an incredible village but it's so hard to make all these decisions by myself---things that are really just up me-- about the house, the things in the house, handling the financial aspects of it, and dealing with the emotional part of it. It's just a lot. But thank you again---all your kind words help so much.  

It's amazing how life can just change in an instant. So lots of changes since my mom passed. We were fortunate to have my mom & father-in-law take care of the kiddos while we worked along with a few days of daycare for Logan. I had a really hard time being a working parent. It was so hard cramming appointments/cleaning/laundry/activities/playdates/errands into the few precious hours between the end of school and dinner/bed time. I worked with children with intensive special needs. Those kiddos have such a special place in my heart but it is a tough job---mentally, physically, emotionally. So rewarding but tough. It had been a hard year going back to work after Logan was born and my extended maternity leave. It meant getting up early to pump, get Logan up to nurse, get ready and pack lunch & pumping supplies, get the kids ready, make sure they had snack/homework/folders/etc and either leave or bring Logan to daycare, work, pump in the little respite room, work and then home to tackle whatever was happening that day. Just typical working mom stuff but it was draining on me.  {I know---woah is me right? My blog--I get to whine} We had decided that I would be home the following year but then when we lost my mom plans changed fast. After my bereavement leave, I gave my 2 week notice and am now home with the kiddos. Work was so incredible and sent me off with this incredible goodbye breakfast and just the sweetest, most generous gifts. I was truly blown away. I could not have asked for a more supportive staff. Logan stayed in daycare for a while but then we eventually pulled him. As nice as it was to have some time to get stuff done without my littlest "helper", we'd rather save that nice little chunk of cash. 

We were also very fortunate that Steve got an awesome promotion. He's been working so so hard and we couldn't be prouder of him. He also was so incredible through all of this with me. He's been my rock. 

I have so much to post about and I'm slowly loading pictures off of my camera and actually going through them. This year was my mom's 75th birthday and we had a surprise party for her exactly 2 weeks before she died. We almost waited a week or two because of our crazy schedules but I'm so glad we didn't. Proof you shouldn't put stuff off. I can't bring myself to go through the pictures yet but someday I will. 

More posts {with pictures!} to come...soonish.