When we weren't looking at the cutest four-year-old in the house, we were probably all eyes on Simon...he's been our focus for months and months, as you can tell. Won't give up his 15 minutes of fame that easily.
It's especially crazy when you love your little brother so much you try to be him. (How did Miriam manage to zip a size 12 month coat on her 8 year old body!?!)
But come to think of it, the oldest two girls had their fair share of attention smothering them too. We had our two week Spring Break! All those extra hours having them home each day!!! Kids are so much work. So. Much. Work. Just the constant demand to be fed. This is no joke - just this evening as Mommy put Felicity and Vivian to bed they claimed to be hungry. They had eaten an entire, huge dinner and two helpings of dessert. More food!?! Nope. No. Mom's clocking out, checking out, kitchen's closed. Bar's closed, too. They're work in many, many ways (some of those ways are significantly more complicated than food) and doesn't it seem so easy to screw up parenting? Yet we adore them, we cherish them, we watch them sleep, eat, run, laugh, cry, play, bathe, fight, learn. We just love them and even the hard moments are precious to us. We'd hit the rewind and live it all over again to keep them little and close. So every extra minute, all the school breaks...they're ours.
This Spring Break we had no big travel plans, but a couple day trips. We went to Battle Creek - complete with a stop at Horrocks for a pint and groceries.
The real reason we were in town: Tim and his dad took possession of the '57 Chevy Monte Carlo that his aunt had owned. It's a classic now and so well taken care of that no restoration is required.
Aunt Shirley and Papa inspect the car |
Great Aunt Shirley and Uncle Roger - two peas in a pod |
Over Spring Break we went roller skating as a family for the first time. Vivian has been a couple times for friends' birthdays. It was harder for Felicity and Miriam than either of them expected. There were tears. Felicity's backside ached for days. But they want to go back to practice some more. Love that they won't give up. Roller skating for Simon meant riding around in this little car. By the end of the night when we had to give it back...more tears.
The kids and Mommy took day trip to Toledo to visit the zoo with Aunt Annette and Aunt Bridget and the cousins. It turned out to be a great weather day and we basically had the zoo to ourselves. Plus the zoo recently opened a really hands-on, lovely aquarium. We would absolutely do this again...but then we're pretty likely to say yes to anything that involves hanging out with family.
Spring Break in Indiana was peaceful and the weather was perfect for playing outside.
Welcome, Spring. We are so happy you're here.