Spider!

Since moving into a newly built house, we've had our share of spiders. That's what happens when your house is open for so long, says my husband. Still I don't like them. Yes, I know they eat flies and are supposedly good little creatures but keep them far away from me. Luckily, now that we are in year two, the spiders have died down a bit in my house (literally). That doesn't mean there isn't an occasional one dropping in!

So, a few weeks ago, Tom was downstairs tending to Hailey while Austen and Peyton were upstairs playing. All of a sudden the kids started screaming "Fire! Fire!"  Alarmed, Tom went to the bottom of the stairs to check out what was going on. Austen and Peyton were hysterical screaming "Fire!" at the top so Tom ran upstairs not to find a fire...but a spider! Ha! He said it sounded just like they were screaming "fire!"

Fast forward to last Friday. Peyton has her annual physical at the doctor and it's the big one - kindergarten. I think Austen got six shots for his kindergarten physical. So I was preparing Peyton. My bravest child when it comes to getting shots, she said she was okay with getting two shots and she would tell the nurse that. All week, I tried to get her to up that number to three or four knowing how many Austen got and thinking we'd be closer to that number. Finally, on the way to the doctor she relented and said 3. Phew.

The nurse comes in. I cross my fingers as I am hoping we are 3 or less shots. She says 1. Peyton says, "This is the best day ever!" One shot. I promised her a toy and a Happy Meal for one shot?!! Oh well. She tells us she is ready to be brave for her shot. The nurse prepares. Peyton freaks out like I have never seen her freak out before during any shot. She's my one who doesn't even cry when she gets them. I hold both her arms and think quickly. "Look spider! There on the wall," I shout as the nurse quickly jabs her in the arm with a needle. "Where?" says Peyton, completely unaware that the nurse had actually just given her a shot while she was distracted looking for the spider. "All done," says the nurse. "What? You're all done?" says Peyton. "I didn't even feel it." And she didn't.

Thank God for spiders.

This is What Happens When...

you leave your door open, your scissors out and a special project you were working on all on the floor of your room.  Your baby sister, who likes to explore the house including your room when you are away at school, will find these things and give your mom a heart attack when she follows her into your room a few minutes later to discover this happening!

When showing the above photos to said 8 year old brother, all he had to say was "Oops. Is my project okay?"

"No," I said. "Your project isn't okay. It's in the garbage now along with your scissors."

Okay, I didn't say that but who could blame me for wanting to do that?! Instead I gathered up the stuff he didn't clean up and put it on his dresser - out of reach from his baby sister.

Disaster averted - for now.

Spring Break!

I don't think I have said those words since I was in college! And, I don't think I've gone on a true spring break since then either. But now with Austen in public school, we have to take vacations around his school schedule. We were lucky before, we could go places in May and have great weather and more options and great prices with less crowds. In March, there are few places you can go that are warm within three hours or less by air. Florida was pretty much it so we tried out Anna Maria Island and we weren't disappointed. 

The sand was as white as seashells and as fine as flour. Austen loved using it for sandcastles but Hailey didn't enjoy walking on it that much. And, Peyton spent more time in the ocean than on the beach.

The kids loved our backyard pool. Peyton grew braver jumping in on her own and Austen got to showcase his fine swimming strokes that he has perfected during his past six months of lessons. Amazing progress by both of them. Hailey loved to splash in the pool and did her own jumping in (with assistance of course!).

Exploring the island - trying out a bike and some ice cream while posing for funny pictures.  

What is vacation without a little mini golf? Austen made us play. Of course he golfs just three over par beating both Tom and me. And after, we got to feed the Gators:)

Great vacation with our kids summed up by a great quote --

"Take Vacations. Go as many places as you can. You can always make money. You can't always make more memories." 

Amen.

Happy Easter!

With all our cold weather it certainly seemed too early for Easter, but somehow the forecast cooperated today and we had an almost 70 degree day. Perfect for the three Easter egg hunts that our kids went on at our house, their grandma's house and their aunt/uncle's house.

It was a long day but fun to see and celebrate this holy day with our families. We started off by going to church at 7:30am! Then home to Easter baskets and an egg hunt.

We then headed over to grandma's house for an infamous Easter egg race where once again Austen placed second. (You want to place in the top three to secure a nice prize - usually a gift certificate to someplace good like Starbucks or the movie theater or a restaurant). Papa was assigned to Hailey so that prevented him from placing at all. And, Peyton wasn't much help to Uncle Mark (who normally always places) as she was more concerned with whether Austen was winning or not. Tom placed third and I placed a very close fourth.

After that it was on to our final destination where unbeknownst to us another hunt awaited the kids. Austen and Peyton were all too eager to participate in another egg hunt even though it was their third of the day. Hailey decided to sit this one out given that she had been very clingy at all the houses (see photo above when she was taken away from us to pose for the "cousins" shot).

She still made a cute little Easter bunny though!