Spring Break - Tuesday

Not a super adventurous day, but the kiddos seem to be having fun nevertheless.  Aaron has been hired by a neighbor (along with his friend Luke) to do a bunch of yard work.  (he is gaining a greater appreciation of hard work,  although it appears he has been spoiled a bit by a few "high paying" jobs.  He was commenting to me today that "I'm not complaining or anything, but in about 2 hours (which is two weeks) mowing the    __________'s lawn, I get $50.  I worked today for 6 hours, lots harder work, and I haven't earned that much yet!"  AH - real life! ... a difficult but important lesson to learn.

ANYWAY - back to spring break adventures.  Aaron was working most of the day, Tim was at work, and the kids were happily playing, so I did a lot of reading and netflix watching.  (lazy, I know... but it's MY vacation too, right?)  Katrina had a slew of friends surrounding her and they ran around outside ALL day long (her neck is sunburned to prove it) while the younger boys alternated  running around outside and playing on the computer.  I DID go through the boys dresser drawers with them today, pulling out everything that is too small, packing up about 90% of the "cold  weather clothes"  and transferring in their "summer clothes."  We pulled out enough to fill a box (to overflowing) of clothes to take to DI, and we seriously thinned out the contents of their  drawers.  (I have found that this greatly reduces the amount of laundry that ends up in the "dirty clothes pile" and makes it SO much easier for them to keep their rooms clean  and put their own clothes away.)

The general plan was to go out on a  fun family activity once Tim got home from work.  Aaron was so  tired,  he just wanted to go to bed early,  and since bowling was the item on the list of "summer break things to do" that he LEAST wanted to do,  we picked that.  THEN,  while we were eating dinner, our  super-amazing  neighbor, Christie, called.   Our children LOVE LOVE LOVE to  "help" Christie.  They love to  help her with anything - but usually it is YARD WORK.  She called to let them know that she had  purchased a bunch of pansies and would love their help to plant  them.  OH THE DILEMMA!!!!  They  had their own version of a "family counsel" and  decided that they would rather help Christie plant flowers tonight, and postpone bowling for another night.  Worked  fine  for me.  I went and bought  the makings for rootbeer floats, and when they were done planting, we had  "fun" with those.  The kids also brought Christie  home with them, and  for the next HOUR - our house turned into a "talent show-off" contest.  Katrina read one of the stories she is  currently writing (it's a long one)  Bryan showed off his rock "collection" - Katrina played a few songs on the piano,  Bryan did a Whistling recital (3 different songs) and played a song or sorts on the  piano.  This might not sound like  much, but  trust  me, for the whole time it was "christie,  I have show you this,"  or "Christie, listen to this."  Caleb wanted so badly to  "show off" too.  He finally got up the courage to "play a piece" on the piano.  (No, Caleb does  NOT play the piano, then again,  neither  does bryan and it didn't  stop  him...)  he (caleb) "played" a few notes, all the while muttering, I don't  know how to play the piano, then he burst into tears (I assume from all the 'pressure') and ran over to hug Christie.  These children of mine are pretty crazy...   I cannot  tell you HOW BLESSED we are to live  next do to such WONDERFUL people!.  Fred and Christie are the  most patient, kind,  understanding, did I mention  PATIENT?, people  I know.  If we ever do move  from this house,  we are going to have to convince  Fred  and Christie to  move along with us...

So, rootbeer floats and showing off completed (only because I announced that it was past lights out time and they all needed to get their tails in bed)  the  boys are ensconced,  in their "matching scooby doo pajamas" in the tent, and Katrina  is taking her turn in hammock.