iPhone Photos: March 15-29

I’m behind on my digital Project Life for this year, and it’s getting to the point that it is too overwhelming to work on right now.  Until I muster up the resolve to tackle it, I’ll dump some of my photos on here.  Next best thing, right?

March 15:  Luke was dying to hang out with Anna, so he ended up coloring with her out of the same book.

March 16:  It was a gloomy, rainy day, but thankfully, Anna brings her own sunshine with her wherever she goes:). 

(Okay, okay—sometimes she brings her own storm clouds, as well!)

March 18:  I subbed for Luke and Anna’s Sunday school class, which is always fun.  The entire class is delightful!

March 18:  I took this picture this afternoon while Luke was whining at me, and then I showed it to him as evidence that he was TIRED.  He disagreed.

March 19:  Luke did a project on Burma for his class.  As part of the presentation, the kids played a traditional Burmese game that I found on the internet.  We probably didn’t play it right, but it was so fun!  The kids in the middle are the players, and the rest of the class cheered them on by chanting their names.  It was hilarious.  Luke, especially, was all about it!

March 21:  Luke is proud of his latest original creation!

March 22:  Anna blew bubbles outside while I dried my hair and watched her from the rocking chair.  Once she saw me, she came over to make faces. 

March 22:  These were my dinner companions this evening, while Greg was with the Y.E.S. kids.

March 23:  Pre-preschool play session:

March 23:  Post-school Dippin’ Dots session (before heading to the library playground).

March 23:  Popcorn and movie night after eating homemade pizza for dinner.  (Daddy was out of town.)

March 24:  This has been Anna’s thing lately.  I’m always finding her teacups with floating flowers in them.  She says it’s a way to make the flowers live forever.

March 25:  I told the kids I would put a quarter in each of their banks for every book Luke read to Anna.  They promptly both made a dollar.

March 25:  His new dollar prompted Luke to count his riches.

March 25:  Later, Luke made a necklace for Anna with a picture of Rapunzel on it.

March 25:  Then when he somehow hurt himself, Anna wrote him this message.

March 25:  Next, Anna taped the message to another piece of paper and insisted I take a picture.

March 25:  As she did with this one.

March 27:  Anna and I made paper Easter eggs this morning and had several egg hunts in the playroom:

March 27 (after going to the library):

Picnic + poetry = perfection

March 27:  Daddy got a riding mower!  Now he can mow our mountain!

March 27:  We decided to stay for tutoring today at Y.E.S.  While I helped Niyana and Destiny, Anna (and Luke, at another table) did some work I had brought for them:

March 28:  It was such a beautiful day after school, so the kids wanted to play outside.  Since I was exhausted, I took a blanket and a pillow in the yard and laid down while they played.  Meanwhile, Luke fixed them a tea party and then brought them their own blankets so that they could look at the clouds.

March 29:  Our friends, Hadessa and Kingston, came over to play with Anna this morning. 

That evening, Aunt Jill and Tatum came to spend the night, en route to Arkansas.  On Friday, the kids both had Easter parties at school, since it was their last day before Spring Break.  I’ll save the parties for the next post, though!

Leprechaun Traps

Funny story about St. Patrick’s Day:  Luke came home a few weeks ago completely excited about March 16.  That was the day, he informed us, that his class was going to catch the leprechaun that had apparently started to play all kinds of tricks on them.  Now, most kids would have been content with the thrill of catching a mythical creature, but Luke’s plans were much larger than that.  His teacher had mentioned that they would get the leprechaun’s gold and that she would share it with them (picturing chocolate “gold” coins, no doubt), but Luke was already making plans about how to spend his riches.  Gold was very valuable, he reasoned, so he announced that he was going to use his share of the treasure to buy a super-expensive Lego set that he had been wanting. 

Without ruining his leprechaun fun, I gently theorized that the gold was probably not real, that perhaps it was candy.  He dismissed my concerns as naïve.  Thus, I was reduced to enlisting Greg to echo my opinion later that evening.  Thankfully, the combination of two parents served to convince Luke that the gold wasn’t real; unfortunately, Luke was crushed by that revelation.  He sobbed and sobbed at the destruction of his lofty dreams.    Poor guy.

His belief in the leprechaun continued unabated, however, even after they failed to catch him on March 16.  The leprechaun left their trap wide open, and also left behind little footprints and some treats, including gold coins.

When Luke got home that afternoon, he decided to set his own leprechaun traps, baiting them with clover he found in our (overgrown) yard:

I don’t know how these are supposed to work, but there is clover in the door knob and in the middle of the sticks.  He even went out to check them that evening to see if we had caught the leprechaun.

I figured since we kind of ruin Santa and the Easter bunny for him that we would let Luke believe in the leprechaun.  I don’t know how wholeheartedly he believes it, and how much is wishful thinking, but he certainly enjoyed plotting and setting traps!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I put this on Facebook, but I wanted to “save” it here on the blog.

This little “present” was waiting for me in the console of my car after I ran inside to grab something before an errand.  I want to remember these little gifts:).

Fun with Gigi and Papa

On Saturday, Gigi and Papa came in town for a visit.  The kids were super excited to see them, and we had big plans to go to the zoo…but alas, it was rainy all day.  Never fear…we had a fun day inside, and then that evening, the kids, Gigi, and I went to Target to spend some of Luke’s money that had been burning a hole in his pocket.  He got a small Lego set, a kite, and a bubble blower for Anna. 

Anna loved all the bubbles:

On Sunday, we all went to church, where Greg’s friend, Nate, and his wife, Ashley talked about adopting a son from Africa.  After church, Greg invited their family, along with Nate’s brother, Mo, and his wife, Audrey, over for dinner. 

The kids had fun with their new friends.  On the left is Chet, who just arrived from Ethiopia two weeks ago!  To the right of Luke are Norah and Ava.  So cute.
After lunch and some playtime outside, Luke was dying to try out his kite. 

Greg looks thrilled.

Luke was so excited to get it to fly.

Papa had to get in on the action, too.

That night, Gigi and Papa had dinner with their cousins.  In the meantime, Luke read Anna The Bellybutton Book.

On Monday, I slept in (it’s my Spring Break!), and Greg got the kids off to school (because he is amazing).  Then, we went out to breakfast with his parents and had fun having some adult conversation.  Then, Gigi and Papa left for a hotel, since they were wanting to add a little vacation to the end of their visit.  Their getaway was interrupted that afternoon, however, by two children giddy over the possibility of an indoor pool. 

(This was Gigi and Papa’s suggestion, by the way—because they are great grandparents.)
The kids loved swimming, and they picked it up much more quickly this year than last year.

They both dove several times to the bottom of the pool to get their toy torpedoes.  Anna, especially, wore herself out with her constant motion. 
After spending some fun time in the pool, we headed up to Gigi and Papa’s room to get the kids showered off before dinner.  We then went to Greg’s cousin’s house to grill out.
The kids had fun playing with their cousins, and we enjoyed getting caught up with Alan and Wyndee.




We had a great dinner with wonderful company.  Too soon, though, it was time to leave to get our kids in bed.  They both sobbed as I tucked them in, thoroughly worn out from a fun, but exhausting day.  I was able to calm them down by rehearsing all the fun things that happened that day.  They still wished that Gigi and Papa could stay at our house longer, but they were appeased by a reminder of their blessings.
Thanks, Gigi and Papa, for a wonderful weekend!