Spring is Here!

So I have a lot to catch up on, having not blogged in over two (busy) weeks. But I just need to say that today was GLORIOUS! It was the first day of Spring Break for the kids, and the temperature hovered right around 70 all day with lots of bright sunshine. It was fantastic! But I will come back to our day later. Before that, let me play catch up!

On April 5th, we celebrated Easter according to the western calendar. It was cold, with temperatures just above freezing. We still had patches of snow in the yard, but they actually helped by creating some different spots to hide Easter eggs.

The following weekend was much warmer! Like 30 degrees warmer! We spent most of Saturday at the Blue and Gold Banquet, which is the big year-end ceremony for Cub Scouts. Niko officially earned his Tiger badge! He is very proud of his accomplishments, and so are we. Cub Scouts has been a great addition to our family's life this year!

The next day, we celebrated Greek Easter! Again, it was MUCH warmer than the first Easter. Definitely a huge improvement!

That same day, I had to bring Maya to Paige's birthday party for a few hours, so Gus took Niko out to ride his bike for the first time since the fall. It took him a little while to get back in the groove, but he is doing awesome again. Maya, however, was bent out of shape that her brother got to ride his bike but she did not. So I promised her I would take her after school the next day, provided it was warm enough. It was!

I had actually spent all morning working on painting things at the house-- our front porch railing, the trim around the windows on the screened in porch, etc. I took a break to take her to the park. And naturally, since I was gross and covered with paint, I ran into basically every morning-kindergarten parent in town. Awesome!

Later that same afternoon, I got back to work on the screened-in porch. That was when I noticed something purple in the front yard. I originally figured it was a piece of trash that had blown into the planter, but no... it was a CROCUS! One single crocus! My mom planted a ton of them two years ago, but this is the first (and possibly only?) one to ever sprout. Weird! Pretty, though!

On Tuesday night, Niko had his first baseball practice of the season. He is back with his same old coach, who he loves, as well as a lot of the same old kids on his team. He couldn't wait to get started! He is playing at the AA level this year, which is the next step after t-ball. No more tees-- this year, it's coach pitch time! I was a little nervous going into it, but Niko has grown SO MUCH over the past year. His hitting, catching, and throwing are so much better! He held his own among the other kids, and I was really proud of him. I can't wait to watch his games this year! (oh, and their first practice was in the coach's restaurant's parking lot since the fields were too muddy)

On Thursday, I managed to score 20-something Magic Treehouse books for the great price of $15. Both kids have become obsessed! Niko has been blasting through a book a night. I'm just happy that they both love reading!

And that pretty much brings us to today. It was nearly 70 degrees today, and absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, Gus had to attend a Cub Scout leader training at our local Boy Scout camp. It was an ALL DAY thing. So the kids and I were on our own for this first day of their Spring Break. I decided to let them call the shots. I have errands that need to be run, but considering that today was forecasted to be the nicest day of their vacation, I figured those could wait. So we started our day by playing outside. We had an early picnic lunch on the grass.

After that, both kids wanted to ride bikes. The rail trails around here are still pretty muddy in spots, so we headed over to the tried-and-true track. I sat an enjoyed my iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts while they did lap after lap after lap...

And we couldn't leave the track without popping over to the town playground for a few minutes.

Once they had worked up a good sweat, it was time for frozen yogurt. They've been waiting all winter to go back to this place, and it was finally warm enough to justify it!

Then we went back home, where the covered much of the driveway in beautiful chalk art:

Then they played on the swings.

Finally, Niko begged me to pitch to him so he could have some batting practice. He did awesome!

Then we ate burgers outside on the deck until the mosquitoes tried to carry us away. All in all, it was an awesome day, and I think I might have gotten a little bit of a sunburn-- oops! But we made the most of it, and the kids went to bed worn out and happy. The best kind of day! -------------------- And really, I have no idea where this picture fits into things chronologically, but it's definitely worth sharing. Cookie in August versus Cookie today! He is HUGE! He's still our favorite chicken, though, even if he does annoy the neighbors...

I am old! And other things

Ack, I am behind again. We've been too busy living life and not blogging about it! The horror!

So let's see... Last Friday, we went to to Globetrotters. We had a pretty nice, quiet weekend at home, during which we actually had quite a bit of snow (which melted very quickly). But Sunday afternoon, it was warming up and the sun was peeking through at times. And our fox friend was back in our yard for his evening siesta:

And then, sometime early this week, I took a picture of Corky sitting on her golf ball. She is trying to hatch it. Meanwhile, while she is doing this, she is producing the most foul-smelling poop you can possibly imagine (and this is NORMAL for birds sitting on eggs). It is AWFUL! Gus is cleaning the cage regularly, but we pretty much avoid the living room if we can. It should go away once she realizes that her golf ball is not viable... so sometime this month. The sooner, the better!

But then came the most important part of the week, of course-- my birthday! :)

Despite it falling on a Wednesday, I had a fantastic time. I started the morning with presents, which were all wonderful. I drove the kids to school and then drove to Dunkin Donuts, which is essentially two doors down from the school (which is why I drove them). I had put out an open invitation to all my local friends, inviting anyone who was around to join me for coffee. Five people came, and it was really, really nice! And despite being a really diverse group of people, everyone knew each other somehow-- because we live in a small town. AND they brought me little treats, which was completely unexpected! It was a great way to spend the morning!

I had to leave at around 10, though, to go volunteer in Niko's classroom. So I did. And, since it was an early release day for the kids, I got to bring them both home with me! We had lunch, and they instantly threw their boots on and wanted to play outside in the quickly-melting snow and mud. We went out to dinner that night, and then came back to dig into this beautiful cake:

So, that was my birthday, in a nutshell. It was lovely. I don't feel any older, so there you go!

That brings us to yesterday... Glorious, WARM yesterday! Maya got home from school and instantly suggested we put a blanket down on the hill and lay in the sunshine. I like the way she thinks!

It was so, so nice. She actually ran around and played quite a bit, since most of the snow in our yard has melted. Out front, the tulips and day lilies are starting to poke through! Spring may actually arrive, finally!!

Then, yesterday night, we went to Disney on Ice. It was a good time, though we didn't like it as much as the last Disney on Ice show we went to. Still, I bought the tickets for super cheap on Groupon, and I was impressed with the seats! We had a pretty good view!

And today, the kids went to school, I went swimsuit shopping, and then we decorated Easter eggs when we reconvened. I think they are kinda cute!

And that's all she wrote!