Spring Break 2017

I had been dreading a whole week with Zane and Rowan at home while being so pregnant. Turns out the boys and I had a great Spring Break week. I am so proud of how well behaved they both were, but Zane was really my shining star. He has matured sooo much this year and is officially a huge help, both with entertaining and playing well with Rowan, and with actually doing things for me around the house. He is very protective of me and made sure I was doing ok, asked what he could do to help, and successfully did numerous chores like laundry, taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, and just general picking up, without complaint. At this point I will take any and all help and it does my heart good to see him growing into such a helpful, happy boy.

We tried to do something fun everyday, even if some days that something fun was a trip to the park, every little thing counted. There was also lots of boy fun at home. Zane tried to teach Rowan how to play Mario Cart, but neither one really likes playing video games that much. They like the idea of playing video games, but quickly loose interest and move on to other things, like pretend teaching school or coloring, which I love!

 Last Monday Zane got a Rainforest coloring book at the Sam Noble gift shop. At the time it took him forever to pick out and I was confident he would never use it, but just really needed to sit down so didn't care. Turns out he loves it. The book has realistic drawings of different animals and there is a picture of each one on the flap so he knew what colors to color it.  He has almost colored them all, with help from Rowan, Grandma, and I. We are already braining storming which animals we want to color next. I love coloring so this is a huge, wonderful surprise to me.

 In the move we unearthed two broken, old computers, that I can't figure out what to do with. Rowan and Zane now use them in their pretend schooling or Rowan's work. Better than collecting dust in the garage I guess.

Zane's choice of funtivity one day was to go to Martin Nature Park to see the snakes. There use to be building there with all sorts of critters to see, but it is apparently under construction. So we went on a nature scavenger hunt, that was provided to all the spring breakers, most of whom where highly disappointed that they couldn't go see the snakes. It was a little chilly, but we did play in the park for a little bit before lunch with Daddy. The boys really missed Zach while he was gone Mon-Wed, but did so good in his absence. I was amazed. 

Above is Rowan's park look, complete with two top buttons unbuttoned and I later noticed his bottom one was undone as well. Very stylish. Below was my Target find of the week. My first, and possible last, attempt at matching outfits for all three of my boys!!! Cat and Jack clothes at Target have the same color schemes from baby to big kid which really helps. Rowan is very jealous of baby Thatchers outfit, but there weren't green pants in his size sadly.

Most of spring break it was pretty chilly, but towards in the end of the week it warmed up and was gorgeous over the weekend. After I realized on Friday that Zane's first t-ball game would be yesterday, we stepped up our baseball practices in our new big yard. Rowan is LOVING IT! We found and old pair of Zane's cleats, which are at least two sizes to big, but he doesn't mind. Thanks to hand me downs we even have two baseball bags and helmets so both boys are geared up and ready to play. The only issue s that Rowan isn't actually playing until the fall, but he is getting lots of practice. He hits ground balls to Zane, who is practicing fielding and throwing. They have had a blasting playing together at Korenak Spring Training in the backyard. 

Side Note: Last night's game went shockingly well. Zane has matured so much in the past few months, I could hardly believe it. He paid attention, knew where the next play was going to be, fielded some balls, made good throws, slid into second to avoid an out, and of course was a big hitter. He also reported having "so much fun" on our way to get ice cream which is all that matter. He played an inning as catcher, complete with all the garb, which I found very entertaining, but he wasn't too sure about.

Zane's first hot fudge sundae!

Friday was St. Patty's and the first day it was going to be nice all afternoon. We had been planning on spending more time at the farm, but between chilly weather and mom's house being under construction, we only made it up for one day. It was gorgeous and we had a blast. Here are the men before daddy headed to work.

The boys looked extremely cute in their St. Patty's green and everything at the farm looked like spring. Flowers are up, things are leafing out, and the wheat fields are green.

In the afternoon my dear friend Emily brought her boys out to play. They are all the same ages, the oldest two are just two days apart, and they all got along smashingly. Emily's kids had never seen the tree house before and were thoroughly impressed by it. Riding tricycles down the huge ramp was also equally as fun, of course!

While the boys played I got to catch up with Emily. She is my oldest friend, the one you don't have to see for years, but when we get together it's like no time has passed and we remain as close as ever. She has always been a great light in my life, through all the chapters, I am so glad we got to catch up and can't wait to do it again soon!

After the Hester's headed out Zane went to retrieve the possum carcass he had found earlier in the day. The old pump house down by the hay bales is always full of nature treasures. This one had leathered skin and everything. He felt sure that Great Grandpa would know how to get the skin off the bones, and did ask him, but turns out that is outside of Great Grandpa's expertise. Zane and Rowan both visited with Grandpa, which is so special and lovely to see. Glad he was able to come over for the day of fun as well.

Over the weekend Zach and the boys worked on our small garden projects for this spring. We are going to have this small little bed in the backyard this year, since we can't afford building raise beds, and I'm sure we won't have lots of time to keep up with them this summer either. Everyone was very workers, except me of course. The finish product has pavers around it and should be about the right size for the time and energy we have currently. We have great plans for our big yard, if only we had any money!

We planted flowers in the front, and by we I mean mostly Zane. He is such a worker and kept at it long after his little brother had lost interest and daddy and I had lost energy. He has also watered them everyday since and we have added a few gnomes (one in front and one in back) to protect our new plants. I have no idea where Zane got the idea they protect things, but we'll roll with it.

Our last adventure on spring break was a Pokémon party at the park, Sunday afternoon. In a random turn of events the birthday boy is the son of a girl I went to high school with, she was a few years younger than I was so we weren't really friends, who now lives in the same neighborhood as we do. The boys go to the same school and use to ride the bus together, so are good friends. It's such a small world. We picked up our old neighbor's son on our way and got a glimpse into our near future with three blonde headed boys. It was unbelievably windy, and borderline too hot, but the kids had a blast. It was a fun end to a great week off.

Everyone made poke balls  (I have no idea what that is, but Zane did) and took turns wearing Zane's new Pokémon glasses. Thanks Grandma for getting those for him, who knew we would need them so soon.

I ended the week with slightly more hope for my summer when I'll be home with all three of them during the week and then working on the weekend. We could not stomach the stupid amount of money it would cost each week to have three kids in some sort of child care. I will go back to work around the first of June which leaves ten or so weeks of weekends to work. Hopefully I don't loose my mind and everyone can get along.