A Rainy Day

 Today was a really rainy day and a lot of things were closed due to all the flooding. So we stayed home. The kids found plenty to entertain themselves. Joshua especially liked Grandma's balance ball. He pushed it all over the house looking like a little Atlas.

 In the evening, Jason and I ventured out for a date night to a local restaurant called The Compass Rose. It was good and we enjoyed our meal and the time away from the kids.

While we went out, the kids stayed at home with Grandma and Grandpa. They had a really good time. Hannah was really freaked out by the dogs when we first got here, but she got over that tonight and they enjoyed roughhousing with Grandpa and also watching the Roku. That's a way to view streaming video on Netflix or Amazon so they can pretty much watch whatever they want and there are a ton of kids' shows to choose from.

Onward

 Today it was kind of rainy so I took the kids to the Birmingham Science Center. It wasn't as good as St. Louis Magic House, because not much is, but it was a pretty nice. They had a really fun toddler area that was reasonably self-contained and had stuff that was age-appropriate for my kids. They especially liked the water-play area and Clara really liked the play structure with the slide. Joshua also really liked this display that had several balls in perpetual motion.

After that, it was time for nap and then Jason loaded the car so we could drive to Florida. This isn't the most fun drive to do at night because it's a four hour drive and two hours is on normal interstate and two hours is on state highway that goes through national forest. So there's nothing there, only a few tiny towns, and absolutely no cell service on any carrier. But Jason is fine with driving at night and he has to work in the day this week so it was the best time.

The South is also a little funny about storms, or at least Birmingham is. My mom told me that one time they made a big mistake and thought an ice storm wouldn't hit them, so they had school and work as normal, but the ice storm did hit them. Sam was working that day and it took him like 2-3 hours in the car and he had to walk the last two miles in ice to get home because there were so many wrecks that the roads were blocked. His experience wasn't unique that day and I am sure the kids getting home from school probably haunts that superintendent's dreams. So now apparently they freak out at the drop of the hat. Today no Birmingham schools were in session because Thunderstorms were coming tonight (Like late. 10pm), which is crazy to me. Sam's office closed at 3. The Science Center closed at 1:30. And the whole time we were driving, we hardly saw anyone on the road except a couple trucks. It was raining when we left Birmingham, but otherwise the weather was totally fine the entire drive. We could tell a storm had come through the forest earlier in the day because there was some debris on the road, but nothing major.

But once we started to get close to my parents' home, it started raining pretty hard. This was a little scary because I couldn't check my cell phone for weather updates and it was so dark on that road and there was no place whatsoever to stop and we couldn't tell how close the water was to the road because it was so dark. But luckily our route didn't take us through any of the parts that had serious flash-flooding and we were able to finally make it to my parents' house in a torrential downpour. I am glad Jason was driving because not only do I hate driving in the dark, but also the rain. But he does fine in these types of situations.

When we got to ValP, we needed our stuff because we couldn't put the kids (or ourselves) to bed without it.  So Jason unloaded the car in the pouring rain, with my dad's help.  He was completely soaked by the end of it.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night

Today I took the kids to a park near Michelle's house. It was overcast, but it wasn't supposed to rain until later so it was actually perfect because it wasn't hot and really pleasant.

Our original plan was to go out to dinner, but we didn't want to have to drive in heavy rains, so we decided to stay in and Sam made us some yummy Middle Eastern food and Michelle made some meatballs. It was a fun night.

The kids slept through the night despite the storms.

And the adults had a fun time, even though we stayed up later than we would prefer since we waited until the tornadoes were over.

Birmingham or Bust

 Last year we had such a fun time on our vacation to Florida, that we decided to do it again this year.  This time, though, we are making it a family trip, as Ron, Peg, Jason's grandparents, Julie, Andrew, and Benjamin are joining us.  But we wanted to have some time to see my family too, as well as to celebrate my mom's birthday.  So we are driving down a week early.  We'll start with a couple days in Birmingham with Michelle and Sam, and then we'll head to Valparaiso to spend a few days at my parents' house.  Jason will work from their homes, since it's not feasible for him to take two weeks off of work.  Today was the beginning of the long vacation, and we left for Birmingham to see Michelle and Sam. We left pretty early, just as I had hoped. But we had a few things that made the journey take longer than it really should have.

Firstly, Hannah got car sick while we were still in Missouri so we had to stop and clean her up. And then this was the first time we have used a car-top carrier. Because we also had to buy a roof rack, we got a soft carrier this year to spread out the cost of a hard-top carrier until next year. So it was a learning curve and Jason had to tighten and adjust the carrier a few times because we would way rather stop than lose our stuff or damage the paint on my car. He has it all figured out now, so it was a one-time thing, but it still took some time today.

We stopped for a full hour for lunch in Arkansas at the same place we did last year so the kids could stretch their legs (Yes we were the white-trash family with a baby with no clothes. It wasn't worth the time to get her more clothes because the luggage with the kids' clothes was on the roof and it wasn't cold). We didn't do a long stop again until we got to Birmingham and the kids did really great. As we were getting back on the road after lunch, it started to rain and it didn't stop raining the rest of the way, but luckily we made it to Sam and Michelle's house before all the storms and tornadoes came through Arkansas and Mississippi, pretty much exactly where we had been driving earlier in the day.

Four Weeks, Two Swimming Lessons

Joshua's only real sport or activity in which we've enrolled him has been soccer. But with summer approaching, and especially with our upcoming Florida vacation, we needed him to be comfortable being in the water (not swimming on his own, but at least with a floaty), so we enrolled him in a four-week swimming class. It's held down at the Roeland Park Aquatic Center, which has produced a couple US Olympians in swimming over the past four or five Olympics. The lessons are 30 minutes each and consist of some one-on-one time with the teacher/coach carrying/pulling each child around the pool as they learn to kick. Pretty basic stuff, but a good introduction. Week 1 went okay, though he seemed to get cold by the end of it. We showed up for Week 2 and found out it was canceled, apparently due to not having enough staff that day. Week 3 went well, and Joshua didn't complain of being too cold this time. Today was Week 4, our last one. As usual, I took Joshua to the locker room to get him changed into his swim diaper (poop in the pool is apparently frowned upon) and swim trunks.

But when we walked into the pool area, there was no one there. Joshua was sad and asked if the coach was sick again (which is what I told him happened in Week 2). It turns out that the pool is closed due to the thunder outside.  They have to keep it closed for 30 minutes after they hear thunder, and it was thundering while we were there, so it was going to be at least a half hour before we could swim.  So we realized we were going to have to go home.  Here he is in front of the empty pool.

We went back to the locker room to change back in to his clothes, and I was able to cheer him up.

We then drove home, being sure to take one last look at one of his favorite parts of the lessons: looking at the big dome from the outside.  He usually requests to jump on it, as he apparently thinks it looks fun (I have to admit it does).  But after the first day I told him it's not for jumping, so today he said, "We can't jump on that dome.  Joshua might bounce off and get big ouchie.  Joshua might land in back yard."  It's in a neighborhood, but I said, "What back yard?"  He said, "In (a) boy's back yard.  And Joshua might play on his swing set."  So I guess he envisioned a scenario where it was so bouncy that he bounced right over into a neighboring yard, where he kinda got hurt, but where he recovered enough to notice some kid's swing set and to take advantage of the fortuitous landing location to get in some good swinging time.  And why not?  Anyway, next time we do lessons, we will probably choose a place that is a little more skilled with staffing and that doesn't have a fabric roof, which is great for imaginary bouncing, but is bad for inclement weather.

Meeting Oliver

 Today I went to lunch with my friend Callie and Tucker. This was the first time I had been able to see her since Oliver's arrival. It was really fun to catch up and see Tucker and meet Oliver.

Oliver looks a lot like Vincent so far. He was super tiny and cute. I got a chance to feed him while Callie and Tucker were finishing up their lunches. It was so sweet to hold a newborn again. It was a really fun afternoon.

Superstar!

Joshua got some cute sunglasses as a party favor from his Easter party at school. Today he was really enjoying wearing them and he looked so cute that I had to get a picture.

Discovering Yet Another Galaxy

A few years ago when I needed a new phone, I looked at the options and decided the Samsung Galaxy S was the right one for me.  It seemed to have the best features and hardware for what I needed.  At the time, there were a slew of Android-based choices, as well as a few Windows Mobile ones, and then there was the iPhone.  I had no interest in an iPhone, and I was ready to move on from my Windows Mobile-based HTC Diamond, and the open Android platform suited me nicely, so I went with the Galaxy S, which was branded as the Galaxy Epic for Sprint.  Since then, the Galaxy series has emerged as the first phone to seriously compete with the iPhone.  When I was eligible for an upgrade a couple years ago, I definitely wanted to stay with the Galaxy series, so I chose a Galaxy S3.  It was a great phone, but it's now reached the end of its lifespan, and I'm eligible for an upgrade, so today I received my new Galaxy S5.  I'm no longer on the employee plan, which means I don't have to wait months after a phone is released to be able to get it, so I now have this hot-off-the-presses new device.  It's slightly disappointing because there aren't a ton of groundbreaking new features compared to my old S3, but it's still faster and better with some new things, including being waterproof, so I'm still very happy to have an upgrade.

Outdoor Fun

Today was a beautiful day so Halie took the kids outside to play. They all had lots of fun with bubbles, but especially the girls. Joshua still really enjoys bubbles, but not as much as he did last year. Whereas Clara can finally blow them herself so her fun has increased greatly.

Though we have our share of sibling squabbles, they usually get along pretty well and Clara was a good helper to Hannah.

Bubbles aren't the only attraction outside. Hannah has recently decided she can go downstairs on her own so she practices and practices and practices. She is super cautious so I am not very worried about her falling and she is so proud because the last step is only an inch or two off the ground and it's also where the railing ends so she does that one with no hands and her proud face is adorable. Both girls also really love swinging.

They also really like just running around (here you can see Clara being silly with Halie) and the sand box is definitely a major attraction as well (if you were wondering where Joshua was this whole time, he was in the sandbox). It was a fun time for them and I like them to go out every day so I am glad the weather cooperated today.

Coloring

Today was kind of overcast and there was a constant threat of rain. I am not sure it actually rained all that much, but we only spent a little while outside. Though it is always a challenge to find indoor activities, coloring is a crowd pleaser, though the attention spans aren't long enough for it to last more than about 10-15 minutes. They all got crayons and notebooks for Easter so for awhile at least they happily colored. Hannah doesn't totally get coloring yet, though if you try to tell her she doesn't get to color when everyone else is, there will be some major issues, so she had stickers too and made a few scribbles before deciding eating crayons and throwing them were more fun (which means coloring time is over for her). But she is getting better all the time so I think in the next few months she will be able to enjoy marking on the paper more. Joshua probably wouldn't ever ask to color as he prefers more gross-motor type of things, but Clara really likes to color and shows age-appropriate interest in letters and things like that, so I think it's more her thing.

Jesus is Alive!

For Easter this year we went with a lavender theme with yellow and light green accents.  The kids looked adorable, and we were able to get a picture with our whole family, which somehow we forgot to do last Easter.

We went to church at LBC, with Mom, Ron, and Uncle Brent joining us.  In Sunday School, Joshua made a megaphone that they decorated with stickers.  He used it to repeatedly shout through it, "Jesus is Alive!" which is presumably what the teachers taught them to say, which is a pretty cute and applicable craft project for small kids on Easter.  We then went to Mom and Ron's house to meet up with everyone.  Mom and Ron had prepared Easter baskets for each of the four cousins, complete with books and bubbles, which were a hit.

At their house, in addition to the LBC crew, we were joined by Grandpa and Grandma; Julie, Andrew, and Benjamin; Matt and Abby; and David and Elle.  It was nice to have time to relax and catch up with everyone as well as to meet Elle, though unfortunately I didn't get a chance to chat with her, so hopefully that works out next time.

Grandma's birthday was yesterday, so we celebrated it today while we were all together.  Julie made some very tasty cupcakes, and we were able to sing for her and give her cards (except I left our card for her at home, so I'll have to bring it to her later).  Later, Grandma and Clara enjoyed eating cupcakes together.

We didn't really have a chance to do our family Easter time in the morning, so we did it in the early evening once we were home.  I hid eggs around the family room and play room.  Joshua's were blue, so I put those in locations that were a little harder to find (higher up, behind pillows, etc.), and Clara and Hannah shared the purple and pink ones, so those were in pretty obvious places (you can actually see three of them in the photo on the right).

Each egg had two to three pieces of candy in it, and the kids were supposed to put the eggs in a big bowl after they found them, but they quickly realized there were treats inside, and pretty much just tried to eat all the candy in each egg as soon as they found them.  But we managed to save some, and once the kids were up to the table they were allowed to fully dig in.  Here you can see where Hannah finished hers as she eyes Joshua's and seems like she's contemplating stealing his in a desperate attempt to acquire more.  Meghan sewed backpacks for the kids which served as their Easter baskets this year (I apparently didn't get a good picture of them), so the kids got some additional goods in addition to the candy.  It was a special day with lots of celebrations and lots of family and fun.