To catch a Leprechaun

Since leprechauns cause so much mischief at Kai's school (hiding pencils, making messes, stealing homework) his class was asked to design a leprechaun trap. He and Matt stayed up the other night to construct it. The hope is the little bugger will stick his arm/hand in and will not be able to get it back out once he reaches for the fake gold. Kai is really hoping he is able to catch one today! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sad, sad day

Today we had to put our fearless kitty, Casey, to sleep. We got him 13 years ago from a neighbor in Providence, UT. From there he moved with us to Colorado Springs, CO and lastly flew from CO to FL with us. He knew no boundaries, the neighborhood was his playground. He liked taking walks with the family around the block. He was our pheasant hunting, dog wrestling, rat catching bully! He had a chunk missing out of his ear, would often show up with missing tufts of fur and scars on his nose. He was seriously the cat with 9 lives, we nursed him back to health on numerous occasions. Casey could also be the biggest baby, curling up next to us with his big motor running, "nursing" on the blanket he rested on. He always let his little sister, Onyx, eat first.
We will surely miss our most loyal friend, Case. Til we meet again!

Mohawk

Kai has been wearing his hair "spikey" to school for the past little while. What's funny to me about that is other little boys started showing up with their hair spiked. Last night after his bath he decided to style it in a mohawk. He has the thickest hair so it just stayed that way. He BEGGED me to put mousse in it and let him wear it that way to school this morning. It is against every fiber of my being to let him go out of the house like that but he was so serious about keeping it that way. I fixed it and couldn't stop laughing at him. He asked me why I was laughing and I said he looked funny. In all seriousness he turned around to me and said, "in a good way or a bad way?". I told him I didn't know how to answer that question.
I feel proud of myself for actually giving in, relinquishing some control. I mean what does it hurt, right?

Spring is here!

I went out in my backyard tonight and this is what I saw on my trees!

Our "winter" fun

In all fairness this "winter" has been really cold here! I will wake up sometimes and the house will be 62 degrees. The night we got home from Oregon it was 55!! We have even burned fires pretty consistently in our fireplace this year (which we've NEVER done before). The kids had Monday off because of President's Day so we packed picnic lunches and went with our good friends to the Timucuan Fort. We did a little hiking, watched the boats, saw dolphins swimming and let the kids run wild. They had a ball and Kaden did great. That's probably the farthest he has walked since getting his cast off. It was a chilly, but beautiful day.

Kaden turns 4

The last four years has absolutely flown! I can't believe Kaden is 4. When Kai turned 4 I thought he was so grown up. Kaden is such a little fire cracker. He is very quick to laugh, very independent, very clever and wants to do everything his big brother does. He has a little temper but he also keeps us laughing. Everyone loves Kaden. Happy Birthday to our little buddy!

Wonderful, Wicked Weekend

Matt and I went away for the first time in 7 years this weekend (I've never left my kids with anyone, except for the night I left Kai to have Kaden. Kai has had sleepovers but never Kaden. Matt surprised me with tickets to Wicked for Christmas. I saw it last spring in Jacksonville with a friend and LOVED it. I was excited for Matt to be able to see it too. We went to Tampa, saw the show, had a nice dinner at Ruth's Chris and stayed over night! It was much needed, long over due break! Nice to be able to talk without being interrupted, nice not to have to buckle anyone in but myself when I got in the car, nice to eat a meal without worrying about the kids making a mess, not sitting still or being too loud, nice to wake up without having any demands placed upon me immediately. It was wonderful! We need to get away more often. I think I was most proud of myself for breaking down and leaving the kids. They were in good hands, their Grandpa and Grandma McKendrick came and stayed at our house with them. Grandpa made them pancakes for breakfast, a memory I am sure they will have forever. I still remember my Grandpa O'Dell making us girls pancakes when we went to visit him.