"Play Day"

I don't know if it's because it gets so hot here or what but the kids have their "play day" at school like 6 or 8 weeks before school gets out. When I was a kid we had "field day" the last day or so of school. I have gone both years and taken Kaden with me. He always has a ball and remembered it from last year. He loves to compete and enjoy the festivities of the day. He will be SO ready for kindergarten when he gets there.

Things that have changed since my childhood field days. We used to get ribbons for the races (1st, 2nd, 3rd). Now everyone's a winner. We did physical challenges like tug o war, sprints, etc. They had cup stacking, hopping on a bouncy ball, water balloon tosses (the running you see in the picture was the most physical event of the day).

The perfect alternative...

Matt's co-worker offered him a bounce house for the kids (her kids were no longer using it). He called to ask if I wanted him to take it. Um YAH, isn't this every kids dream AND it's a perfect alternative to a trampoline which my kids are forever banned from. This is the best "hand me down". Free always makes things so much cooler to me! :)

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.