Winter vs. Spring

I think it might officially be spring around here!  We had a few nice days at the end of April/start of May and then we welcomed 8" of snow on May 2nd that cancelled school!  It melted within a few days and I think we are in the clear now!

We've been getting outside as often as we can - especially this week.  I worked at 2 a.m. (until 1 p.m.) this week so tiring out the kids and ensuring myself some sleep was important!  Joe is pretty good at bedtime but Amelia has been struggling lately.  She comes out several times because she "needs to talk to me" or she "needs something."  All the time outside eliminated that - she was exhausted!

Some pictures from our recent adventures (mostly) outside:

Amelia's new bike - handed down from a co-worker's daughter :)

Joe can bubble-mow for hours - literally!

Rolling out sugar cookies

Horse head pancakes on "Derby Day!"

We watched the Wild in the hockey playoffs

First "flower" bouquet of the year!

Gardening

Swings :)

Slides :)

Fearless guy who loves, loves, loves playgrounds

Fun at the MN Zoo!

We have all been enjoying the time outside these past couple of weeks and are looking forward to a fun summer!

Evening Outside

Tonight the kids and I had our first official evening outside - now that spring has finally arrived 

Wagon walk

First time using her baseball and mitt

Busy boy

Time flew tonight - I didn't even check the clock until ten minutes to Joe's bedtime!  What a great start to the week!

Our Weekend

I'll start with this past Thursday evening...which was the special service's ice cream social for Amelia's school!  We got there and all she could even think of doing was playing so that's what we did.

She loves to play on the small beach at the "rainbow park" and look for seashells (snail shells, really.)  Once the infant swing freed up Joe got to have his fun!

After a bit Amelia decided that she wanted ice cream after all.  They had all the toppings one could think of.  The topping bowls covered two, maybe three (I can't remember), picnic tables.  She chose sprinkles and Valentine's hearts.

Friday we had the first 90+ degree day of the year.  It felt like summer, not spring!  I didn't like the idea of sitting at home all cooped up but I also could not fathom walking to the park which I was sure Amelia would ask to do.  So I called my family to see if there were home and we ended up going there to play with the water table, kiddy pool and sprinkler.  

It was Joe's first time "swimming" and he loved it!  He just sat there and splashed around.

I love that is says "tons of fun" - it is so fitting of him!

Eventually he fell over and at that point he had had enough.  So Amelia got Auntie Kim to drag over her Little Tykes slide and she had fun with her "water slide."

Saturday we hung around home and watched the Preakness Stakes.  Once again, our picks did not win!  We may have to jump on the bandwagon and root for "I'll Have Another" to win the Belmont.  We'll see.  We had a movie night with our friend, Leigh, and it seemed fitting that we watch Secretariat.  She and Jason watched Haywire afterwards - I fell asleep about two minutes into it!  What can I say, I get up early and I get tired!

This afternoon Jason and I had our first date in, well, a long time.  Auntie Kim babysat the kids.  We went to dinner at a fairly new place in town, caught a movie and stopped by the Dairy Queen on our way home.  

 We saw What to Expect When You're Expecting and it was pretty funny!  

Today was the start of my first week of only working five days.  I had today off and also have tomorrow off.  So far I am really liking this two days off a week thing and it is only day one!

Butterfly Friend

Tonight we went to my parent's house to get some items ready for a garage sale in two weekends. Before we left, Amelia was running around trying to catch butterflies. I ended up catching her a very tiny one and she was so proud! 

She kept looking at him closely, trying to pet him through the net and was just in awe. Butterflies are a big thing to her right now. 

Sadly, I don't think her butterfly friend made it... I suggested we let him go because I was noticing her crushing him a little. I got him out of the net and he was moving but he wouldn't fly away. Maybe he was stunned? I'm not sure if butterflies get stunned but let's just pretend that that was what was going on ;)