Swingset

Thanks to my parents, we got a swingset for the kids this spring! Jason and my dad spent an entire weekend putting it together - as in, 5-7 hours each day for a total of 12+ hours. It was definitely a challenge to put together, but I (speaking as someone who had no role in the assembly) think it was worth it. The kids love it!

Bonus feature: windowbox for plants, or cupholder for adult beverages.

Preschool Farm Trip

I went with the kids on their field trip to a small local farm. The preschool teacher usually transports kids herself, and some moms come too. Since we have 3 carseats, and they are a big pain to install, I decided to just take the kids myself. It was fun to be a field trip mom!

We visited a small family farm with pigs, chickens, and rabbits. First we fed the pigs.

Then we checked the chicken coops for eggs.

Then we fed the bunnies.

It was a muddy but fun time. The kids loved seeing all the animals up close. Abby was a bit disappointed that there weren't any "baa baas" though. Maybe next time...

Mother's Day 2013

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend this year. I had a little bit of relaxation time to myself, and some good family time. The best part at home was Jason building a raised garden bed for me. I've been wanting one for awhile - last year I tried growing tomatoes in pots on our deck and they just didn't produce much.Our soil is rocky red clay so planting directly in the ground isn't a great choice. So, Jason made me a bed.

 The kids helped.

 No cute posed pictures of me and the kids all dressed up and looking perfect. But lots of pictures of us planting seeds and plants in the bed.

The other awesome part of the weekend was the Mother's Day Tea at the kids' preschool. It was only their second day at the school and they did their best to fit right in. Their wonderful teacher, Miss Evelyn, taught all the kids sweet songs about mommies and the kids did a little concert. You can see that our kids are the smallest of the bunch!

She also had them make salt dough handprints, and pretty paper corsages, and "I love my mommy because" notes. It was all so sweet and special - I felt so lucky to get to pin 3 corsages to my shirt.

So, my fourth Mother's Day was pretty cool....

First Day of Preschool!

We decided to start sending the kids to preschool next fall, and we recently found out that the school had openings this spring on Fridays. So, even though Friday is one of my days off to be with the kids, we decided to send them one day a week so they could get used to going. And so I could have some time to myself to get caught up on work, chores, and errands. I even have fantasies of someday being "caught up" enough to do fun stuff like get a massage or meet a friend for coffee. But right now just being alone in the house for a few hours is pretty awesome.

Sitting on their bench and excited for their first day of school.

Did I also mention that we finally turned their seats forward-facing after their third birthday? I still feel a twinge of guilt about it since they're still under the weight limit for rear-facing.

The school is very small, and in the teacher's home, so it has a cozy feel. The teacher has a master's in education and is very warm and nurturing. It feels like a safe place for the kids to have their first school experience, and it eases my anxiety a bit about leaving them.

Even though the kids were excited about the idea of school, when we actually pulled up they started to look nervous. Abby had barely eaten breakfast, and Zoey did her lip-rubbing thing that she does when she's anxious. Once I got them in they were curious about the classroom and started to warm up a bit. Lucas discovered markers, and Abby wanted to eat her breakfast. 

Zoey found the dolls and strollers and started playing (note her lip rubbing here). Here's a funny story. We had been reading books about going to preschool, and in one book a child hangs up his vest when he gets to school. So Zoey insisted on wearing a vest that morning and hanging it on her hook when she arrived. :)

I had a hard time dropping them off, and spent my whole time at home cleaning the house because I couldn't sit still. I felt relieved when I went to pick them up though - Abby came running to hug me, Lucas said "what are you doing here?" and Zoey said "mommy's here already?" The teacher said they had a great day, and since they were some of the younger students in the school, the older kids sort of took them under their wings.

So, I think this is going to be a great thing for them to do this spring and summer, and I hope we'll have the routine down by the fall when we'll be sending them 4 days a week! It's definitely overwhelming to get everyone dressed, lunches made, and in the car on time. It's going to take some practice to get all of that done and get ourselves ready for work too. At least on Fridays I don't have to shower before I leave the house. :)