spring field trip

 

we're supposed to hit 60 degrees here today *gasp* and we decided to celebrate with a little morning field trip to the local nursery. the idea of roaming around the greenhouses hadn't occured to me recently, so we were glad rene thought of it and invited us along. the kids had a blast checking out all the little baby plants, watching them be transferred from one tray to the next, playing hide and seek, and so on. when the sun came out in full force, we had to either shed some layers of get out of the greenhouses. three cheers for warm sun and heat that didn't come from a wood stove!

p.s. blogger is changing things around (again) and i am not a fan, so far! so my apologies in advance if the pictures aren't coming up very clear or not at all. why fix what's not broken, blogger?

on swimming (or not)...

we decided to go for a session of "school year" swim lessons to mix things up about, and to give us a good reason to get out of the house at this point in the winter/spring. we normally do several sessions in the summer, but wanted to give it a try without the usual summer pool craziness. i have to say, the results have been mixed at best. partly because it's still cold/flu season around here (i.e. lots of missed lessons and who knows what kind of germs floating around that pool) and also because it's a different teacher and dynamic compared to summer. good thing it's so cheap, so we don't feel like we're eating too much cash if we miss a week or if a certain two year old refuses to go near the water.

not surprisingly, isa has been gung-ho since day one and is really improving on her swimming skills. she can swim the length of the hot tub on her own and can swim the same distance in the big pool solo too. it should be a fun summer for her as she gets better and better swimming on her own.

sylvi hasn't enjoyed the same enthusiasm, which was a pretty big surprise after how much she enjoyed her last (big kid) session over the summer. we're not sure if it's the class size or the teacher or what, but she wants nothing to do with it! my hunch is that she isn't too keen on this teacher, who can be pretty gruff and not exactly gentle when it comes to getting reluctant kids into the pool. ok, it's no longer really a hunch as sylvi said very emphatically today, "i really don't like that lady!" as we left the pool. but despite the effort and the drama, we are still insisting that she suit up and atleast try, even if it ends in the now predictable shower of tears. and truth be told, mommy is pretty glad that wednesday is the last day of swimming til summer rolls around!

roo is ready to party.

i can't get pictures these days without this little stinker sticking her tongue out at me! not the worst of problems, i suppose, since it's still ridiculously cute. we all fell in love with this new Party Flags shirt this afternoon and as usual, there have been requests for one in each of their sizes. i suppose i should take advantage of the fact that they actually like what i make while i can, right? it won't be too long before they're way too cool for old mom and her handmade wares.

flashback friday, flash forward spring break!

it's flashback friday, spring break edition! w00t! and since we're craving the desert again and will be headed down there in about a week, it seemed only fitting to do a flashback from canyonlands 2010! we learned alot from our trip last year, including that it can be hard to get a campsite in april, even if you get up at the crack of down and troll around waiting for people to pack up and head out! so we decided to try something new this year... we entered the lottery on january 1st for the big (great) group site! since there are so many people that head down to southern utah during this time, we figured it wouldn't be too hard to find people to help us fill up a group site (it has a 50 person max... yikes). so we asked around throughout the year and sure enough, there were lots of folks interested. and as luck would have it, we won the lottery and got the sites for the dates we want... woohoo! so this year it will be us and four other families too. what's better than a week in the desert with small kids? a week in the desert with some of your best friends and their kids!

paging doctor roo...

this little one has had more than her share of rough days lately and we really hope she's seen the end of this string of sickness. after yet another trip to the doctor yesterday, we hope we are in the clear. the diagnosis was another virus-- the thinking is that she has just gotten unlucky twice with two nasty bugs back to back. we were glad to hear that despite the fever and cough and general ill feeling, her lungs sound crystal clear and her ears are ok at this point.

as you'd expect, she is not a big fan of going to the doctor these days and at any mention of the word (or anything related) she will adamantly shake her head and said, "No, I don't wanna go to the doctor". in spite of that, she is still a really good patient and even remembers her manners after being poked and prodded and bothered-- she always says thank you to them when they leave and usually flashes a smile too. as you can see here, she doens't mind playing doctor either. every stuffed animal in the house, and her baby dolls, have apparently been very sick lately. she is constantly taking care of them and tell me that they were sick but she took them to the doctor and now they are all better. so, here's hoping that magic works on real babies too!

tgif

there are some days that just call for something out of the ordinary, and perhaps... random. today was one of those days. two (still) mildly sick children (and therefore no childcare and ballet) and one mildly ill mommy, and not enough low key things to do to fill the time. suffice it to say that enough tv has been watched in this house in the last week, and we needed something entertaining that didn't require too much energy. and it needed to be interesting enough to coax them off the couch. so... we painted rocks. yep, pretty random, but good enough. it didn't require a trip to the store or anything that we didn't already have on hand, so we went for it. lucky for us, there are a few hundred river rocks scattered all over the yard, so we could entertain ourselves for days if the need arises.

there you go. happy random friday.

the other extreme

although, to be fair, when there isn't puking and coughing and general malaise... there is a whole lot of silliness. kids are creatures of the extreme-- ill one minute, and bouncing in their beds the next.