Spring? Updates

Well, we are still waiting for Spring to arrive here but we are getting there. Our area had some serious flooding two weeks ago but we seem to be past that now. It dried out enough to soak up the water and it is pouring again as I type this. Our house was not damaged by any water but we did lose about 30% of the yard that we had just got put in prior to the rains. March was pretty busy for us. Jeff was gone most of the month but we still had swimming lessons, indoor soccer, and all of our Easter activities. Things are winding down now and I am hoping to just enjoy some nice outside time before it gets too hot. As they say, if you don't like the weather in Missouri just wait a day----that is how it has been around here. Here are some fun pictures from the past month or so.















Here is a picture of Jack celebrating after he scored his very first soccer goal! He suddenly just "clicked" and got the whole concept. He scored three goals in about 4 minutes. He was a madman and very humorous with the celebrating.














Here is my team of cuties after the last game.














Laugh if you must but I just had to take a picture of the first grass sprout I could see. If you knew the MUD (and flooding) I have been dealing with the past three months you would be moved by this picture!

Easter

Getting ready for the Easter Egg hunt at the park in Ozark. One week later this was about 4 feet under water.
















Molly really got into the Easter Spirit. I peeked in at naptime one day to find her sleeping with her bunny ears on. Very cute!



















Our annual trip to see the Easter Bunny. It took us two tries before Jack would cooperate. He's always had an issue with the bunny more so than Santa----wierd.

They really like each other! This is what I find most nights when I head to bed and check on the kiddos. I find one of them asleep in the other's bed. I think it is the sweetest thing I've ever seen.















We only had one good snow this year and we had to go into Springfield to see it. We didn't get a flake of snow at our house but there was 6 inches of snow at Grandma's.














We took our first swimming lessons in March and the kids learned a lot. After four weeks Jack is swimming and floating on his back above water and 4-5 feet under water. Molly has learned how to hold her breath to go under and very short back floats! By the way, the reason Jack is completely wet and the other kids are dry:

When the teacher said "let's go" to the kids (meaning, let's get in on the steps), Jack took two huge steps and leaped into the deep end. The teacher (fully dressed and six months pregnant) jumped in after him and then when she got him out, he jumped in again. I guess all that rock jumping in California might have over-prepared him for swimming lessons at the YMCA.

Pictures, pictures

I've been practicing with my camera little bit. I've had it a year and never used any extra settings so I thought I'd give it try. If I could just get the kids to really "pose" so I could practice that would be nice....

































I took the kids to Home Depot today for a free workshop. They got to build wooden racecars. If you haven't tried this for your kids, it is great and FREE. Doesn't get much better than that. Lowes does them too.

Family Fun

We are sooooo ready for Spring here. It seems like this winter has gone on and on and we just get more pale from being inside all the time! The past two days have been great--upper 50's and sunny. We went to the zoo yesterday and after 3 hours outside, we were pooped and Molly had sunburned cheeks. That is how long it has been since we spent a day outside. Anyway, we hope Spring is on the verge but they are calling for snow on Monday again....Other than the cold and ice we have been having a pretty good time this winter enjoying our new house. The kids love having their own rooms though sometimes I check on them at night and find one of them sleeping at the end of the other's bed. It is very sweet. They are best buddies and can play together for hours on a good day. Daddy's schedule is very hectic and he is gone a lot so that is hard on all of us, but we are really trying to keep our schedule regular so they don't get too stressed about it. We start soccer and swimming lessons this weeks so we'll be pretty busy for the next month. That is our update for now. Here are some pictures to bring a smile.









I posted this for Terrie. Jeff got all his old legos out of his parents attic and between the two boys, we get a lot of lego building time around here!















Coach Mommy and the worlds cutest soccer player.














Okay, this was one capful of bubbles and they just went nuts. As you can see the kids loved it!