A Reminder...

That sleep-away camp is not too far away!

Warm Weekend

Wandering around in her diaper..

Trying out his new wide receiver gloves

Kid Free Weekend

Joel and I arranged a kid-free weekend with babysitter extraordinaire Sharon this weekend. Joel and I turned in his leased Prius (has it really been three years already???) and bought a new Honda Accord hybrid. This is the first year Honda has made them and they did not make very many. Consequently it took us a while to track one down that was the EXL model (leather, moon roof, upgraded stereo but no navigation) that Joel wanted. We ended up driving to Hickory to get it. Joel was not able to negotiate as well as he has for previous car purchases because of the car being in such high demand. But he did manage to get it for a thousand or so below sticker price. The cool thing about the Accord hybrid is that it is much bigger than the Prius but still gets 50 mpg same as the Prius. We wanted a bigger yet still fuel efficient car so this fits the bill nicely. 

After all the car buying business was out of the way Joel and I had a fun weekend. The weather was beautiful Saturday and we went to the whitewater center for the day. We went whitewater rafting -- everyone managed to stay in the raft except for our guide who ironically was the only one to fall overboard. That was one thing not mentioned in the safety talk-- what to do if your guide falls out. We steered the raft to calm waters and "parked" so he could swim over to us. I did the Mega Zip zip line which was very fun -- although Joel was too much of a chicken to go on it with me! After the white water center, we met friends for a fun and delicious dinner at Cow Fish. 

The kids had a good weekend as well. Ben and Rebecca got to go to Carowinds with Papa and Mary, so Caroline got a lot of undivided attention from Sharon!

Here is a picture of the new car:

It's Official!

We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Although Ben and Rebecca went back to school Monday after spring break, Caroline's preschool was closed Monday and Tuesday for the final two days of Passover. Finally today everyone is back at school and on their regular schedules! Caroline is much easier to have home with me when I am trying to work than either Ben or Rebecca was at the same age. She is maybe a little TOO content to sit in front of the TV. But when I have work to get done, I can't complain about this. (Feel guilty, yes; complain, no). Yesterday I moved my laptop to the kitchen table and worked there while keeping an eye on Caroline, who sat through two showings of Walking with Dinosaurs and two showings of Super Buddies all before lunch time. I did feel kind of bad about that but then again I did get a lot of work done yesterday! This morning when I got her up I told her it was a school day again today, and she said, "Noooooo! I don't want to go to school! I want to watch Walking with Dinosaurs!" At least one of us is glad to have her back at school and not sitting in front of the TV any more :)

Car Shopping

Next weekend Joel and I will be going car shopping without the kids, since Joel's lease will be up in June and we don't want to wait till the last minute to buy a car. This time we are buying and not leasing so it is even more important to shop around and make a good choice :) On Saturday with Ben and Rebecca off at the zoo, we did some preliminary looking around. Here is Caroline "test driving" a Ford Fusion hybrid. (We subsequently removed this car from the list of contenders, but the Honda Accord hybrid remains on the short list, as well as a few small cross-over SUVs). 

Spring Flowers

Our tulips are blooming and a check of the 10 day forecast reveals temps in the 70s at least every day, with only two days of rain forecast... Yay!! We had quite a few rainy/cloudy days last week including Saturday, though that didn't stop Ben and Rebecca from enjoying a trip to the NC zoo in Asheboro with Papa and Mary. Yesterday we had friends over for a barbecue, and today the kids are back at school except for Caroline who is off for Passover until Wednesday. 

Let it Go

Boy & Dog

Peace & Quiet, Mostly

Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Mike left Tuesday morning, and I had all three kids home with me Tuesday and Wednesday. Ben spent some time at a friend's house Tuesday afternoon and there are a couple of neighborhood kids who didn't go away for spring break that Becca has been able to play with, but overall by today I was happy to get rid of all the kids and they were happy to oblige :) Ben and Becca are at spring break camp today and tomorrow, and Caroline is back at preschool although since it's Passover and she can't eat matzah I have to pick her up and take her out to lunch both today and tomorrow. Monday and Tuesday she is home again for the end of Passover, but at least Ben and Becca will be back at school! So the end of the crazy spring break schedule is almost in sight ;)

The laundry situation was in dire straights this morning so I am trying to get that under control , and the dishes were piled up thanks to Passover AND Joel's birthday celebration last night :) The last load of dishes is now washing, and the last load of laundry is too! Now getting caught up with work stuff before I have to go have a forced lunch date with my youngest :)

Happy Passover!

Random Pictures From a Beautiful Weekend

Game On!

Uncle Mike is here!

Author's Tea

Rebecca showing off the All About Me book she has been working very hard on!

Finally Friday

Today is Ben and Becca's last day of school before spring break. Ben's class earned a "marble party" -- they collect marbles in a jar for good behavior and when they earn enough they get to have a party. So today Ben wore his pajamas to school, brought a sleeping bag and his iPad with him, and was looking forward to getting to eat junk food, watch a movie, and use his iPad during class time. Becca has "Author's Tea" today, which I will be heading out to attend later this morning where she will share a book she has been working on writing this year.

We are also looking forward to the arrival of Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Mike tonight, who are visiting until Tuesday! When I tell Caroline who is coming to visit, she looks confused and says, "No, Uncle Mordechai!" I think she has Uncle Mike a bit confused with Uncle Mordechai in the Purim story she learned at preschool last month ;)

Getting Ready for the CJP Seder

Gross and Rainy Monday

The weather is gross and rainy today because it's Monday... so what do you expect? ;) Saturday was a warm and sunny day at least -- Ben went to practice football with his friend James in the morning, from there went to his football practice/ game, and then James came back to our house and went out to dinner with us. Becca had a birthday party to attend, so she was reasonably well entertained. Sunday the weather was cooler and the kids had Hebrew school but we didn't do much besides that and the usual Sunday grocery shopping, etc.

On Friday after school the dentist put a space maintainer  in behind Ben's bottom teeth and he spent the weekend complaining about his teeth hurting/ not being able to eat. He ate three cans of chicken noodle soup yesterday and that's about it. This morning he was still complaining and not eating. I told him that orthodontia has never caused anyone to starve to death so he better start eating. Sigh ;)

Abby is still trying to sell her house -- she signed an offer over the weekend but those buyers backed out a day later, but another interested party was supposed to be getting an offer ready to submit the last time I heard... maybe the third time will be the charm :)

Smile!

Adorably chunky! And getting a tan already!

Mid Week Update

So it looks like my previous post about my sister selling her house was premature, as it seems to have become clear that the potential buyers were BATSH*T CRAZY so... back to the drawing board there it seems. Keeping fingers crossed for her though that she gets an offer from a sane person soon! LOL.

I spent about two hours filling out camp forms last night and seriously regretting the decision to enroll the kids in two separate camps this summer (the forms, oh my god, the forms.... and the physicals that still need to be scheduled... and the forms, did I mention the forms?) I even needed to fill out camp forms for Caroline for this summer, as she'll be starting at camp Katan. Caroline's camp forms include a separate appendix detailing her dietary restrictions. SIGH.

Joel is in Saint Louis at a conference for the remainder of the week, work is BUSY, Becca starts a weekly Mad Science elective after school tomorrow, and the weather here is in the middle of a several day stretch of 80+ degrees!