The rose bushes

Evan put some rose bushes in those pots a few years ago. They were tiny roses and I've never liked them. They were overgrown, unruly, and dominated my front porch. So I took a knife to them and cut them out, put them in the trash pile. They are gone. Done. And my porch looks so much better and open. And you won't get scratched when you come to say hello. 

It did feel a little good (okay, maybe a lot) to take those bushes out. Felt a little rebellious. Now I have to figure out what to plant there. I'm thinking topiaries. Or big, gorgeous flowers. 

Spencer lost his tooth

Spencer thinks he probably swallowed his tooth. It was in his mouth when he went to bed and gone when he woke up. No where to be found. Wonder if the tooth fairy will come? He said he wants to wait till he is at my house to write the tooth fairy a note. And I would love that. But even if he doesn't wait till he gets home to me, I hope that tooth fairy can still come. 

April Fools Day

Some of my kids have come home from school and asked my why we celebrate certain holidays. My response, because it's fun. I can't think of any other reason why I celebrate April Fools Day. I don't likw mean tricks, I don't like to waste things. But I love to play and have fun with my children, and this holiday allows me to do that. If my kids didn't like it, I would stop. But they love it. It makes them happy, makes them smile, and I'm pretty sure it even makes them giggle.

Here is what we did for supper the evening of April Fools. We had meat loaf frosted in mashed potatoes. 

The famous HUGE jello drinks.

Mashed potato sundaes, yes that's gravy.

And we ate late. Because we had swim practice. We didn't get dressed to come to the table, just came in all our swimsuit glory.

Breakfast we had yougrt and peaches. 

Lunch was a sandwich wrapped in a Ra-men noodle package. Cheetos were replaced with baby carrots. Grilled cheese sandwich was really angel food cake with orange frosting in the center. Water was Sprite. 

My school kids didn't really react, or at least they didn't tell me they reacted. They expected it. However, Gavin did not. You should have seen the look on his face when he bit into that sandwich. And the funniest was when he asked for some water and it was Sprite. The surprised, confused look on his face was priceless.

Nathan Swim Team 2014

This is Nathan's second year on swim team. He is already becoming a better swimmer and really enjoying getting in the water and racing.

This is Nathan at the ready bench chatting with friends.

The swimmers before Nathan were taking a little linger, and Nathan is a busy, curious boy, checking out the dive board.

Nathan all ready for the dive into the water.

And he takes off! Wait? Where did that good dive form go?

I love, love, love to watch my little kids dive. They really, honestly think they are diving into the water. They are so convinced that their hands and then head touch the water first. It takes them until they are about 8 to be able to dive (at least in the case of my children) hands and head first. But I love watching them "dive" and being so proud that they dove.

It always funny to show them the pictures of their dive and them going "O". 

When Nathan gets tired or needs a good breath, he rolls to his back. This is the safest thing to do and I am so glad that his coaches taught him this technique. It will help keep him safe if he ever gets into a bad situation in water.