Tuppence a Bag: April Showers

In an effort to catch up on the blog, I was planning on doing one big post on all the spring festivities. But when I started looking through the photos I was astonished to see how many pictures were in April alone. We sure are busy around here. No wonder I am so tired. So here is April. May, June, and the beginning of July will have to wait for another day.

We kicked off spring with an Easter celebration at Granny & Poppy's house. This was the first year that both Abigail and Thomas were old enough to understand and appreciate the festivities, and that was a lot of fun. In the weeks following Easter the kids requested egg hunts almost daily. Jacob and I would haphazardly toss some plastic eggs around the house and yard and let them go at it. They weren't fooled. They know the best hunt happens at Granny & Poppy's.

I have really started noticing how often my kids just lounge around on the floor, especially while eating. Why? What is going on here? Why the urge to do this?

One of my most favorite things ever, this is a shopping list that Abigail wrote.

In April I started teaching Abigail how to read. We have a twenty-minute one-on-one lesson every day, and we incorporate some writing every day, too (well actually - no. That isn't true. We're supposed to incorporate writing every day, but we live in a place called Reality. Honestly I feel like a real victor when we just get the reading lesson done.) This has been a real treat for me, and I am grateful that I chose to teach her reading at home before she went to school. It is amazing watching her learn so quickly. As my sister taught me, "Teaching reading is sacred time." So very, very true.

Thomas sleeps so much better than he did as a baby, but he still has his struggles and I don't think he will ever be one of those kids that just randomly falls asleep in a stroller or while being held (as I was). But this was a funny day. As Abby said, "Thomas and I were looking at this book together and then I felt something heavy on my shoulder!" Yep, he just clunked right out. We all had a hearty laugh over that, especially Abby.

It was such a treat to be able to finally get outside and feel the sunshine on our skin again. We spent many a spring day at the park, climbing boulders and rolling around in the grass.

This picture cracks me up every time. Abigail and Lydia watching TV together at the dentist's office.

One bad habit we developed over the long winter - dumping toys in the living room. Abigail and Thomas will literally grab armfuls of toys from the playroom, run into the living room, and dump them on the couch/floor/under the computer desk, then run back for another armful. Why? Why do they do this? I feel like I am just about going out of my mind, as they are not playing with them in any way other than dumping them in another room. Ugh.

Abigail scrunched up baby-size to enjoy some floor time with Lydia.

The baby joins in bedtime stories now.

One day Jacob took Abigail and Thomas out on a hike so I could catch up on some things at home. I could not believe the beautiful photos they came back with! I vow to live more-in-the-moment next spring and go on this hike with them.

The craziest, most wonderful, totally-out-of-the-blue thing happened to us: someone gave us a baby grand piano! It is gorgeous and sounds amazing. Of course, we had to rearrange all of our furniture to make it fit inside our tiny house (the dining table is now in the kitchen, which makes for very cramped meals), but it was so worth it.

Jacob has this co-worker who dresses completely in black every day. He owns multiple sets of the same black shirt and pants, so he literally wears the exact same outfit every day. One day everyone at Jacob's branch conspired together and came to work dressed entirely in black. That really tickled me. I still laugh when I think about it.

This is random, but I am still trying to learn how to style hair. Abigail is incredibly patient with me. This is one of my favorite styles.

Towards the end of the month I took the kids to the Discovery Museum (children's museum) in Winchester. This is the same museum that we brought the kids to two years ago, when Thomas was just a little baby in a baby carrier. This time Lydia was in the baby carrier, and both Thomas and Abigail were big enough to enjoy it.

I always get a kick out of their Rube Goldberg machine. I could watch it for hours.

Thomas has probably asked me hundreds of times since this day when he can drive an ambulance again.

We really enjoyed this optical illusion room, which was a new display from the last time we were here. Hilarious how enormous Thomas is compared to Abigail!