Rainy Day Crafts

I have a bag of "rainy day" craft kits that the kids have been snooping around for months, asking me when they could do one.  Today was our first rainy day off in a long while, so out go my excuses and bring on the paint!

It makes me happy to reflect on how the boys will have this fond memory of growing up.

Just Dive!

Jamie has experienced the pain of far too many belly-flops to enjoy practicing his racing dives.  When his coach says he must dive, he would only dive from the deck, and lately that's been working out pretty well.

After practice tonight he saw his buddy working a little overtime on his dives off the block and how enthusiastically us parents were cheering him on.  That's when Jamie stood up and announced he was going to go do it!  Scared that he was one bad experience away from never trying a proper racing start again, I braced myself for whatever.

Tonight, he did it!  

As soon as his head popped out and he saw the cheers from all the parents-in-the-know, he was hooked and said, "this is the most fun EVER!"

Yes, it is little man!  

I like to look for rainbows.

Tonight we chased rainbows for half an hour past the boys' bedtimes.  It had been a busy day already, but when a rainbow appeared seemingly just around the corner, I couldn't withstand the pressure from the back seats to find the end, capture the leprechaun, or at least steal his pot of gold.
I managed to plant seeds of suspicion that rainbows move.  But the answer to "why?" seemed to always come back to the leprechaun.  Finding myself clinging fiercely to childhood innocence that slips away soon enough on its own, I bit my lip, smiled inwardly, and hummed the primary song: "I like to look for rainbows..." all the way home.

Spring Break 2012

With a couple of hours left of Spring Break, I'm hard-pressed to remember a better one.  It might have started a little rocky when we thought Jamie was coming down with the yucky stomach bug, but he bounced back from it quickly, and we hit the ground running.  We did so many fun things together, and we've had the perfect weather for enjoying so much of it outdoors!  I'm not sure what the highlight of it was: maybe going to the Great Wolf Lodge?

From boogying in the living room,

To taking in the tulip festival,

 Checking out the deadliest snakes,

Holding some,

 to discovering Littlebits circuits,

 and channeling Legolas,

 And at least three nights of hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner!!

We celebrated some birthdays with puzzles, yummy food, and family time.  I gave blood for the first time ever!  And now as I look at our busy calendar from here on out to the end of school, I'm sure I'll be looking forward to summer when we can have many more weeks like this. 

Our New Toy

Summer here we come!!!

Pals

Brothers fight.  Brothers compete.  Brothers trick.  Brothers do all sorts of naughty things together that they think I don't know about.  But once in a while, they celebrate a big milestone together arm-in-arm.  On Jamie's 6th birthday, his brother walked him to school, carried his special poster for him, and proudly sang to him as he walked around the sun 6 times.

It's all worth it.

Heartstrings

I want to remember these eyes forever.

He's 6 for another 6 weeks.  

It scares me already that someday he might not look at me like this anymore: wanting to know, quietly needing attention, taking what life gives him peacefully.  I love this little man.