handsful

This past week, we have been enjoying our spring break. It’s been fabulous. We stayed home this year, opting to go home to NC in May rather than Easter. We had no big plans, no trips or big commitments. Plus, no baseball practices or games freed us up even more….ahhhhhh.

The picture above was taken at a park near our house, overlooking the St. Johns river. Our neighborhood also backs up to this river, and going “into town” means crossing a bridge over the St. Johns. We really love seeing water everyday.

Our weather this week started out CHILLY! In fact, Monday was cool and drizzly – not what spring breaks are made of. Thankfully, each day it got warmer and warmer and the kids were able to enjoy eating on the patio and even swimming. Yes, that’s right, the pool is open baby! (Lainey, could you smile a little more cheesy next time?)

Which means, it’s bathing suit season and Abbey was in need of a suit. Seems she’s gotten too big for girl’s sizes and have you SEEN the suits they market to teens lately? Um, not going there. Shopping so far has been a bust. We’re a one-piece family, and Abs has really wanted a tankini – following the rules of no tummy baring. Well, the tankinis they sell purposefully do NOT cover sufficiently. When we got home, with a very bummed Abbey, it occured to me that I had a few tankinis myself and I thought she might like a couple to try. This one fits her well, maybe a tad loose in the bottoms (no snickering here). She was thrilled…we’ll still probably continue the search for a new one for her, but this works now.

I mentioned that the top picture was taken at a park on the river, right? We were there early this morning, with Abbey’s Basic Engineering class from our fantastic homeschool co-op. Mr. Gadapee is an excellent teacher, and has made this year’s class a major highpoint for Abbey. Remember the popsicle bridge? So fun. Their last project was to make, as a group, a concrete canoe that would float. A while back, all the kids met at the teacher’s home and worked hard (Abbey successfully ruined a pair of pants) to make this 250lb. canoe. Today was launch day…

All the kids took turns going in, two at a time. It floated, no problem…other than Mr. G having to steady it since it was quite top heavy. They eventually convinced 4 boys to get in, and the water was teetering right at the edge, but still floating. The 5th boy got in, and it sank. Not bad!!

One of our favorite parts of this spring break has been our family bike rides. We all have bikes, and Randy has a “co-pilot” seat on the back of his for little L. Our first ride was last Sunday, and we rode 4 miles. This week, between two different rides, we rode 13 miles! It’s been an awesome workout (you should see me right after…major wobbly legs!!) and great fun to bike around our area. We are blessed with lots of sidewalks and mostly flat ground – hey, it’s Florida, not many hills around here :) I get a little nervous when we’re crossing 4 lane intersections, but Randy leads us in hand signals. He’s always in front, and I’m always the caboose. You should see the looks we get from those we pass walking, jogging. We’re quite the sight. I’ll have to try and snap a picture from my vantage point!

Payton has now had his braces for a little more than a week, and he’s over the soreness! One day this week, he said “hey, mom, I forgot I had braces on!” I had told him this would happen, and he was excited for that day to come.

Jack is never far from Lainey when she’s eating. Wonder why? Speaking of the little one, she’s doing great with potty training – wearing big girl pants almost all the time now (pull-up at nap, diaper at night). She now TELLS me she has to potty (yes!!), and has only had 2 accidents.

More interesting things about Lainey this week…we discovered a food she does NOT like. Gasp! Mushrooms. She tried one the other night from her salad, ate it, but did not want another. She kept telling/signing to us “mushroom” (mu-oo) “later”. lol… She’s also convinced she’s 5, not 2. She thinks it’s a hoot to tell us 5 when we ask her how old she is. Anything for a laugh.

Our Marley has always had one passion- animals. (in fact, there are about 50 tadpoles living in a tub on our back patio as I type…) But, this year, thanks to the aforementioned homeschool co-op, she has discovered a love for cooking. Chef Jessica (a local celebrity chef and good friend from church) teaches this class and it’s been wonderful. She has homework each week, like choose a fruit you’ve never eaten, try it and describe it (M chose star fruit); or take a recipe made in class, make changes, and cook/make it for your family. Her latest one was a meatball recipe. She was told to change it up, make them, and bring the recipe to class. I helped her a little, and we came up with Marley’s Marvelous Italian Meatballs. They’re GOOD. We had them for dinner a while back, and then M (shown here) made 50 of them for our last weekend’s company. You really should get the recipe :) If she’ll share.

If only this was smell-a-blog. This is a bloom from my patio lemon tree. I’ve had it for years, and honestly have only gotten a handful of lemons from it (must be doing something wrong…). But, the smell of these amazing blooms is enough to make me happy. Have you smelled these before? I wish I could bottle it and dab it behind my ears…

Don’t you love this shot of Ethan? Abbey took it and I swiped it from her to use here. What’s EJ been up to? Guitar. All guitar, all the time. Plays it constantly (much to his siblings despair). I love to hear him. I grew up listening to my dad play, so it brings back sweet memories of having live music in the house. He’s taking guitar from – yes, again – homeschool co-op. Ian, his instructor, is fantastic and says Ethan is doing really well. He’ll move him up to intermediate next year. Ethan’s favorite thing to do is think of a song he wants to learn, google it for the chords, print it, and give it a try. It cracks me up…he’ll look at the chords and say “hmmmm…this looks easy, except for that B minor”. He’s already talkin’ the talk. I love that he loves music (remember, he takes piano, too) and truly hope he sticks with it.

Wow, blogged your ear off, right? Hope you enjoyed (if you’re still reading…) hearing about our fantastically low-key spring break :)