Spring has Sprung

Spring activities keep us racing around town to softball practice and swimming lessons. 

But, it also has the boys building bridges across our family room on rainy spring days.

There have been some hot days this spring and Caleb agreed to do yard work.

I try to keep extracurricular activities to ONE per child per season. So far in life it's been divided as
-Evie's activities and
-the boys.

 To my delight, Evie is playing park district softball. I talked her into it because I played softball growing up and have the best memories. 
Honestly I'm not sure how "in to it" she is. She's only played one game so far. 
One of the games was rained out and one of them she contracted pink eye the day before. 😝

Ready for action

When I signed her up in the winter, I was naive as to the expenses with all the needed equipment! All the girls need their own helmet (complete with face guard), junior mitt, bat, pants and cleats! 

 Growing up, I remember picking up any old dusty helmet and bat off the dugout floor. 
Sanitation is considered a little more these days, which, I honestly don't mind! 😀

It's pretty entertaining watching them play and I've had to adopt a relaxed attitude. 
There are girls hitting balls and forgetting to run. 
There are girls who watch the ball roll by them on a base hit. 
There are girls who'd rather pick dandelions in the outfield. 

They cap the game at 1 hour, which is a good thing. This is just the beginning of little league sports competition for our family!
During softball practice, the boys are eager to practice hitting balls on the sideline. Levi has a natural ability and swings that bat, making the ball sail. 
James is a natural lefty. I've tried to correct him on his positioning but he just explains that "it feels better this way." 
Little Caleb can hardly hold the bat up. He is all smiles though as he swings a few moments after the ball sails past him. 

We will see if they all end of playing baseball. 
 I know one thing for sure, they must be all on the same team! I feel like having one child on a team takes up a lot of time and energy. 
And, they will all share a helmet. 

So while Evie's Spring activity is softball, the boys are forced to take swimming lessons.

 It's going pretty much how I envisioned it.
 Caleb jumps in, nearly drowning, believing he can already swim;

 James really really doesn't want to get his face wet or be cold. He cries a bit, but afterwords declares "it's not so bad";

James rather be loungin' in the sun with a piece of banana  bread

 Levi is just one paranoid mess.
 Crying, kicking, protesting, this kids absolutely detests the water and putting any part of his body into it. 

Our kind swim instructor is very patient with him and just puts him on his back and guides him to float down the pool as he screams into his ear drum. 
I believe swimming is a necessary skill; so, regardless of their dislike and protesting, in the water they go. 

John calmly guides Caleb down the pool 

April just flew by. On April 9, John and I celebrated 13 years of marriage! 13 years! That happened so fast...but there was a lot of life in between. 

Young and free

I feel like at 6 years, when we had Evie, the years started speeding up. 
As we go through the ups and downs of life, I am more convinced than ever that good marriages just don't happen. It's both people constantly choosing to honor, respect and love the other. John shows me everyday that he still cherishes me and our family, taking the vows he made 13 years ago seriously. 

From then....

To now.

The other day, after a busy morning the kids needed a little down time (and so did I). We have a big sectional couch in our family room. I laid down at the end of it, head on a pillow. James came over and had a "very good idea" to put another pillow on my lap and lay down. Then Evie decided that a pillow on James' lap would make a comfortable resting place. 
Levi followed suit and then John and Caleb. From end to end on our large sectional the six of us laid in perfect order together. 
It was one of those moments to just soak up. Feelings of gratefulness and contentment flooded every ounce of my being and I thought, "it doesn't get any better than this." 
Little did I know when I said "Yes" to John when he asked me to be his family, that "two would become ONE"...and then Six.

Spring Break 2018

Spring Break 2018

Caleb and James spent a lot of Spring Break doing this:

It seems like our entire house is taken over by train tracks sometimes.

John and I decided to surprise the kids and take them on a real train!

We didn't leave the state or even the city. We bought an "all day" MAX ticket and rode downtown Portland for a day of stops along the river. There was truly magic in the kids' eyes as they boarded the MAX and we headed down the track over the Tillicum bridge, getting off in downtown Portland.

Before our excursion, I sat down and drew the kids a rough "map" of exactly where we'd be going and what we'd be doing. Admittedly, I wasn't quite sure exactly what and where everything was, but I felt confident that John and I together could successfully navigate the kids through a portion of the city.

Our travel time out on the MAX was a mere 20 min to our first stop; we jumped on and off at various points in the city to explore different sections and neighborhoods of Portland.
The kids were excited just waiting for the MAX to arrive!

Crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Willamette was a thrill in itself; we exited the train and walked on foot back over the top, observing boats, bridges and buildings.

Next, we got off at Clinton Street and had lunch at a place called Ford Fuel and Food. A huge, farm house sized table was available and fit our family perfectly.
We all sat around it, enjoying our lunch in this new section of town; thick grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids and organic bean and rice bowl for the adults, we all enjoyed lunch.

We climbed aboard once again and got off at Bybee St and walked about a mile to Westmoreland Park. A charming landscape of flowering trees, ponds, bridges and ducks, this place was bursting with  spring.
The playground was inspired by nature. It was constructed with fallen tree trucks and sand.  The kids ran around in the sunshine for awhile, climbing trees and building sandcastles.

Finally, we headed back to our initial stop in Milwaukie.

Overall, we kept it simple, cheap and enjoyed the small things, like walking over bridges and looking out the windows from the train.

This summer I plan on mapping out a few train adventures for the kids. It's a simple, inexpensive way to see the city, explore new places and have a good family time.

Another fun adventure I took the kids on was the Woodburn wooden shoe tulip farm. The kids enjoyed riding the hayride, bumping through the flower fields on a cow train and eating a corn dog in the sunshine.

Easter weekend had us searching for eggs at a local church.

We spent Easter day enjoying the special service at our own church and then having a nice Easter dinner with our  friends and neighbors. We organized  another egg hunt for the eleven kids. We hid the first batch of eggs in the house, all filled with vegetables! (April Fools!)


We then directed our disappointed kids outside to another batch off eggs hidden around the yard, this time filled with Easter candy. :)

 

This week we've been getting back into the routine of school and social fun!  Its a windy day today but the wind sweeps the white blossoms off the trees around the house creating quite the magic show.
It reminds James of snow: "Is it almost Christmas time now? It's taking forever!"