Spring break (the first half)

I love spring break.  And this year we were more than ready.  It fell really late this year so our week off was much needed.  We started the week off fairly low key, lots of sleeping in and back yard playing.

Monday morning we even made it out for breakfast and played at the Lakes

We made our fair share of perler bead creations...

and played out side with elf houses in there trees

By wednesday morning we were ready to start packing and planning for camping the rest of the week.  Spring break dress code: jams, even at the grocery store

Up next: we finish our week off at Rincon, and its heavenly

35!

It seems like I just turned 30, but here I am deep into my mid thirties.  To kick off the day I had decided to sign up for the Great Race of Agoura 10 k.  I was lucky enough to run it with two great friends and we had a blast!

I don't get to see Anna enough these days, but when I do its time well spent.  Anna is a runner and could have probably finished the race in well under an hour.  I however had not really trained, but Anna hung with me the whole time.  It was a great way to catch up!

And we are lucky to have Tori again for kindergarten next year.  This was her first 10k and I'm so inspired by her and her dedication to running!

After the race Grandma treated me to a mani/pedi and then we all went to thai food for lunch.

That night Brian and I headed to Stonehaus for drinks with some wonderful friends!

Complete with birthday chair lifts team class style!

My friend Deanne gave Owen and me some crystals for my birthday (which he calls "peace rocks").  He spends lots of time playing with peace rocks and meditating these days....my little zen baby!

The next morning Sandy and her daughter treated me to my first aerial yoga class.  It was kind of a trip, but overall amazing.  I felt 12 feet tall after leaving that class.  I cannot wait to go again!

Overall I could not have asked for a better birthday celebration! 

Spring is here (and summer is coming!!!)

Its officially pool season! 

We spend most days after school and most of every weekend these days in the pool.  Life is good.

And of course, a sure sign of spring is baseball season, the boys are still enjoying their teams.  Scott even comes home from practice and throws himself pop flys for another half hour before bed.

Rollie pollie hunting at preschool

Glasses shopping with Scott for reading glasses to use at school

Friday park play dates to celebrate a friend's birthday

First grade huddle as they face off against an older brother in a made up football/volleyball hybrid game

Baseball nights.

Little Scientists

My good friend Ashleigh homeschools her kids, and she crushes it.  In toying with the idea of homeschooling ourselves, we try to jump onto whatever cool thing she is doing whenever possible. 

Her daughter recently asked why some animal's eyes glow at night...fast forward a few weeks and we found ourselves in our backyard dissecting cow eyeballs with four kids!

In case you don't know, dissecting is my jam!  I think I was most excited of all for this day. We ordered our eyeballs and kits, set up in the backyard and we were ready to rock and roll.

We helped a little getting some of the cuts started and to help identify structures, but for the most part the kids were able to do the dissection almost unassisted. 

We were able to locate all the cool structures, the kids particular liked the tapetum lucidum, optic nerve and the lens.  

I knew the older two would get a lot out of this process, but I was surprised by how much the littler two were into it.

Chase and Owen working hard.  After they extracted their lenses they went and took them into the sun and played with them for quite a while.  They compared them, looked at them in the light and the shade, tried cutting them, it was great watching them explore and learn.

I dissected a cow eyeball in second grade and I still remember it as one of my best school experiences.  And I also remember being fascinated by the lens and saving it in my desk at school for the rest of the year!

Birthday celebrations continue....Parker J turns 7

Its birthday season in these parts, up next Parker John. Owen and I played hooky for the day and spent the morning at Mimi and Papa's while everyone else went to school.  Mimi and Papa gave Owen his own supply of clay and tools for his birthday so we got to play sculptor all morning.

He really loves it!

 Papa picked up Scott from school, Auntie brought her two and we all decorated cake for after dinner later.  It was chaos!

Then we headed to beach house tacos for birthday dinner and cake 

Love all these crazies!

Casitas fising trip

Owen's birthday weekend we headed to Lake Casitas with the Daniels family for camping, fishing and celebrating.

For the birthdays, boy boys got head phones and iPod shuffles (old school! I got hand me downs from my girlfriends who's teenagers had graduated to phones and didn't use these anymore! Total score!) so this might have been the quietest road trip we have ever taken!

Setting up camp.  The big boys were super helpful, can't you tell ; )

And this was the huge field behind our sites.  It was perfect for exploring, bike riding, bocce ball, football, and nighttime flashlight skateboarding.

Heading out to fish on day one.

The boys also got fishing gear for their birthdays and thankfully Beau was there to teach all 3 of my guys all about fishing.  

My heart just melts for this stuff....

Childhood at its finest

I commented to Alexis that I had never understood fishing, but I kind of get it now.  Its boys yoga.  The kids were actually shushing us chatty moms to not scare away the fish.  It was quiet and peaceful and the boys were still - so zen!

Back at camp and snuggling with my 5 year old!

This giant 7 year old relaxing solo....

And now I just overload the pictures because I love looking back at these memories:

The boys loved fishing (Ryker was the only one who caught one! Better luck next time) and Casitas was an easy location, I expect we will be back soon!