Yearn for Surrender: Spring Break Adventures

Spring Break 2018 was the last week of March! Yay! I am almost writing about things that happened "just last month" haha.

The break this year was filled with activity. While I didn't remember to take too many photos, I did write a tiny bit each day so that when I eventually blogged I would be able to remember. I sure am glad that I did that, because otherwise I would not have remembered! I realize this information might be a bit boring for most of you, but it is good to record what we did so that I can remember in future years... and for the times when our kids say, "we didn't do a single thing over spring break."

The break started with a 1/2 day of school on Friday. M hosted a playdate with a good buddy from his class. He was able to play quite a bit with S and I tried hard to keep T occupied. Amazingly they actually wanted to play with her at times. After the playdate I took the kids to the library so they could play on the computers there. We have learned that it is nicer to say "no" to games on our computer at home and allow them to have all their screen time out of the house because it regulates the amount of time they can spend on a screen. While the kids played games I finished the book "The Help." I found it to be a powerfully written book that I couldn't put down!

On Saturday the kids had swimming lessons in the morning and then we headed over to Charissa's house for a playdate with her kids. They got their camper out of storage so our kids were able to have a tour. They were very impressed to be inside an actual RV!

On Sunday we had Sunday School and church and then M went to a friends house for a bit and then to a party with the friends, a special day for him. T and I built a fort that wasn't doing too well. Charissa came over for a walk and Brandon took over with the fort building and it ended up looking like a lovely well built fort!

Monday was Brandon's day off so I was still able to get in a short mom walk with a friend in the morning and then I took T down to our beloved Dr S's office for an appointment while M hung out with Brandon. I met up with Brandon and M at OT and dropped T off so I could go home and make dinner. Both kids had OT this semester and it was a HUGE success to have both of them in it! I had a special mom night that night with some of my friends which I was very thankful for!

On Tuesday we drove down to the Dr's office where M has has med checks. Everything went well there. Now that we learned that he gets upset tummies when he takes his meds on an empty stomach things have been going much better for him in that department! After the med check we stopped at some friend's house to pick something up and then went home for a quick lunch. After lunch we headed to eye Dr. appointments for each of the kids. We learned that M needs glasses for an astigmatism and he got fitted for frames. He was thrilled and T was jealous! The kids were NOT impressed with all of their Dr visits on the front end of the break, but it makes sense for them to have them since we are not in school! While we were in the car we listened to the audio book Freaky Friday. Both kids loved it and it made the travels much more enjoyable!!!

On Wednesday morning we headed north to visit one of our favorite families. We have a tradition of visiting them each year on the week before Easter. In the past we have visited on Good Friday, but this year we visited on Wednesday. The kids have SO MUCH FUN with these boys! I have just as great of a time chatting with the mom! Truly, our time there was such a blessed time! We stayed all morning and ate lunch with them. After lunch we headed to the Family Activity Center for some playtime. Sadly, after making the long drive we learned that it was closed for Spring Break. Luckily there is a Trader Joe's just 3 minutes from the Center so we decided to go shopping instead! We finished the audio book, so on our way home we stopped at the library to pick up the DVD of Freaky Friday! The kids convinced me to let them do a bit of computer time too. Twice in one week... lucky kids!

M and T: We love these boys and their dog!

On Thursday morning we got the sad news that the family we were planning to spend the day with caught a nasty stomach bug and we were not able to play with them. The kids were devastated. They didn't know that the other mom and I were secretly planning a make up date for an early release day the kids had in April. The benefit of being behind on blogging is that I can tell you that playdate did happen and the kids all had such a great time together! We ended up staying all afternoon and didn't get home until bedtime. We were so glad we could reschedule the date. The family lives south of here and it was so warm when we did visit them that the kids and I felt like we had gone on a vacation for the day. This mom is a dear friend from Brandon's seminary days so I cherish my time with her too. OK... back to the Spring Break update. Anyway, we decided to work hard and get the house cleaned up in the morning with the *possible* reward of watching the movie in the afternoon. The kids were great cleaners and we were all able to enjoy an afternoon movie. After the movie T had OT at our other OT clinic.

Lots of reading and cuddling happened all break long!

On Friday we had TWO playdates. The kids were so very happy that they were not canceled. In the morning we went to play with some local friends. We then decided to go to the scratch and dent store and score some good deals. In the afternoon we had a playdate with some of my local adoption support group friends and their kids. The kids had great fun and got pretty worn out. After the playdate we had to drive to another town to get eggs and cheese to make pizzas. I have no idea why I said yes to a pizza night on Good Friday! The pizza was ready 7 minutes before the church service started. We ate a tiny bit but it was so hot. We went to the service and let it cool. When we got home we had a second dinner!

On Saturday morning the kids both took long relaxing baths. Brandon played with the kids so I could get the nursery ready for Easter Sunday. After lunch M took a nap and T and I sorted through 5 of her drawers of clothes. We pulled out two huge trash bags of clothes that were too small or too big or not her style. I still need to sort those bags haha. The drawers are still full. We are so blessed with clothes! After M's nap we went to the theater that shows movies which have been out for a while. You can get a great deal and still see it on the big screen. We went to Ferdinand. The kids LOVED it and laughed so hard. On Saturday night we played a game of family Monopoly.