Yay for Spring Weather

We have had some nice days this past week but it didn't start out too nice.  Tuesday was a yucky, cold day and there were even some slight flurries.  Miles and Bennett enjoyed playing with their planting wheel barrow inside instead of outside.  They also enjoyed playing with the box it came in.  They also spend a good amount of time throwing balls around and Miles will walk around for quite a while just kicking a ball around.  They have also discovered Lincoln's collection of tractors and enjoy playing with them. Their new favorite word is "uh-oh" and Lincoln is always calling them his buddies. 

Bath time at my parents-a favorite

 

Tuesday afternoon/evening was kind of busy since Andrew had a busy day at work.  We picked up Jackson from swim practice and then go dinner ready.  Andrew came home to eat and then went back to the office and then to a last-minute K-Life board meeting and didn't get home until after the kids were in bed. The kids and I cleaned up dinner and did baths.  Then we watched and danced to Dancing With The Stars.  Jackson was dancing too, but skipped out on the picture.

Bennett woke up Wednesday with a cold and then Miles got it the next day.  We didn't let it stop us though.  We had to get the house cleaned and everything prepped for small group.  Andrew took Jackson and Ellie directly to WAC after school and then I picked them up a tad early because Jackson had to be at ball practice at 5 across town.  I ordered some Pagliais on the way and it arrived a little after we got home.  Then it was time to eat, clean up, and give the twins a bath.  Andrew picked up Jackson from practice but didn't get home until 6:45.  We may have to try to change that a bit since small group is supposed to start at 6:30.  But we were able to fit it all in and have a good group too. 

Things started getting warmer on Thursday and we enjoyed some time outside.  The twins are like escaped convicts when the door opens and they get to go outside.  They coming "running" to the door, so excited. 

When Jackson and Ellie came home, they immediately wanted to go outside and play.  Jackson got just a little bit of homework done and he ended up having to stay up late to finish all of it.  It is hard to get it all in when the nice weather first makes its appearance.  I did have to go inside for a bit to make dinner but I was keeping an eye on Lincoln through the front windows.  He and Ty were in the back part of the LaBeths backyard playing with a wheelbarrow of water.  First I see Lincoln's t-shirt come off and his undershirt soon after that.  And next thing I know, he is taking his jeans off.  He made sure to put his cowboy boots back on though.  I got the meal to a point where I could leave it for a bit and went outside to get him.  He was just concerned that his clothes were wet, so the reasonable thing to do would be to take them off.

Andrew and I ended up going to Columbia for the day on Friday.  My mom kept the twins and Lincoln and Joe helped us out by picking up Jackson and Ellie from school and dropping them off at my parents. It was nice to get some shopping done without the distraction of kids-just a few things I wanted to look for instead of rushing around.  Andrew absolutely hates shopping so it was very kind of him to go along with me just to be able to spend time together.  He says the life just starts draining out of him when he walks into a store.  Even though the weather was kind of yucky it was nice to spend the day together.  On our way home, we stopped in Macon at the nursery to pick up some shrubs for Andrew's office.  We had some 1/2 price vouchers we had purchased through KTVO deals during the fall and they were about to expire.  So we got those picked out and them picked up some AJ's for dinner as a thank you to my parents for babysitting.  Caroline and Jared also came into town for the weekend so we got to see them for a bit.  Ellie ended up staying the night at my parents house and I picked her up the next day for ball practice.  Andrew and the boys were out early Saturday morning to try a little turkey hunting.  They didn't really have any success but I think Lincoln was pretty excited he got to be part of it.  Here are some pictures Andrew sent me from the morning.

 It rained/drizzled most of the afternoon on Saturday but Ellie was determined to play outside.  At one point she came in to get her Mary Poppins umbrella and went back out.  The twins took a good nap with the cloudy weather though.  Andrew got home with Jackson and Lincoln and then took Jackson and Ellie with him to the office.  Ellie wanted to roller skate in the basement and Andrew was going to take Jackson to practice.  Jackson's practice got rained out though so they just stayed at the office until dinner time.  We just had a laid-back leftover dinner (surprisingly the kids loved it) and then put in Brave for the kids to watch.  We should have started it all earlier, because we also had rented Les Miserables for Andrew and I to watch.  We made it through most of the movie.  I had already seen it in the theaters, so I checked out a little early.  Andrew finished it, but was also playing poker on his phone most of the time.  He did agree that it was a good movie though.

We had a pretty regular Sunday.  We ended up going to second service and the kids were all playing outside when we got home.  We were talking Mike and Tiffany over by their driveway and we all heard a noise and looked over to see Bennett flying down our driveway on his little push/ride-along tractor.  We all just froze.  He made it all the way day and wiped out in the street.  It could have been so much worse though.  He was terrified but only ended up with a few scratches on the side of his face and arm.  It was time to head in for lunch and naps at that point.  Then Andrew took his bike off the trainer so he could ride it to the office.  I was kind of sad because I had been using the bike quite a bit while it was on the trainer.  It is much harder to use it when I have to leave the house because there always seem to be these little kids running around that I am responsible for :-).  But after the twins got up from their naps, we picked up Andrew from the office and went to my parents for an early dinner before Caroline and Jared left.  After dinner I dropped Jackson and Andrew off at his office along with Jackson's bike and then they biked back to our house.  Andrew said Jackson did a great job with it.

The kids didn't have school on Monday so they spent a lot of time outside.  I forgot to run to the store Sunday night, so I went real quick while Andrew was home for lunch.  Ellie went over to a friends house in another neighborhood in the afternoon while Jackson played in a sprinkler over at the LaBeths.  Lincoln had to come inside because he was in trouble for going to a different house where I couldn't see him and then he started crying because he had sunblock in his eyes.  From what I gather, Ty helped him put some sunblock on and he had it all over his hands and then got it into his eyes when he rubbed them.  So I put him in the shower to rinse it all off and had him lay down and watch tv for a bit hoping he would go to sleep and they would feel better when he woke up.  He didn't go to sleep but they eventually got better and he was ready to go back outside.   After dinner, I took Ellie to ball practice and Andrew took the others outside to play.  He was already working on baths when we got home.  Now it is time to get the kids to bed.  I imagine they will be pretty tired tomorrow after a lot of hours playing hard out in the sun.  So to bed they will go and then I need to do some office work-fun, fun.

And I almost forgot to mention a couple things.  We had two nieces celebrate birthdays this past week.  Briley had her 6th birthday on Thursday and Savannah celebrated her big 1st birthday yesterday.  Happy Birthday you two!  Also, our friends, Leah and Joe's niece, Lanie, had some wonderful news this week.  She has been battling a disease called Caroli's disease that has left her a very sick little girl.  We have gotten to know Lanie a little as she has spent some time with the Vincents while her parents were traveling for their mission work.  She was needing a liver, kidney, and pancreas transplant and was able to fulfill that today.  She has been on the transplant list since a little before Christmas and finally got the call yesterday.  Everything went well with the surgery today and Lanie is recovering.  So many people having been praying for her and it is wonderful to hear this news.