Top 10 Reasons We Love Spring Break!!

Spring break started last Friday, and we have done so much in the past 10 days.  I would sit here writing for a week if I had to tell you everything we've done, so I've decided to do a "Top 10" list and add in a mix of pictures.  So, here we go....

#10 Easter egg hunts.  We attended 3 (yes, THREE) Easter egg hunts during Spring break.  We went to the annual Easter egg hunt sponsored by our church on Palm Sunday.  It's held at a beautiful house with beautiful gardens.  It's always a treat to get some snapshots of the children in front of the beautiful flowers.

Opening the eggs and finding treasures

Taking advantage of God's creation

My sweeties

We also attended the egg hunt at the Wilmington Children's Museum with our friends, the Kivette's.  We had a great time playing in the museum, hunting eggs and even dyeing an egg or two.

Egg hunt in the courtyard

Our family

Helping Eliza find eggs (and encouraging her not to open them)

Since the Kivette's were spending Easter weekend with us, we decided to do an egg hunt for the children this morning.  We hid several eggs including 3 golden eggs with cold, hard cash inside.  As Jackson says, "I'm saving for a Wii."

"Where's the golden egg?!?!?"

"Look at all the eggs I've found!"

Jackson's golden egg surprise

"I got one too!"

Cole and Eliza making some trades.

We had to educate Eliza on the art of egg hunts.  At the first egg hunt, she would pick up on egg.  She would study it and open it to display its contents, and taking her time with each step.  By the third egg hunt, she had gotten the hang of things!

Helping Eliza

#9 Playing.  We've had so much time to (just) play.  Days turn into weeks and months, and I never feel like I play enough with my children.  We're having to get here and there, homework, soccer, work, cleaning up...the list goes on and on.  During our time off, we just played...Barbies, freeze tag, putt-putt, at the arcade, on the beach, in a bouncy house playground, outside...what fun!

Teaching Eliza how to swing the club

"Hold in one!!"

#8 Dyeing Easter eggs.  I feel a little bad about #8.  Chickens worked hard laying these eggs we've just dyed and left at room temperature.  We've had the best time creating masterpieces, from super heroes to princesses, painting to stickering.  We've dyed about 2 dozen eggs this season.

Dyeing eggs on vacation.  Jackson's Spiderman egg

Eliza's "princess" egg

Dying eggs with our friend, Cole.

"We get to dye more eggs?!?!"

#7 & #6 pools and races on the beach.  We spent some time at the beach, which is one of our favorite places!  It's obviously too cold to get in the water, although we saw people IN the water and my children begged and begged.  Luckily, there were some "God-made" pools in the sand.  Eliza and Jackson had a fabulous time jumping, splashing and digging in those pools on the beach.  Jackson also enjoyed running relay races on the beach.  Charlie and I both agreed that we used to let Jackson win, but now, we have to really run to keep up.  Charlie and I got a little exercise running these relay races, not to mention the amount of fun Jackson had running them with us!  

I must insert one story about the arcade.  Jackson always wants to play the grabber game...you know the one: the game your parents always told you was a waste of money because you NEVER win.  You put your quarter in, the grabber moves back and over to the right, then down and tries to grab a stuffed animal, but most of the time it grabs ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  While we're at the arcade, Charlie decided to show Jackson that you never win.  That child won two times in a row, a blue ball for himself and a purple one for Eliza. Well, that blew our you-never-win-at-that-game-so-we're-not-going-to-waste-our-money theory.

Eliza playing in the pools

Dig and splash, dig and splash...

#5 STAY-cation.  The last part of our spring was a stay-cation at home.  We arrived home from the beach Thursday morning and our friends, the Kivette's arrived Friday afternoon to stay the weekend.  It's so fun to just be at home without the demands of work, meetings, practices and school bearing down on us.  It was extra special that we had our special friends enjoying it with us!

#4 VACATION!  The beach...it's such an amazing, relaxing place.  We LOVE to visit and spend time at the beach house!  Jackson and Eliza were VERY sad we had to leave on Thursday.  As we were driving away from the Golden Egg (a yummy, breakfast restaurant), both children were very sad we were leaving the beach.  They wanted to stay a lot longer!  (A good sign of a GREAT time!)

Jackson's favorite part: eating out and the arcade.  The first night, Jackson requested we eat at the place with the "circle lights and dim lighting" (PF Changs).  OK, son, twist my arm! Eliza's favorite part was "sleeping in my ''bacation'' bed with my princess sheets."

We made personal pizzas one night

Playing on the beach

Pausing a brief moment for a picture

Sleeping in her "bacation'' bed with my princess sheets.

#3 Easter Bunny visit.  The Easter bunny visited our house on Easter morning.  The visit is a little strategic at our house on Easter morning, as Charlie usually preaches at the sunrise services.  Luckily (for our family), the sunrise service was earlier this year because the sunrise was later due to Easter falling later in the year (not so lucky for my husband who was up at "0 dark 30" this morning).  It's crazy, but our children usually forget about the Easter bunny's visit, and we have to remind them.  We usually wait until Charlie is home before the reminding and the search for the Easter baskets begin.  Same thing happened this morning and our friend, Cole staying with us.  Charlie got home about 7:30, and the kids were just coming out of their rooms.  We played for a few minutes, then asked  if they remembered anything special about this day.  They found what the Easter bunny left them upstairs.  What a treat!!!

The bunny leaves the baskets

The boys showing each other their presents

Happy children!

How nice of "EB" to bring a Star Wars gun.....  

#2 Spending time with friends.  We are so grateful our friends,  the Kivette's could join us for the weekend.  The kids had so much fun playing together.  Eliza would say, "Where are the boys?" She kept up with "the boys." The adults had fun eating and laughing (and a little "mom" time on Saturday for shopping and pedicures).

FRIENDS

The pirates are charting their course

Playing in the rice box at CMoW

"Hey Care Bear, what did you do with my daughter, Eliza?"

Chillaxin' in the Escalade

Bro and Sis

Sleepover!

And the #1 reason....Spending time with family.  We had such a fun time spending time together, just the four of us and spending a little time with my parents on Easter.  We drove to Southport Sunday afternoon.  The Easter bunny visited there too (AMAZING!).  The children also decorated, not eggs, but cupcakes this time.  What a fun and sticky time!

Eliza waiting patiently

More icing made it into his mouth than on the cupcakes.

I know, I know, she's licking a knife.  Nice, huh?

One of Jackson's creations

That's a lot of icing and decorations.

And as I sit here typing, the movie, Billy Madison, is on TV...it's "Back to school" for us on Tuesday.

Have a happy, happy week!!!

It's Friday already?!?!

At our house, the weeks go by so quickly.  Does that happen at your house too?  One day it's Monday.  I blink, and it's Friday.  I'm trying to think back to what we've done this week...

Saturday after Jackson's soccer game, we drove to Pittsboro for the night to stay with our friends, the Kivettes.  The boys had a blast.  Cole's party was at Bounce U.  We don't have one of these places in Wilmington, and I'm wonder, "Why not?!?"  We have Monkey Joe's, but not the separate bounce areas.  It was GREAT!  The adults had a fun time sliding down and attempting the spider.  Kelly and I climbed the spider and slid down the tall slide.  It definitely was NOT worth the climb (in my case, struggle) up!  :)  The kids, of course, LOVED it!

The Dinos

The boys playing on the huge rocks at the Kivette's house.  

Cosmic bouncing and sliding.

The crew at the party.

Jackson and Cole 

Wow! Check out that sundae!  Can't believe Cole is 6, and Jackson
isn't too far behind!!

The boys after a yummy breakfast

Sunday, we had to drive home.  I had a bummed little boy in the backseat of my car.  He wanted to stay longer with his friend.  Luckily, the Kivettes will visiting us Easter weekend.  I'm sure the boys will have a blast then too (with a little Eliza mixed in!)

Once we got home Sunday, Charlie and Eliza were playing outside.  We planted a Gerber daisy in the ground and re potted a house plant that had outgrown its current home.  The kids loved digging in the dirt, and honestly, I did too.  Digging is quite therapeutic.  I wish I had more time to do it, and a greener thumb would be nice too!

Re planting a house plant.  Eliza "helps."

The Diego gloves are a necessity!

We also decorated the Easter tree

He can reach the taller branches this year!

Tuesday, Eliza had her next to last Kindermusik class with Ms. Cindy.  Both of our children have participated in Kindermusik with Ms. Cindy.  Unfortunately, Eliza will not be able to participate in the fall, as she'll be in preschool five mornings a week.  We will really miss Kindermusik and especially, Ms. Cindy.  I'll be sure to post some pictures of Eliza's last Kindermusik class next week.

Wednesday, I got a hair cut/trim.  I've been growing my hair to donate again.  I had enough hair, but with summer coming up and an increasing love for ponytails for convenience, I decided a really short cut isn't for me now.  So, I got it trimmed and layered.  Hopefully in the fall, it'll be at length to donate.

Charlie and I had the pleasure of seeing Darius Rucker in concert for the Azalea Festival on Wednesday.  We had a great time!  Darius (as in, my friend, Darius Rucker) always has a good show!  :)

Thursday, Eliza and I spent the morning with our friends, Carrington and Ella P at the Children's Museum.  Cooking club started at 10am, and we were there!  They read a Caillou book...Caillou had to pick up his toys before he was able to eat his chocolate pudding.  The kids made chocolate pudding.  My daughter didn't even leave a bite for her dear mother.  Honestly, I am not surprised.  After cooking class, we then enjoyed the new(er) toddler room at the museum.

Sliding down the new slide at CMoW.  

Friday, today was a work day and soccer practice.  Looking forward to a soccer game tomorrow morning and a visit from Pappy and Beme.

Hope everyone's week has been good.  I'm still working on how to slow them down!

My, oh, my!

Who's the joke really on???

Today is April Fool's Day.  Since Jackson is 5, almost 6, Charlie and I thought it would be fun to play some pranks on Jackson.  After each prank, we carefully explained only on April Fool's Day do we play tricks on each other.  He has been a good sport!

The first joke of the day really turned in to be a joke on us:  I found an idea from the Family Fun website.  The suggestion was to carefully open a snack package, replace the contents with something unexpected and carefully tape the package back together.  Jackson wanted a fruit roll up for dessert with lunch today.  I carefully removed the oh-so delicious fruit roll up from its package, replaced it with baby carrots and taped the package closed.  I have to say, the package looked completely un-manipulated.  I included a note in Jackson's lunch that read: "Happy April Fool's Day!  Love, Mom."  Being the nice mom, I put the fruit roll up in a zip loc bag and included it in his lunch.

When Jackson arrived home, I immediately asked him how his lunch was today.  He said, "April Fools, you put two fruit roll ups in my lunch."  I asked him if he ate both of them.  Unbelievably, he did NOT!  He didn't even open the fruit roll up package.  He ate the one in the zip loc bag.  I absolutely couldn't believe it!!  We all had a good laugh when I told him he had to open the fruit roll up package and carrots came tumbling out.

Jackson's teachers, Mrs. Grzeck and Mrs. Hunter played a little joke on the class today.  They told the children there wouldn't be any school on Monday...April Fools!

And our last April Fool's joke:  Jackson had soccer practice this evening.  On the way home, Jackson asked what we were having for dinner.  I told him we would be having the leftover chicken and rice casserole.  Charlie and I LOVE this casserole. Our children will eat it, but it's definitely not their favorite.  It's one of those, "you have to eat it the first time we have it, but you can have a hot dog if we eat it for leftovers" meal.  Jackson was a little disappointed in his mother's dinner choice.  Luckily, it is April Fool's day, and we enjoyed a nice, scrumptious meal at McDonald's. It was complete with milkshakes, of course!

What a fun day we've had!  This fun day is rolling into a more fun weekend....

Jackson had a difficult time containing himself this week because we are headed to Pittsboro, for not only Cole's birthday party, but a spend the night with Cole Kivette.  (Eliza used to call him "Cold Kibette.")  Jackson and I are driving to Pittsboro after Jackson's soccer game tomorrow morning.  I think he would skip his soccer game if we gave him the option.  Thursday, we were discussing the spend the night.  Jackson asked me how he was going to get home on Sunday..."Are you coming to get me or will Ms Kelly bring me home?"  Finally, I understood him...  When I told him I would be staying the night too, he was a little disappointed!  I told him that I was going to have a spend the night party with Ms. Kelly.  He asked if we'd be sleeping in the same bed..."Uh, no. Mr. Aaron will be there.  I'll sleep in the guest room."  He agreed to let me come with him.  Thank you, son!

Well, the weather has been quite chilly this week.  Last week....was amazing.  We went to the beach one afternoon, bathing suits and all...  This is what happens when you live so close to the beach!

Hand in hand

They started digging

Surfin'

Silly faces!

I'll leave you with one last "Eliza-ism":  She wanted to wear her princess watch today.  So, we dug through all of her dress up clothes to find the princess watch.  It's a toy, no hands or numbers.  She looked at her watch and said, "It's Belle thirty."  Yes, sweet girl, it is!

Basketball...Soccer...Ponies, Oh My!

What a big weekend the Lee family has had.  Where to begin....

Friday evening after soccer practice, we headed over to UNCW to watch the Harlem Globe Trotters.  Someone was very nice to give us tickets.  We had the best time!  It was quite entertaining.  The show/game started at 7pm (our kids are in bed between 7:30 and 8 every night!).   We decided to head home just before the game ended.  Charlie and I were getting tired! :)  The kids, especially Eliza, hung in there.  They were champs!  I told Jackson that we stayed up "Disney late" last night. (Because you know at Disney, there's NO bedtime!!!) 

Harlem Globe Trotters warming up

The boys

The girls

It's amazing how many 4 point shots they made!

Saturday morning, Jackson had an early soccer game, 8:15AM.  We had to get up and get moving!  This season, he's on the a team called the Dinosaurs.  He has moved up in the YMCA soccer world.  The kids actually have positions, and the coach is teaching the difference between offense and defense.  The kids take turns in the different positions including goalie.   The uniforms, as you can see, are as bright as the face of the sun.  Jackson loves them!

Jackson playing defense

After the soccer game, Eliza was invited to a school friend's birthday party.  This wasn't any birthday party!  As Eliza told me, they had a "bounce house and horse-ys."  She was so excited telling me about it, I could hardly understand her.  I thought she might be a little apprehensive around the pony, but she was ready to ride!  (Really?! I shouldn't be surprised!!)  And...she was so excited to bring home Ariel chap stick in her goody bag!  

Can't you hear Eliza saying, "Hey little horse-y"?
Everything is "little" right now...my little hand, that little shirt....

Child, child....

Finally, on the horse-y!

Finally, riding the horse-y!

She's such a big girl!

I had to add this one last sweet, sweet (in my opinion!) picture. Since Jackson will be at a different school in the fall, this is one of the last times he will walk Eliza into First Presbyterian Preschool and Kindergarten!  (Sniff, sniff...) 

St Patrick's Day 2011
They both had St. Patty's Day shirts under their jackets.
Would you expect anything different?!?

A fantastic weekend at the Lee house...busy, but quite fun with our children.  

Being a mom...Oh, sew, good!

I have the morning off...from working as a nurse, that is.  Do moms really ever have a day off??  Let me take a moment to ponder this....

I can honestly say, yes, I do have some time off.  One of these times is in June of every year.  My 4 best nursing school friends and I gather at the beach house for FIVE days every summer.  We have tried to plan other times of the year to get together, but it just hasn't worked.  I look forward to this time with my BFFs...it's my therapy time.  We talk, sleep, laugh, eat, cry, get pedicures and there was the special night during the summer of 2007 (girls, you know what I'm talkin' about!).  We started in 2003, so this June it will be the 9th year and going.  For the first couple of summers, we had the children (then, babies) tag along.

2004

2005: Jackson (9 wks), Taylor (5 mos), Elijah (15 mos), Ivy (27 mos), Laurin (34 mos)
This is the last summer all the children joined us.  :)

We have really wised up....no children allowed unless they are "in the womb" or a really new, newborn.   In looking back at pictures to show you some of our "time off" times, I sit here laughing at some of those times and the wonderful memories.  

2009

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to my June trip.  We always have THE BEST times together.  Looking forward to it y'all!!  

Charlie and I will be married 10 years in May.  Man, time is really flown.  We've been together since we were mere fetuses (15 years!!).  That's nearly half our lives.  We're planning a 10 year anniversary trip for November.  We were trying to think back to when we last vacationed together (without children).  Neither of us could remember a time since Jackson was born (he'll be 6 in June).  I think we're way overdue!  Only 235 more days!!  (I would love to insert a wedding picture here, however our wedding was before the digital phase...Imagine that!  We need to get busy in scanning some of our wedding pictures...haha!  In our spare time!)

In talking about all my "time off," I love my "time on" with my family.  As hard and demanding as parenting is, it's the most wonderful time of our lives.  Charlie and I joke with each other that we'll look back on these days and wish we were back in these wonderful moments of....."Why?", "I don't want to go potty!", giving choices, "Make your bed!", breaking buttons on a (time crunched) Sunday morning, "If you can't sit in a big girl chair, then you'll have to sit in your booster", "Eat your breakfast or we're going to be late!"  One of my favorite quotes (I have no idea whose quote it is): "This is the time of our life, to have the time of our life"

Well...I'd better stop blogging and get to work around the abode!  Oh, speaking of getting to work, I did something today that I've NEVER done in my life.  Although, I shouldn't really admit to this, I sewed a button (actually 2 buttons) on this morning.  Thanks to YouTube, I watched a video last night to learn how to sew a button on.  While getting ready for church yesterday morning (and running late, darn time change!), a button from Jackson's shirt crumpled while he was buttoning it up.  Needless to say, we had to quickly change shirts...  I was bound and determined to sew it on myself, as opposed to asking Nana to do it! :)  The button is on, shirt is ironed and hanging in Jackson's closet for next Sunday!  I also sewed a button to a pair of my pants that have been waiting since last summer for the button to be replaced.  Pitiful, I know!  So, if you're one of those that (admittedly or not) cannot sew on a button, here's what I used to educate myself (It goes a little fast, so keep your cursor on the pause/play button):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrSs_DiJ-ZA  

March Madness!


HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Has Spring Sprung????

This time of year I have a bug.  No, not the kind that makes you vomit every hour or lay eggs in your hair or the kind that makes you itch.  It's the kind of bug Charlie hates most: The Spring Fever Bug.  This is the time of year I, Lindsay Lee, enjoy cleaning, painting, perging and organzing.  Be careful around the Lee house 'cuz you might be cleaned, painted, perged or organized!!!

Today, Charlie and I started the spring cleaning.  He started trimming the bushes, and he used the blower to blow the pine needles from the side walks, screened porch and porch.  Did I mention it's a "mulching" year?!?  UHG!  I straightened things up on the screened porch and in the garage AND started making the LIST...the list of things that need to be done inside and out to spring clean!!  Making the list is, um, my favorite part!!  A close second is crossing the things off the list!!  I know, I know.....

It's been quite a while since I've "blogged."  I'm trying to think back to what's been going on in our lives....  January and February seem to slow down a bit for us. We get into full swing during spring. In looking back to the pictures I've taken over the last couple of months, there don't seem to be very many.  This is VERY unusual for us!

Here are a couple of high points...

Jackson has been sick.  He had strep twice, yes, twice.  While still on the second round of antibiotics for strep, he started running another (much higher) fever, so something viral popped up.  We figure he had Fifth's disease, which is going around his school.  I think he's completely cleared from both, thank goodness. 

While we've been couped up in the house for either the cold weather or Jackson's illnesses, he's been reading Magic Treehouse Books, and he's in love with them! (We're in love with him loving to read that much!)  He reads, easily, one book a day, especially if it's a Saturday or Sunday.  Between my mom getting the books from the library (our library is being renovated) and us going to Book-a-Million a million times, we're racing through them!  I've learned a lot by reading the books too.  Sad, I know!

Jackson starts soccer this week.  He is moving to the next level, so he'll learn more about offense/defense and different soccer positions.  He's excited to get back on the soccer field with some of his friends. 

Eliza, luckily, has remained well during all of Jackson's illnesses.  I've attributed it to the skilled hand washing techniques her nurse mother has instilled in her.  Unfortunately, her nurse mother hasn't figured out how to slow down her growth....she is getting SO big, and she remains our wild woman....the things that come out of her mouth are priceless.  I wish I had a recorder taping all the things she says.  We've been attending Kindermusik on Tuesday mornings.  Her two friends, Ella and Carrington attend too.  When they hold hands and dance around together, they look like 2 year olds turning into 10 year olds.  Goes by way too fast!

Charlie and I were talking just today, while we watched Jackson and Eliza play outside, how fun it is to see our two children interact.  They were playing together in the backyard.  They play so well together.  I'm not naive enough to think they won't have their problems in the future, but for now, watching them interact and play together is one of my favorite things.

Well....this is a brief blog update, but at least I've updated the blog.  March is quickly approaching and so is the busyness of our lives.  Stay tuned!