Moving right along

One update from the last post that I forgot to write about. When Grover died and Zac was very sad about it, Tyler gave Zac his fish. No prompting, just went in his room grabbed his fish and said "here Zac you can have mine, his name is Flame." They might fight, but they love each other and Tyler watches out for Zac and protects him.

When I was looking at these pictures to post something that came to me is 1. - my kids are getting way too big and 2. - things are getting easier. Let me explain easier though. Easier means I can take the boys alone places and we have fun. I'm not worried about them running away from me, we hang out together, travel and do things together and we move right along and enjoy a lot more now together. We can all do the same things. Dave was gone this week and when he got home last night I wasn't feeling as though I've been run over by a truck. Sure, the house isn't as clean, toys might be laying around, fingerprints are on the windows and doors, but in the grand scheme of things does that matter? Absolutely not. We went a lot of places and did a lot of things while Dave was away and although most of them are normal everyday things they are things that a year ago might make me cringe and skip until Dave got home knowing it would be a challenge.

I really try to focus on the present. Way too many things happen around me that make me well aware that life is short so make the most of it. Is that theme on here? It very well may be. My Mom and Dad are fun. And I'm sure my Dad is still fun in heaven. When I think to my childhood I think of obstacle courses in the yard, my mom giving us eggs to smash on each other as part of our double dare game that we set up, my Mom doing cartwheels, and my Dad dancing funny, hiking, shooting bow and arrows in the woods and building forts, swimming, playing with my million cousins, pulling cushions off the couch to do gymnastics in the living room and were were given the freedom to run around and be free. When my kids are 34 I want them to have the same memories. Life is what you make of it. So go start making! Preach on Beth, I know, really, you're like enough already. But this blog which turns in to a book is for my kids and I will swirl in circles with flowers in my hair in the fields until I'm grey and old and can't swirl anymore, then they'll swirl my wheelchair or my bed in the fields just don't forget the flowers in my hair. Got that boys?

Getting the flowers beds summer ready has commenced. That also equates to who's going to get poison ivy first and where will it be? It's becoming a game. I got it on my neck this time although I avoided the bed completely that I got it from last year. Who knows where this tricky little plant lurks?? I went with a bit of a different plan this year and put a few perennials in the beds so we'll see what happens. It's so much fun to pick what I want to put in the beds every year, but there's a lot of space to plant and I need some fillers to rely on every year. I also planted 3 tomato plants this year in pots. We'll see what happens to those. We could eat tomato sandwiches every day in the summer so hopefully they produce for us.

We made our first trip to Knoebels for the year and even though I've been going there for 30 some years the place never gets old. The one picture below of Tyler and I is his scared face before The Whip started moving. They love the Whip but for some reason he thought he'd be scared. As soon as it started moving he remembered how fun it is.

They also had their Spring Show last week. Zac's class acted out the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Very cute and they all did well. Tyler's class played the part of what they want to be when they grow up. Tyler was an entomologist. They introduced themselves then the teachers acted like reporters and interviewed each kid about their job. The video of Tyler below is during his interview you can't hear him but it's cute anyway so I had to post it.

This summer we finally are able to join the pool! We've been holding off since you have to be potty trained to go in the big pool and we never knew how that would play out with Tyler being able to go and Zac not being able to. We're there. It's pool time and I'm hopeful that by the end of summer Tyler will be fully swimming on his own. He can stay above water pretty well and isn't afraid to take off his life vest and practice swimming. From our limited trips so far, Zac is mostly interested in the snack bar and has mastered going up alone and buying 25 cent ice pops. He's a work in progress ;)