Spring Break

So the kids have been out of school since Thursday around noon. I have loved having them home! Its been such a blessing to just slow down and enjoy life and enjoy my littles. I say this often but we are in such a sweet spot of life right now. I have really learned over the last 8 years that life shouldn't be one big rush and this week has been a welcome gift as far as slowing down and just living life! 
So I'll pick up with the Monday after Easter:
Austin was off that day so we knew we needed to plan a fun family day. We ended up planning to go to the Zoo. It had been awhile since we had all been. We were a little worried about weather b/c rain was in the forecasts but we decided to go ahead and risk it and I am so glad we did. So as we were driving there of course it started raining. We braved it and went on in. It was sprinkling but we headed into the first building and the kids enjoyed slowing down and looking at exhibits that we normally speed by. Once it slacked off we went back outside and it was still misting but we were able to check out the elephants and orangutans. We made our way around a semi-covered path. By the time we got out of there the rain had turned into a light mist and we just kept going. We got over to the area with the giraffes and ended up staying awhile watching them try to eat. We also let the kids play on Monkey Hill for awhile. The next thing we did was head to the Swamp area...we spent about an hour in there. The kids had fun just running around and checking out the animals. They loved the otters and raccoons. We took our time getting back up to the front of the zoo. Once we did though it was approaching lunch time and it looked like it might storm soon. We went ahead and left and went to eat po-boys for lunch. Again it was just nice hanging out together. We got home and relaxed then my parents picked the kids up to spend the night with them. We try each time the kids are out of school for them to spend the night over there. We don't do much of that during a normal week b/c 1) we are always so busy and 2) honestly I like my kids at home. It was really nice though having that evening with Austin. We sat outside for awhile and took a walk with Allie. It was so relaxing and peaceful. We watched a movie that night and just enjoyed some non-interrupted time together. 
Tuesday morning I had a hair appointment. I was thankful to get it done early. I enjoyed the mommy pampering time. I picked up the kids after and we picked up lunch and came home. It was so nice to have that afternoon to just relax and hang out. The kids played so well this week! They had a lot of outdoor time and just a lot of time playing together! 
Wednesday I had to grocery shop. The kids did well though and didn't even seem to mind too much. After we got home Colby's friend Nijel came over. I was glad we were able to work this out b/c the boys have been wanting to play/hang out for awhile. It was a little bit of extra work just having an extra kid here but Colby had a blast and I wanted to do that for him while he was out of school. They did play outside a lot so that was nice. We kept him and brought him to church that evening. Our church did a Spring Fling with pizza and snowballs that night. The kids had a really great time. Colby was off doing his thing the majority of the time and Lindsay hung with me and the other preschoolers. I think we had about 8 there that night. She loved seeing her friends Brielle and Genevieve. It was a pretty night so we were able to spend most of the time outside. 
Thursday I was glad to have a free day with the kids. We chose to have a simple but really fun and sweet day. I didn't really want to go do something big so we chose to stay close to home. First we had breakfast at Chickfila then we went to the park. We stayed at the park over an hour b/c we ended up running into friends. We saw this boy Glenn Paul who used to go to our old church. He and Colby have the same birthday! They used to be buddies. After the park we went to the library to finish out our little morning fun. We checked out a bunch of books then came home. It was nice again to have the rest of the day at home. We skipped Scouts that night b/c they were meeting about the camping trip. Since we weren't going we figured we would stay home. It was nice b/c Austin got in early and we had dinner together. Again plenty more playtime outdoors! 
Friday was once again another free day for us! I decided the weather was beautiful that we should go to my parent's house to go swim! I think this tickled the kids as well as them. The kids had been swimming on a couple other occasions but I had not been in yet. We ended up having a blast and the pool felt great! I was so happy with spring break falling late like that that we could go swimming! We stayed in the pool about 2 hours before going in to get cleaned up and my parents picked up Subway so we could all eat lunch together at their house. We didn't get home until about 2. By the time we got home the air show was going on so we were in and out watching that take place. We got really good views of the Blue Angels. That night Austin got in early again and we just enjoyed time together. We also had movie night and watched Finding Dory. 
Saturday Austin was off and we had no where to be. We had skipped out on the CubScout campout. I felt a little guilty that we didn't go. We originally planned to not go b/c we knew the Airshow was that weekend and we wanted to enjoy that from home. Also things are crazy at work for Austin and I'm not sure we would have been able to pull it all together to go last minute even had we tried. Anyway it all worked out and we had a great family day. We stayed home and camped out outside to see what we could of the airshow. We were able to see most of it. We pulled our chairs out and the kids played in their pool and in the sprinklers. We even had lunch outside. It was just a really fun, low key day. The older I get the more I just want to slow down and enjoy LIFE. I don't enjoy the hustle and bustle. I love for my kids to be able to have the childhood I did. That evening though we did leave the house and go to the Baby Cakes game. This was the first baseball game we had been to in awhile. Again so much fun! The kids got a little bored at times...especially L but we still managed to have an awesome time. Also the Baby Cakes won! It wasn't crowded so it was a really low key game which I personally loved! I think we will try and go again soon! 
Sunday...the last day of our break! Well we went to first service. I went into church which was so AMAZING! Its what my heart and soul needed after a few hard weeks in preschool ministry. After the kids and I came home and just relaxed. Austin got home early and we ate and played outside! 
Again I am so thankful for this break! I honestly loved that it fell so late b/c I feel like it was a little preview of summer but also a welcome break from spring busy! We did plenty of fun things but I tried not to over schedule us so it would feel like a break! The kids had a lot of downtime and time outdoors which I think is awesome!