Christmas in April

We had a fun and exhausting April at our house.  With two birthdays, Easter and spring fever, it was all we could do to keep the dishes and laundry from overtaking the house as we celebrated and socialized. Here we are below decorating Easter eggs and getting ready to celebrate our first Easter with Violet.

Easter morning dawned early, and it was fun watching Violet try to eat chocolate eggs with wrappers still on them as the older girls ran around the house looking for their Easter baskets.

After church, the girls enjoyed an Easter egg hunt in our backyard.

Over Will's spring break, we went to the new aquarium by our house with Will's family.  The girls had fun seeing all of the fish.

Somehow we found time for lots of crafts too, and the girls continued to perfect their rubber band bracelets, as well as try new forms of bracelet making that included supplies from when I was a kid - beads and string for friendship bracelets.  It was crazy to me to open up craft boxes I hadn't touched in twenty plus years and to even find bracelets that were half finished.  It made me pause and wonder what shift happened in my young life that caused me to move on from bracelet making, even with several still in progress.  I was quite a bracelet maker in my day and the girls were impressed by my skills.  With Violet on the move these days, it is difficult for me to join Lucy and Emma in their crafting, so it has definitely been a change to see them figure things out independently with less participation from me.  I am looking forward to the day when I can sit with them again, instead of stand and offer "drive-by" advice as I chase after Violet.

This month we studied fungi, bacteria and mold for our science unit.  We cultured petri dishes with the stuff found between Emma's toes and we even learned about how yeast plays an integral role in bread making.

The girls have been saving up their money since Christmas for some Lego sets that were out of Will's and my gift giving budget.  They finally had enough money this past month, and were excited to buy the coveted sets.  They spent a lot of time building Legos at the kitchen table, what with Easter gifts, birthday gifts and the sets that they earned for themselves.  This was another instance where I wish I had more free time to sit down and build with them, but Violet kept me active and the girls were able to build their sets mostly on their own.

 It is officially spring here, and so we did the twice yearly clothes swap for the girls.  What a nightmare and a blessing all at the same time.  It always takes so much longer than I plan for, and I definitely need Will here when I do it as Violet pulls out all of the clothes from all of the bins, making sorting impossible.  We are incredibly blessed to have three girls go through the clothes that were generously handed down and gifted to us and I do enjoy seeing the favorites with all of the memories attached to them come out for each subsequent girl.

Life with three girls is definitely busy.  Most days the dishes are stacked higher than the sink, the laundry is on perpetual rinse because I keep forgetting to put it in the dryer and a chicken is loose in the yard while Violet is refusing to let me put her down.  As a former professional organizer, it is hard at times for me to let the details go while I tend to the more pressing needs of my daughters - and chickens.  Yup, I feel like I am treading water wearing yesterdays clothes but Will always reminds me that as long as our girls know that we love them at the end of the day, then we are doing okay.

Sometimes it's nice to have a reminder at the beginning of the day that they are loved too.  Below is a picture of a box of donuts that Will got at 6 a.m. for us one morning before leaving for work.

It is so nice being able to send the girls outside to play now that the weather is finally warming up.  One day I came outside and Lucy and Emma had set out a blanket in the yard and were enjoying a treat from the ice cream truck despite the fact that it was cold enough that Violet's bald head needed a winter hat.

We started our garden and planted lettuce, carrots, beets and onions this past month and watched our perennial plants start to sprout back as well.  We took many walks...

…and even discovered a frog with a slip of paper from a fortune cookie stuck on it's back.  Lucy still loves frogs, so we attended a frog class at a local nature park with friends this past month as well.

The girls attended another nature center event called River of Light with friends as well, as I lay home sick with a sinus infection.  The girls had so much fun making little rafts out of Popsicle sticks to send Dixie cup votive lights down the river.  They also enjoyed a campfire, s'mores, and riding in their friend's minivan complete with a DVD player!  Our ten year old car doesn't have a working CD player, so this was very exciting for Lucy and Emma.

More ice cream truck visits were enjoyed with friends...

 …and birthday parties with fellow April birthday friends were also enjoyed.

 We were so excited to attend a local high school performance of the musical production of Mary Poppins.  It was one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen, and it was a great experience for Lucy and Emma.  The talent at this school was unbelievable and when we met the actors after the show, Lucy and Emma were excited to find out that the boy who played Burt took tap lessons at the same dance studio Lucy and Emma go to!

What a month!  It is like Christmas in April at our house and May is shaping up to be almost as busy.  I am thankful for the moments of quiet and calm in our busy life, and for my three girls who help me remember what is important!