Spring Break at the Arboretum

Aaron got back from Arkansas Tuesday night and Wednesday was forecasted to be the nicest day (low 60s) for Spring Break, so Aaron came with us on Wednesday to the Arboretum. We went to the Children's Gardens first, which is really the only part that the kids like.






One of their favorite parts is the part about power. This one you can spray some wheels that turn and create energy.



You turn this and fill the scoop, which then dumps it into the box, which then turns on a light.

Basically it has lots of water for the boys to play with which equals fun.

One of the great things about Texas is we can actually grow tulips here...okay, not me because I can't grow anything in my clay of a backyard, but the skilled people can. I love tulips.

Blake was pretty excited to see "Texas" and see the state's flower which is Blue Bonnet with the Longhorn.







Let me tell you about grass here in Texas. Most people actually have Bermuda grass which is actually a weed. In the winter it goes dormant so it is all brown and nasty. Our lawns are not lawns that you want to take your shoes off and walk through barefoot. Reasons are 1. you will get attacked by fire ants 2. the "grass" hurts. But some places has real grass. All the boys wanted to do when they saw it was run around on it. Green, lush grass is beautiful. I had grass envy at this moment.

 

 

At the maze.

 

Spring Break at the Perot

Today was a rainy day, so we went to the Perot Museum. We decided to take advantage of the Members only hours and miss all the crowds. It was great. We saw some friends who also took advantage of the early hour openings.







Blake has been studying the state of Texas so he was very interested in the Dallas skyline and wanting to know what building Aaron worked in. He also had to check on the state bird (which wasn't in the museum and so he was disappointed), but we saw the state flower, which made him happy.



On our way out we saw Dylan's preschool teacher's husband. We talked to him briefly, but his teacher and their kiddos were inside. It was pouring rain and my kids were done, so rather then going inside to visit with them, we had him say hi to them for us. It definitely was the place to be today. It was a long day, but a fun day.

Another Snow Day!

Wednesday afternoon we were over at our friends' house and walked out to our car which was covered in ice. The weather had turned again on us. Thursday morning we woke up to around 3 inches of snow. It was fun snow.




We opened up the door and saw how deep the snow really was.





I cleared off the tramp and the kids went jumping and had a blast. Dylan's gloves were totally wet by this point so he has mine on.  





The snow was basically all melted by the late afternoon so Friday was back to school for both kids.

Blake's Open House

Last night was Blake's open house at his school. It started at 6:30 and Blake was super excited for it to start. We ate dinner and then about every 5 minutes he would ask if it was time to leave. We first went to Blake's classroom where he showed us his table and his recent assignments. They have recently been studying the state of Texas, so there was a book about Texas that they had been working on. We talked with his teacher, Mrs. Robinson for a little bit and talked with some of his classmates and their parents.

Then we were off to the gym where they had some of their art on display.

Blake's work of art. You could take home this framed piece of art for $25, but we passed. He then took us to his music room and then the art room. We ran into lots of friends from church. Blake was hopping up and down while we were in his classroom because he was so excited to show us his room and projects. I love that he loves his school.

Real Snow

Wednesday morning I dropped off Blake at school and about an hour later it started to snow. But we didn't get a ton of snow that day. Dylan went to his friend's house and played while I went to some appointments. Thursday was a little nicer and Dylan had preschool. We actually walked to pick up Blake from school. It wasn't super warm, but since it had been so cold it felt nice. Friday morning shortly after taking Blake to school it started to snow and it didn't stop until Saturday morning. Right before lunch, Dylan and I headed out to play in the snow. He had so much fun. I got an email from the principal saying that the school district was not going to call it an early dismissal day. I felt a little bad that Blake was in school and we were playing in the snow because well, we usually get ice with a little snow, but Friday was only snow and a decent amount (for here). Aaron worked from home that day, which ended up being great because the roads were terrible. Remember we don't have snow plows (okay, I think there is one that 4 cities share)....they just sand some intersections. I left Dylan at home with Aaron and I went to pick up Blake. I pulled into the parking lot, which has a decent hill next to it and I see all these people sledding. I get Blake and he tells me that there were 8 kids left in his class...all the other parents came and got their kids. Apparently that is completely normal.


Here is our trampoline.


Making snow angels.

He loved walking through the snow and leaving his footprints.


As soon as Blake walked in the door, we put on his snow gear and went outside to play in the snow.

Blake's snow angel.


The boys really wanted Aaron to come out and play and I let them go get him...hey, don't get to enjoy this very often so take advantage and take a little break from work right?

The boys also thought it would be fun to shovel our driveway. Proof that we don't ever do it because otherwise they wouldn't be excited to do it. But we had friends coming over for dinner, so we thought it would be easier for them if our driveway was clear.

We had a fun dinner with our friends, the Neumanns. This is Beckett and Kelsey's family. The kids get a long great. All the kids were playing upstairs after dinner except Beckett who was finishing eating. Then he said he wanted to go upstairs to play with his friends. I asked Beckett if he liked us and wanted to stay and play with us adults and he said, "No, I just like your kids. They are silly." Got to love what 2 year olds say.

Saturday morning was super bad, so another day of no running. I only was able to run outside 3 days last week because of the ice. But Aaron and I started Insanity Max 30 last Monday. It is a great workout and you can do it even when it is too icy outside.

Sunday we had our RS Visiting Teaching Conference, which meant finding subs for all the sisters in Primary. I had all the subs lined up and then the emails started coming in about how they were traveling for work, but their flights were canceled coming back home. We got it all taken care of though and the men stepped up in our ward. We had our High Priest group leader do sharing time and the 2nd counselor in Bishopric do singing time. The counselor who is over Primary did report back to me that it wasn't nearly as quiet and reverent with the brethren, to which I responded..I don't care. :) I appreciated the help.

Yesterday was still cold and today is raining and a little warmer. I am ready for spring, but I know this weather is nothing like other parts of the country are experiencing. I spoke with my friend who just moved to MN and she just laughed at our snow days and how "cold" it is. She also told me that their schools there have huge classrooms. Blake has 18 in his class, and Cohen now has 25 in his Kindergarten class and Isaac has 33 kids in his 5th grade class. At our elementary, they max out at 20. I'm glad our school is able to keep the class room sizes small. Speaking of classes, tonight is Blake's open house. He is really excited to show Aaron his room and meet his teacher. I guess that is the downfall of me helping out in the class room and eating lunch with your kids and knowing their teacher pretty well...they don't have much to show you at open house.

Another Snow Day

Last Tuesday was another snow day. As you can see, most of snow was melted, but there was still ice, which made it not safe to drive to school. By later in the day, it was fine, but school was still out and it messed up a lot of people's schedules....like our neighbors, so we watched Carter while she went to her appointment. We took him with us to the library and to the grocery store. Everyone was at the grocery store. You'd think it was a serious storm and long storm that we had.