April Showers!

The absolute best months in the South are April and May. Beautiful weather, lots of sunshine, blossoms and flowers everywhere, the humidity is still low, and the bugs aren't out yet! I've come to look forward to spring as my favorite season here, and so far we've had some glorious weather to fully appreciate what a particularly nice spring it's been.

My little crew joins me at the gym a lot so I can teach my class. I thought I'd snap a quick picture of us before we went in. I will really miss Zach and his silly sense of humor during the day next year, but I think Leah will miss him even more!

Lucy's spring break was late this year-- normally it's sometime in March, but this year it was the second week in April. We didn't mind because the weather wasn't very nice in March, and this gave us a good chance to be outside and do some fun things we normally don't have time for-- like meet friends for lunch at Chick fil A. We played at Sonic, went to the park several times, drove to the museum in Rockingham, and played outside with Josh and Luke. It was a nice preview of what summer will be like.

 I also got to take Lucy and Zach to a movie on Friday night. We went to Rio 2, while Jon took Leah on a little daddy-daughter date to Purple Penguin and the Dollar store. It was nice to be able to sit back and relax with the older kids, and be treated to a movie in the theater while Jon put Leah to bed!

 After debating whether or not she'd like to grow out her hair some more, Lucy finally decided to get it trimmed on the last day of spring break. Then a week later both of her front teeth fell out--one day apart from each other! I catch her looking in the mirror sometimes and she says, "I just can't believe how different I look!" I love the little jack o' lantern grin! 

 Leah is still up to her usual antics-- being extra naughty, and a drama queen about everything! Sometimes I wonder if Heavenly Father knows that if he makes them extra cute, they can be extra naughty and get away with it.

 We had the missionaries over for Sunday dinner and somehow she weaseled a cupcake out of me before we'd even eaten dinner. Sigh. I've lost my ability to do battle and I give in too easily!

 She is SUPER smart-- she can count to three, basically dress herself and put her shoes on, pick up her toys, bring me a diaper and wipes when she's poopy, and knows our schedule and routine by heart. She absolutely loves the movie "Frozen," and we probably watch it at least twice a day. She of course doesn't really talk yet, but she's heard the songs and script enough that she can repeat certain words and sounds right in sync with the movie, like the song "Let It Go." It's crazy! 

Her absolute favorite thing to do though is be outside and SWING! She loves the swings at the park and is very peaceful while the older two run and play as long as I stand there and push.

I'd been without a calling in our ward for the last several months, and just got newly called to the Enrichment committee in Relief Society. The first activity we planned happened to be a gardening one, which I really know next to nothing about. Somehow all of our gardening experts fell through, so I ended up teaching everyone how to plant herb gardens, thanks to some info on Pinterest. It should be fun to watch them grow this summer-- along with two tomato plants we're crossing our fingers with. I just hope the bunnies don't get to them first!

I mentioned how lovely everything is in the spring-- and I finally figured out what the beautiful purple flower is called that grows on all the trees and in the kudzu around here: WISTERIA. Finally. It was a mystery for the longest time, but it is really beautiful.

And true to my word, I let Jon have the weekend after his birthday off so he could go backpacking with his Air Force buddy Dr. Boh. They went to Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia, and had a great time. Luckily Dr. Boh took some pictures so I could get a peek of what they were up to, while I was holding down the fort by myself with three wild Indians. The scenery looks beautiful!

Apparently there are wild ponies all over the park, and you're able to get quite close because they're not very shy.

The one and only Dr. Boh! They nicknamed him "Brother" because the girls at the clinic think he and Jon look so much alike. I guess it's the bald head.

I'm really glad he got to go have a manly "timeout" to recharge the ol' batteries. I think that's probably one of the things I miss the most about living so far away from family--just having helpers with the kids every now and then! I have a really hard time asking for help anyway, and then add that to the fact that we just don't have much of a network of friends and neighbors, so the brunt of all childcare falls squarely on our shoulders 24/7. I have to take my kids everywhere-- my doctor appointments, grocery shopping, visiting teaching, etc. I keep reminding myself how we'll probably look back at these four years as a time in our lives when it was JUST US and nobody else, and we'll miss that simplicity, but it is easy to get burned out! We're sure counting down the days of this final year.... Only one April left!