Everyone knows the signs of spring - daffodils peeking out, tiny green buds bursting forth from every tree, clouds of white buds haloing Bradford Pear trees and of course the planting of the my garden.
After several long days and some tiring manual labor (largely donated by my husband) the garden is filled. We are trying a couple of new things this year - mounded rows and black weed blankets to keep the weeds at bay and the water from draining down the hill. From last year we brought back the tomatoes, basil, parsley, cilantro, peppers and rosemary and have added strawberries, carrots, cucumbers and broccoli. The garden was actually so full this year I had to put my herbs in potters along the side. Hopefully, I will get a bountiful crop this year. Stay tuned.
Most children are lucky to be born with two sets of grandparents. My children are especially lucky because they have three. Along with Grandma and Grandpa and Nini and Dede, Greyson and Quinn have Lolli and Pops our friend Susanna's parents. The Knights have taken us into their family and them into ours and this past weekend was affirmation of that.
Lolli, prior to her retirement, spent the majority of her life working tirelessly to save babies through the March of Dimes. And even though she is 'retired' now she still fund raises and Marches for Babies every year. This past Saturday was the Gainesville FL walk and along side a memory marker for her own daughter Laura, who was taken far too young, Lolli erected this...
a memory marker for our Aydan. Words cannot describe how much this simple act meant to me, Raif and our parents.
Lolli, you are truly and extraordinary friend and honorary family member. Thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts. We love you.
We started vacation-palooza** off with a bang this weekend with the arrival of the Roberts clan. The arrivial of Susanna, Keith, Kinley, Blakely and Derby was met with much excitement. Kinley is Quinn's best friend (and Greyson's future wife if I have anything to say about it) Guinness and Cooper love playing with Derby and at this point Keith and Susanna are more like family then friends. Plus this was the first time we got to meet baby Blakely. So needless to say we have been waiting for this visit for a long time.
Quinn got to have her very first sleepover and was pretty much attached to Kinley the entire time. Greyson was showered with attention from Ms. Susanna and found another guy to play sports with in Mr. Keith. That left Raif and I to spend the weekend with a child who slept a lot, stayed where you left her and didn't once talk back (there are some things I miss about babies!!).
Best Friends Forever...
**I have dubbed this summer vacation-palooza because from now until August we pretty much are booked every weekend. Lots of fun but man are we going to be tired.
The sun did not shine It was too wet to play So we sat in the house All that cold, cold, wet day.
I saw there with Greyson We sat there we two And I said "How I wish We had something to do!"
After a beautiful 70 degree Saturday where we spent all day outside it was quite disheartening to wake up Sunday to cold, miserable rain. Though the Cat in the Hat did not step in on the mat we managed to keep busy.
We spent the morning working on a little modern art**
And in the afternoon Quinn and I enjoyed some quality girl time by stringing beads and making necklaces.
While the men went off by themselves and worked on some serious construction projects.
I think we had almost as much fun as if the Cat in the Hat had been here himself.
**Our art was inspired by my new favorite book "Kid Made Modern" It is a kid's arts and crafts book with a modern art twist and has a lot of great, easy ideas that break the traditional kid's craft mold.
This past week saw the first glimmers of spring. The warm weather not only brought out the first buds of the year but the Erim gardeners as well. We spent last week and Saturday planting flowering bushes out front, strawberry plants in the garden and one very special project: the kids' very own blueberry bush. They filled the pot with dirt
helped plant the bush
and watered it. They have been tasked to water it every day after school and hopefully in a few months they will be able to enjoy their very own blueberries.
Week 2 was slightly better than week 1. While Greyson cried most of the time, he was out there 'skating' and he finally got a crack at the puck. Even through his tears when I asked him if he wanted to come off the ice he said no. Hopefully this week will see even more improvement.
It is school picture time and as you can see some pictures are a bit better than others. To be fair to my little man, the school did call me about a half an hour after he got his picture taken to let me know that he was running a fever. Obviously he wasn't at his best. Oh well, I guess we will have to rely on Raif's expert picture taking skills!
*BTW I don't know who combed my son's hair forward to make him look like he has a bowl cut but it wasn't me!!
It has been a year since our last attempt at organized sport. A year of maturity, a year of growth and so we thought hey let's try again. Raif found this amazing hockey program sponsored by the Nashville Predators called G.O.A.L (Get Out And Learn). It is 4 week, 100% free program- they supply everything from mouth guard to helmet to all his pads. At the end the kids even get to keep their sticks and their jersey. And depending on their schedule some real Nashville Predators might stop by to teach. We thought this was a great way to test out hockey without spending a ridiculous amount of money on ice time and gear. We also invited Greyson's best friend Yohannes to join us figuring that Greyson might be a little less anxious with a buddy on the ice.
So last night was the first practice. Raif suited him up (seriously could he be any cuter?).
And Greyson was good to go.....until he realized that Daddy wasn't coming on the ice...then the waterworks. Raif brought him off the ice talked to him for a bit and then convinced him to stand on the ice and watch and then move a little farther out and watch and eventually he joined in for a bit albeit still crying but a least not hysterically.
At the end they did a little scrimmage and Greyson started crying again because no one would give him the puck. Raif said it was so sweet because he came over to him and said "They won't share. I used my words and asked for the puck and they wouldn't give it to me." How do you explain to a 4 year old the difference between sharing and competitive sport??
When he got home (I didn't go but had a girl's night with Quinn) I asked him how it went and he said "Good" and I asked if he wanted to go back and he said "Yes" So we are going to work this week on trying to go out on the ice without crying.
The highlight of the evening, according to Raif, was that Greyson did a great job skating. He managed to skate all the way across the ice by himself and if he fell he got back up all on his own. Hopefully he can gain some independence from us and then watch out hockey world....
