Sun!

After several days of reinforcing the fact that spring does NOT fully arrive in April in the Northwest, the weather actually changed its mind. The sun came out and the afternoon was BEAUTIFUL. It was warm and sunny. I took the kids to play out in the front yard and we went on a short trip to the park. I guess part of me is still a California girl at heart -- it's hard not to have your spirits lift when the weather is so gorgeous... it's also hard not to secretly hope that the weather will just stay like this until November. I can always dream, can't I?

It was nice to get the kids out of the house. Jackson LOVES to go outside. Whenever the front door opens, he makes a mad dash and tries to get outside, regardless of how freezing or rainy it may be. He gets so mad when he is inevitably dragged back inside. So he was thrilled today to actually be free to roam around in the great outdoors. His favorite place outside is... the middle of our street. We got it down to a routine: Jackson would charge into the street as fast as his little legs could carry him. I would go after him and drag him back to our yard. Repeat. After a while I got tired of picking up my 30 lb. "baby," so I just followed him around and he happily ran down the middle of our street, grinning from ear to ear, with mom trotting behind him. [We live on a fairly quiet street, by the way. I'm not trying to tempt fate.]

Jackson's latest discovery is books. He loves to sit and look at books for whole minutes at a time (hey, it's a long time for his attention span). ;) He will actually sit and listen to some of the story when I read to the older kids.

Today's dinner (potatoes and leftover Easter ham) was much more well-received than yesterday's. Last night I made Arroz Con Pollo (Mexican Chicken and Rice). This was not an attempt to be mean, or even healthy-- it's one of their friend's favorite meals. But you know you're off to a bad start when Jared says, "Mom, can I have Split Pea Soup instead?" (Split Pea Soup was my last meal that they weren't big fans of...) and Camryn says, "I don't really want a dinner treat." Honestly, was it really that bad? Did you even try it? I'd almost rather have Jackson (who just hurls things off the tray of his high chair when he doesn't want them) than have people tell me how the yummy dinner I worked hard to make is yucky.

I am now 13 weeks pregnant, so I'm hoping that the 2nd-trimester boost of energy will kick in soon. Today I made the mistake of taking a nap while Jackson took his nap. I slept the whole time and spent the next 2 hours after that fighting to stay awake. Not even the beautiful weather or sneaking leftover Easter candy could rid me of the desire to go crash on the couch for another couple hours. So here's hoping the nice weather stays around AND that my 2nd trimester (and the burst of energy that comes with it) hits sooner than later!