Thursday, April 5, 2012

My Birthday, Sports, & Spring Break

So, this is going to be a big post!  And no, not ONLY because it has my birthday in it (I love my birthday. Of course it was going to be first on the list), but because Spring is here and we have been getting into all sorts of fun!
So.  My birthday was great!  I’m 31!  We had lots of celebrating, shopping, new cups (thanks Gin!) and cake eating (ooo!  And I also got serenaded at the busstop.  That was awesome…especially when they got the the “happy birthday dear…Ms.MaryLauren/Ms.Schroeder/Mommy/MaryLauren”  My name has never been good in that song)  All in all it was great.  I just hate that I have to wait a whole year to do it all over again. 
Sports are back in full swing…I’m helping coach Caitlin’s team again (essentially the glorified ball fetcher.  I’m quite good.)  Caitlin is on the Celtics and is so so so happy because the uniforms are green, which is her favorite color.  I don’t have any pictures of her yet, but I’ll post some soon.  I do have to report that at the last game, ( I had to solo coach yikes) we only had six players there for the game which meant zero substitutions.  However they still managed to win 4-0 and Caitlin scored a goal!  I was so very happy!! 
Matthew is on the Tigers this year and is having an awesome season.  He has hit home runs in both of the games he has played.  His fielding is coming along well and we just love the team he is on this year. 
Spring Break 12 013
Spring Break 12 027
This week is Spring Break for the kids and we have already had a lot of fun!  We went to Grandmother and Grandpa’s house on Monday and Tuesday.  We packed up the apple trees that we grew from seeds because after 3 years in a pot, they need to be planted in the ground.  We just don’t have a good place for them here.  Grandpa found a nice sunny spot on their hill and gave the kids a lesson in digging in Georgia red clay:
They started out by watching Grandpa.  Looks easy enough!
Spring Break 12 032
Then it was their turn:
Spring Break 12 040
Spring Break 12 037
Uh, is this deep enough?
Spring Break 12 044
Even Ben got to help. 
Meanwhile Mom and I planted the the okra, pumpkins, cucumbers, lima beans and Cosmos that we started from seed (and once again did not have a place for.  I need to plan better!)  They are going to keep an eye on our plants for us. 
After all that digging it was time to play!  Grandpa pulled out the hose (which thankfully runs off of a well) and let the kids have at it:
Spring Break 12 051
Well water is COOOOLLLLDD!!!
Spring Break 12 054
And because there is no such thing as too much water, the kids jumped right into a warm bath afterward. 
Spring Break 12 056
A wonderful time was had by all. 
Then, through Mom’s library, we were able to get enough free zoo tickets to cover almost our whole family, so Wednesday we met daddy at ZooAtlanta.  It was my first trip there and it was great! We saw zebras, giraffes, monkeys, snakes…and lots more.
Spring Break 12 059
Spring Break 12 062
Spring Break 12 067
Around lunchtime it started to get very crowded so we headed home. 
Then, this morning, after much begging and pleading, Matt decided to take the bigkids fishing!  I don’t know which of the three was more excited.  (Pea was going to go also, but Matt was a bit hesitant about taking her.  Instead I offered her a prize at Target and she quickly forgot all about fishing.  Dedicated fisherwoman that one.) 
The fishing trip was wildly successful!  We had stopped on our way to the lake and bought some crickets.  Evidently this was exactly what the fish wanted for lunch.  Everyone caught something-Matt caught a carp:
mattcarp
Caitlin caught as SunFish:
CaitlinFish
And Matthew caught a Bass:
MatthewBass
Mommy and Ben and Hannah showed up at the end of the trip to see how the fishing was going and even got a chance to try: 
HannahMatt
Ben was originally in this picture and was very interested in the fish until it jumped out of Matts hand and slapped him in the forehead!  Ben was absolutely terrified and is convinced that the fish bit him.  (he did end up with two little spine pricks on his head poor baby!)  I worry that he is going to grow up afraid of lil’ fish lol!
Matt was kind enough to bait my hook four times (I’m a little rusty) so that I could catch a fish…and then assured me that size didn’t actually matter haha.
FishKissin
We have had such a good spring break so far!

1 comment: