Almost Spring Break!

Family has left.  It was a fun a very full 5 days.  I think we'll all nap well this afternoon!

We're in the final countdown for Florida.  It feels like we've been counting down forever!  February was pretty hard this year, now that we're all thawed out we're not quite as desperate, but just as excited.

I love this time of year when we ease into the new spring groove.  Our afternoons are mostly outside now, bikes and strollers and wagons and ride ons line the side of our house, our backyard looks like a tiny preschool circus.  Everything just feels a bit easier without the layers and struggle to get out the door.  Now we just need to remember the rules of the road for those confident bikers I have.

Each spring it's so apparent how much my kids have grown and changed.  Felix is zooming around on his ride on and scooting on his sisters' scooter all around the cul de sac.  Louise is too big for her training wheel bike, we're figuring out what that next step is.  Ainsley finally fits well on her big girl two wheeler and is as fast and confident as ever. She REALLY wants roller blades.  We're deciding still on that one.

Our schedules have exploded this spring and for once I think I'm ok with that.  I've been so unsure about this new having big kids thing that I've decided jumping in with both feet is the answer...I can't fight it forever!  We now have something every single day after school which feels insane, but in reality is awesome.
Ainsley's school has after school activities you can sign up for so she's doing a textile/art/sewing class on Mondays, meaning I don't have to pick her up until 4:15 and she gets some extra art time each week.  Double win.  She's also taking aerial arts (first class last night was awesome!) and our mommy daughter pottery class, and we've decided to conintue her acting class because it's her favorite.  Wow!  Last night after her aerial class I picked her up and looked into her big brown eyes and told her how proud I was of her.  I told her I remembered how hard it was for her for so long to leave me and overcome her fears to try new things and here we are trying new stuff left and right and my big girl is soaring.  I'm so so happy.
Louise is all done with gymnastics.  Because of her birthday she was grouped with much younger kids and was getting bored.  She wanted to take her sports camp class again and an art class and thankfully we have an awesome park district with lots of options so we're booked for her for the spring.
Felix and I are still enjoying musikgarten.  He's still pretty chill and calm there.  I love our special activity once a week.  Now that the snow has melted our other weekday mornings are spent at parks and playing in the yard.  I love it so much.

I'm mostly excited to keep things moving along this spring.  Most of our activities were ending and I wanted to make sure we keep the groove up through the end of school.  I've signed the girls both up for summer camp at Louise's preschool for June but other than that our summer is wide open.  It's crazy to already be thinking about all of that, but that's life with kids, always planning, enjoying now, looking ahead, remembering. I'm finally getting used to it all.

We've also officially made the decision to send Louise to kindergarten next fall.  It's been so incredibly agonizing for me, mainly because I don't want her to go.  I selfishly want her home with me.  But that girl, she's ready.  Her preschool teacher flat out told us she thought she'd be bored with another year of preschool.  I guess that's all I needed to hear to confirm what I knew.  So we gave her spot up for next year and are going full steam ahead.  It's going to be so great having the girls back to back in school.  It'll keep it all fresh in my mind.  And they've always been so close.  It feels right.
Man parenting is hard!!!

I'm hoping Florida will get me back in the groove of taking photos and posting etc.  It's so hard to find the time these days.

Have a wonderful spring break!