spring break, continued

The last two days of Spring break have been busy in a great way. Yesterday we had crazy strong winds and snow, so we headed to the library for some indoor fun.

These poor trees (magnolia?) are just starting to bloom. They did not know what was coming later in the day.

It cracks me up that Max, Lucas and I all bring our cameras wherever we go. I love to catch them shooting. The library has a model of Hogwarts that the kids always enjoy studying.

We've been playing I Spy with the library's stained glass windows since Max was Eva's age.

Max invented some sort of human chess game that they play in the outdoor courtyard (luckily the bad weather had not yet arrived). Eva ran around out there and I actually got to go peruse the audiobooks! Man, I love having the boys home from school!

We did choose books in between all of our other library activities. Then we stopped for Wendy's on the way home, a very rare treat for our kids. Then Eva took a nap, I talked with my neighbor and wrapped a baby shower gift, and Max & Lucas played chess and Pokémon card battles (I really should document that tomorrow).

I had originally planned to do some yardwork, but it did snow again. 80 degrees on Monday, snow on Tuesday. Yep, that's how we roll here. Today was more of the same weather-wise, so we had more indoor activities on the docket.

The boys wanted to go to the BYU art museum -- I am loving all of these free activities! Eva kept calling it the color museum and the picture museum.

more shooting by Lucas -- this piece is an art quilt

Sheep! (that's for you, Ashley) I was actually surprised by how many great paintings they have on permanent display.

Eva tired of the picture museum before the rest of us, so she kept moving from one bench to the next. At this point, there were no benches so she ran back to the previous exhibit.

After we left the museum, we walked over to the BYU bookstore so the kids could each pick out a treat from the candy counter. I wish I had taken a picture there, it is a kid paradise! Lucas chose sour patch kids and Reese's pieces, Eva got raspberry sticks, Max and I got dark chocolate orange sticks, and Max also got a dark chocolate peanut butter cup. It's a dangerous place.

Apparently Eva has never heard us talk about BYU before, even though Marc works there, because she kept calling it BIU or VIU. The rest of us were dying laughing over that.

We tried taking some self-portraits in front of the bookstore, but Eva was not having the freezing wind. I guess self-portraiture was not a sufficient reason for her to stop instead of hurrying to the warmth of the car. Some people and their priorities!

Once again Eva had a nap and the boys played their games together. I stretched out on my bed to read some more Wild Swans and took a nap as well. (That's my idea of a perfect afternoon when I have cramps.) I actually had to wake her up again because we had plans to go miniature golfing. She has never done that before and couldn't seem to wrap her mind around what we were going to do. Golf-balling? Ball-golfing? The crazy freezing winds were back, so luckily there is an indoor course.

She was really enjoying herself, until...

she touched this. They had these lights everywhere, all at her level. I hadn't really noticed them, and didn't think they were on. (What is that, black light? ultraviolet?) Anyway, they were on, and she burned her hand. That was on about hole 9, and that was the end of the golfing for her. From that point on, I carried her around the course and tried to distract her from the burn so Max and Lucas could finish.

(nursing her hurt hand)

We had free passes for the miniature golf, so I only had to pay for the dippin' dots we got afterwards -- that was a nice distraction from the pain! (Actually all I've paid for all week is snacks and food, that's a pretty sweet deal.)

We came home and had dinner, and Eva had a bag of ice and her blankie to make her feel better. To clear up any confusion about dinner, I have always cooked dinner. I cook probably 5 times a week and we eat leftovers the other days. We just haven't been sitting out to eat together around the table, all eating the same thing and all eating at the same time. I do love to cook, I just do not love having picky eaters. But as I said, I will prevail. Thanks for your support.

A couple of observations about Spring break: I am loving having the kids home. They are like extra pairs of hands for me, they are so good to each other and so sweet to Eva. They haven't even asked to play with friends yet this week, they have just been playing with each other. I don't know how long this can last, that we can go on these excursions and my 12-, 8-, and 2-year olds all enjoy them. I don't know how long Max and Lucas will continue to be each other's best playmates, but I am enjoying it now for all it's worth.

The other thing that's making me so happy: I was concerned that they would want to be watching tv or playing computer or video games the whole time they were home. I warned them that I would be enforcing their screen-watching limits. Lucas got the idea to use the stopwatch feature on his watch to keep track of his time -- brilliant. And you know what? They have been doing way less screen-watching this week than ever! In fact, Lucas came in to give me his grand total for the day: 17 minutes!!! I'm pretty sure that has never happened before, and I couldn't be happier.