the very next day...

(Sorry, these pictures are even darker; it was about 20 minutes later the next night.)

 

The next night, Nathan went out, and our owl was back, this time on a branch actually hanging into our yard. 

 He actually talked to us a little bit, and it was right before we went in that we noticed he'd brought a friend!  Can you see her? (One near bottom left corner, one near top right corner.)

We thought we may have interrupted some sort of courting ritual, so we went back inside.  I think Nathan has had one more sighting, but we hear them several times a week.  So fun!

who else visited?

A night or two later, Nathan was out in the yard, and he started this guy, who flew up into a tree and beat us in a staring contest.  We talked to him, and told him he was welcome to stick around if he kept the vermin and snakes away.

the cat next door

Our next door neighbors have a cat and a dog that get along fine.  Their young adult son also has a dog, and when he comes to visit, the cat spends a large amount of time in our backyard.  She has found that if Colette comes out, she can just lay down wherever she is and Colette won't notice her (the old eyes, ears, and nose aren't what they once were).  But this was a first:

There is a large screw on that "seat" to attach an ear of corn for squirrels; that had to hurt!

Daddy Day

Amelia's preschool had a very special Daddy Breakfast.  Nathan went into work late.  It's the first thing he's been able to go to at school since Seth's Christmas play in first grade.  It was very special for both of them.  Here are some of the goodies he got:

 Here they are that morning:

before the cold snap...

We did a lot of yard work.  Our garden is in (no pictures yet).  We have cleaned out multiple beds, cut down vines, planted, and weeded, and our yard looks really nice.  We bought some river rock to put under the bird feeder, so it makes the safflower mess a little less unsightly:

 Last fall we planted a few bulbs.  Here is our first iris in bloom:

we just ran

Last month, another bad thing happened.  I came on the computer right after I picked up Seth and saw what had happened.  I emailed Nathan, and then I started sending out messages.  Nathan had a childhood friend who had already finished the race and was back safe in his hotel.  Thanks to social media, it was fairly easy to find out who you knew was there and if they were safe. By the time evening rolled around, I was angry.  I have stood for long periods of time in crowded corrals, waiting for races to start.  I have stood along countless finish lines, with my kids, peering over temporary fences, waiting to see Nathan cross a finish line.  I have never not felt safe.  How dare they!  Then the stories started circulating...all the heroes who immediately helped out, runners who went straight to hospitals and donated blood, but what could we do?

 

There quickly became grassroots efforts all across the country.  In our area about 900 people met the night after and ran a mile to show their support.  (A local couple who work at a FITNESS CENTER were injured in the explosions.) A trio in Texas started a FB page, and on April 17th, people all over the world ran, and posted pictures on FB. Here is ours:

Neither of us ever plan to run a marathon, but we know the kind of dedication it takes to do so, especially to qualify for Boston.  About once a year, I order myself a new running shirt.  This year, my shirt is from a fundraiser for the victims.  I expect it any day.  The bad guys got caught.  We still run.

dinosaur week

Amelia's school had a fun-filled dinosaur week.  They dug for bones on the playground and even hatched dinosaur eggs.  This was on the wall one day when I picked her up:

 And here is her dinosaur skeleton:

 The other two pictures were on her classroom's webpage:

book club

I became FB friends with a mom in Seth's class, and her most recent post had said, "Does anyone have the book Gone Girl?"  I told her Nathan had gave it to me for Christmas, that I hadn't read it yet, but that she could borrow it because I had plenty of other books to read.  She wrote back, "Why don't you read it and come to my neighborhood book club?"  Well, you don't have to invite me twice!  I read the book over spring break and enjoyed my first ever book club experience.  We talked a little about the book, which turned into discussion about other books, which turned into bits of school/area gossip (which never hurts the new girl to know!)

 

When I got home everyone was asleep.  This is how I found Amelia:

Penguins in Charlotte?

That Sunday morning we played tennis again and the kids played on the playground.  On the less than 3 mile ride home, our train of thought went something like this:

 

--Let's get Taco Bell for lunch---no, let's change clothes and go to Mi Pueblo--hey, I just remembered Sea World is doing something at South Park, I'll take the kids while you watch golf--what time does it start--let's go to Cheesecake Factory---I'm starving, let's take the world's quickest showers--kids put on something nice, we're going to the fancy mall!

 

After lunch, we walked through the mall, and sure enough, there were penguins in Charlotte.

We didn't win any free tickets to Sea World, but it was some fun enrichment on a Sunday afternoon!

Kids' Night In

As some of you know, our new Y doesn't measure up to all old Y, especially when it comes to front desk organization and family activities.  Seth had an awesome basketball coach (parent volunteer), Amelia loves her ballet instructor, and my Pilates instructor is nice (but not nearly as intense as what I used to do).  Anyways, it hasn't been well-advertised, but the Y has started doing Kids' Night In, which is the equivalent of our old Y's Parents' Night Out.  We tested it out one Friday night, and went to play tennis and watch a movie at home while the kids played.  They had a blast.  They played all sorts of games and Seth got to swim.  At 10pm when I picked them up, Amelia had to show me how well she could do the rock wall:

early April yard

There weren't too many spring surprises in the yard...my Christmas ornament trees bloomed pink...

 The vine over the garage bloomed yellow...

 

It currently has a house finch nest and a sparrow nest in it.  We are always startling the birds (and vice versa).

 

The little yellow flowers are in the flower bed in front of the garage.  We planted "deer resistant" hosta and hen & chicks in the metal bucket.

I can't even remember what was in this corner last year (except the tree).  Nathan and the kids planted these:

Since then, a few rogue hostas popped up, and we have transplanted them.  So far, so good.

broken resolution

I didn't make many resolutions this year, it being a kind of "keep doing what you're doing" type of year.  I did tell myself I was NOT going to buy any books this year, because I moved at least three banker's boxes of unread books here last summer, and Nathan's mom had been passing lots of books along.  That lasted until January 2nd, when I went to pick up a book for Seth at the library, and they were having a buy one, get one free book sale in the lobby.  Came home hanging my head, four new books in hand.  Nobody thought it was as bad as I did, and I had done pretty well until one day Amelia needed an umbrella for preschool.  Found three Diary of a Wimpy Kid books for Seth at the consignment store when I was buying the umbrella.  (Those don't count.)  My next stop was the library to pick up yet another book for Seth, and darn it if I didn't walk out with four more:

We went to the library after school on Monday to pick up another Oz book and I came home with four more!  And the worst part was, I didn't have any cash so I had to write a check!

Tomorrow morning is the spring book sale at the senior center.  I'm going.  Hardcovers for $1 and trade paperbacks for 50cents are too good to pass up!

DWTS needs to be over soon so I can get more reading done!

third fish of the season

Nathan and I have rediscovered tennis.  One of the great mysteries of my childhood is why I didn't start playing tennis again when we moved to Minnesota.  I really, really liked it in Florida.  Taking lessons is on my to-do list when the kids are in school.  While Amelia and I were in Boone, the boys had played a little bit of tennis, and Nathan and I have been playing some mornings, while the kids play on our phones.  This particular morning, we played tennis for about 45 minutes and then did a little bit of fishing.  We had accidently left our tackle box at my parents' house, but made do with a sand pail containing a few tools.  We dug up worms in our garden.  It was still pretty cool, but after an hour, Nathan caught a fish, and we were finally able to go home.  

Turtle Trot

Back in February, I got an evite inviting me to do the Delta Zeta Turtle Trot 5k at Appalachian State University (Minnesota family, I guarantee you're not pronouncing one of those words right as you read this in your heads).  I jokingly said we should do it, and then kind of backed out, because it hasn't been the nicest spring Boone has ever had.  The week of the race, I reconsidered after checking out the forecast.  Friday evening Amelia and I drove up for a sleepover, and Marie and Will joined us.  The weather ended up being better than we expected, and the race was literally across the parking lot.  Everybody came down to watch the run, and entertained themselves on the greenway during the race.

Willie and Millie had a great time getting some 5-year-olds-only time together.  Marie and I felt horrible during our runs, and figured out later that we hadn't accounted for the significant change in altitude.  Still good times though, just couldn't breathe!

Marie had to leave right after the race, but Amelia and I headed to the outlet mall on our way home and found some good deals for spring.  For the first time ever, she tried to pick out her own clothes, in a head-to-toe matching outfit from Gymboree.  I should have bought it, but it wasn't on sale, so I just couldn't do it!  Not when the sale racks were an additional 40% off sale price that day!  So today she looked like Cyndi Lauper going to school.  So what?

new backyard visitor

Weird.  I just looked up the official name of this type of bird (turkey vulture) and google took me to an article about how these birds were hanging out near Nathan's rival high school (about 45 minutes from here) in February.  It said that due to our mild winter, they had hung around longer than usual rather than migrating farther south.  The kids and I first saw two at Seth's school in late October when we went to the town Halloween party.  Since then, rarely a week would go by without seeing anywhere between one and eight taking care of the local roadkill.  I was cooking dinner one night and this huge shadow went across the backyard (wingspan is between 5-6 feet).  This big boy perched on our fence, which was kind of scary-looking.  Then it hopped off the back side, and when I was setting the table, he had moved to a post between our yard and the neighbors.  He stayed there the whole time we ate.  Nathan scared him away (but took a plastic baseball bat for protection...it wasn't needed).  

 

testing out their fishing poles

On Wednesday morning we drove over for a sleepover at Gram and Pops' house.  Santa brought the kids fishing poles.  We made a quick run to Walmart to buy worms, and Pops got their poles all set up.  It was probably in the low 50s that day, and the water definitely hasn't warmed up yet.

 But Seth had success!  Fish #1:

 Fish #2:

 Both reeled in by him without any fuss.  Amelia quickly got bored, started playing with the worms, and then had snuggles with Gram.

Seth also did an excellent job catching the overhanging tree branches.  The last time he did it, it got so tangled up that we had to cut down the limb to get it out, and I was pretty sure Dad or I was going to end up in the drink doing it.  And I was pretty sure I was going to be in big trouble if that happened.  We are going to work on casting some more before our next trip to Cary.

That night Bryan and AB came and hung out for the evening.  Thursday was the beginning of our week of whatever that winter nonsense was...it started sleeting when I was leaving Cary, and it was just cold the rest of the week.  It wasn't a very busy trip, but the kids had a lot of fun!

park hopping

Nathan had to work the entire week of spring break, so we had to entertain ourselves.  On  Monday we decided to play on lots of different playgrounds.  We came home for lunch, but were in and out all day.  

 Before we headed home we used a groupon to Ben & Jerry's:

On Tuesday, Kim brought the girls down to play.  I think Kim just had to see with her own eyes that we're okay down here.  The kids played all day.  Kim and I sat on the couch and talked for hours.  Our third-closest Chik-fil-a had an indoor playground, so we went there for lunch.  (Where the kids traded in their kids' meal prizes for, you guessed it, ice cream...my kids had a lot of sweet treats over spring break!)

Easter 2013

We did not go to church this year.  I didn't want to "church shop" on a holiday.  Amelia wore her Easter dress for a few hours, and then changed into play clothes.  Nathan's parents were staying in Charlotte for the weekend and came over for brunch.  Grandma Sarah taught them the finer points of egg fighting, and my kids are sore losers.  Then it was an afternoon of basketball before a small ham dinner.  Nathan about ate himself sick on deviled eggs and carrot cake.  I have officially give up on the corn casserole we usually make.  Here are a couple pictures Grandma Sarah took:

neighborhood egg hunt

Unbeknownst to us, there is a common area by the pond in our neighborhood.  The social committee hosted an egg hunt where each kid was allowed to find a dozen eggs.  We had a great time getting to meet more of our neighbors!

first day of spring break!

We have started a tradition this year, that on the last day of each quarter we drive past our house and head straight to Dunkin Donuts for a celebratory donut.  (I was such a good kid; I skipped my donut AND ran during ballet!) 

 

Only mean moms would make their kids go into school on the first day of spring break.  I had to help count the second round of Boosterthon money, but it didn't take very long, the kids got to play with some other poor PTO offspring, and the librarian had some brand-spankin'-new books that she allowed Seth to read before she put them on the shelves.  (It was so nice to see he's won at least one person over this year...)

 

The kids didn't mind the stop at school, because they knew we were headed to Chuck E Cheese afterwards.  Amelia had leftover tokens from a birthday party, and then I bought one of those lunch/token deals, and we spent a good two hours there.  

Then our next stop was the mall.  Thirty dollars at Chuck E Cheese had seemed like a big expense, but the kids (Seth especially) had a blast, and I think our next two stops made up for it.  Gymboree:  I got Amelia a new shirt.  Retail $23.  Sara paid:  63 cents (that's including tax).  Dipping Dots:  groupon bought last fall.  Ice cream for three with no money leaving my purse that day!

 

At the start of the week, our spring break looked empty, but we filled it up fast!