Waiting on Spring

Winter didn't want to end this year.  It was as bad for Bethany as it was for us, so she came to visit so we could complain together.

Yes, more snow pictures. 

 Mark told the kids about building snow tunnels as a kid so Katie got started on her own.

They were very excited to be able to eat icicles like the ones in Frozen.

 On the first day of Spring it snowed.  I was devastated.  I told Mark if the snow was not gone by the first day in April I was leaving.  We finally got some days above 30 degrees and the snow started to melt.  I took the kids sledding one last time.  It was warm enough to wear sweatshirts with our snow pants.  There were puddles of water at the bottom of the hill.  By the time we left we were all drenched.

On April 1st the last bit of snow melted in our yard.  Our neighbors still had snow but ours was gone.  So I am still here.

 In the meantime, we had other things going on around here.

Literacy day-Joe from Little Women; King; Bree from Fancy Nancy

 Marcus was so funny on Literacy day.  He decided to wear the king costume he got for Christmas.  He was all dressed up when he got to school.  As we walked in the door he noticed all the students not dressed up and he slowly started taking off his costume piece by piece.  He had come prepared and had clothes under his costume.  By the time we got to his classroom (which is the first door in the school) he was in his normal clothes.  He did report that the king reappeared for the costume parade and the class party.

Addy being Addy

 All the kids received Principle awards again second term.

 The weekend before Easter our church had their annual Egg Hunt.  It was SOOO cold this year.   Katie had 3 friends come and Addy had 2.

 All the sudden it was Spring Break, BUT it was still cold.  I thought about going somewhere but it was not warm anywhere within driving distance so we had a stay-cation.  What do you do for a stay-cation when it it cold outside and you don't want to spend a ton of money?

Monday we decorated Easter cookies with friends.  And had another group of friends over for dinner.

Tuesday we went to the library and rented Chronicles of Narnia the movie since we had just finished listening to the book.  We ate lunch at our favorite restaurant and watched the movie while Jaxon napped.

Jax and Marcus being crazy

Wednesday we headed into NYC.  It wasn't warm, but it wasn't as cold as it has been so we jumped at the chance to get out.

Our first stop (after the train, subway and street hotdogs) was the American Museum of Natural History.  Jax has been pretty into dinosaurs lately so I was excited to take him.  He was scared.

 When we got tired of the museum we went into Central Park... to climb rocks. 

After we visited the castle in Central Park, where both Marcus and Jaxon tried to climb over the wall.  Finally, after Central Park we met Mark outside his work so he walked us back to the train.

 Mark took of Thursday and Friday to hang out with us.  Thursday we took the kids to the Bronx Zoo.  Friday Mark took Jaxon to Five Guys and I took the older kids to see the new Cinderella.

Aunt Emily and Uncle Mike, with Rosie and Matilda showed up Sat evening to spent Easter with us.  Easter is so much more fun when you have family to spent it with. There were Easter baskets in the morning and Sunday brunch.  Then an egg hunt in the afternoon.  (Easter this year fell on the same weekend as our church's General Conference so we didn't have Easter outfits because we spent the weekend watching church on TV!  Of course that didn't stop me from buying the girls new dresses.)

Emily decided to spend the week here so that Mike could finish up a law school paper.  I spent the first few days sick but we did manage to do a few fun things.  

First park trip of the Spring

Jaxon had his half birthday this week so we headed to Stew Leonard's for some ice cream to celebrate.

It was a sad day when Mike came back to gather his family.  Jaxon didn't know what to do with himself after his playmates were gone (or more correctly not having sweet little Matilda to push around).

And a few more gems...

One of my best friend's from highschool stayed overnight on a trip down south.  It was so much fun to introduce our kids.

There was an instant bond.

Playgroup farm day. A hint of Spring.

I know, I know, I shouldn't take pictures in church, but Addy looked so fantastic I couldn't resist.

Jaxon is "reading" Hunger Games; while listening to air.  He was also nice enough to give Katie a pair so she could listen to air as well.

And fianlly...

It is possible that the cold weather might end.  Jax and I went to the beach today with playgroup and it was almost warm enough to take off my sweatshirt, but not quite.