Spring Break

Starting on the first day of spring, Spring Break could not have been better. It was in the 80s and sunny every day, allowing for plenty of time spent in the sun, lots of exercise, and a chance to catch our breath and spend time with people we love.

The highlights:

Sunday// Subway. picnic lunch at our favorite park. read together. two hour nap :)

                        

Tuesday// back to the park with some little friends and their mommas. rode bikes and played in the sand. another picnic lunch.

Wednesday// hiked Abram's Falls in Cade's Cove with kids from church. third picnic lunch of the week. a literally perfect day for a hike: 75, sunny, good breeze to keep the sweat off.

Thursday// rode horses with two girls from church. and of course, saw The Hunger Games. (Spring Break wouldn't have been complete without it.) a 12:30 showing left us recovering all day Friday.

Friday & Saturday// sleep. catching up on household chores and projects.

Monday// (not technically break, but we'll count it.) zoo with good friends. my favorites: the sea otters, elephants, giraffes and red pandas. their favorites: the carousel & running as fast as their tiny legs can carry them from one exhibit to the next.

This week was yet another reminder that God has been so good to us! Days off, spring weather, fun outings with friends...I've got plenty to be grateful for every day!


P.S. Happy birthday to my wonderful dad! I'm always thankful for you and your wisdom, humor, advice, and I-don't-do-anything-on-my-birthday-that-I-don't-wanna-do spirit. Love you!

Springified

Happy first day of spring!

I spent the morning/early afternoon at the park with two friends and their little ones, soaking up the not-too-hot sunshine and eating a picnic lunch. Deric and I "celebrated" spring tonight with chicken salad for dinner-- our first summery meal of the season. Chilled sandwiches, windows open, fresh air blowing through the house. Thank God for new and changing seasons, huh?

Happy Feet

I cashed in on one of my last birthday presents this weekend. Melanie got me a gift certificate so we could get pedicures together, and we both fully expected to wait until some time in April before pretty toes were necessary... but then summer came three months early. With it being consistently in the 80s lately, we got our pedicures sooner rather than later.

(The last pedicure I got was with Courtney when she was graduating from high school and I was in eight grade. That was approximately ten years ago.)

(I wish I could get a pedicure every week. If I was rich and famous, I'd have someone blow dry my hair every morning while I got a pedicure. Multi-tasking!)

Anyways, it was perfect. They even gave me a Coke which was icing on the cake. The only drawback: my feet are way too sensitive and ticklish. I had to keep a death grip on my knee to stop my reflexes from making me kick the technician in the head. It didn't stop my feet from jumping a few times though... but what can ya do? I tried my best to stay still, although the technician probably wouldn't believe that. She didn't smile much.

Can you see that death grip and my grimace/laugh?

So now my feet are fancy and smooth for the first and only time of this spring/summer, thanks to Melanie!

Ice Cream > Running

Pretty sure everyone can agree with me on that. (This is also #11 on my list of why I love Deric: when I tell him I don't want to go to the gym and I'd rather go get McFlurries, he says yes before I can finish my sentence.)

Anyways, our plan to go workout as usual was quickly thwarted at the mention of ice cream. We were in the car and headed to Mickey D's in less than a minute. And then we saw the bright lights on over at the high school's baseball field, so we caught the last inning of the game. Even though we weren't there long, it was still fun to sit and enjoy the perfect spring weather. Next time we'll plan this better so we actually see the game. And next time, we won't even pretend that we're gonna go to the gym. ;)

Ten

I was cleaning up one of our extra bedrooms today and I found a note I had written to Deric while we were dating. It was in a plastic container, inside an old backpack of Deric's, folded into fourths and worn at the creases.

It's entitled "10 reasons I'm glad you're in my life". (I'm thinking we hadn't said "I love you" at this point.)
1. Even during the worst times, you make me smile.
2. When I'm with you, I feel beautiful.
3. You believe in me.
4. You encourage and challenge me, especially in my relationship with God.
5. I know you want what's best for me.
6. You're always fun to be around.
7. You know when to listen and when to give advice.
8. You're wise and a good leader and I respect you. [That's technically two reasons.]
9. You're an example of godly character.
10. You're one of my best friends.

Each of those ten reasons are still true today, almost three years later, but I could probably add about a hundred more to the list!

Mind Your P's and Q's

I love teaching preschool. It's so easy to create steal from Pinterest activities to go with each letter/ holiday/season/theme you could think of. Even better, learning is still fun when you're three and four. We spend entire afternoons outside on the playground, running, climbing, and searching for bugs. And there's no guilt in that-- it's the best learning environment around.

Last week was the letter P. We were a happy bunch of paper plate pirates (a la Pinterest) minus this guy, who refused to draw a smile, saying "Piwates aw mad guys!"

This week was the letter Q, which is trickier than P. We made crowns since Q is for Queen, but the boys were kings 'cause only girls are queens (and princesses), but 'queen' is what starts with 'Q'...so we'll see if any of them actually understood this one.

Next week, rainbows and rabbits! Much easier to explain than gender-specific royal titles. ;)

Projects, Prom, Pizza and Popcorn

Friday, the start to our weekend. (Deric works Sundays, so Fridays are off.) Sonic Happy Hour for strawberry limeades. Rain, rain, rain, followed that night by a severe thunderstorm and ten seconds of hail. Putting up the shelves Deric built for me. Movie date to the dollar theater to see The Muppets (no good, btw).

(Friday: popcorn). Saturday, more projects! No rain, so we spent the morning/afternoon in the garage. Peeled paint off an old shutter (?) we found in the garage. We have a plan for that guy. Started sanding the dresser I got from my parents' garage. Made SkMuffins for brunch (ok, not as catchy as McMuffins, but sorta fun to say! Plus, our version tastes way better.)

Saturday night, Prom of the Stars. Our church puts on this event in downtown Knoxville for the mentally and physically handicapped. Biggest party I've been to in a while. Look real close and you can see a looong conga line.

Saturday night, Jet's Pizza with two kids from our youth group. Sunday: comfort food for lunch, followed by a nap on the couch. Championship game for the church league team. And to round off a great weekend, I ran three miles tonight! First time since before Christmas!  

I should also mention that within one weekend, we had 70 degree days and we had snow flurries. Thank you, Tennessee. ;)