Spring Break 2016

Spring Break 2016 was half stay-cation and half beach trip.

Jude's school kicked off the break with a precious Easter Chapel followed by a class Easter party. 

We stayed close to home for the start of the break and had several pajama days. The boys and I spent a lot of our time playing with and organizing some Legos.

Later in the week, I packed up and loaded up the four boys to head to paradise...or so we thought. The weather did not want to play nice, but that didn't stop the boys from having fun. Within minutes of pulling in, they had shovels and buckets and were playing under the house. 

When the weather wouldn't cooperate, they made do playing inside or under the house. 

Whenever there was a pause in the rain, the boys and I would hurry down to play in the sand and water for as long as we could. 

The sun tried hard to come out several times, but the clouds won in the end. 

Sweet Theo-boy loved the sand...at first....
It is all fun and games until you eat sand!

I almost threw in the towel and headed back to town since it was not looking good weather-wise for the weekend, but we decided to tough it out and Daddy came down to join us. Rainy days at the beach are always better than rainy days at home, right? 

Well, thank goodness we decided to stay because the weather man was WRONG and it turned out to be the GORGEOUS. 

So glad we didn't bail. It was even warm enough for ice cream...

...and nice enough for some fishing. It was so much fun that no one cared that the fish weren't biting.

 

 

 Beach naps FTW!

Always so sad to have the weather turn nice when it is time to go home. The boys soaked up every last minute they could....playing until the sun went down....building epic sand castles and volcanos. 

 

As the boys would say....Spring Break 2016 was EPIC! A hands-down success.

Growing Teeth is Hard to Do (Crawling too...)

Oh the wonderful adventures of teething! 

Blarg. 

Hard on babies and hard on the mamas too. 

Theo's first tooth popped up March 1st.

And another one on St. Patty's Day. 

As if growing teeth wasn't hard enough, this whole learning to crawl thing and getting the coordination down is tough too. 

Theo loved working on it...

Until he didn't. 

Frustration would often set in if he couldn't make those arms work together with his legs, or if he got stuck in reverse 

....resulting in some sticky situations. 

Mom! Stop taking my picture and rescue me! I'm stuck!! 

Haha! 

Oh, the adventures have only begun, little one. 

The Rest of February

Gee whiz....for a short month, February was full. 

First up, the official end to soccer season! It was nice to get our weekends back, but since Eli showed improvement and skill, we went ahead and signed him up for a spring league that started in March....but the weekends off were nice while they lasted! 

Theo turned 6 months old this month which means lots of gross motor growth. He became a master at rolling and started sitting up more and more. This stage is when the personality really starts to blossom too. Theo loves to play, play, play.....

...and he can go from a happy little guy playing and rolling around to passed out within seconds. Hilarious!

He also figured how to weasel his way out of the bouncy chair, so that toy was retired...along with the play mat. 

 

Why lay down to play when you can SIT UP!

Wintertime in Florida is incredibly short, but typically peaks in late January and February. Lots of chilly days and rain thrown in too. And that means that sometimes you just have to run and splash in puddles!

By the end of the month, the weather started to turn nicer, so we would go outside. Always nice after feeling cooped up during cold or rainy days. Love to goof off with my goof balls!

February was not a healthy one for sweet Jude. He got strep throat, and it knocked him down pretty good. Poor little guy.

...And he got it again a few days after he had been off the antibiotics. Back for round 2...stronger meds this time!

In our house, when you are sick, you get extra screen time. Easier to rest and recover when you have some entertainment, right? Jude was sweet to share with Theo who scooched his way over to see. 

Even though Jonah is our Valentine's Day birthday boy, we didn't forget to make some nice Valentines for classmates and teachers.

Like I said, the winter weather started to turn nicer which meant more and more opportunities to get outside and find some fun and adventure.

Baby toes....so yummy! Even Theo agrees with me.

Jude has been reading up a storm and does not shy away from a challenge. So sweet to see him sharing some Dr. Suess with Theo...and I adore how Theo looks at his brothers. 

Jonah has been doing some big things too. He is so curious about letters and likes to "write" his name. We started practicing J's, and he has also been drawing people. Love watching them grow and learn. It is always so amazing.

These handsome boys and I had a date at the theater. We saw Madeline and ate ice cream afterwards, of course. 

And finally, we ended the month with a surprise celebration for our Leap Day Baby...Grandma! She celebrated her 17th birthday with some amazing women who were so incredibly sweet to throw her a surprise luncheon...in her own home!! They were so sneaky and tricky! And they pulled off a terrific party.

Such an amazing lady to celebrate! And a great way to close out our February.