Springy Thoughts

It is May already!  How did that happen?  It seems like we have been super busy, but don't have very many pictures to show for it.  Since there haven't been any big major events but I am due for my once-a-week-minimum blog post, this is going to be one of those random, stream-of-consciousness posts where I ramble away about things that are probably only interesting to me.

The "blossomy" part of spring is almost over at our house.  Only a couple of our trees still have blossoms, and they are falling fast.  The blossoms looked so pretty on this tree the other day with the sun shining through them, I had to snap a picture.  

I still like this tree when it is green, of course.  But no matter how pretty the green, it can't compare to the purpley-pink splendiferousness that this tree gives me for all-too-short of a time every spring.  Just put your nose in there and breathe in:

Ahhhh.  The other day I was out for a run and ran by a yard with a whole bunch of lilac bushes.  That sweet, sweet smell was so thick it felt like I could barely breathe...so of course I had to slow down and breathe it in slowly.  I love summer, but I miss the blossoms when they are gone.  

Speaking of running....my next half marathon is only two weeks away so I am doing quite a bit of running lately.  Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't rain on race day!  I was on another training run today at lunchtime while Preston ate with the kids.  It must have been high school lunch time too, because a couple of crappy old cars kept honked at me as they drove by.  I even had some silly 16-year-old yell out the window  "HEY, ARE YOU SINGLE?" as they drove past me.  I am sure the poor boy was pretty disappointed when he passed me and saw that he was yelling at an old woman who hasn't been single since around the time he was getting born.  I had to laugh.  I guess it is nice to know that he couldn't tell from the back of me that I am old enough to be his mom.

Speaking of being old enough to be a high-school kid's mom...how the heck did that happen? It really doesn't seem like that long ago that I was in high school and college, but it really, REALLY was a LONG time ago.  The other day Arden was cleaning her room out and found a bunch of my old art stuff from college that I had stashed in her closet.  (Did you guys know I was briefly an art major?  Crazy but true.)  It was fun looking through some of my old stuff, but it scared me a little that I had no memory AT ALL of drawing some of the pictures.  For example, why in the world did I draw a picture of this??

I have no recollection.  It is so weird to me that I can't remember the thought process of the person I used to be that led me to painstakingly draw...a mixer?  It was not even my own mixer since I didn't own more than a hand mixer until after I got married.  Wha??  

I did have a bunch of blank pages in my old HUGE old sketchbooks, and the girls are having a fun time making some very big pictures and paintings that I now have no idea what to do with.  Dax has requested I draw him a picture of Yoda for his birthday, so I am trying to remember how to do that kind of thing this week.  

Soccer is in full swing.  All three of the kids are playing, so that keeps us busy with three practices and three games each week.  The weather has been great, until last Saturday when it was only about 45 degrees and POURED rain.  All.  Day.  Long. The league we play in only cancels games if there is lightning, so the kids bravely played soaking wet.  I think the running helped keep the players warm, while the spectators shivered on the sidelines:

Tomorrow the forecast is for sunny skies and 82 degrees.  Nothing like a 40-degree temperature swing in one week.  Gotta love spring in Utah.

The weather was SOOO nice today we decided to go to our first baseball game of the year.  The Bees won by a landslide.  Arden still had some birthday money to use, and decided to splurge on some cotton candy of her very own.  She was nice enough to share with her brother and sister, who quickly became her best friends and biggest fans, and swarmed all over her with their mouths open like little baby birds.  Dax was excited to get a new hat, since his old baseball hat was too small for his ever-expanding noggin.  Oh, and he lost another tooth!  Still so handsome!  

Another thing about spring that is nice is the longer days.  I love them....except that Cora won't even start thinking about going to sleep until it is pitch black dark outside.  And once she starts thinking about going to sleep, it is about another hour before she finally gets there.  And if Dax wakes up in the morning and it isn't pitch black dark outside, he thinks that it is okay to get up.  So Cora is dorking around in her room until 10 or 10:30 p.m., and Dax is waking up at 6 a.m.  Not cool.  Hopefully we can get it figured out soon, or I am going to be painting some windows black.

I got the May calendar for Cora's preschool class, and her preschool graduation is only about three weeks away!  Guys, will it be weird if I cry at a preschool graduation?  I can't believe my preschool mom days are almost over!  *sniff*  *sniff*  Cora is so excited to be a kindergartner, but I hate to close this chapter.  Sigh.

Also, I may just cry a little because I am kind of dreading having all of the kids home every day all day together.  Today was early out, so I ended up taking all three kids to the store this afternoon to pick up a couple of things.  It was a total fiasco.  Cora and Dax were playing tag around the produce section while Arden asked me to buy Pop Tarts and Oreos and Cheetos and seemed shocked that I would be so cruel as to refuse.  I ended up putting Cora in the baby seat in the cart (which she still fits in nicely despite the fact that she is 5 years old), which she was not too happy about.  I am so, soooo excited to get to take them all with me every time I need to go shopping this summer!!  

However....it will be super nice not to have to rush through the mornings though.  And I am looking forward to having no homework to remind the kids about...

Maybe summer won't be so bad, after all.  But I am going to enjoy spring while it lasts!