Springy Spring Spring

We've done lots of great things lately, but a round-up of springtime photos is in order before I launch into that.

After the boys got those amazing shields and books about knights, Willem was hankering for some armor. Shaun crafted these out of cardboard. Once Willem added the hat, they looked more like robot cowboy chaps.

It always takes me about five times longer to get dinner on the table than I expect it to. These boys are ready to dig into the St. Patrick's Day soda bread.

I made a sort of theme-y dinner because we had to eat anyways, and it seemed like a good excuse to drink a Guinness, which I hadn't had in a while. I waited until three hours before dinner to decide on what I was fixing, and when I ran to the neighborhood Safeway, they were sold out of cabbage. I improvised with a bag of coleslaw mix.

Here we are on a Sunday at Willem's favorite restaurant, the Lakeside Chalet. I'm not sure if he loves it because of the breakfast they serve all day or because of the extensive collection of dinosaurs with huge open mouths that they have available to play with. Probably a little of both.

He was inspired to draw a toothy dinosaur of his own.

One afternoon the boys watched a show that featured the world-record holder for building the tallest house of cards. As soon as the program ended, the boys shut off the TV and raced upstairs to get out our cards. Nels in particular worked for hours over several days trying to build a two-level house. I love it when they do that. It makes me feel much less guilty about the TV-watching.

We watched a documentary on origami, and Willem abandoned it midway to go work with paper at the craft table. Nels watched to the end and then spent the next week littering the house with accordion-pleated papers of various colors and sizes.

While I was at a writing conference last Saturday (more on that weekend later), Shaun was the parent designated to take the boys to a birthday party. I love how methodical and tidy Nels was in wrapping up his brother like a mummy. And Willem's expression of resignation is priceless.

Here is Willem after a typical Sunday morning of racing around the church hallways. He has doused his head in the drinking fountain. We are so happy to go to a church where our kids have other kids to run around with and grow up with. Good people there.

This week has been spring break, and the very grand Martins took the boys for three nights. We're going to pick them up tonight. While they were gone, we had this hail storm:

Also while they were gone, I had this. Because sometimes a girl just needs a giant day-glo margarita. (Oh, in this picture you can see the ring that I mentioned in a previous post.)

Three nights is the longest we've ever been home without the boys. I am greatly relieved to find that I miss them!