That first weekend...

The time has come to finally finish this post I started a week ago. It was at this time last Monday night that I had to walk away from the computer mid-blog to go sit with poor James as he struggled to breathe regularly in his sleep. Little guy has swollen lymph nodes like you wouldn't believe. Fighting something off big time for a week now...feels pretty well during the day, snores like crazy all night, trying to breathe around those golf balls in his neck! I have slept next to him for most of the last week to make sure it doesn't get too bad. We've had good nights and rough nights but now I am back for closure on the month of April.
Hopefully.
I am feeling rather fuzzy and unable to form coherent thoughts (possibly due to easter candy) so we'll see how much of these back-posts I get done! But we will start with this one!

For some reason, the first weekend in April always turns out to be a great one. Maybe because that usually marks the first really warm weekend, or maybe it's because it's so near the start of spring and everything is blooming, or maybe it's because it's usually general conference weekend. Whatever it may be, I am always glad when it rolls around!

It was a slip and slide weekend!
We pulled out the one we got last year and lo and behold, it survived!
James helped to set it up to ring in the warm weather.

While we're in the backyard scene, I might as well tell you that this is representative of what our backyard has looked like since mid-March. Scattered with popsicle wrappers, napkins (used to hold the cold popsicles), corn dog sticks, etc. Toys, of course.
All the things that keep kiddos happy and allow Mom and Dad to work on the garden. This first gardening year is turning out to be rather demanding. Not particularly strenuous or anything, just requiring a lot of time outside, figuring out what works, getting things planted, keeping plants happy while they get used to our backyard, and so forth.
I think it has been really great for our family in more ways than one.
A little independence for all of us.
But then when it's time to be done, we're all hot and tired and the backyard keeps looking like this. Though it's recovered a bit by now. The inside of the house...don't ask.

I took quite a few pictures of the kids playing on the slip and slide. I loaded a bunch of them onto the blog...I'm not sure they are in order and I AM sure there are pictures that are practically identical to others. But I simply kept adding pictures because nothing looks more fun than kids playing slip and slide. And they must be shared.
See?

I love mid-air ones like this.

And faces like this.

Woohoo!

It's a race!

Ben's a brave soul on this thing.
To think, last year he was scared of it.

I love James' body language here.

And his excitement here.


Oh, and...our plums are growing.
Yay.

The pomegranate blossoms are at their very best. When they get like this, Ben calls them, "Real Flowers." Don't know why, guess this is just, in his mind, what a real flower looks like.

The citrus blossoms may not be 'real'...but they are plentiful! Can't wait for the winter tangelos!

This scene makes me sing "What a Wonderful World"

So does this one - - my kids eating veggies.
Haha, we went to store this evening to pick up a few things and realized it was getting on toward dinner time and the kids had earned the movie "Tangled" so we had that to watch and didn't feel like making dinner any big production (do we ever these days?), so we bought ourselves a veggie tray along with some all-natural fruit snacks for dessert (we might have had smoothies too...sounds like us...smoothies belong to all times of the day around here...but I don't remember)

My boys like to be difficult and frown at me every time they know I'm taking their picture.
So, boys, if as adults you flip through photo albums and decide you had a very unhappy childhood, I'm telling you right now...that's all you.

Alright, so...as it turns out, whoever does the whole slip and slide thing took things a step further this year and came out with a triple dipper slipper.
I...don't think it's called that.
But I call it that.
Call it that.
Anyway, we are just so festively excited for the warm weather and we needed a special event for in between conference sessions that particular weekend so...even though we had another one that worked okay...we added to what now appear to be a collection.
James sets up again...

Bethany gets the pool ready...and...

Introducing...
the...
Triple Dipper Slipper!

Woohoo!
(again...)

Ben and his slip and slide face do not discriminate.

There's a good slide if I ever saw one.

It made it even better when Daddy gave a push.

Wall of water.

Oh.
And there were ice cream cones.
And yes, James got sick afterwards.
I am sorry, I am quite particular on what my kids eat. And so often they get junk elsewhere so I feel like I really can't give it here at home. But really, I would like to be the one who gets to give them crap every once in a while. Call me crazy.

Ben savored it.

Bethany enjoyed hers floating in the sandy pool.

Brain freeze!

Brain...something...?

Besides all of our lovely outside time, we really enjoyed conference. The kids watched some and let us watch almost all! It was a great weekend to be together as a family. The kids played so nicely a lot of the time and the weather was wonderful.
We are really at a great point in our family dynamic right now. The kids can really push each others' buttons and it seems sometimes they spend most of their energy on that! BUT, they play together so enthusiastically! And they are fun and energetic and eager. They keep me on my toes and teach me much every day.
Right now, the monitor I have nearby teaches me that James may not quite be out of the woods and I may be sleeping in there with him again tonight.
(sigh)
Oh well. The only thing that really bothers me is when they miss out on so much when they are sick. It is hard to watch them have to spend a day laying around or a night missing out on rest. There is so much to do and explore.
And, around here, apparently, so many slip and slides to make use of!
So, I sure hope he's back at it soon.
In the meantime, we will dream of this lovely sunny day and look forward to more soon to come!