Spring Break

Last week was spring break, which meant Lucy and Gus were home all week with me. I LOVE my kids, don't get me wrong, but a little bit of absence makes my heart grow a whole lot fonder. About a month ago Gus stopped napping completely. He could make it without a nap, but was super grouchy. If he did take a nap he wouldn't not go to sleep until 9:30, which happens to be the same time I go to bed. I had to deal with his grouchiness and take away the nap. That was rough. REALLY rough! I've been trying to figure out a rest-time routine for Lucy and Gus, but couldn't figure it out logistically. Gus and Judson share a room, so Gus can't have rest time in his room while Judsy is sleeping. We finally got the DVD player hooked up to the television upstairs in the bonus room (that's really what the builders call the extra room upstairs). One movie is the perfect time for rest time and then we don't have to deal with time negotiations. For example, Lucy will write the time she can get out of her room down, but then be all, "Ohhhh, I thought you meant three-zero-zero, not three-three-zero." She's a crafty one. Last week we instituted rest time. It was so great. Lucy and Gus can play in the bonus room and watch a movie, I can be downstairs, Judson can sleep. Everyone wins. It's a beautiful thing.

We spent our spring break potty-training Gus. He really wanted his Escalade back. It was being stored at my mom's house. We told him he could have it back if he didn't have an accident all weekend. He hasn't had an accident since last Wednesday. That was a good time. We had some friends' kids, who happen to be our kids' friends, over to play for the afternoon. We walked down to the park, Gus pooped in his pull-up, so we had to walk back home and change. He was pretty embarrassed. Their oldest boy, who he adores, was all, "Gus pooped? In his pants? UGHHH. And we have to leave the park now?" It was brilliant. I wish I could say I paid him to say that, but seven year olds say the darndest things. I think it worked, Gus hasn't had another accident since.

On Thursday night we drove to Dave's parents house. On the way down we stopped in Winston-Salem to see an old friend from college. He and his wife moved to NC a year before we did. He just opened an ice cream shop. It was fantastic. So impressive. It was great catching up with him.

The time at Dave's parents house was amazing. I love going there now that our kids will actually sleep there. It's like a mini-vacation. Dave's mom and I went shopping without the kids! There should be about fifteen exclamation points after that last sentence. I cannot remember the last time we did that. Probably before we had Lucy. It's been a good while. We got to see Dave's dad perform in the Resurrection Trail for his church. He did great. We saw Dave's aunt and uncle, and cousin, and his grandma. We had amazing food. The kids had so much fun. Gus cried because we had to leave.

On Sunday our church had an Easter outdoor service at Koka Boothe Amphitheater. It was the first time since we've gone the past five years that there was just one service, and there were about 3,000 people there. It was so neat. We had mom and Jim over for dinner afterwards. And Gus got his Escalade back.

The kids go back to school tomorrow. I'm gearing up for Judson's birthday party next weekend. The little guy is going to be one on Saturday. Amazing.