Perfect Day

Yesterday was a vacation day for the kids. I find that I really love it when the kids are home from school. In fact, they are out of school so frequently it feels like a really long, slow week when they actually go for 5 days. Kinda sad. I sure don't remember getting out of school as often as my kids do. But I really do love it. I could handle a 4 day school week. I know some districts have adopted that plan to save money. I think I'd jump on board if Beaverton ever decided to do just that. Or maybe I could just home school. Nope. I think I might go loony. And I'm just not smart enough. I'd damage my kids for sure.

Ivy had a cowgirl birthday party to go to yesterday morning. Me and the other kiddos hung out at home until she was done. We went and picked her up just after lunch. Rylie had made plans to go hang out at the mall with her friend Ellie, so we went and dropped them off. That's the first time I've actually let her stay at the mall without an adult. I gave strict instructions for them to not talk to any weird people. Ellie had her cell phone. Still, it was a little strange knowing that my oldest child is old enough to do things like that.  It does help that Ellie is 14 and I trust both of them.

Sophia and Eli wanted to go play tennis, so I dropped them off at the tennis court and then took Ivy to the park right next door. The weather was gorgeous. A little cold, but the sun was shining. It made me excited for Spring and even more excited for Summer! Ivy was obsessed with mastering the monkey bars. She wanted so badly to do it by herself, but her arm muscles just wouldn't let her, so I spent the whole time helping her across. She also wanted to swing all by herself. Meaning, I wasn't allowed to push her. At all. She wanted to pump and see how high she could go, without Mom's help. At this I thought I might get a little reading in, but she kept shouting at me to watch her. Every time she saw my eyes go to my book she would yell. It made me smile. I had wanted to sit and read " A Year of Living Biblically" while she played, but it wasn't in the cards. Ivy wanted my undivided attention and I came to a quick conclusion that it was more important to give her just that for a half an hour. We had a great time and the constant smile she wore on her face told me that I made the right choice.

At 4:00 we put on our swim suits and went over to open swim at Conestoga. The kids love the water slide. I love the warm water in the kiddie pool. Though I probably don't want to know why the water is so warm. Both Eli and Ivy did great practicing their arm strokes. Sophia went over into the big pool all by herself and passed the swim test without my knowing. She had to do arm strokes from the shallow end to the deep end, without pausing to doggie paddle, and then flip to her back and backstroke all the way back to the shallow end. This allowed her to go anywhere she wanted in the big pool and jump off the diving board. It also allowed her to get a big floaty to use in the deep end. She was disappointed that just when she went to get her floaty they told her that all floaties were being taken out of the water for the evening...the pool was about to close. But she was so proud of herself for passing the swim test. I love her determination and confidence to try things that are new and a little scary. She now wants to join the swim club. I think it would be awesome for her, so I'll be looking into that.

The kids had a great time hanging out together. It was really fun to watch them play swimming lessons and life guard. I had a blast chasing Ivy around the pool and listening to her scream in delight and a little bit of fear as I would get close enough to actually grab her. As we were getting out of the pool Sophia said, " Wow Mom, if you want your kids to love each other, you just need to bring us swimming more often!"

If that's all it takes I will gladly fork over the money for a yearly pass!

We ended the night by watching "Despicable Me" with the whole family. My favorite part was listening to Matt laugh hysterically. He thinks it's weird that I don't laugh out loud during funny movies. I just never have. Call me boring. Matt does. Then he laughs at me for not laughing after he's done laughing very loudly. I think he's weird.