Easter 2018 and Papa's Red Stove

Easter this year was SO busy. 



Sunrise service with both sets of grandparents, breakfast at La Madeleine, Easter egg hunt at Bachman Lake park, then a birthday celebration back at our house with another egg hunt. 















We enjoyed watching the planes land at Love Field.



And THEN Papa came over to reveal the new kitchen stove he made for the kids!!!  We were so excited. 



Here is the "before" of this project... free trash in someone's front yard a few weeks ago. 




And here is the after!  Papa and Nonnie worked hard on this, and it shows. 



The kids are so excited to have a nice play kitchen that is INSIDE. 



Though, I suspect we'll move this outside when the time is right, so they can make their sand creations with it. 



Papa made it durable enough to last a few years outside. 



Thank you, Papa!!!

Sid's

I used to cut the boys' hair.  Those were the days. 



$25 for the clippers and then every haircut was free.  Daniel and I, working together, could knock out a haircut in about 3 minutes.  But... I think those days are over. 




Now the boys--even Charlie--want to go to Sid's. 



Sid's barbershop has been around (under other names, of course) since the 50's. 



It was owned by his father, and his uncle also worked there until recently. 



It's old-timey, but with random modern products on the old wooden surfaces of the counter tops.  There's a magnifying glass there.  



They use it to study the framed city map that leans against the wall. 



And best of all, there are spinny stools.



It's a real treat to go to Sid's. 



The boys sit so still, soaking it up.  I don't know that he cuts many young kids' hair, but he's so good natured with the boys. 




Daniel usually takes them, but this week I took them (for the first time). 



The lollipops are a nice touch.

Tee ball, Over-commitment, and a Full Year Since My Last Post

Ya know how you tell yourself, "I'm not going to over-commit my kids' schedules.  We'll just do one activity at a time," but then you realize between the 4 kids you are actually signed up for tee ball, soccer, ballet, and swimming?  That is me right now.



One of my sisters has been missing my blog.  And Sadie and Pop.  So for those three people, I'm going to start blogging again--because I love them.  And it's fun to look back through the old blog posts, even if I never print them in a book.



Tee ball is intense.  INTENSE.  Fourteen games in 8 weeks, plus practices.  Holy moly what have I done. 



Lucy and Elliot don't hate it.  I mean, they whined and complained the entire way to the initial "evaluation" day and were scared to step onto the field.  But I'm proud of how they've both embraced this inevitability in their schedule! 



They've won the first two games.  Their coach is fabulous.  He's a high school coach and a father of four young kids.  He's patient, but no-nonsense. 













Oliver LOOOOVES soccer. 



I accidentally volunteered to coach his team (with my friend Jen) when no one else would step up.  Watching the college student literally read from the script the YMCA had printed out was painful, and I can't tolerate it another week.  I can read from the script at least as well as that guy.  It's only 5 or 6 weeks anyways.






There's a playground at the YMCA near the soccer fields, which is so nice because the other kids can play while Oliver's having his "soccer-ball" lesson.




Ballet seems to be going well.  Lucy likes it. 



She does it with her friend Lilly.  I'm excited for the recital coming up in 2 months!



That's all.  Thanks for reading!  I'll be curious to see if I can manage to get another blog post written after this one!  We'll see.