Lucky Boys and fun traditions

This past week was spring break. In an attempt to create some fun without actually going anywhere or spending any money, we invited some friends over. My friend Brooke just had baby #5, so we thought three of the older brothers would enjoy a play date at the park.

We packed lunches and spent some time enjoying the beautiful weather. The boys were thrilled to discover that they had the basketball courts and the tennis courts all to themselves! I; however, learned that if you have five boys at the courts, you need five balls (Robby included). Thank heavens we live a 30 second walk from the park, so we headed back home and scrounged around for a few extra balls. Whew!

Tyler had a great time with so many playmates and I was grateful for the free entertainment! As a bonus, it was St. Patrick's Day, so I couldn't resist breaking out some fun things from my teaching days and we celebrated in true leprechaun style! This picture still cracks me up...but maybe not as much as having 25 of these little cuties and parading them up and down the halls of the school!

(as another fun St. Patrick's Day activity, John took Tyler to the store and came home with Lucky Charms for dessert. We thought it was hilarious that even though Robby had never tasted the stuff, he instinctively knew that the sugary, colorful pieces were way better than the brown crunchy pieces. His high chair tray was left with all the cereal pieces and he kept begging for more.)

On a side note, here is another activity from my teaching days that we have incorporated into our family traditions. It's a Valentine's activity. We did this both last year and this year enjoyed it so much we plan to do it every year. When I was teaching, I gave each student a sealed envelope with a letter and a heart that was cut into five pieces. I gave the instructions that the students were not to open the letter and asked the parents to keep the activity secret. I asked them to write something that they love about their child or something that their child does to make them proud on each piece of the heart. During the week of Valentine's Day I would read one of the pieces of the heart for every child and then had them glue it into place. I loved how their faces beamed when I read each of their pieces. It was one of my very favorite activities as a teacher. It seemed only natural to adapt this activity for our family. Each night we would take turns writing something special about each member of our family. By the end of the week we each had a very special valentine.