Happy Easter!

All special occasions are more fun with kids. I know I've mentioned I'd stopped paying attention to Halloween, Easter, even Christmas.. Now we are celebrating. As a result, I've come to understand why these traditions are important.. why we celebrate. People come together and share the experience. It's lovely.  I've been waffling about the Easter bunny. I am getting tired of lying to them. They ask so many questions so there is always a series of lies. Jack asked yesterday what the tooth fairy does with all the teeth. Indeed.

As the kids get older, they are more fun to hang out with -- Yesterday we headed to a park in this amazing spring weather we are having. We found a lemonade stand. They were so excited and so were the kids selling lemonade. Notice the stand is made from an old sandbox.

When I took this picture I was thinking that I couldn't believe what Jack was doing. He used to be a little lump of a baby and now he can lead the class in their lesson about the calendar. We were admitted to a private school, btw... a lovely private school .. they are all lovely. They included the bill with the letter of admission -- $17,600. Jack is happier at his school now. I am haunted by the fact that he could have a better experience in a classroom with fewer kids. It may become necessary but he is going to have to stop learning before we make the considerable effort necessary to afford private elementary school.

He has also been attending an after school Lego class at his request. After his first day, I walked in a he'd built nothing. He is easily distracted and I wondered if the environment was too loud for him. I was wrong though. As time passed, he builds bigger and more complicated structures. He likes the class and is proud of his creations.

Last weekend, my dear friend Heather invited us to her family's cabin on Camano Island. We all had a blast. Her nephews were there too so the kids had someone to play with and the adults could relax a bit. This is the part about having older kids that is fun. They are starting to enjoy their freedom but not so much that they don't want to be with us from time to time. Sonia spent most of the weekend bothering Heather's older nephew Archer. Archer's personality is the opposite of Jack -- very alpha. He and Jack got along well and had fun. He and Sonia fought a lot mainly because Sonia seemed to sense his need to be the boss and picked on him. Long term, this is not great behavior but I imagine she'll figure that out.