Spring 2021

Spring was much like the winter.  School, playing at home, getting outside when the weather started getting warmer, and playing soccer for the first time.  We had to choose between baseball and soccer but I signed them up for both in case one got cancelled due to Covid things.  It came down to soccer since the town baseball restrictions wouldn't allow the parents in the stands to watch (you had to sit past the outfield) and the kids were going to masked the whole game.  Soccer did have some precautions in place, but the boys didn't need to wear masks while playing so we decided to give soccer a try for the first time.  Here are some pictures of some of our spring adventures:

Playing with a Bakugan in the tree in the back yard.  The boys have really enjoyed climbing high up into the trees in the yard.  It makes me nervous, but they take their time and seem to be as careful as they can be about it.  One day Corban was really high up and he said "I feel alive up here!  It's like I'm in heaven!"

I can't remember what Gabriel's class was
celebrating here but here they are outside together. 
Maybe Easter?

And someone painted their faces.  Scary bunny?

I got to go with Corban's class on a field trip to Wonder Universe
(the children's museum that has a picture of
Corban examining X-rays hanging outside)

Gabriel (and then Corban) gets lots of hand me down clothes (so thankful to not really need to buy him anything except pants).  This shirt was from the son of his former (and Corban's current) kindergarten teacher.  He knows that she likes Michigan so he put this on his bear and asked me to send her a picture.

We had an Easter egg hunt at our house with friends.  We colored eggs and then the kids went in the yard and searched for plastic eggs.  We tried the idea of giving each kid a specific color egg to find so that we could make it harder for the older boys.  They ended up having lots of fun!

Making spring time cookies during a visit from Grandma Cheryl

Easter Morning

Out for Easter Dinner

Corban was so happy to eat one of his favorite foods, fried chicken

Day trip to the Roanoke Children's Museum (when they go with me they always want lunch at the Jimmy Johns across the street.  When they go with Taylor they always want to eat at the Roanoke Wiener Stand)

Baseball is back!  Go Braves!

I don't know how the soccer season went by and I didn't get any pictures of Gabriel.  Here are some of Corban though:

 

First Day

Looking tough

Playing in a game against his school friend, Lane

For some time Gabriel has been wanting a basketball hoop.  Unfortunately we don't have a great place to have one where the ball won't go rolling down our steep driveway and into the street.  As a combined birthday and Christmas present a few months before Aunt Jessica got Gabriel a hoop, so when Gammer and Pop Pop visited and the weather was warmer Taylor set it up with his dad.  That was perfect because Pop Pop knows a lot more about basketball then we do and taught them the correct way to dribble and shoot.  As I am writing this (November) they are both signed up to start their first season of basketball in a few weeks

Cool rope bridge that Taylor and his dad made connecting
the tree house and the large tree across the yard.

Corban could sit at that Lego table all day.  He makes
up some very elaborate and creative stories

Missing teeth

When you go to the book fair you just have to get the book about
kittens and what Corban was calling "a jaguar notebook"

Daddy talking to Corban's class about what it means to be a pastor.  When he did this talk for Gabriel's class a couple years before he got each child in the class a little sheep stuffed animal, but when he talked to Corban's class it was past Easter and he couldn't find them

Legos at school wearing his Darth Vader hat.  As I write this, he put that same
hat on this week at school when the weather started turning colder again

Mother's Day at Cracker Barrel.  They got me an oven mitt and mug from Disney
(more on that in the next couple of posts!)

New PJs from Gammer (she's the best at buying cool PJs)

Gabriel finally got to have a violin recital that wasn't on zoom.  Another student's family let everyone come to their beautiful home in the mountains.  He was nervous but did such a wonderful job (even though none of us realized that his shirt was buttoned a little crooked until afterwards).  He played one song with Taylor and then they did a really neat thing of having all of the kids of different ages play Twinkle Twinkle together

Watching Gabriel play violin

Looking so grown up

 Next posts will be about Disney!