Summer in Bloom!

Spring Break makes the perfect prep for Summertime!

A week's worth of sleeping late, lazy mornings, afternoons at the pool, staying up late, and hanging out with friends!

This is the first year since before I had children that it's really felt like Spring Break. Beforehand, my babies were just babies and everyday was relatively the same. Yeah, we had 2 days a week last year of school, but it wasn't really enough to make Spring Break THAT much different.

And this year we've done Spring Break type things! Because my babies really aren't babies anymore. They're turning into little people who can handle going to the movies and even sleepovers!

Yesterday we met up with my friend in town from Pennsylvania again at a pool. It was perfect! It was a pool belonging to a gym that was in a covered Lanai. It was heated and very warm! I would have been able to do maybe 1000yds of laps in that pool before puking it was so warm, but it was perfect for lazing around in it and apparently perfect for repeatedly jumping in off of the side!

The kids had a blast! And it's been great to get back in the pool a couple of times this week to brush up on their swimming skills. My Coop-doop can swim!! I mean really swim. All over the pool, head under water, no floaties... it's amazing! I mean I realize that it isn't a big deal or anything, but its one of those things that being his mom I'm super proud of him. :) Gracie is more skeptical of the water. She will do her thing with a jacket on. She did try it without the jacket a couple of times yesterday, so she'll probably be swimming by the end of the year.

And you know what that means... I may actually get to lounge by the pool some this year too!! WHOO HOO!!

It's just really hit me that they're growing up this year!

Of course Cooper wanted Ben to come and spend the night with us and the kids figured the whole thing out! :)

Now Ben has never spent the night away from his mom before. So she was a little scared. :) Isn't it funny how the fears that we have for our children 9/10 they don't. I mean you never know. She was afraid he'd freak right at bedtime or in the middle of the night and she was well over an hour away from us at her mom's. But he seemed fine, so we gave it a shot and he had a blast. My kids are used to it from spending the night at just about everyone in my entire family's house as well as Adam's.

They woke up this morning and have been playing non-stop!

It also occurred to me yesterday how cool kids can be about other kids. I mean when you think about it, Cooper and Ben don't know each other. Sure they've played together on and off several times throughout their lives, but they most likely don't even remember it. It's Lisa and I that are friends. We put our kids together and it's as simple as this:

"You like Spiderman?.... Me too!! "

And that's it... they'll spend hours together as if they've known each other for years. Like they're BFF's! :)

And with little people they're so honest and literal. Ben spending the night with us last night was decided on a whim. So he borrowed some pj's and we skipped brushing his teeth. He came into my room last night after putting him to bed and told me that I'd forgotten to brush his teeth. I said that it was because we didn't have a tooth brush, but that it would be ok to skip it just for tonight.

Well his response was, "But... I'll get a scar in my mouth." I thought that was funny. That was his way of talking about cavities, and I assured him that as long as he brushed his teeth tomorrow night, he'd be fine! :)

And you know, sometimes for me... it helps to break things down back to those basic principles...

You don't want to get cavities.... you brush and floss your teeth.

You want to feel good and be healthy.... you eat your fruits and vegetables.

You want to get faster and stronger.... you focus during each workout to meet your goals!

We know as adults that it's not quite that black and white. It's ok if we skip a day here and there. But the basic principles we learn as a child still hold true.

So it's really enlightening at times to hang out with them... you know, REALLY hang out with them like for a whole week on Spring Break to get back to the basics...

We can all be friends, life truly IS all about having fun and being nice to others, and you just have to do what you have to do to meet your goals.... PLAIN AND SIMPLE! :)

Tomorrow is a long workout for me, physical therapy, early morning swim... you know, the usual. :)

But hopefully from this point forward, Summer will get closer and closer, and we can LET THE FUN BEGIN!!

K :)