How to Start a Butterfly Garden

May 28, 2018 No Comments

Our county’s Master Gardeners group maintains the gardens at one of the parks in town. As part of the park, they have an area that is designated as a butterfly garden. We started taking our kids to this park early last summer when the ‘hunting painted rocks’ craze was raging. This park was a hotspot for painted rock activity! In any case, my kids (and I) fell in love with the butterfly garden. I started to think about if it would be possible to start one at home.

Around the same time as all of the rock hunting activity, we were gifted a new-to-us swing set. We already had a swing set, but ours had not fared very well on the move from our old house to the new one. It seemed wasteful to just chunk it to the curb, so my wheels started turning on a way to repurpose the set. Our yard has very little area that can be considered full sun (which is most of the time awesome, not so much when starting a garden!) I thought we might be able to turn the swing set into a hub for our butterfly garden, and had a vision of vines growing over the top of the slide and up the wooden uprights.

Getting Started

Round 1

We pushed the old swing set into the sun and against the fence. I enlisted my husband’s help to get the ground torn up around it and install a border. We ran chicken wire up the slide (for a vine to be determined later!) and replaced the swings with hooks for hanging baskets.

I started this endeavor very late in the summer last year, and my first go ’round was an epic fail. I chose a few plants I liked and a vine that I knew butterflies liked (a passion vine!) My hanging baskets burned up in the hot July sun, and my passion vine was planted way too late to gain any traction. It was not what I hoped it’d be. I shared a picture of what it looked like after last year’s failure here.

I decided this year we’d start early, do our research, and attract those butterflies!

Round 2

My oldest son and I Googled information regarding butterfly gardening in Texas. If you live in another region of the country, a quick Google search should provide a list of plants that will do well in your area! I’ll share what has started working for us. I’ve included a link at the end of this post to a helpful resource that I started with!

Here’s how our butterfly garden is looking right now. We are just getting into the hotter days of the year, and several of these plants should be taking off soon! I’ll update when they get larger, but wanted to go ahead and share so you can go ahead and get after it too.

I’ll break it down left to right so you can see what we’ve got going on!

The Plants (and Visitors!) in Our Butterfly Garden

On the Slide:

My mom and dad have a passion vine that reseeds every year. This year, they’ve had several sprout up around their yard and offered to allow us to attempt to transplant some for our butterfly garden. I hadn’t decided what vine I was going to put on the slide, but since these were going to be weedwhacked anyway I thought, “Why not?”

The passion vine is a host plant for the Gulf Fritillary, meaning it is what the caterpillars feed on. I’ll be real honest. Until researching butterfly gardens I hadn’t given much thought into whether or not caterpillars were finicky eaters. Turns out, some are.

The little guy in the pictures above either hitched a ride on one of the transplants or was laid very shortly after planting here. The pictures of him are only a few days apart. They grow fast! I’m hoping my plants can keep up with him. He’s already stripped one and has moved on to another. The plants had a bit of a shock when I moved them, but two have started putting on new growth! Hopefully he’ll move on to the next phase of his life soon, and my vines will have a chance to recover before the next one shows up.

The Ladder:

At my last house, I had a wonderful blackberry vine. As I mentioned earlier, we have very little sun in this yard – which is a bummer if you want blackberries! I decided to give the blackberry vine a shot on the ladder, knowing that it may ultimately be overrun by caterpillars. I’m not using any chemical pest control in this area (because caterpillars = butterflies!) so if it goes, it goes. But I will say, so far the caterpillars have stuck to their preferred host plants.

To the left of the ladder I’ve planted an Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii). I hear they don’t love clay soil, but my nurserywoman convinced me to give it a shot. So far, so good. There’s one species of caterpillar hanging out around the buds of this one, and my research suggests it’s that of a southern pink moth. I’ll see how much damage these guys do to my flowers before I decide how badly I want to see a southern pink moth. (There’s seriously like 10 of these little suckers at least! And it’s very strange – they eat at the bloom instead of the leaves! If you have tiny black spots, aka caterpillar poo, on the leaves of your salvia, check the blooms for these guys.)

Just to the right of the slide, I’ve planted a milkweed I found at the master gardeners’ plant sale. I know you need quite a few to attract monarchs. But my plan is just to start slow and see if it will reseed next year before I buy a bunch of them! Also, I had no idea how large those guys got!

My husband put his cacti on top of the platform so that they will be a) getting great sun and b) inaccessible to our boys/dogs. We actually have had them bloom in the past, so if they do, they’ll be another nectar source.

The Middle Ground

In the middle of the swing set we’ve got hooks for hanging baskets. I’ll take a look around now that it’s getting warmer for a few more nectar plants to put up there.

In the main area of the bed just to the right of the platform, we were able to score a perennial lantana from my husband’s mom. I’m excited to see if it’ll do well here – hers usually get pretty large by the end of the summer and is covered in butterflies!

In the front of the open area, the large bushy thing you see is a bronze leaf fennel. This was purchased as a small starter plant, and again, I had no idea how large this would be! It sends up new fronds nearly every day. But this fennel is where a lot of butterfly action happens.

The Fennel

So far on the fennel, we’ve seen a green caterpillar with white stripes (I’m pretty sure it’s just a moth!) and an abundance of black swallowtail action. I am fascinated by these butterflies, and I was even able to see – and photograph – this little lady lay her eggs here! (Which have since hatched. I brought one frond with an egg inside so the boys and I could be on baby watch!)

The Dill

Also in the center area of the garden are several dill and parsley plants. We sowed seed for these early in the spring, and have quite a few moderately sized plants. Our very first visitor (a black swallowtail caterpillar) was on one of these dill sprouts. I actually went out one morning to relocate one of the small dill plants – and couldn’t find it! It had been stripped clean. I was able to find the culprit on a nearby dill, where he stayed until he was very, very fat. He went missing while my family was on a camping trip, and I’ve been telling myself he went off to pupate and NOT to be fed to a cardinal baby.

We’ve since had another black swallowtail caterpillar hang out in our parsley, and several of my butterfly friend’s eggs have hatched.

I think these guys are so fun. Did you know that if you poke a black swallowtail caterpillar they shoot out tiny orange horns and emit an offensive smell? Me neither! But now we do.

The Other Herbs

Like the blackberry, there were a few herbs I’d been wanting to have around. I decided to go ahead and take a chance and put them in with the butterfly garden. If the caterpillars end up liking them, next season I’ll find a new spot.

I planted a lemon thyme in the front of the open area so that I can run my hands through it and smell its delicious lemon scent. One of these days I’ll see if there’s a dish I can cook with it, but I honestly just wanted it to be able to smell it! In the galvanized tub on the right of the open area I put a chocolate mint plant. Also for the smelling, but for the mojitos and cooking too! So far, the caterpillars have steered clear of both of these plants.

Coming Soon

I’ve sown some purple coneflower seeds throughout this area, so I’m hoping to see those guys coming up very soon! They (along with the lantana) will be great nectar plants for the butterflies we hope to attract. We will also be finding ‘the perfect sitting rock’ for butterflies to bask on. The butterflies will also need a shallow muddy area, as that is where they will sit to drink water.

On the Right

You can see in this photo a better shot of the mint in the tub. It is true what they say – it spreads fast, so unless you want a bed of it, contain it! You can also see some of our random dill plants from seed sprinkled in there.

In front of the post, I planted a blue mistflower. This one should grow considerably and be a wonderful nectar source as well. Most of the nectars I’ve got planned like the heat, so they should be showing off soon.

Right beside the galvanized tub we’ve planted Turk’s cap. This one will also be much larger and a nectar source once it reaches maturity. In the meantime while there’s still empty space around it, I placed another of the milkweed I got from the local plant sale in this area. Along with some dill, of course. So much dill.

The Rewards

So far, this year has already been a success in my book. We’ve attracted several species of caterpillars, so I’m certain once our nectars get going we will be seeing butterflies regularly. My kids and I so far have observed butterfly eggs along with super tiny baby caterpillars and have watched them through many stages of their caterpillar lives. We have yet to see one form (and come out of) a chrysalis, but I think the odds are in our favor.

My 6 year old son checks on “our friends” every day, and my 3 year old is particularly interested in ‘the spiky guy.’ This has been a great little biology experiment for us, and not to mention a visually pleasing addition to our back yard.

Click the image below to print a free butterfly garden planner!

If you’re looking for more summer fun, check out these posts:

Kids’ Summer Reading Challenge

Park Scavenger Hunt

Let me know if you have any questions about starting your own garden! If you do decide to start one of your own, I’d love to see a photo! Check out the resources below for more information and helpful plant lists!

Texas Parks and Wildlife: “So You Want to Start a Butterfly Garden”

Texas Caterpillar ID

North Texas Caterpillars

DIY

Summer Floral Grapevine Wreath DIY

April 23, 2018 No Comments

summer floral grapevine wreath diy

It took me about 10 years of living in my own home to get a wreath on the door. TEN! In 2015, I had a goal to get something on my door for every season. In June 2016, we moved to a new house. At Christmas of that year, I finally made a snowflake door hanger. I made an “everyday” wreath for the door somewhere in the middle of 2017. Once I had something on the door though, there hasn’t been a season that it’s been bare. Part of that is because I discovered I really enjoyed making wreaths – so much so that I began selling them and hosting wreath parties. But it was also because I found out what apparently so many of you already know. Having something on the door drastically changes the look of your porch. It honestly makes me happy when I come home to see our door decor. I usually make burlap wreaths, but this spring I decided I’d try my hand at a DIY floral grapevine wreath.

*This post contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase after clicking one of my links here, I’ll receive a small commission – at no extra charge to you! Read my full statement here!

Floral Grapevine Wreath DIY Supplies

Supplies for floral grapevine wreath diy

The supplies here cost roughly $10 – if you even need to purchase all of it. I already had the spool of floral wire on hand, but you can buy a small pack of pre-cut floral wire pieces for $1. The grapevine wreath was under $5 at Wal-Mart (or get some friends together for a DIY party, and let Amazon send you a pack!), and the flowers were $0.97 per bunch! If I had a Hobby Lobby or Michael’s in a convenient location, I’d maybe use a coupon and spring for some more realistic looking or different style flowers. But to be honest I liked the colors of these anyway!

I decided to wire my flowers in for two reasons:

I want the option of reusing my grapevine wreath frame.
I’m not super confident in my floral arrangement abilities – so non-permanence is a must for me + flowers.

If you’re not concerned about those things or want to save on time, then by all means, bust out the hot glue and stick those suckers on! But know that wiring them is not hard – just a little bit more time consuming than gluing.

Step 1: Whitewash the Grapevine Wreath

The term “whitewash” technically refers to a specific mixture of substances. All I wanted was a whitewash look, so I just mixed white acrylic paint with water to get a less opaque, thinner mixture. I did not want my wreath to be stark white, so thinning the paint helps with that. I don’t have a magic ratio, but I can tell you my cup had more water than paint. It was at least 2:1, but probably more like 3:1. Squeeze some white paint into a disposable cup, add about a half inch to an inch of water, and mix. If you’re concerned – start slow. You can add more water easily – it’s a little more of a hassle and wasteful to have to deal with thickening the mixture! Your mixture should look like white water. It does not take much just to do one wreath!

Acrylic paint whitewash

If you are working indoors or on a surface you care about, be sure to cover your surface with some sort of paper! There will be splatter! I used a 2″ foam brush, but you could use any size that will fit in your cup. Before you paint, press the brush against the side of the cup to drain the excess. Then just paint it on. Try to get into the crevies & spaces, and rotate your wreath a few times so you can see how it looks from different angles! Here’s mine when I was finished!

whitewashed grapevine wreath

Step 2: Attach the Wires

If you’re hot gluing – obviously you’ll skip this step! Your wreath will dry pretty quickly, so now will be a good time to trim your stems to a length that will stick into the grapevine and play around with some arrangements. If you’re wiring, here we go! I’m not a florist and have very limited knowledge of what is proper when it comes to floral tape. BUT. I know that my flowers are hangin’ in there, so if nothing else, this method works!

Trim your flowers to each have a stem about 2-3″ using wire cutters. (You don’t want them all in a big bunch.) Floral tape is self adhering, so it sticks to itself when you press it. Pull out a length of tape, and wrap it around the top of the stem once or twice to get it adhered/started.
Cut a length of floral wire about 8-10″ long, and fold it in half.
a) If your flower looks like this, with several little stems/gaps immediately below the flower, then feed the wire through the gaps:
b) If your flower looks like this, with just a solid stem, then flower:
then open your floral wire back straight and lay it parallel to the stem with the half-way fold in the wire at the top of the floral tape. Wrap the tape around the wire once, then fold the wire back down like this:

Step 3: Keep Wrapping!

Start wrapping the floral tape around the wire and stem while pressing it into itself. You’ll want to move down the flower’s stem as you go, being sure to overlap with the previous wrap. Keep going for about an inch or so, and stop. *I have found it easier to twist/spin the flower than wrap the tape around making a tangled mess. Try some things and find what works for you!
Clip your stem (below where you’ve wrapped), but not the floral wires! Continue wrapping just the wires until you reach the end of the wire/get a length long enough to reach all the way through your wreath with some excess length for securing. If you feel like stopping before your wire ends, just clip the wire when you feel like you’ve gone long enough. Do 1 more wrap past the wire’s end to close up the end of the new stem.

Step 4: Attach your Flowers

Stick your new stem through the grapevine wreath, then wrap it around a grapevine on the back side to secure it.

attach flowers to wreath

Repeat with all of your flowers! Here’s what mine looked like after attaching my whole group of flowers.

floral grapevine wreath diy

I think if you are going for a minimalist wreath this is fine how it is! You could also add more flowers than I did if you do not want to add a sign or letter. I had a letter that I had painted and used on an old wreath (that has since faded and been thrown away, RIP) so I stopped with just those! (And let’s face it – I was kind of tired of the floral tape!)

floral wreath diy

If you try this wreath, please click “tried it” on the original Pinterest pin & show me your picture. I’d love to see what you come up with & hear how it worked for you!! If you’re revamping your whole porch, try out my summer doormat DIY too! The fun doormats popping up everywhere are so cute and really easy to make.

To get my DIY’s straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for my mailing list! Good luck on your project!!

Freebies, Kids

A Day at the Park Scavenger Hunt for Kids

April 9, 2018 No Comments

A scavenger hunt for kids is a great way to explore the world around you. My kids love them. They have minimal exposure to them, but every time we’ve done one they have had a blast. We played a New Year’s Eve game where we hid clues for the kids that lead them around the house finding photos to recap the year. I don’t know if that constitutes a true scavenger hunt, but I’m also not sure what it’d be called otherwise!

There’s also a fun app called “Klikaklu” (click-a-clue for those of you who have trouble with “license plate words” – lookin’ at you dad!) where you can create a scavenger hunt for kids or adults on your phone and share it with friends or family (or make public!) My husband’s family has used this app at our annual Christmas hotel reunion weekend (scavenger hunt + hotel = great fun, if you’re the ones participating!), and my boys have been asking me recently if we could do more scavenger hunts.

I thought it would be fun to make an outdoor scavenger hunt, and what better place to search than our local city park? Having a park scavenger hunt was also a win for me because, to be honest, I sometimes get tired of the same old park trip. We always have fun there, but there is very little way to “mix up” playing on the swings, going down the slides, and looking at/being terrified of ducks. Seriously. Why are they under the park equipment? Go to your home! Wait, is this your home?

In any case, Klikaklu is still under development for Android users, and at this time us Droidies (can we get this nickname to catch on?) can only access scavenger hunts created and shared by others, not create new ones. So I figured I’d just start from scratch and make one up that we could print and take with us. Ditch the phone and play the old school way. Incidentally, it was also a great way to get some quality time in rather than just watching them play. (If you missed the discussion on love languages, read more here!)

What Age to Play?

I made the scavenger hunt for kids ages 3-6. My oldest boys are 3 and 5, and I had both of them in mind when I created the categories. That’s not to say that an older child wouldn’t have fun – they probably would – but the target age group is 3-6. I took a young 3 and an older 3 to the park to try it out, and both of them enjoyed it and were able to participate. I included pictures on the page to make it easier for them to recall what they are looking for. This way they can be somewhat independent as they search. The younger the child, the more “reminding” you’ll have to do as you search, and the more breaks they will need as they lose focus quickly!

Learning Through Play

I’m a teacher by trade, but I very rarely do any “formal” learning activities with my 3 year old. I’m a believer in learning through play and wanted to be sure to include some age appropriate learning opportunities in the game. We were able to talk about a variety of topics throughout the course of the scavenger hunt:

Size/length comparisons

Counting

Color recognition

Physical health – talking about types of exercisers to look for, the reasons people would be exercising and why exercise is important

Imagination

Citizenship – taking care of the park by helping clean up a bit

The kids knew they were learning something, even though it was not explicit. In this picture, he had just found an item and yelled, “I’m a genius!”

And also, isn’t he so sweet in his rain boots!? These are falling apart from his hard use – time for a new pair. Totally off topic, I know, but have you seen the “Hunter for Target” collection that’s coming out?! So cute!

Prepped to Go

Before we went, I told the boys we had a fun game to play at the park and got them excited about participating. We looked at the scavenger hunt page and talked about every box and what the pictures said to look for. I also explained to them that the white boxes were to mark off the items that they’d found. They each picked their writing utensil, and we were on our way. Finny of course wanted a sparkly crayon!

I think that prepping the kids before you leave the house is essential for this activity – especially with the younger ones. If you get out of the car and say, “WAIT! We’re not just playing today!” chances are that you’ve already lost them to the distractions going on around them. After we talked about the scavenger hunt, they knew what to expect and that they had a mission upon getting out of the car. (In fact, my son had an item knocked off before I even had everyone unstrapped from their car seats!)

Ready, Set, Hunt!

As soon as we got out of the car, the boys were ready to see what they could find. They remembered as soon as they saw a squirrel shoot past that they had animals on their list. The race was on! When we got to the play area, I first let them search for things at their will. We, of course, spotted litter very quickly, and they were eager to help clean it up. (Use your judgement here – if you think litter is too gross to touch, take a look around. There’s plenty of litter that is likely not too disgusting. We found a plethora of zip ties – creepy – and left over cracked plastic eggs from Easter hunts. In fact, Finn acted like he’d just found an Easter egg with each piece of trash.)

If you spend much time with 3 year olds, you know their attention span is pretty short. I had no illusion going into the day that we would go and they would be totally focused on the hunt the entire time. We went back and forth between playing and hunting. After they played for a few minutes, I’d either say something like, “Is there a box on your sheet you haven’t checked yet?” (they loved checking items off!) Or, “Oh wow! I think I see something purple!” I wouldn’t point out an item directly, but giving them a teaser like that made them eager to see what I was seeing!

We were able to play, mark everything off our lists, and have a fun morning out of the house. Our total time spent at the park was about an hour, but the hunt could’ve been accomplished in a 30-45 minute trip.

Park Scavenger Hunt for Kids

I created this scavenger hunt in the hopes that my boys and I could have a fun out of the norm activity to do together. I hope you’ll do the same. One thing I didn’t want to come from this is stress – for me or the kids! If they’re not into it, try again another day. If you try it, let me know how it goes! I’m always open to making improvements, and would love to hear if your kids (and you) enjoyed it! Feel free to share the link to this post in your moms groups on Facebook. What do you think about a scavenger hunt for kids of different ages?

Looking for more summer fun?? Try our Summer Reading Challenge for Kids or learn How to Start a Butterfly Garden!

Tag me in your scavenger hunt photos on Instagram if you try it out! @moretimesdesigns #moretimesscavengerhunt

Download

Holidays, Kids

Spring Break Recap

March 19, 2018 No Comments

*This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click a product link/make a purchase from this post, I’ll receive a small commission – at no extra cost to you! View my affiliate statement here.

Spring Break Fun

I started teaching straight out of college, and haven’t stopped since. My husband has been a teacher for the better part of the last decade. We are lucky to be able to enjoy Spring Break each year as part of our scheduled time off. This year was slightly different, though, because we now officially have a boy in school. This was his first true Spring Break experience, and he was so excited for a vacation and extended time at home.

We had an ambitious Spring Break to-do list, and I think we did pretty well in whittling things off of it. We had a fair amount of in-home and out & busy days. I tend to get overwhelmed at holidays because we are on the go constantly for most of the time. This break felt like we had some good time to relax, with some out-of-the-norm activities sprinkled in.

Yardwork

We started out by tackling some yard projects. The weather here has been incredibly nice (and at times downright hot – but I keep trying to tell myself to cherish this “hot” because come August I’ll be wishing for 85!) So we took advantage of the opportunity to get outside and get started on our mile-long to do list.

Lava Rock Bed Be Gone!

The first for Kyle was a big bed of lava rock outside of our back door that’s been here since we moved in. We still aren’t sure what exactly is going to happen with this space, but we were in agreement that “bed-of-rock with weeds” wasn’t it. The boys helped him remove the lava rock, and he made several trips to our city dump for free mulch. Some people frown upon the free mulch – “You just don’t know what’s in that!” … but, for me, free = getting it.

For now it’s been transformed into a mulch bed with our cinder block bench (fresh with new cushions).

Butterfly Garden

Last summer we were gifted a new swing set. We loved our old one, but it did not hold up very well after moving from house to house. There’s a butterfly garden at one of the parks in town, and the kids love it. The boys and I decided we would transform our old swing set into a hub for a butterfly garden of our own. We did not do so well last year with this. I think we got started a little bit late, and by the time we got going, plants were out of stock and it was too hot for anything to be happy out there.

This year I decided we’d get a jump on things, so we went right after school on Friday to speak with our local nurseryman. (We actually worked with his wife this time!) She helped us take a look at our space and our list of plants that the Internet says are good for butterfly gardens to come up with a plan.

We were able to get a few things going, and our plant stand for pots got a fresh coat of paint. There are a few more plants in the plan that will really change the look of things. But I’ll go ahead and share what we’ve got going on so far! I plan to write a post detailing the make-up of our garden once we get it all established!

Update: We’ve had some visitors! Come read about what kinds of butterflies we’ve been attracting to the butterfly garden.

Craft Projects

What break would be complete without craft projects?! Not one of mine, that’s for sure. I was so happy to get a fresh coat of paint on that plant stand – but that wasn’t even one of my planned projects. There were only a few things on my list for Spring Break crafting, and I was happy to be able to fit them in.

Doormat DIY

I have been seeing cute DIY doormats all over social media lately, and I was itching to get us a fresh one. Our old one was a gift from our sweet realtors when we bought this house, which means it was almost two years old. The lifespan of a doormat is not that long. I was excited and nervous to try painting my own mat. Usually stenciling is a task I tackle with confidence and end up disappointed with in the end. However, stenciling on these coir doormats is a dream. No bleeding! What!?

I went back and forth on whether to do a silly saying or something more traditional like a monogram or “welcome.” But I’ve already got a little sign for my house number with our last initial and the word welcome, so silly saying it is. If you can’t have fun on a doormat, what can you have fun with, right?

Now I want to stencil/paint my porch too. Kyle thinks I’m crazy. *Update: If you want to see how I made this, I wrote a quick tutorial for stenciling a doormat.

T-shirt Mania

I recently bought a new Cricut (an electronic die-cutting machine). I already had a Cricut, but just like anything else, it became outdated. The old ones only cut images from cartridges that you had to purchase, so the things I could cut were very limited. New Cricuts cut any image or font you have on your computer. So the cutting world is your oyster. So far I’ve made some vinyl names for steel cups, a few t-shirts, stencils for signs (and my doormat!), and a few other random gifts. If you’ve been on the fence about buying one, or are just now climbing up on the hypothetical fence, do it!!

I wanted to make shirts for my smallest guys since I’d only made a shirt for the oldest. My middle child (the Halloween lover!) wanted a pumpkin shirt in another color, and I still get to pick what the baby gets! I fulfilled the pumpkin request, and put some Drake lyrics on a tiny shirt.

Day Trippin’

We took a few day trips for the kids to do some fun things in neighboring towns. They loved all of them, so the travel time was worth it!

Waco

We live about an hour or so from Waco, and I joined my mom and sister for a trip to Magnolia to experience the Chip and JoJo mania. Each time I’ve been it’s crazy busy and crowded, and I haven’t bought anything. But it’s always fun to get out of the house for a bit anyway! We also hit up Spice Village, which is a cute collection of boutiques in one space. Definitely worth the walk a few blocks over from Magnolia.

Mayborn Museum

My husband and his mom ended up taking the kids to Waco on the same day that I was there. But they did not go for shopping, they were headed to Baylor’s campus to the Mayborn Children’s Museum. We were able to meet up with them after lunch and take on the 2nd floor of the museum. There were many interactive exhibits for the kids, and all three boys found things to enjoy. Their collective favorite was the big water table. Of course! Here they are in the old-timey village learning how to crush herbs.

Epic Waters

The city of Grand Prairie recently opened a large indoor water park, and my family made a plan to check it out over Spring Break. The boys had a blast playing in the water. My oldest was a huge fan of the kid-sized water slides, the 3 year old just kind of “swam” (layed horizontally and walked along with his hands!), and the 1 year old got a kick out of the floor fountains. They all thoroughly enjoyed themselves in their own ways and are ready to go back. It was crowded, but not in the way that makes things un-fun. The facility keeps track of how many people they are letting in at a given time, so there is some level of crowd control. Word of advice if you plan on visiting – buy tickets online before you go! Otherwise, plan on a very long wait outside.

Birthday Fun

Our last out of town activity was a trip a couple hours away to celebrate two of our cousins’ birthdays. The guys got to go swimming in March again (twice in one week!?), and the big boys stayed at the Embassy Suites with their grandparents. Kyle and I took advantage of the kid-free dinner to stop on our way back home and eat our favorite – Pei Wei. Turns out Noles likes lettuce wraps! The trip was mostly great, except for little man terrorizing his brothers the whole way. This can’t be comfy!

I also sorted, packed, and delivered the first of many loads of baby boy clothes to my sister-in-law, who is expecting her first boy. While it’s great to clear out some storage space, and kind of fun to think about getting to be done with the “baby phase,” I did shed some tears while preparing to officially close the door on that stage of life. I am super happy that the clothes are going to a family member and I’ll get to see some of them again, though!!

Springbreaksgiving

And of course, we celebrated Springbreaksgiving. If you’re not sure what that word means, go read this post! We had a lot of fun, and though I was insanely worried, we had enough food! I made Kyle run out at the last minute to buy some totally unnecessary chicken strips for the kids, but I was honestly convinced we were going to invite all these people over and run out of meat. A few expected guests were unable to come, but I think we probably would’ve been okay even if they had! The kids had a great time playing, and we enjoyed the time with our family, friends, and neighbors. The weather was great, and the food was delicious. I spent much of the day Wednesday and all morning Thursday cleaning like a madwoman, but my house is already back in post-tornado condition. Oh well, what can ya do?

Almost Summer

The only silver lining to Spring Break ending is the 2nd half of the spring semester generally flies by. I’ll wake up soon and be stressing out about not having enough teaching days left in the semester before my students take their final exam.

Life keeps getting more and more fun as the boys get older, and I’m excited to get into summer and make more memories as a family, both in and out of the house! What did you get accomplished this Spring Break?