Science Fair Weekend.

Our last weekend of Spring Break was spent at the Science Fair.  I could not believe how grown up Ethan looked.  I just kept looking and couldn't decide if I was happy about it, or not.  I was definitely proud though - that's for sure.

 Lucas now insists on getting his picture taken every time Ethan does.  Only, he won't just give me a smile - he has to do some weird pose.  So much personality.....

We were there until 9:30 that night - so incredibly long - but Lucas and I had fun talking with friends and trying to stay awake.  Brian and Kyle were at an art show opening in Seattle - and we barely beat them home.

The next morning we headed to Poulsbo to walk around the waterfront before going grocery shopping.  The boys enjoyed giant donuts.

And we stopped by the Science Center to check out their aquariums.  The crabs were lively - even stabbing some star fish.  Which Ethan felt the need to reenact.

 Later that afternoon we headed back to the science fair - where Ethan discovered he'd gotten a 2nd place ribbon!  So exciting!

 His friend Stasi got a 1st place - and we were excited to see her and one of my ex-students walk on stage to get their trophies, so we stuck around for the awards ceremony.

 As we waited, I had a brief moment of panic when I couldn't find Ethan.  After searching and almost calling in the search dogs, I found him at a middle-schooler's booth.  This just looked like a science fair to me....

 We were sitting through the awards - so proud of our school - when all of a sudden they called Ethan up!  He won an award from the Central Valley Garden Club~  a nice certificate and $10.  All he could think about was how many pokemon cards that could buy....

Afterwards, we met up with the boys at a local restaurant and got one of just about every dessert to celebrate.

 So proud of this kid.  And to think I tried to talk him out of it....

Chelan and Old Friends

One of my favorite people moved to Chelan last summer and I miss her dearly!  So, when we were deciding on our adventures for Spring Break, I figured it'd make a great trip for us to go see her! The boys are great travellers - especially now that they're older and can entertain themselves electronically.

Ethan spent much of the drive taking pictures on my phone and texting Brian and Kyle weird pictures of himself.  Which makes me very thankful for unlimited texts.  For sure.  

 The boys were fabulous in the car, but we were all ready for lunch and ended up in Cashmere at "Country Boy's BBQ" - ohmygoodnesssodelicious!!!!

 The food....  oh my goodness the food.....  so good - and we love any place we can eat outside.  Lucas LOVES to eat outside.

 We got to Amy's house and were blown away by the view - so we had to take a bunch of pictures.....

 So great to see our friend!  She was finishing up planting some seeds and the boys were more than happy to help -   She has an amazing garden to go with her amazing house.  And yes, we'll be headed back for a girls' weekend this summer!

 Amy and I got to catch up while the boys played in the sand and dug around for clay rocks and shells.

 The big rusty chain was also exciting - along with some other odd things they found on the beach.

 After some coffee and cooling off at the house, we went out to a drive-in restaurant with delicious burgers and onion rings - all on the lake with lots of room to run around.

The most entertaining moment was as Ethan was helping me take the food to the table.  He passed a table with a couple of young girls and I heard them whisper and screech, "Oh my gosh he looked at me!!!"  So funny.  But he did look pretty cute.

 We stayed up late talking while the boys slept and then were ready for breakfast the next morning at a local place we go to every time we're in Chelan - Blueberry Hills.  So delicious.

 We were sad to leave, but so thankful for the time with our friend.  Lucas crashed before we even got out of town - so tired.

 A quick stop for some shopping at the Outlets in North Bend (someone grew a couple inches this year), and some good food, and we were on our way home.

What a great adventure.  Though now I think I miss Amy even more than before.  Better go back!

New Friends and Spring Break Shenanigans

The first true day of Spring Break (the first day I got to not go to work), I let the boys go to daycare and I took the day for myself.  I can't remember exactly what I did, but I know I made it to Starbucks for Breakfast - as my picture attests...  The peep is part of an assignment I gave to my students - sort of a Flat Stanley project, but with peeps.  It's a great way that they can share their Spring Break adventures and use a little creativity in the meantime.  (And by the way, the scrapbooks and picture collections this year were hilarious.  One of the funniest was seeing the peep eaten by a Skylander).

I spent the day relaxing, and then we were off to Seattle to meet a new friend, our new roommate Kyle.  A couple months back, one of Brian's twitter friends decided he was up and moving to Seattle to follow his dreams in the gaming industry.  He needed a place to stay while looking for work and getting settled, and we have a huge basement.  We knew how hard it was to make that kind of move - and knew that Brian wouldn't have been able to do it had we not had a place for him to stay when he first moved out, so we offered it up.  I started to get to know him through chat and texts, and turns out he's a really cool guy.
The boys were super excited.  Kyle likes video games and pokemon, so he ranked high on their cool list.

 The video game discussions started quickly and really never ended....  Brian's thrilled to have someone around that actually likes to talk about that stuff.

 Ethan jumped in right away - needing to explain all his philosophies and strategies with his pokey-mon-ing.  The boys adore him and so do we.  He even cooks and cleans - which we all know I am not so talented at....

 The poor guy got a rude awakening into the Sprague zoo - Spring Break meant we  were home a lot, getting up early, and being just plain loud.  2 little boys, 2 dogs, 2 guinea pigs, and a noisy cat - never boring and never quiet...
The first part of the week was pretty relaxing.  Lucas and I made some rockin' pokeymon pancakes - or at least tried to...

 My pikachu needs some work - but to be fair, I had a four year old directing me.....

 The pokey-ball turned out better, but still not great.  Lucas just kept bringing me cards that he wanted me to make - not easy.

 There was a lot of building and creating - which of course means a lot of mess, but that's how we roll in Sprague-ville....

 My favorite part of our home-time of Spring Break was the dance party.  Ethan has got some great moves - didn't even realize.  He danced and danced and danced and had great rhythm and musicality.  Lucas, well, he jumped around a lot and screamed.  Also fun.

We're the Spragues - loud and messy, but we have a lot of fun.  Welcome to the family Kyle - hope we don't scare you :)

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was gorgeous here!  It was the beginning of Spring Break and could not have felt much springier!  We started off the weekend with the annual Easterpalooza at our church.  There were delicious pancakes - which the boys loved squirting syrup all over.

 There were inflatables of all kinds - lots and lots of jumping around....

 And there were our friends, the Williams family.  The kids had a great time running around and I was amazed at how much more independent they all were a year later.  Last year Lucas got out in the egg hunt and just cried.  This year, no problems.  They all just played and played, and when it was time to go, there wasn't too much crying over the fact that we were not willing to wait in the giant line for facepainting...

 The next morning, the Easter Bunny did manage to make it to our house.  He hid all the eggs in the man cave, which became the "Cave of Men" according to the boys.  Which really made me laugh.

 They had fun looking for the eggs and were excited to see what the bunny had left.  The most exciting part was the Pokemon cards.  Which Brian promptly opened and played with.  Apparently the bunny forgot to leave him a pack...

 We headed into church and then went out to my Nana's to drop off some Easter flowers.  I am so mad that I didn't take a picture with her, but it was a quick visit - had to get moving once Lucas decided that the oxygen tubes were kind of a jump rope - and I did not manage a picture.  It was great to see her doing so well and happy.

 That afternoon we invited our friends over to eat with us.  Their dad had to work, but they came bearing great food and big smiles.  The kids played outside all afternoon and we even got to sit on the back deck and eat.

Great people to spend Easter with.  Easter is all about love - loving God and loving the world - and so it was great to be with people we love to be around.  And Lucas really loved the cupcakes too.

 The kids' shenanigans quickly turned to costumed battles - much theatrics and fun~!

 I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed.  Such a relaxing afternoon!

There are moments in life when you just pause and breathe, and realize how very blessed you are.  This was totally one of those days.