Beautiful Day - Finally!

It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun despite the fact that I jinxed myself in the last post.  I went to a parent board meeting for the kid's school early this morning where they talked about pediatric allergies in Tennessee (good information), and why it would be better to "redshirt" younger kids for kindergarten.  I am still pretty sure we are sending them to Kindergarten, but they had good points.  Nothing I haven't heard or considered, but I guess it is valuable to hear it from the teacher/director/curriculum perspective.  The biggest thing seems to be social maturity, especially for boys, and being young to go to college in regards to being able to study well and live independently.  I don't think being 17 almost 18 or 18 almost 19 will really have much influence on how good of a studier the kids are, and I may be delusional but social maturity is really the least of my concerns with my children.  Actually, I really think Tyler is more socially mature than Katie even though everyone says that boys especially need to be the oldest rather than the youngest - he is confident and outgoing, he can sit still and concentrate better than her, he loves listening to stories and lessons and practicing things he has learned, and he prefers the company and classroom environment of older children.  So, I think we are still on go - but I am sure we will have these mental set-backs for the next few months!

Anyway, after that meeting I had a tennis match (I lost bad, but it was great to be out in the sun and warmer weather).  Then, once I got home we were packing up to go to the park with a friend of theirs from school when I got THE call from Lance.  His car broke down on his way to work (see, I totally jinxed it wishing for it to hold on until the Fall).  Ugh!  We had it towed to a garage that isn't open until Monday so we won't know what the story is until Monday afternoon, probably.  What we do know is that it will cost something, and probably a lot of somethings.  It isn't worth much and so we will be in a great debate depending on the cost of repairs as to what we should do.  Our options are pretty limited at this point, especially since trade-in or sell will probably require us to get it running anyway.  We will either fix it and hope it holds out, or get something very cheap for Lance to drive until we can afford to get something more reliable (even just trying to sort out using one car this weekend is difficult).  The problem is that either way we are looking at an expense that we really can't cover.  I have decided though, that we are still going to Disney.  It is not the most responsible decision, but I have been ridiculously excited about it and so have the kids and Lance is still on board as long as I promise not to freak out about money (that will be a hard promise to keep for me, but I am going to try for the sake of a fun, family vacation). 

Step 1 in the "don't freak out" plan was to take Lance to work, and then go to the park as planned without stressing or worrying about it.  Mission accomplished!  We spent a wonderful day in the park blowing bubbles, kicking the soccer ball, having a picnic, and flying kites!  I am a horrible mom and didn't think once about sunscreen and Tyler did get a little pink, as did I.  Katie really does take after her dad and didn't get burned at all beyond some slightly pink cheeks that could have either been wind or sun!  She did seemingly acquire a couple more super cute freckles.  She has them all over the bridge of her nose and on her cheeks and I love them!  We had so much fun just playing outside in the finally warmer weather, and they really do enjoy the company of their friend from school who unfortunately will not be in Kindergarten with them next year (October birthday).  We have started getting the kids together on weekends because her husband works Saturdays, too.  The kids enjoy having a friend with them and someone else to play with other than each other, I enjoy having someone to talk to in between having to pretend like I am a Power Ranger, or telling the kids how to spell every word they can think of, and it is really helpful to have someone to watch the kids if one has to go to the bathroom, wants to play in a different area, etc.  I hope Spring is here to stay! 

Tyler flying a kite!  

We somehow lost the handle to one of them so we could only fly one at a time but Katie was a happy spectator sitting her chair in the bubble zone.