April 2017

April means spring break for some of us, my dad's birthday, Eric's birthday, and a few months until SUMMER BREAK.  This is the time in the school year when we start to feel the end is near.  For that reason we need to savor the easy times.

Pippa is a lover and I was able to capture that one afternoon.

Since our family has three different spring breaks, none of which overlap, we have tried to make the most of weekends.  On the first Sunday of April we got out for some pastrami sandwiches from Oinkster in Eagle Rock, ice cream at Salt and Straw in Studio City, and window shopping at the Americana in Glendale.

 

We went to Salt and Straw in Portland this past summer, so it was fun to enjoy it in LA and imagine we were on a little trip.

 Eric had a Sunday afternoon nap when we got home, so I taught the kids how to play Trivial Pursuit.  I selected the questions for them carefully and coached them to figuring out answers so the game wasn't so frustrating (it is labeled for age 12 and up).

 Oh, and of course there is plenty of reading in April.

 The kids had picked oranges at my parents' house on their first day of break (Cesar Chavez Day), so we made orange juice on the first Monday of their break.  The kids loved getting to use the hand juicer.

I tried to work on my french braiding skills.  I'm improving!  I've always loved french braids and Ashlynn's hair looks so pretty in them, so it's a worthwhile skill to learn.

During the kids' spring break, we took a nice long hike in Eaton Canyon to the waterfall.  We brought Pippa, which might not have been my best idea.  I think she enjoyed crossing the stream the first time or two, but it was a long hike with lots of climbing over rocks for a little dog.

Well, I'm not sure about her enjoying the stream crossings.  I think this was about the sixth time.

We ate small lunches at the waterfall.

I had fun using the portrait mode on my phone.

If you see Carter with his hand like this in pictures, it's because he's checking if he's smiling.  Not sure how he doesn't just know.

We did not mark our initials, but it was fun to find them and take a photo.

That day was also my dad's birthday, so we enjoyed the evening celebrating him.

A big simple event of spring break was going to the movies.  For years, Carter has not liked movies, especially in a theater.  About a week before spring break he declared that he wanted to see Boss Baby, so we went and did it, using some free movie passes from my school.  He loved the movie and the movie theater experience.  Yay!

One of my favorite things is eating outside on a nice evening and that happened once during the kids' spring break.

 I got to help celebrate one of my school's retiring teachers at PTA Founder's Day.

 And we got to celebrate Eric turning 42.

 Part of the celebration for Eric was with our friends, the Mountains.

 It is so fun to watch the kids grow up together.

 These boys have a good friendship (Bo and Eric, not Eric and the skeleton).

 The kids helped make and serve the brownie dessert.

 Carter commented that since this was my last school year of job sharing, we should mark my non-work days on the calendar because those are special.  Pretty cute, huh?

 Our cute dog

 I was treated with this pretty arrangement for Easter from a family in my class:

 Easter Sunday was pretty normal.  The kids enjoyed their Easter baskets, we went to church, we had an egg hunt in the backyard, family came over to share a meal, and the kids had an egg hunt in the front yard.

Ashlynn and Lydia took their annual Easter photo.

 Carter and Lucas took a photo together too!

 Carter sung at both services.

 My girl is growing up!

 After church was the Easter egg hunt.

 Carter made a giant salad, rather than the traditional Easter food.

 Egg hunt #2

We like camouflaging the eggs.

Every once in awhile we've enjoyed cheese fondue for dinner.  It is fun to sit around the pot of melted cheese and chat while we eat.

 Carter's met some new friends this year and has had fun with them!  Here they are while singing and dancing to Weird Al's "Fat" song.  Oh, eight year old boys!

 Ashlynn was on the track team this spring, so we spent a fair bit of time picking her up from after school practices.

 When Eric was on spring break, he and I got out for a nice brunch at a restaurant called Lincoln.  I had such amazing key lime and strawberry pancakes!

 Oh, and we also got Thai food.  We like going out to eat, and since we can't do it that often, we really enjoy it!

 Eric spent a day of his spring break removing the big bushes from in front of our house, so we got to plant new plants to show off a part of our house that had been hidden for so many years.

 Since I'm moving to a new grade next year, I graded mission reports for the final time (for at least a few years, I'd assume).  That's a job I won't miss!

I got to join Carter for a class field trip to the Monrovia Historical Museum.  It's fun to learn about local history, especially in Monrovia!

Carter in front of City Hall on the way to the museum (we walked 1.7 miles each way).

After school that same day, Carter and I went to Ashlynn's first track meet.  She ran the mile race and then had to leave to make call time for her orchestra concert.

 The concert that night was her school spring music concert, which included beginning and advanced band, chorus, and orchestra.

 The only time we really got to see her was when she walked in and out.

 We wrapped up that busy day with a stop at the Taco Bell drive-thru.

And like that, April was over!