I love my kids

I have been having so much fun with my kids lately.  I think it's a combination of the weather being warmer so we can play outside and me not being quite as busy.  Whatever it is, we've been having a blast. 

The other day after school we went straight to Nickel City, a new arcade place that just opened up.  It was so much fun.  It wasn't crowded at all.  We played ski ball, air hockey, and Britton won the jackpot several times on this one dump truck game.  He earned enough tickets so that Haley could get a cute little teddy bear that she wanted.  She was so happy.  She even named it Britton since he gave her most of the tickets.  I love it when they are nice to each other.

When we got home, we went straight into the back yard to climb the tree and play with Britton's parachute men that he got.  Britton got talking about things he wanted to do this summer.  I told him about a list I made of all the homeschool things I want to do and he got so excited.  I forget how much he loves learning from me.  He asked if we could mostly do science-y things because they don't do much science at school.  Of course, I'm happy with that.  Love that kid.  We talked about the field trips we would go on and projects we would do.  Haley got really excited and said, "Let's start now and do it everyday after school and on Saturdays and days off."  She had an idea that we should learn about pirates and then go to Pirate Island for a field trip.  Britton piped right in, "Haley, Pirate Island is just kind of like an amusement park, you don't really learn anything there."  I thought it was hilarious.  He's so serious about his learning.  (when it's at home with me, not so much at real school)  It was so great just hanging out with them hearing them get so excited about learning.  I think once they started school, I stopped focusing on teaching them things.  And I need to remember how important it is to still do it.  Of course, I still teach them things, but not in the same way as when they were younger.  I really made a huge effort when they were younger.  So, I'm going to go back to that even though I don't have all day every day with them. 

Britton went to go get Isaac and I thought they were just going to play in the backyard, but they came running in to get me.  I guess Britton had invited him over to have a science class with us.  :)  So, I really had to scramble to put something together quickly.  We ended up making a hummingbird feeder and they LOVED it.  It's not quite warm enough to hang it yet, but I can't wait until we can watch hummingbirds everyday. 

That evening, when Jason got home, we played a football game in the front yard--me and Britton against Haley and Jason.  Later, as I thought about my day, I became overwhelmed with gratitude.  I love days like that.  Nothing overly special, but completely enjoying the moments with the ones I love.