Spring is SLOWLY arriving:)

Spring seems like it might really be coming, the snow is almost gone! Recently we had a pajama day and the kids all decided to "nap" together in bean bags in the living room... it didn't last much longer than it took me to take the picture. The Children's Task Force in western Maine holds an annual 5K "Race to Prevent Child Abuse" and we thought this would be a good way to start off our running season.  Noah decided that he hadn't been running enough to enjoy the 5K and opted for the kids fun run this time around.  Thankfully, our friend Aaron joined us at the race and "ran" with the 3 boys, then watched all 4 while I ran in the race (Gabe was, of course, on call).  The kids were a bit disappointed that the kids race consisted of running only 3/4 of the way around a block, but this was quickly forgotten when they received a medal, a whoopie pie and a coupon for a free ice cream when they crossed the finish line... I had mixed feelings about this;)  Personally, this race taught me an important lesson- running 3-4 miles around the track at the gym does not equal running 3.1 miles on the road, in the cold with lots of hills... it seems like common sense when I write it out here...

This past week we got the pleasure of having our little friend (Audrey's BFF) Jackson come and play with us a few days while his day care was closed.  Thanks to the gorgeous weather we were able to spend most of our time outside swinging and climbing trees... so cute! Sadly, two days in a row birds flew into our house.  This first one was such a big beautiful bird!  My intention was to leave the bird outside on the ground under the window until Gabe made it home, but when the boys got out of school I looked out of the window and it was gone... I turned the corner and there was James with the dead bird in his hands.  He thought this bird was the coolest thing ever!  He made up a back story for the bird's final moments, "The bird was just flying along and flew past the bird feeders, but he was going too fast. He turned back to look and said to himself, 'Hey that looks like a good restaurant'.  Then, BAM he ran into the window and died."  He decided the bird's final resting spot should be down by the pond on the bridge, so he hiked down and placed the bird there.  The next day a chickadee ran into the back of the house and James repeated the ceremony at the pond.  He was excited when he discovered that the first bird was gone, but found a clump of tail feathers in the bushes.... I hope that this isn't a continuing trend:)