We had a lovely spring break. By that, I mean there were not huge fights or pouting sessions; we did fun activities without feeling like we were running ourselves ragged; we got to spend time with friends whom we really only see on school breaks; and we threw a party. Of course, by Thursday I found I couldn't really move off the couch, so maybe I was working harder than I thought, but I still felt it went well.

Rose Mommy time

Instead of filling up every minute that Rose was home with me and David was in school with ice skating, play dates, and errands, I went with something different. Rose and I spend half the time playing together, and then she read and I worked. We played backgammon and mastermind, braided each other's hair, and danced around the kitchen.

Passover

Passover is not only my favorite holiday, it's a great way to fill all that spring break time. We went over to my mom's three days in a row to set up, celebrate, and clean up. The kids loved helping and the festivities. They also loved playing school downstairs with mom's old roll top desk and a blackboard. Hours of fun!

Easter

Of course, we had to have our traditional Easter egg dying date with our friend Emma (now 16) and her mom. I love many many things about this family, but I particularly love that they like to do crafts too, and they are better at it then I am. So, they always have great supplies and great ideas and great conversation as we play. For the first time, David dyed all his Easter eggs. They also hid a bunch of plastic eggs in the garden for the kids to find.

As an added bonus, the kids actually ate an egg when they got home. Well, the white part. I'm still going to call it a new food for both of them. They dipped them in saltwater as they had learned to do at the sedar.

The West Seattle YMCA

The jazzercise building was closed for the week, so my friend Deirdre and I made a date to work-out at the Y in her neighborhood, the Y with the excellent childcare play space. I got to round and round on the elliptical trainer (or would that oval and oval?) and tell Deirdre everything. The kids got to swing on the rings, go through the bouncy house, and color the Easter bunny. We all can't wait to go back. Then we spent another couple hours playing at Deirdre's house with her daughter Maggie.

Play dates/overnights

We probably owe a couple playdates/overnights because Rose has been going over to her friends' houses quite a bit recently. She spent all Friday morning with her closest friend, Jasper, and then went back to spend the night with her. (I made her come home in the middle and go shopping with me and David. Otherwise, David would have been very grumpy about the shopping.) John and I are always a bit reluctant about sleepovers because it leads to underslept non-functional children, Jasper's mom swore she would get them to sleep: 10-6 is not great, but it's not the end of the world. So, she was functional for our party.