Say Cheese(ball)!

Thank you God for the sunshine!  I've found myself saying this on quite a regular basis the last few days.  I hate to risk jinxing it but I'm beginning to think that perhaps Spring really is going to stick around this time.  Even though we've had rain at some point every day for the past week, we've also had a good bit of sunny weather that the kiddos and I have been taking advantage of to the fullest.

After picking up Noah from school today we headed over to Beechwoods Park for some playtime. I've decided that the park is a source of joy and trepidation.  This was our first trip to Beechwoods this season and I was AMAZED to see each of the kiddos doing and taking on obstacles they wouldn't/couldn't just six months ago.  I tried really hard not to be a helicopter parent and just let them go for it, even though a couple of times Mikayla about scared me to death.  The girl has no fear, I swear.  And even my usually overly cautious and timid NJ was amazing me with his feats of daring today.  There was no way a year ago he'd be shimmying up the rock wall or slithering down the fire pole without any prodding or assistance.  And while it made me smile to see the new things they are taking on, it also made me a bit nostalgic for those moments when they needed me for every little thing.  But only for a minute :)

We came back from the park to enjoy some lunch on the porch followed by some homemade blue popsicles.  Need to thrill my kids to no end?  Dress them up in a couple of old t-shirts and tell them to go to town with some popsicles.  My smart self was in the middle of doing laundry anyway, so what was a few more shirts to toss in?  Sticky, blue and ridiculously happy kids = one happy and relaxed mama.

In other news, it's National Cheeseball Day.  In order to cover my bases, not only did I make two different types of the traditional cheeseball, but I also picked up a bag of cheeseballs (cheese puffs, whatever you want to call them.  Remember?) that we feasted on with dinner.  No one could really decide which type the preferred, but we had a goody munchy filled dinner before heading off and doing some summer clothes shopping for my favorite twosome.

Animal Cracker craziness tomorrow!  Until then...

 Noah has no fear

 Nor does the bean

 And we of course had to do some digging

 And I pushed them for at least 20 minutes on the tire swing

 Blue Popsicle fun

 Made a cheeseball with mayo, bacon bits, cheddar, pecans and onion (on the left) and cream cheese, pineapple, cheddar and onion soup mix (on the right)

Had to make sure we celebrated all types of cheese balls...