Weather makes a difference

The weather was so great yesterday that in the afternoon we actually opened up a small section of Ingram Water Park.  The kids spent an hour just running around and around the sprinkler and playing in the mud and chasing each other and laughing.  The time between nap time and when Papa gets home is usually the hardest part of our day, but having great weather took care of that.  This morning we got through all of our work and weren't real sure what to do with ourselves today.  So, we headed to a local park and played for over an hour.  We played on the playground, took a lap around the park, played on the swings, played in the gazebo, and even made a new friend.  It's just so nice to have the option of getting outside and not feeling like we have to always come up with something to do indoors (especially when I know that the minute we make a disaster of a mess someone will want to come look at our house!).  Rachel is finishing up with her 100 counting, Ruby continues to be excited by stickers, and Ford constantly wants to write his numbers.  We figured out a great way yesterday to help him write his numbers by dividing the paper into 10 sections so that he has a box for each number.  He did so well with that today, that he asked to turn it over and continue going to 20.  Such an overachiever!  He's really doing well and I'm excited about going through the beginning handwriting book with him now that he has a much better grasp on what he's doing.  These kids never cease to amaze me.  One thing that kept coming up at the park, though, was how they wish more kids had been there because they really want to make friends.  Sometimes I do feel bad for them that they aren't interacting every day with kids their own age, but they truly are becoming each other's best friends.  I think in the coming year they will be involved more with activities that enable them to make new friends, but I just don't want to over-do it.  They have the rest of their lives to be influenced by other people and be affected by peer pressure and I don't want to stress them out with that at such a young age.  I think this summer Rachel will try some tennis lessons with kids her own age.  I always wanted to stick to the rule that we wouldn't do extra-curricular activities until they were in First Grade just because I've seen how worn out kids get after being in school all day, but after deciding to homeschool, maybe we could do just one thing.  I guess technically art and violin are already extra-curricular, but I consider music and art important to what they need to know and experience.  I have a feeling we may be sucked into the life of a couple of ballerinas before too long and sometimes that does make me a little excited because ballet was my favorite activity growing up.  I just want them to focus on how fun ballet is and not whether their leotards are the right color!