Strike a Balance

We still have plenty to do around the house (literally, the outside landscape is nonexistent) and in the house.  But all work and no play, you know..

So this month we found a balance between the two.

Sport has the self-assigned task of making complicated things out of paper.  Here is is modeling the elephant he made.  In addition to this, he has made realistic looking turtles, boxes and dolls for Sissy.
As a side note, this picture was taken after preschool where Sport wore his soccer uniform complete with shin guards.  He is the only boy in his class of five girls.  I guess things get rough.

A profile picture of the elephant.

Mid-month, Brandan and Sis went to the ward Daddy/Daughter Date.  It was a formal dinner and dance for Dads and daughters of all ages.  They were both pretty excited about this event and Sis made the most of her time there.  Brandan came home and reported that he and Sissy, at her request, danced ALL night.

Brandan doesn't have much time to work outside right now and I don't have much motivation.  Someone has to take up the slack.  Spits, Sis and Tag spend hours outside moving dirt from one pile to another.

Tag mostly just gets dirty.

Towards the end of the month, we finally decided to tackle the garage.  Brandan and I built shelves while the kids organized the junk.  It was a chilly day so we turned on the propane heater.  Right off the bat, Sport found the camp chairs and set them up around the heater.  It was all over from there.  Before we knew it, Dash had popped some popcorn and the work day whistle had blown.  

After a hard day working outside, Tag didn't even have the energy to crawl up the stairs.  Admittedly, I've had to take a break halfway up myself.

So tired.

When he needs a break, Colt likes to do puzzles.  One day he put all the puzzles in the puzzle box together and then requested I take a picture and put it on the blog.  This one's for you, buddy!

Nothing says relax like comfy clothes.  Tag has taken to picking out his own outfits.  Here he is sporting pjs, a bomber jacket, sun hat, and dress shoes.  He likes to keep his comfy classy.

In addition to all the To Do lists at home, the big boys and Brandan, and particularly Dash, have had a very busy scheduled month.  Dash tried out for Little League at the beginning of the month and was drafted onto a team despite the fact that this is only his first year playing baseball.  (Yes, I wrote that correctly.  My 9 year old had to try out and be drafted onto a Little League team.)  He has had practices up to three times a week, weather permitting, (so not all that often) and he and Colt are also finishing up a basketball camp that Brandan is coaching.  In order to save trips into town, a couple of days a week the boys ride the bus over to the high school and stay at track practice with Brandan until they head over to basketball and then onto baseball for Dash.  They don't waste their time though.  They spend the hour or so at the track practicing their own running events.  This month, Dash ran a 6:48 mile even though his high top sneaker came untied and he had to kick it off half way through.  And Colt ran a 3:59 800 meter!