this last weekend and today

i love that i can find jude hanging out with the chickens any given time

 this is making me a little nervous because soon he will let them out every time he's out there

which isn't the worst thing

they're easy to get back in

 noah "forgot" about a huge world civilization assignment 

until the night before it was due

even though he had 2.5 weeks to do it and it was a HUGE project

we considered not letting him go on his first camp out as a deacon but ultimately let him go

but he still got all his legos taken away (even his new birthday sets)

and will not be playing wii or his tablet until school are out

and he no longer gets an allowance

we're going for less entitlement and a better attitude

with an emphasis on school work

so far so good! he mowed the lawn with less complaint than normal today

and his attitude was way better, too

hopefully he can learn some useful skills :)

 while it was a punishment (taking his legos away)

his room desperately needed a good cleaning and he was grateful i had done it

 the hammock is extra magical with the pretty blossoms overhead right now

 what a man! ripping out our dying pear tree

we replaced it with a new nectarine tree so that's exciting

 michael and i ran 8 miles outside on saturday

noah was gone on his camp out, olive was at a playdate and jude was napping

so hazel kept an eye on henry and eleanor for us

 as a reward we took the kids to frozen yogurt

jude loved it

 the kids were so excited about earth day

so we took a loop around the neighborhood and picked up garbage

 henry's friend invited him over for a playdate today

and it gave me 2 hours of no kids (!!!!) 

(jude was napping)

it was amazing. i budgeted, ran 3 miles and got ready all by myself

and it was so quiet and peaceful

 eleanor tucked jude in and read him a story today

 eleanor had picture day at ballet

and she looked so cute in her cuckoo bird costume for her next recital