Beginning of Spring

Spring has sprung for the Sawlaws.  Easter has come and gone and the weather is finally climbing out of the 50's.  Forrest and Charlotte are getting to enjoy some sun, and Mandi is digging up my lawn. Thats right.  My lawn.  Those of you who know that I hate lawn work might be surprised to hear me take such ownership over the green spaces of our lot.  Well, buying a monstrous John Deere lawn tractor will do that for a man.  Now that I have my rider, cup-holders and all, ready for some cruising I find myself a little more friendly to the idea of lawn care.  That is, if Mandi doesn't turn the thing into one giant flower bed.  

But thats okay, I give her a pass as long as she plants some habenero plants for me :D

But on to the fun stuff, the kids!

Forrest and I continue to get to know each other better everyday.  He understands now that I mean business, and generally have less tolerance for push back.  Mandi, to her great credit is kind, gentle, and a woman of routine.  Dad?  Well, he doesn't know those routines as well.  And when Forrest protests my breaking from routine, I don't generally apologize.

That said, I am also learning to trust my son. He has a marvelous mind.  He amazes me everyday. I don't know many 3.5 year olds who can spell dozens of words, legibly write the alphabet, count to 200, and draw pictures of their families.  Montessori education people, its legit.  I should know better than to question the Boy Genius, but I lapse in judgement from time to time. Most recently I was picking the Kid Wonder up from School.  I asked him to put on his outdoor shoes.  There was a brief pause, as both of us struggled to pick out his shoes from the crowd.  After a few seconds he grabs these:

Now, I have never seen these shoes in my life.  And they sort of stand out.  "Are you SURE those are yours?" I ask.  "I am sure!" comes the reply.  I am not convinced.  So as we are walking out, I ask again.  A helpful classmate of Forrest's overhears and assures me that they are his shoes.  Still I am curious.  Walking out the building I check one last time.  "Forrest, are you totally sure those are your shoes?"  "I am sure daddy" comes the reply.  This time another child offers his assurances that he saw Forrest wear these in.  Okay, well, so be it.  

And what happened?  Sure enough, they were his shoes.  The little man was right, and I felt pretty stupid being that Dad who kept asking what must have been, from his perspective, a silly question.  

Charlotte also continues to grow.  We had some fun with selfies and managed to capture what is my Dad's favorite picture of her so far:

Cute, right?  And you might think that is the favorite pic.  But wait for it, because seconds later I caught this gem:

Oh Bean.  She was done with that game.  As always for more pictures of the children head over to Mandi's Blog.  She does a much better job than I do chronicling the adventures in parenting.

Another fun weekend in the interim was had when Grandma and Grandpa Sawlaw came to visit.  The Illinois Sheriff's Association (of which I am a proud member) had one of their annual Sheriff's conventions in Peoria.  Grandpa and I managed to make our hasty escape from some of the meetings for some fun at the gambling boat!

That kind of fun with your Grandfather is priceless.  Love that man :D

And lastly, I continue to work on my grilling game.  I generally try to restrict my food brags to texts to my friends and my father, but this particular one was blog worthy.

Delicious delicious meat!

Hope to have more of that this summer.  Paired with an Chilean Cabernet.  

In the next few weeks there is more to be done.  Opening up the Cabin for the first time should be a blast!  Check back in midway through the month for more updates.  Thanks for reading!