Feel Good Friday: Spring Explosion

I have bene wanting to sit here and get a post ready for Feel Good Friday all day, but haven't had a chance to sit at the laptop and do it until now.  I volunteered at the boys' school this morning which was fun as always, and I met another one of the team that works with the boys.  Then I ran home, the boys got home from school and ate all their chicken for lunch (score 1 for Arby's).  Then the therapists arrived, and we have been working on FST (Family Service Training) for the past couple of hours.

But it's still Friday, right?  It's not like I'm too late.

Spring has finally exploded all across our backyard.  It's actually not the most colorful spring I've ever seen, but I'll take it.

Part of me wanted to smart off at it and say "took you long enough," but I feared retribution in the form of more clouds and rain.  So I kept my trap shut and got out the camera.

Zack and AJ played back there this week after school with a few of the neighbor kids.

Did you know there was a time when I thought I would never be able to say that sentence?

*Smile*  We are so typical.

I mean, they jumped in the trampoline, played on the swings and slide, and in the playhouse with their sister and two other kids.  At one point, a little girl actually got AJ to agree to sit down in a little lawn chair so she could play "school" with him.

AJ PLAYED "SCHOOL!"  Only for a few minutes.  But STILL!

We are so, so lucky to live in this neighborhood full of children ready to take on whatever challenges the boys might present, and find a way to play with them.  That little girl didn't care that AJ didn't cooperate too much as her "student."  She just played as much as he was able to.

Aliza swung herself across the monkey bars and AJ wanted to do it too (learning from imitation, at its finest, right here in my backyard) so she held him up and helped him across.

Well, Zack thought that looked pretty fun and wanted a turn, too (imitation, over and over, loving it!) but Aliza wasn't done with AJ yet, so she told Zack to get down and wait for his turn.  He screamed and looked like he was going to cry.  You see, he's not much for hearing "no."  It kind of feels like a slap in the face for him.  So Aliza ran right over and gave him a hug, and he hugged her back, and then we all clapped, and it was amazing!

How come those kind of interactions didn't happen inside, all winter?  What is it about the outdoors that makes magic like that happen?

Anyway, life is good.

Look at these cute tulips the boys made for me at school!  A couple of years ago I would get things from the school and I didn't really believe the boys had a hand in making them.  Picking up a bottle of glue and squirting it out onto construction paper was just not something they could even be bribed to do.  But now, I took these out of their backpack, held them up, and said "did you make these?  They are so pretty, I love them!"  And they smiled shyly.  Oh yes, those were handmade by a couple of little boys.....

It's a very feel-good Friday!  Check out the other Feel Good Friday entries over at Lia Sophia Tomgirl!  Sometime soon the originator of Feel Good Friday, The Girl Next Door Grows Up, will be back and online, but until then, many thanks to Lia Sophia Tomgirl for keeping it going!