Driveway Adventures

We had so much fun outside this afternoon! (I think the best part was everyone getting covered with spring-time surprises from all the trees. Check out Jack's pants!)

Jack's first time driving a car

Yes, I outlined both of their bodies. That's why Jack's looks so funny... he wasn't too keen on laying down on the driveway.

He loved the chalk: touching it, shaking it, eating it, and even drawing some.

Hard at work...

"All done! Her name is Rebecca."

Like twins, wouldn't you say?

I Got You, Babe

I count myself very lucky that Cat and Jack really adore eachother. (I do worry sometimes, though, that maybe they get along too well. I'm afraid there will be lots of ganging up against Mom and Dad in our future. But I'm enjoying it for now.)


A few days ago, the kids were playing in Cat's room, and guess what I found? Looks like we need to add some "boy" items to the dress-up basket, or Daddy might banish the whole thing. (Of course, this has been happening since Jack was born, but this particular instance just struck me as really funny. Perhaps because it reminded me of when ET gets all dressed up?)


Cat was supposed to be cleaning her room yesterday and I had to close the door because she wasn't focusing and I really wanted her to just get it done. I was surprised to see Jack sitting outside of her door a little later and I wondered why he kept reaching for the crack under the door, until I saw little fingers wiggling underneath. They weren't talking or laughing, just reaching out to eachother.

Cat really loves to pull Jack around in the wagon, and Jack enjoys it too. I always shutter when she first takes off with him, though, because she goes so fast that he almost falls every time. He never cries or complains, though, so I guess he doesn't mind!

"Mom, a tree fell down!"

As we were getting ready to leave to take Catherine to Preschool on Monday, I was getting something from the house while she buckled herself into her carseat. When I went to get in the car, she says to me, "Mom, a tree fell down!" "Huh?" I looked in the backyard, where she pointed, and sure enough... a tree was laying across the back of the yard! I had heard some unusual sounds, but definitely had no idea what was happening, and it was so funny to me that Cat watched it fall from the car, and was so matter-of-fact about it. So she got out of the car and we went to check it out. It was a 60-ft oak tree who's trunk literally split open and fortunately it did no damage to anything, including any other trees, or the swing set, which is close to where the top of it landed. I immediately started saying prayers and expressing gratitude that nobody and nothing got hurt. We had no idea that anything was wrong with the tree, but as you can see in the picture, it was rotted, which is not uncommon in oak trees, according to Ben. I just hope none of the other trees on our property follow suit!

Cat's Tall Tale

Mom: (after I notice a 1/4" cut on her hand) "How did you get that owie?"

Cat: (walking her fingers up and down her arm) "An ant walked UP my arm and DOWN my arm and BITED ME!"

Mom: "It looks like a cut."

Cat: "Oh. I got cut."

Wild West Day

This was "W" week at Preschool, so on Friday for "Wild West" Day, everybody went up to the Walker Ranch (I think that W was just a coincidence). The ranch is actually owned by the family of one of the girls at Cat's preschool and is only about 20 minutes from our house. (In case you were doubting the rural nature of our area...)

So, for the second time in less than a week, Cat got to ride a horse! This is Cat on a mare named Socks. Cat looked like a pro, considering all the practice she had in Jesup, and actually made me wonder if we shouldn't think about riding lessons for her, despite my fatal allergy to large hairy animals.

(Side note: despite my vow to keep this blog centered on the children, I had to share this picture. I haven't been on a horse in almost 8 years, ever since my near-death-experience when someone surprised me by taking me riding and I didn't have my inhaler and had such a bad allergic reaction and resulting asthma attack that my lips were turning blue. But I took a Claritin before going to the ranch on Friday, and when Parker (see "Extreme Sleepover post") wanted someone to ride with him, I decided I'd give it a try. Guess what, no blue lips!)

Jack did not venture on a horse, but did enjoy Ben's cowboy had that I'd brought. (Isn't it great to be a preschool Mom?) So, watch out. There's a new sheriff in town.

Extreme Sleepover + Cat's Comedy Debut

Cat couldn't have been happier about having three little houseguests this week. 24-hour playmates--how awesome is that?!?! She loved that Allison, Madison, and Parker came to stay with us while their parents were at the hospital for the birth, etc., of their baby sister, McKenna. The Extreme Sleepover (3 1/2 nights) would have been much cooler if she'd been able to actually sleep in her room with them, but she was keeping them awake, so we banished her to our room. Other than that, they were really great together. And it was definitely a learning experience for little old "oh, woe is me, I have two kids and can't function" me.

Saturday was our ward Primary Talent show, so the girls decided to do a comedy act together. I have posted the video here, for your viewing pleasure, and keep in mind that they really only started practicing this together the afternoon before the show. Also, they could always pursue careers in costume design... imagine, they grabbed their costumes and accessories out of Cat's dress-up basket only minutes before we walked out the door. Now that takes real talent! (My favorite is Madison's hoop skirt. No princess dress over it, of course.)

Small Town Easter Celebration

Last weekend we experienced small-town Georgia in a new way. We traveled about an hour to the little town of Jesup where we attended their annual Easter Egg Hunt. There were so many fun things for the kids to do, plus hot dogs and drinks for everybody, and everything was free! Gotta love it.

Because of a longer-than-expected haircut for Ben, we were late leaving, and almost missed the main event! But my wonderful friend Kathryn (who met us there with her husband, Jon, and daughters, Raeya and Kinsley) took Cat and helped her find some eggs despite the crowd of 3-and-unders competing for the eggs in the baseball field.

Then, it was off to the, ahem, free, pony rides. Cat loved it, and looked like such a natural! And it was a bonus that after lunch and the chicken chases, most of the families left, so she got to ride the ponies about 5 more times.

What Easter celebration is complete without bounce houses and huge inflated slides?

And, of course, the chicken chases. Yes, this is for real. Cat was in an enclosed baseball field with all the 7-and-under kids and about 8 chickens. They let everyone loose and if you caught a chicken, you got to take it home! I was very excited for the show we were going to see, but it was a little disappointing. We think the chickens they brought to this thing were the nursing home patients... no flying 3 feet in the air, no bursts of feathers, and the kids were easily keeping up with them. (But, of course, part of that could be due to the fact that these are country kids. Maybe their used to going outside and catching their dinner?) Cat was very disappointed, almost crying, when she didn't get to take a chicken home. Mom an Dad handled the disappointment much better.

Cat with her buddies, Raeya and Kinsley. It was such a treat to be with their family for the day!

After the Easter Egg Hunt, we decided to get the girls each a little kite and let them fly them since it was so windy outside. They ran around like crazy flying their kites for a while, then we took a break for a snack and juice boxes. I think the highlight of Jack's day was when the girls all left their juice boxes, half-full, and he got to take care of the left-overs. He just has the straws in this picture, but that's because he had finished off the juice already.

In case you forgot how fun it can be to fly a BARBIE kite...

Happy Easter!

We spent Easter in Jacksonville for the blessing of our little niece, Iris. What a wonderful way to spend the holiday! We love having time with family and feel so blessed that they are nearby.

I don't think Cat was trying to tackle Jack to the ground during the grandchildren's photo session. But, this is Cat we're talking about, and you can never be too sure.

Happy Easter!

Spring Break (for a 3 year old?!?)

Yes, Cat's preschool is so demanding that they deem it necessary to take a week plus one day Spring Break. And I'm really glad they did. I was afraid she would crack if she had to go through that rigorous schedule of circle time, centers, snack, Bible story, craft, playground, lunch for another 4 school days without a break. How much can a kid take??

All joking aside, I was glad that Cat had Spring Break a couple weeks ago. It gave me an excuse to take the kids up to Columbia to spend time with my Mom and sister. It was nice to be up there just for fun, on our own schedule, and because everyone's Spring Break was the same time up there, she got lots of time with her cousins.

I was very eager to go the zoo, and it proved a very fun, albeit crowded, outing. The highlight of my trip to the zoo was being this close to a giraffe:

No, I didn't zoom in at all to take that picture. Cat is feeding the giraffe and I was close enough to touch it. That's just cool!

This was Cat's favorite part of the zoo: the $2 kid-sized animal-print-car train ride. I think she liked it because there were no adults around her for about 10 minutes between loading, riding, and un-loading.

You might wonder sometimes if Jack is around for any of these adventures. Well, he usually is around, but not much of a participant. He was great at the zoo hanging out with Grammy. Maybe next time we go, he'll be able to tour it on foot?

Conference Weekend - April 4th & 5th

Ben hasn't had a chance to do any yard work lately, so he was eager to get outside Saturday morning and mow the grass. Cat was just as eager--and I think she drove the riding lawn mower around just as much as he did.

So much better than Power Wheels!

Twice a year, Latter-Day Saints have the opportunity to hear from the Prophet and other Church leaders. This General Conference is broadcast from Salt Lake City and we usually watch it online. It is a wonderful opportunity to receive guidance and direction and be reminded of things we all should be doing. I always look forward to it and walk away encouraged and uplifted.

Catherine does not enjoy it the way Ben and I do. So this year I thought she was ready for the "King Benjamin's people pitched their tents so they were facing the temple" approach, and it was great! The idea is that you create a tent wherever you will be watching Conference so that you can do as the people in King Benjamin's time (in the Book of Mormon) did when they were listening to him preach his last sermon. I've known several people who have done this and didn't think Cat was ready until now, but boy I'm glad we did it this year. It really helped her be quiet and contained.

She was eager to get settled in. See--she got all the necessities: beverage, lift-the-flap Jesus book, stuffed animal, blankie, purse, another purse, another lift-the-flap book, another blankie, another stuffed animal. She's good to go. In fact, it worked so well on Saturday that when she would get too wild under the tent, we were able to threaten her with being kicked out of the tent if she wasn't going to be reverent.

Fun at the Playground

We decided to take the kids to a nearby playground after dinner on Friday, April 3rd. It was beautiful out, but the ground was still really wet after the 3 straight days of rain we'd had. But Jack and I sat together and watched Catherine and Ben running, playing, chasing, throwing, catching, kicking, digging, sliding, climbing, and laughing for as long as we could stand the bugs. Jack was so content just to watch them play while he grabbed (and chewed on) anything he could get his hands on. And it was an extra-special treat for Catherine that she got to play with her Dad at the playground. Hopefully there will be many more evening playground visits as the warm weather continues!

April Fool's Day

We had a great April Fools Day! We got off to a bit of a rocky start when I tried to get Catherine to wear silly clothes to preschool, or at least one item from her overflowing dress-up basket, and she completely refused. But by the time we needed to make dinner, we were all in the true April Fools Spirit. Catherine and I made this yummy "Strawberry" (Shepard's) Pie, with the best sushi I've ever had for dessert. Dinner was great this year, since Cat was in on the joke. She was really upset last year when I presented her with a cupcake for dinner, she took a huge bite, and found out it was actually meatloaf and mashed potatoes. But this time, it was all in good fun, and she liked the dinner and the dessert. Jack even liked the meatloaf, too!

Easter FHEs

The two Mondays before Easter we had great Family Home Evenings to help us prepare for the holiday. On March 31st, our lesson was about how many things in nature receive new life in the spring, just like how Christ received new life, and gives us new life. For our treat that night, I made Chinese noodle cookie-nests with Dubble Bubble eggs. They were awesome--and Cat continues to ask for nests!

The following Monday we had a lesson about resurrection and tried to teach Catherine exactly what it meant that Jesus was resurrected. That one went well, too, but I don't have any pictures to share. :-)