Everyday Stuff - April Edition

It's official - Cat has cut a doll's hair for the first time.  (At least the first time I know about...) I wanted to get upset and tell her it was a bad thing to do, but anyone who's ever seen my beloved Cabbage Patch named Hannah would know that I didn't just give Hannah a little trim when I was a kid.  She was all but bald by the time I was finished with her.  So... I'm not one to talk on this particular subject.

It seems that the main focus of the first year of the MBA program was for Ben to find a summer internship.  Classes and grades were secondary.  So you can imagine our frustration when APRIL arrived and he still didn't have an internship nailed down.  Then, BAM!, he not only had an internship, he was supposed to fly out on a business trip DURING FINALS WEEK.  Oh, well, yes, that would be great.  So Ben jumped feet first into his new job by spending 12 days in Virginia, during which time we got into the routine of talking to him on Skype at bedtime.  You can see on Cat's Highlights calendar (which she LOVES, Granny Bailey!) that she wrote "Daddy left for Job" on the 17th.

This is what Jack does with a jacket when he's trying to put the hood on.  The funny thing is that the jacked in the top picture didn't have a hood.  The jacket in the bottom one did.

Cat LOVES to play teacher.  She "taught" Jack a lesson about nature recently and even made a book on his behalf.
Left - "My Nature Book by Jack"
Right - "Plants and animals are part of nature.  We care for them."

Jack was so excited to see Ben after his 12-day trip to VA that he HAD to be with him when he cut the grass right after getting home.

Jack was using a book or some similar item as a steering wheel during his quiet time one day, so in  a moment of inspiration I decided to cut one out of cardboard.  It took me a few minutes, but boy did he love the result.  And when Eliza woke up from her nap, she loved the result too.  A few tears were shed, but in the end, they shared.  Then they decided leg wrestling was just as fun.

Tomato soup, anyone?
(I apologize for so many pictures of Jack in his undies, btw.  But it is his favorite outfit these days.)

My Southerners sure LOVE grits.  Thank you, Mema and Papa!  Cause we can't get the good stuff here.

Jack has been on a pirate kick since his pirate preschool day.  He found my Kitchen Aid dough hook and decided it was his pirate hook.  And my PC chopper is actually a spy glass.

This was our last dinner with our good friends who moved away for their MBA internship over the summer.  I just love pictures like this that seem to capture the fun carefree play time that should characterize childhood.

Another example of such pictures.

Air heads!
(The candy which dyed their tongues.  Not the children.)

We had an impromptu picnic dinner in the back yard one Sunday while Ben was on his trip.
Eliza got a little carried away with her smoothie.

Not just one, but TWO cool straws.

I always try to have the kids help me put things away or bring them upstairs after a shopping trip.  This time I asked Eliza to put Gatorade in the fridge in the garage and she did a great job!  Unfortunately, the lower bottles were too tall for the space, but still.  It was nice to find a simple job she could complete and feel good about.

Rocket Man!
hee hee hee

The kids felt the need to paint the cantaloupe with butter (when they found my pastry brush on the counter alongside a bowl of melted butter).

Eliza does Cat's homework every chance she gets.

Eliza walking with my Opa.

Jack got the last muffin :-(

Read her new book from O&O, Black Beauty, before leaving for soccer practice

Right before I took this picture, Cat said, "I do NOT like being in the middle."
Poor girl.

Construction in our local Target means shopping trips take a lot longer...

We all turn into our mothers eventually, right?  Looks like Cat is starting early.
One night she was procrastinating going to bed by, what else?  Making a list of what she was going to do the next day.

Practicing letters during Eliza's nap.

Reading time outside.

Eliza's turn.

Jack likes shrimp so much that he was eating them stone cold from the fridge the day after we ate them for dinner.

Love this.

What should you do when you don't want to wait for Mom to put your shoes on so you can play outside?
Put on your older sibling's shoes.  They're easier than your own.

A last-second idea to keep Jack entertained while I was doing something in the kitchen turned into days of entertainment for Cat.  Sidewalk chalk and black construction paper.  Who knew?

My girls are so bubbly.

Cat chose to write about her "Cusuns" for an assignment.  A few of the names are even spelled correctly.

For two nights in a row after getting these new shoes, Eliza insisted on sleeping in them.
This is the second night.  Because the first night, she'd been wearing footie pajamas and had to take them off completely to get the shoes on.

It's so nice to see Cat starting to read for pleasure now.  When we received our latest issue of The Friend magazine, she immediately grabbed it and started reading on the couch.