School's out for summer!

Today marked the last day of playschool for the kids. They both really enjoyed Ridgecrest and loved their teachers, Mrs. Candace, Mrs. Ricci and Mrs. Carrie. Mrs. Candace is one of the most creative people I know so she helped the kids make all sorts of cute things. Caroline's friends from school were Josh, Blake, Taylor and Olivia, while Will and Dale had a lot of fun playing together. When I told them that today would be their last day, Caroline asked, "is it summertime already?" I told her it was and she squealed with glee. She then said, "that means we get to stay home with you everyday and it's time to go to the water park." Ever since Pop and Mimi gave us season tickets to the water park, she has been asking when we would go. I guess we'll probably make a trip up to Geyser Falls on opening weekend since she is dying to go. I know the kids loved playing with their friends, but I must admit that it makes me feel good that they are excited about our summer plans.Caroline, Mrs. Candace, Taylor, Blake, Josh and Big Red

Mrs. Ricci and Caroline
Will and Dale (Big Red)

A fun playdate

On Wednesday, Caroline had her friend Abby over for a play date. The girls have such a good time together and are so sweet about including Will in their fun. If he didn't love tractors and tools so much, I would be a little worried about him because he acts like one of the girls when they play together. I had to make sure that we had 3 strollers for each one of them to push their babies when they went shopping around the house for things they needed. He also helped the girls cook lunch in the kids' kitchen, color a princess picture and helped fix my hair. And he sure wasn't going to let me insult him by making him sit in his highchair for lunch. No, he sat at the table with the girls and enjoyed a tea party with them as well. It was really funny to watch him fit in so well. Perhaps next time I need to invite a little fellow over for him to play with so that he can play with his cars and toolbox!

When the kids are away...

...Mama and Daddy will play! For the last few days, the kids went to visit Matt's parents in Louisiana. Since we aren't home without them much, we took advantage of every minute of our freedom. I warned Matt beforehand that the kitchen would officially be closed the entire time the kids were gone, so he better decide where we would be dining all weekend. On Friday, I cleaned the house like it had never been cleaned before and then found a little time to sew an outfit for Caroline. Once Matt got home, we went to dinner, picked him up a new pair of running shoes and enjoyed a relaxful evening at home. I must admit, it was a little quiet and we both talked about the kids alot. Saturday morning, we headed to Philly to ride horses with my Dad.Afterwards, Matt helped Pappaw with the garden while I pampered Mommaw. After I cut, colored and styled her hair (which she said was styled like a young gal would wear and didn't quite suit her age), I took Mommaw for a ride down to her old "homeplace" as she fondly calls it.
Uncle Wendell was tickled that we came for a visit and was proud to show off his cows and new pupppy. Since my Dad was home alone for the weekend, I met him for dinner while Matt entertained my grandparents. When we got ready to head back home, Pappaw and Mommaw told us how much they enjoyed our "adult" visit. Granted, they really missed seeing the kids, but since they weren't with us, we got to pamper them a little more than usual.

On Sunday, we went to church, ate out again, went swimming and fiddled around the house. By the time the weekend came to an end, I had managed to sew two new outfits for each of the kids. Needless to say, we got a lot done with the kids gone, but we can't wait until the little stinkers get back home. I am sure they will have lots to tell us about their stay with Mamaw Kat and Pappaw.

Caroline meets Dora

This past Sunday, Mecie and I took Hunter, Helen and Caroline to Kidsfest in Ridgeland. Since Mecie had been before, I took her word for it that we would have a lot of fun. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been to an event that was so perfect for kids...obviously the name fits it well. There was so much for the kids to enjoy that we didn't even get around to everything despite being there the entire afternoon. There were all sorts of performances from clowns and dare devils, rides for the kids and plenty of sugar to eat. We even got to meet the world's smallest horse.However, when asked what her favorite thing about the day was, Caroline will quickly tell you that it was meeting Dora the Explorer! I really don't know how or why she likes Dora because we never really watch TV at our house and if we happen to have a cartoon on in the background, it isn't Dora. Nonetheless, she was bound and determined to meet Dora when she heard she was going to be there. When we walked out of church Sunday morning, it was pouring down rain and she immediately began to get concerned that the rain would spoil Dora's appearance at Kidsfest. Thankfully, the clouds disappeared and the weather was perfect for Caroline to get a chance to hug her big buddy!

Pop's new ride

I don't know who likes it more...Pop or Will.Of course we couldn't ride the tractor and not ride the horses.

Planting a garden

This past weekend, we went to my grandparents' house to get started on our summer garden. Granted, it is a lot of work, but the kids enjoy it and I think it teaches them a lot of good lessons. Plus, it gives us an excuse to go visit my grandparents. Here's a brief recap of our day:

Daddy and Caroline getting the soil ready (and yes, Caroline had ear plugs. She ran into the house and told me that she needed some plugs for her ears so that she could help drive the tractor.)...
Matt making certain that his rows were a straight as possible (and according to Pappaw they have never been straighter so that made Matt very proud)....
Will checking to see if the soil was any good....
which it obviously wasn't in his opinion....

He then decided to check and see what kind of vegetables we would be planting...

and talked Pappaw into letting him help a little...Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of us actually planting the garden because that was primarily my job. However, I did manage to get a picture of Pappaw and Caroline surveying the job I did to see if it was done correctly.We ended up finishing the job right before sundown. According to Pappaw, it "has come a good rain" and everything looks to be doing good. And I guess he should know considering he checked on it 4 times in one day! Let's just hope everything sprouts and we get some good vegetables to enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

We'd like to wish Nana a very happy birthday today! Over the weekend, we celebrated with a shrimp boil and a duck cake. Where did the duck cake idea come from you might ask? Caroline, of course. Since Nana didn't care what kind of cake we made, she said that the kids could decide. At first Caroline threw out the idea of a skunk cake. Who knows where she got that one from, but I vetoed that for obvious reasons. Her 2nd suggestion was a duck cake, and since I thought that would be simple enough, we went with that one. We even had matching duck bubbles left over from Easter to accessorize. All and all, we had a great party and hope that Nana has a great birthday!

Tears to my eyes

I, like most I'm sure, often wonder if I'm doing a good job raising my kids. Since I've quit working, I really contemplate if I'm doing the right thing by staying home rather than pursuing my career aspirations. Honestly, I miss working at times, but I feel that the job I'm doing right now is so very important and worth much more than money can ever buy. That being said, this morning my feelings were validated by my little angel.

I asked Caroline, "Caroline, what do you want to be when you grow up?" She replied, "just like you." My heart overflows.....

Sweet Dreams

Do you like plums?

because I sure do.

Our Easter Celebration

As our pastor says, Easter is the Superbowl of our faith, so we made certain to celebrate this wonderful holiday as best we could. Our Easter was filled with a lot of fun activities, good food and beautiful weather. We started things off with an Easter egg hunt at playschool. As usual, Caroline had us sign up to bring the cupcakes for the party and wanted me to come to the egg hunt with her. I was so glad she asked because I was planning on going anyway. Since Will's teacher was out on Thursday, he got to go along with his sister for the egg hunt. Unfortunately, I didn't send his basket with him to school. Since Caroline had made a bunny basket for the hunt, she gladly shared her basket with him. She stuck close to her brother throughout the hunt and when they came upon a cluster of eggs hidden together she said, "This one is for me and that was is for you, Will."

Later Thursday afternoon Mimi made a surprise visit to drop off the kids' Easter happy. They were so excited to discover that is was Easter Little People that fit perfectly with their playhouse and farm set.

On Friday, Nana came to town and took us to eat Mexican. Afterwards, we went shopping where Nana bought Caroline the cutest little silver cross necklace. Since Will is still smitten with his Scooby Doo crocs, he opted to not get a necklace...thank goodness!
Friday night, we finished painting our wooden Easter eggs that will soon become an annual tradition. Caroline loves to paint, so I decided the eggs would make a nice keepsake each year.

After we finished those up, we dyed our eggs which Caroline said stunk. All Will wanted to do was toss them around. Let's just hope he doesn't try that with a raw egg!

Saturday morning the Easter bunny made an early surprise visit. After they dug through their Easter happies, we headed to the Ag Museum's Easter Egg hunt where we met up with Mecie and Helen. The kids had a blast riding the ponies, getting their faces painted, hearing the Easter story, riding the carousel, jumping, and hunting eggs. It was really a great hunt and well worth the trip! To top it off, rumor has it that Caroline and I made it on the WLBT news Saturday night.Saturday night Nana and Pop Buddy treated us to Cock of the Walk. We all got a kick out of being seated at the same table we had sat at about 10 months earlier. Pop Buddy pulled out the pictures he had taken with his IPhone only to discover that Matt was wearing the same shirt! Thankfully it wasn't his usual Flowers Hospital tee, but instead his favorite striped polo. I guess now he'll listen when I say, "Are you really going to wear that again?"





The kids loved seeing the ducks and Will enjoyed drinking tea out of the tin cups. He thought he was such a big boy and kept saying, "more". When we got home from dinner, Caroline and I made Easter story cookies. Despite being a little over her head right now, it is a great message and helped her grasp the concept that Jesus died so that we might go to heaven. When we woke up on Sunday, we discovered that the cookies were hollow, just like the cave was because Jesus was alive and had risen from the dead. She thought that was so neat!
After church, we enjoyed a home cooked Easter meal on the back porch. Since the weather was nice, we all decided to head to the farm to enjoy the afternoon. Despite being totally unplanned, I knew it would warm my grandparents' heart to have a nice Easter meal and see the kids. While we were there, the kids got to help feed the bull, Pappaw helped heal a booboo and Will gave Mommaw the sweetest sugar ever. As expected, my grandparents were tickled pink to see us and it provided for a great end to a wonderful Easter celebration!