Caught!

If you wonder where she gets her love for ice cream and eating out of the tub, it is directly from her father. No matter where she is or what she is doing, she can hear her daddy get the ice cream out of the freezer and comes a running because she wants "just a little" too.

Happy Birthday, Abby and Tamah!

On Friday afternoon, we had the pleasure of helping Caroline's friend, Abby, celebrate her 4th birthday. The party was held at Laurel Park in Belhaven and it is absolutely the cutest little park with tons of fun equipment to play on. Abby is a very popular little girl because she had lots of friends come help her celebrate. And the cake...let me tell you about that cake. It was made of fondent icing which is always beautiful but not always that tasty. This cake, however, was absolutely delicious. So, I will gladly give a plug for Abby and Tamah's neighbor who owns a cake business called Southern Belle Cakes.
After the party, I asked Caroline what she wanted to eat for dinner and of course she wanted Mexican food. So, since Daddy and Will didn't want to get cleaned up from playing outside, Caroline and I had a little date. The food was good but the company was better. We had so much fun just the two of us.





Since we're in the business of birthdays, I should also mention that today is Tamah's (Abby's mom) birthday. I am so glad we met each other in our Bible study and I'm especially looking forward to enjoying some playdates with the two of them this summer. Happy birthday, Tamah!

What will $20 buy?

I must admit that I have never been a garage sale shopper, but since our neighbors were participating in the neighborhood garage sale, I figured, "what the heck", I'll go see what they've got. So, my garage sale buddy and I rode around the neighborhood and found these awesome deals!
A Barbie piano and horse and carriage for Caroline - total $6
A motorcycle and Elmo workstation for Will - $8
and my favorite find of the day...bed guard rails for $5. Granted, these were a little dirty, but once I Cloroxed them, they look brand new.

And if you're wondering about the shady math (the items total $19 if you were adding in your head Momma), I also included the 2 $.50 lemonades we purchased from the girls down the street.

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