Fun in the backyard!

This is so much fun!  I can even drink water from this thing!  Cool!

RUN!  Oh and now I am going to jump in the mud puddle!  This is much more fun than going to the park!

Reagan, up till now has avoided the water!  She didn't even want to get sprayed.  But, Taylor called her out to him and she went right through the mud puddle, looked at the sprayers, and went straight to the swings.  She wanted to play there where it was dry and I (sorry Reagan) being so pregnant and hot, and not wanting to move (or push a swing) just watched.  Then she started to head into the pine straw and spiders that I got up to get her.  She wanted to try out the slide.

On the slide.  She LOVED IT!  LOVED IT, LOVED IT!

Of course, she couldn't get enough and wanted to climb up over and over so, I let her slide and she giggled and giggled and there was no stopping her!

When all else fails, bring out the TV!

Well, we didn't have a babysitter this time around, but the TV did a great job and I didn't have to pay!  We started off with Ice Age, but Reagan wasn't interested.  So, sadly, I had to change it to Blue's Clues for her and Taylor had a sad teary moment!  I tried to explain that we have to make compromises but he didn't understand and later told on me to the Dr.  (That Mommy, made him watch Blue's Clues when all he really wanted was to watch Ice Age.)  

This is before Blue's Clues was on and Taylor was glued to the set and Reagan was antsy but would glance every little while to the bigger boob tube which was playing the Price is Right.  Lucky for me, things went really well!  The kids were great!  The Dr. came and tickled them both and they were pleasant.  Taylor was mad at mommy though for changing the movie on him and therefore exuded his anger/frustration/grumpy attitude on the Dr. as she tried to talk to him.  (We ended up at home watching Ice Age and all was well!)

Our day.

I have much to say about this:  "WHAT IS GOiNG ON!", well actually, that is what I did say!  Even looking at it again, I am saying, "really?!?!"  We have TOO many toys!  This is disgusting!  Now, who is going to clean this all up?  I will tell you.  Taylor and I had a game going, we tossed toys and made baskets and THEN... in walks MISSY and she one by one takes the toys out of the bin.  NICE!    

She wore herself out!  Thankfully!

This monkey, had cold feet so he went and retrieved his new Lamb blankie from his Grandma Cheryl and wrapped himself up.  It was nice to snuggle him before he laid down.  He is my handsome dude!

Mommy with the kiddos...

We don't take many family pics because we are always separated, or I am the one with the camera, but I love seeing us grow together!  Yes, Reagan isn't smiling, but oh well!  You take what you get and she still is a cutie!  We have such a wonderful family!  We miss you daddy!

Picture day with Gran

We are so happy to have had Gran come and stay with us!  We LOVE having her!  We miss you already!  Here are some other pics with Gran and Bop.

We love to make Gran laugh!

Looking back almost a year ago, wow!

Bop couldn't make this trip out, but I had to share this pic from his last visit!  

He really is a monkey and she is a sly fox!

I colored my face, or sucked on a pen or something.  (In the car!)  Well, it is all over his arms and legs too and we have since lost the privilege to color in the car!

More of my penned face!

This is my monkey, in the bathroom stall.  

Yes, my little girl is wiggling out of her straps too!  I will have to be on my toes, otherwise she will knock the whole stroller over and he will be too heavy for the grab bar and fall on his head!  

She is devious,  this one!  I wish I could show you all of the faces she makes!  She knows she is mischievous and it is crazy that she is already is waiting for you to do something about it!

Beautiful butterflies!

We ordered some caterpillars to learn about the cycle of life.  Boy was it interesting!  I was more interested in it than Taylor, but by the end, we couldn't get to the net bag quick enough to watch them pop out of their cocoons!  

They ate and ate and grew really big!  I was amazed at their growth rate!

I have never seen any of this up close before and felt like I learned a lot!  I didn't know they spun silk!  I don't know that I have ever seen a cocoon either!

After they became butterflies, (I was waiting for them all to hatch) I read to give them gatorade.  So, that is what is in the little lid at the bottom.  It worked and on my watch, I am happy to report that none of them died!  Thank goodness!  

We took them outside to our gardenia bush and Taylor didn't know if he should be scared or not.  He is so timid of everything!  Anyway, mommy always gets right in and I told him to let them climb on his finger.  They didn't, but it was cute to see him try and pet them!  

It was great!  I got to see it trying to stick a tongue or something out.  We watched them fly and then we looked for butterflies for the rest of the day.  It was a great experience!  I reccomend these pets to EVERYONE!  They are easy to care for and very neat!

They just love each other!

There is a little rhyme that goes:  "Round and round the garden, like a teddy bear..." Taylor wants her to laugh and giggle at him so he has begun this little rhyme because it always gets her... We all love watching her laugh!  He will tickle her and tickle her and it is too cute!

She is laughing at him and even though he has finished the rhyme and tickled her plenty, we will watch as they go again and again!  She loves it!  He loves it and as long as they aren't bickering, I love it too!

She is so funny!  I love my kids!

I am so lucky to have such loving children!  They are so different, but they are such love bugs!

Fun at the Atlanta Aquarium!

He wanted to see this gigantic purple octopus.  It was really cool!  We got a great look at it and then he stood at the glass on a wide ledge and we were looking so closely at the suction cups and the eyes.  Then is when he got nervous, almost like he thought he would be touching it and he didn't want it to get him!  It was really neat though!

This was our favorite!  There were small hammer head sharks and manta rays in there and we got to touch as many as we wanted.  Taylor got so brave and got to touch a couple of the manta rays and he really didn't want to try for a shark!  He just watched "Nemo" and remembered the shark part where they had a meeting about Fish are our friends and thought sharks were mean, so that was that.  Mommy did touch a couple of sharks and they were strange and rough textured, whereas the manta rays felt like wet algae.

We really, really, loved this and Taylor got so upset when we went on to the next exhibit!  He was in tears so we climbed up again so he could get his fix.

Beautiful Beluga whales on exhibit this time.  It was great to watch them and Reagan was fascinated with them also!  

She wanted to get up out of the stroller, can you tell?  I took her to the glass of some of the fish exhibits and she LOVED it!  This was fun for her!

Taylor is looking through a magnifying glass at some coral or something.  Very neat!

What a big boy!  He was too short to go on the play structure and cried and cried!  We did find this whale slide he could go down and I let him do it all by himself a couple of times so he could beam with excitement over his newfound independence!  He was over the moon!  Anyway, can you tell he is growing bigger and bigger!  

Gran and Reagan!  I took Reagan down the same whale slide and she didn't like it because it was dark inside.  She cried and then wanted to be with her Gran!  This is her trying to tell mommy that she was where she wanted to be!

Wesley Preschool 3's Class Certification

He is always excited to find who is proud of him in the audience!  We already got the wave and the "Mommy" squeal!  All of the kids are excited for their performance and ceremony cheers and excited parents, who are all snapping pictures and waving and singing along with the tunes.   

All the while the teachers are trying to direct the students and now the parents to pay attention to "the show", that they have no doubt practiced everyday for weeks and maybe months.  

Here we are, crowded into the room so excited to watch them sing, or in my case NOT sing but pull his pants up into his crotch.  

Here are the kids lined up for all to be seen.  It is good that they get used to being up in the spot light now, just kidding.  

At least he is having fun!  It was so cute!

Here he is pulling his pants up.  No doubt a little shy, not like the little girl to his right.

This is after he got his certificate.  He loves school!  The teachers are WONDERFUL!  They made lots of things for the students and gave them all a beach pail filled with goodies!  Of course including snacks which he wanted to have immediately!

We had lots of fun!  The teachers cried as did the parents!  I hope to get a picture of Taylor with his teachers maybe tomorrow.  We love them!

Here we come Tuesday!

Well, yesterday was NOT a good day!  All things considered, we survived, thank goodness!  I just wanted to see if we might be able to top yesterday so, it is only 8:15AM and already, Tuesday morning has included... the cat puking 3 times on the kitchen carpet (LOVELY!), Taylor peeing so much it has come down to him peeing through his diaper into his bed..., and well nothing else yet, but I am going to go about things differently today.  I have already had my green smoothie and vitamins and am now about to soak for as long as I can in a HOT, HOT shower.  We don't have any doctors appointments to rush to and this afternoon, Taylor is getting a certificate for school.  I plan on actually catching some much needed zzzzzzz's at nap time (instead of just laying down this time), and I vow to NOT lose my phone!  I plan to conquer my to-do list, since yesterday, it went virtually untouched... Nothing was accomplished!  Anyway, I hope you all have a GLORIOUS Tuesday!  If things go spiraling down hill for us today, you can bet I am  going to publish a book closely resembling Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

Off to the shower!

I LOVE our garden!

I have learned a lot from gardening, yes, and I am glad I got into it!  My children love it too!  Tending to it is fun and eating it is really good!  We love it!  Yes, I need more variety and am learning what to do and not to do, but for now I am so very content with what we have!  

The romaine lettuce grows easy here and it is great in sandwiches and salads!  It has been easy to get my son to eat salads at home considering he has picked and washed his own food.  He loves that!  The peas are also easy to grow and have started flowering and producing pods.  This morning we tried one and it was HEAVENLY!  I was shocked at the sweetness!  Here is a picture of the pods.

The one we ate was slightly larger and it had 4 peas in it.  I told Taylor it was like the pea pod on Toy Story 3 where the peas are plush toys that play inside Mr. Potato Head.  He thought it was funny that we had some of those to eat.  Reagan even liked it.  I am going to wait to get more to add to a salad or if there aren't many maybe I will just snack out there.  

This is the beginning of some green beans which I planted a couple weeks ago.  I am anxious to see how they grow and how they taste!  Organic gardening sure does produce different quality than that in the grocery store!  What a difference!  I want to try cherry tomatoes and squash, but have decided to hold back now that I am getting in the hot summer and am pregnant!  I will be ready to plant for the fall and be excited to see what we can do then when I can move about easier without the bulge!  Anyway, happy Sunday, looks like I will have an easy dinner tonight.  Maybe we will have baked potatoes with rosemary and garlic from the garden and a salad.  Nice and easy!  Just the way I like it!  Aaaahhhh!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all family and friends who are richly blessed by their own children and the mother's who have impacted me!  Thank you for your support and wisdom in sharing your experiences with me in regards to parenting.  Thank you to my own very DEAR mother, who has labored with me since birth and continues to labor with me through my struggles, and considering I was a perfect child (HA!), I gladly share with her my laborsome life sometimes since I know that for while I was in the house I was NEVER a burden!  HA!  I am very happy to be a mother as it is very, very rewarding!  Yes, it can be overwhelming in many regards, oh and hectic, but, it is eye opening and a blessing to say the least!  I gladly share this day with all mothers and may you all get some much needed appreciation for all that you do!  Happy Mother's Day!