The Old Lady's 31!

Today was a great day. Kay-Lynn turned 31 today, and the kids had a great time with Mommy's big day.

Kay-Lynn probably would not put these pics up of herself, so I am posting this for her. We had a great dinner at Outback Steakhouse. The kids had a good time looking at all things Australian.





The kids made a Red Velvet Cake...Mommy's favorite. The candles sparked which was entertaining.


Some beautiful flowers from the one and only...........Miss Mandy!


On a side note...I have completed week one of the growth on my upper lip. Yes, I know...you will likely need to click on the photo to view my mustache. It is a little blonde coming in. I have 3 weeks to go to before I am able to shave it off. I have committed to growing the 'stache for Mustaches for Kids. All proceeds are going to buy mosquito nets for villages in Africa to stave off malaria outbreaks. Feel free to track my growth along with my co-worker, David Clark and about 60 other student growers. Let me know if you would like to contribute to my growth.

Lazy, Rainy Day

Well we are now on day 6 of rain. Getting restless around here....the kids were playing today and making me smile so i grabbed my camera and thought i would share.




Every time the kids get on the "john deer" garb it makes me laugh...



Charlie pulling a tooth the way Coach does it!



Making faces for the camera...



Peek-a-boo!



The kids have really had fun playing together this week!

Fun Friday's

We are all sitting on the couch this morning as it rains for the 5th day in a row of our spring break. We had had a good week and we need the rain...it just makes it a little harder when you can't go outside. Oh well.

I haven't posted any funnies in a while and so i thought i would share some of the funny things that have happened around here this week. I can laugh now...however with a few of these "funnies" laughter was not my first reaction. Enjoy!

1) "Mommy, I go poop-poo"

I hear this from Charlie in the den as I am browning hamburger meat in the kitchen....I turn to walk towards the den and I am saying "ok....let's go...let's go (to the potty)" but as i reach the den I notice that Charlie is not telling me he needs to go poop..he is SHOWING me that he has already gone poop. The boy had reached into the back of his pull-up and grabbed "a little" to show me. I am still wondering what was going through his mind that he would stick his hand into his pants and pull out some..well you know. (not so funny at the time....but kinda funny now...kinda)

2) "Are you a boy or a girl ?"

You know you always hear about some REALLY embarrassing things kids say and you just hope and pray that you do not have to be humbled in that way. Unfortunately, I did not have such luck this week. We went to the grocery and had a really nice girl pushing out our groceries for us. She was talking to the kids and being really sweet. I will admit that she resembled "Pat" from Saturday Night Live.....remember Pat? I am in no way making fun of this girl but I must admit for a child it was hard to tell if she was a boy or a girl...and so I guess it was a honest question...just not one I wanted to be around for. I wanted to crawl under the car! The girl just continued to put bags of groceries into my trunk and I said "come on mary alice, let's get in the car and buckle up". Oh...the things that your children say!

3) "I go poop"

No...don't worry it did not happen again. But Charlie says "I go poop" for anything related to pottying. If he needs to go pee he says "i go poop"...if he needs to go poop he says " i go poop"....if he is has already has gone pee it is still "i go poop" and we all know that if he has already gone poop then it is "i go poop" (and sometimes you get really lucky and he shows you too!)

Anyways, you can see where this gets a little confusing....and REALLY confusing for others who are taking care of Charlie. No matter how many times I correct him...he is still saying " I go poop" for everything (well not everything...but you know what i mean).

Sorry for all the "potty" talk....but this is what I spend a LARGE amount of my time doing day.........after day.........after day! I am actually questioning if I started this whole potty training thing too early.

4) "You know, I do not like Charlie a lot these days"

This is what Mary Alice had to say after getting in trouble for not playing nice with her brother. You know it is just hard when you want to play polly pockets and get all of your little chairs, tables, and accessories set up and then your 2 yr old brother comes and destroys it all.

5) "Excuse me?"

Now this really does make me smile. Anytime in any situation where Charlie should say please, instead he will say "excuse me". It goes something like this....

(charlie wanting a toy from Mary Alice)

I say : Charlie how do ask for the toy? What do you say to Mary Alice?

Charlie: Excuse me....sissy...can i have the toy?

(charlie wanting a piece of candy, drink etc.)

I say: Charlie how do you ask me for a juice box?

Charlie : Excuse me....can I have a juice box?

Never a Please but always an EXCUSE ME! Does that still count? I mean "excuse me" is good manners too right?

Maybe with time Charlie can learn how to tell others he needs to go to the potty and can learn to say please instead of excuse me!

Hope you are having a good Friday!

Easter Sunday

Whew! What a day! Or should I say what a FUN day. It started early this morning with the kids finding their Easter baskets. They were so excited. They each got a outfit, pair of crocs, and candy. Then it was onto getting dressed for church. Boy did they look handsome and beautiful. Here are some pics.

Here is Charlie and Daddy (daddy wasn't dressed yet but it was a good time for charlie..sorry steve)

Charlie runs from the camera so Steve caught him lounging in his chair

Here is a beautiful girl who does not run from the camera.....when i look at this picture I am thinking "who is this girl?" " i cannot believe it...she is growing up SO FAST"

Then it was onto the Wilson's house for lunch. Karen served up a wonderful, yummy lunch (like always).....she even made a bunny cake just for the kids! Thanks Karen!

Charlie loves "hanging" out with Kyle (don't know how much Kyle likes hanging out with charlie but oh well)

Then the kids were off hunting for eggs....

Then it was home for a few hours before heading to the Sidden's house for dinner and an egg hunt....more fun!

more Easter egg hunting.....

and hanging out with our friends.....

what a fun day....hope you all had a great Easter!

thankyou, thankyou, and did we say thankyou?

This blog entry is for the grandparents. Every year they send us money for the kids for Easter and every year I go out and buy them Easter clothes but they never really get to see them in their clothes or even get the pleasure of taking them shopping themselves. And I know that you both miss not being able to do this as much as you once did...so this post is for you! Mary Alice and I had soooo much fun shopping ( charlie is not a shopper..go figure!). Mary Alice had the most fun shoe shopping. She has ALWAYS been a shoe and purse girl.

So here are some pics of what we got!



Charlie will look so handsome in his new pants, button up shirts and tie....and don't forget the cute alligator belt!



Mary Alice loved trying on her dresses and twirling around in the dressing room. Of course she was singing while twirling...i could hear women in the dressing rooms next door chuckling. She also checked herself out in the big community mirror outside our dressing room while singing and twirling.



Next on our list of things to buy was shoes. Mary Alice wanted one thing..."CHEETAH SHOES" . She was on a mission for cheetah shoes. The first place we went had the shoes she wanted..in "real" cheetah colors (brown and black) but they were sold out of her size. The sales lady felt so bad when Mary Alice started to cry, but don't worry we continued on shopping...and she found what she wanted at stride right. She loves them!



And yes Charlie got shoes too!



And yes even mommy got shoes....maybe now I know where her obsession with getting some "cheetah" shoes came from!

So this concludes our shopping spree. I will post pictures tomorrow of the kids in their new Easter attire.

A few days ago we had a special delivery at our house. I knew it was going to be good when I saw that the package was from Mrs. Prindable's. If you do not know about Mrs. Prindables then shame on you, you really need to click on my super cool hyperlink. Here is the adorable bunny that arrived at our door. There were 3 apples inside and yes we ate all three apples that night. YUMMMM....(thanks mamma)




The kids love this bunny and still fight over who is going to "play" with the bunny....



Of course, Charlie was the second person who got to have his picture taken with the bunny and he was not happy about that...

We have had a great week and are SOOOO excited about the Easter bunny coming tonight. Thanks G-Ma, G-dad, mamma and coach for making our Easter so special. We miss you guys and wish we could all be closer.



"Life is good when you have chocolate...and FAMILY"

We love and miss you guys!

Fun Friday

Well sorry..no post yesterday. Charlie started vomiting Thursday night and continued to vomit every 2 hours though out the night. So my Friday was spent holding him ALL day long. Which really does not leave anytime to blog. Then I went to work from 7-11pm. Good news is that I think it was just a 24 hour bug so we are on the mend!

I will share one funny thing Mary Alice told me on Thursday. I picked her up from Preschool at noon and we went out to eat before taking her to Karate at 1:oo pm. We were sitting down eating and out of nowhere she says "Mom, I think that Santa is really just mean and chubby". I say "Really? why do you say that?" (and i wish you could of seen her facial expressions and hand jesters) "Because he makes all the elves do ALL the work. He makes them make ALL the toys AND they have to take care of the reindeer" "Don't you think that is not fair?" "I mean that is just so mean, to not to help".

So of course we continued to talk about Santa's "job" of keeping up the "naughty/nice" list and delivering the gifts to the whole world etc.

It just amazes me sometimes the thoughts that come from young minds!

appointments!

Today was a day of appointments. First, Mary Alice and Charlie both had dentist appointments. Both did wonderful! No cavities, yea! ( I always get nervous ) . Charlie even got a "special" prize for giving up his passy! He hadn't heard the word passy in so long, that i was hoping it would not stir up any old emotions....but it didn't. Here are pictures of the kids in their shades. ( I know you could care less about seeing these pictures but Mary Alice loves to see the blog, she loves to see pictures of herself and read the story).





Next off was Mary Alice's doctor appointment for her BIG 5 year old check-up (and shots). She did great! She was given the choice of the "big needle" that hurts "ALOT" or the "teeny, tinny needle" that only "hurts a little bit". She chose the "teeny, tinny one" (you think any kids picks the big one?) and then she got 3 gold coins for the "treasure tower". Here is a picture of her and Dr. Bell...man do we LOVE Dr. Bell!




Ok...so this was the best part of the day. If you have been reading my blog over the past few weeks I have shown you pictures of Mary Alice making friends with strangers. We never go anywhere with making a friend. Seriously. Well today was no different however, she took her new friendship to a new level!

I was signing Mary Alice in and of course she found someone to go and sit by and start talking to...well about the time I sit down I notice that she is talking to a mom of a new baby. This woman speaks no English but somehow Mary Alice is communicating with her...so i take out my camera and take a picture....and while I am looking at the camera trying to zoom in this is what I see taking place....



Somehow Mary Alice has asked to hold the baby! Of course I quickly sat down my camera and ran to her and tell her we cannot ask to hold other people's babies that we do not know. She says to me "oh, mom..she said it was ok...we have met". I could not help but smile...oh..mary alice you are something else...i love you.

So this lady had to get up to go sign in at the desk, and Mary Alice introduced herself to the next family in line and started singing twinkle, twinkle, little star to their baby. I do not know what everyone thought was stranger....the child introducing herself to everyone one in sight or the mother taking pictures of it all!



(PS) We were not so successful on potty training today. Charlie wet and pooped in his underwear at the dentist office and wet his second pair of underwear at the doctor's office. I was so tired by the time we got home! Oh the joy's of potty training!