Friday, May 30, 2014

There goes May

What a fantastic, crazy, busy, wonderful, fun month this has been!

 The month started off with mom taking Drake for the weekend. She was determined to potty train Drake, and I was willing for her to try. Although he shows plenty signs that he is ready, the stubborn boy won't do it and today we have had 4 failed potty training attempts. It has to happen something though. I wish sooner than later. This was also the first weekend of T Ball. It has been a better season in that the boys don't try to tackle each other for the ball. I don't think this will be Lincoln's sport: there is too much waiting around. He sure does look cute in his uniform.




After the game, I took Lincoln to meet some friends at a fast food restaurant with an indoor play area. When I was ordering, I had Dorothy in her car seat on the ground. Lincoln told the person taking our order all about his little sister. He said, " You can't see her right not, but she is really cute. Mom, pick her up and show her." He really is a sweet kid!

Lincoln's favorite activity at school was the Trike-a-Thon. They spent one day riding bikes outside to raise money for the school. All the kids got to cross a finish line, received a gold medal, and ate Popsicles. He scraped his knee and when I asked if he washed it at school he told me, "I tried to wash it with my Popsicle, but it didn't work." Gross! This happened at the beginning of the month and now he is riding his bike without training wheels. He is very proud that he can start peddling without any help now.



I could write a whole post on Mother's Day weekend. Our family met my Mom and Dad for a weekend on a mountain farm resort. Yeah, we didn't really know what to expect either. We drove about 30 minutes outside of Asheville to a teeny, tiny town. The van could hardly make it up the mountain road where the farm was. Dave's comments were hilarious as we were driving, but I don't think it would be appropriate for me to write them down here. Oh, how I hope I remember them! We checked in and arrived at our gorgeous cabin. It was new, it was huge, and it had all the amenities. The boy's favorite part was the hot tub outside. The owner told my dad that the next morning we could walk down and feed the chickens and to take the walking path. The walking path was through multiple horse pastures and ended up in the goat pen. We had no idea how interactive the farm would be, but they we were being nibbled on by goats! I quickly learned Lincoln is not into animals ("Mom, can we go back to the cabin? Can we go back now? Now?") Drake couldn't get enough of it. He fed the chickens, watched the cow being milked and petted anything he could get his hands on. During a heavy rain storm we put Drake down for a nap, which gave Dave and me time to teach Lincoln how to play battleship. We were also able to fit some gem mining into the day. Dad couldn't hang because a cow named Gidgit kept ramming into him. Dorothy also got some love from a goat.




 

 While Lincoln was at school, Drake got had some fun times. He had a birthday party at a Fire Station. They were so great to let the boys touch all the trucks and even climb inside one.


 He also got to ride "Perry" thanks to a few lessons my dad gifted him.

  

Lincoln wanted a turn too, which surprised me after the farm experience. We came back later for his turn.  


They both liked trotting the best. Of course!

Each year, Great Wolf Lodge does a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Charlotte. They sell day passes, which is great since we are only 30 minutes away and spending the night wouldn't make sense. Dave took the day off of work and we even met some old friends. We stayed for the entire day. The boys mostly stayed in the pool areas with small slides, but they did venture out to some bigger slides. Drake was more brave than Lincoln. He went down a pretty large slide. I was extremely worried when it took him so long to get down. The lifeguards kept looking for him, but couldn't find him. I was about to walk up the slide myself when he comes creeping down, using his hands to push himself down. When Dave picked him up, he screamed because he said he didn't do a good job. He knew he was supposed to go fast. It was fun to have other adults there, so we could take turns watching kids and the adults could go down the really big rides. Dorothy is/was such a champ: she would just fall asleep in my arms when she was tired and had a good time watching everyone else when she was awake.


Lincoln's school put on a very cute graduation for the rising kindergartners. They all danced their way out of the chapel to the Pharrell song, "Happy." The director also introduced them each in the reception hall with answers to questions like, "What was your favorite part about school" or "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Lincoln said he wanted to be a superhero with a rocket jet pack.


We met up with some of the other boys from his class after his last day of school. They all jumped and jumped at Monkey Joe's until they were really red and sweaty.


Just because that day wasn't crazy enough, we had some other friends from school over that night to roast marshmallows. I also go to MOPS with these mommies.



 We have had other play dates at our home and at the park...

This picture cracks me up, because there are no boys in sight, just the girls surrounding the baby.


We even fit in strawberry picking. Drake is such a hard worker. Lincoln was done after picking a few, but Drake kept going. He loves it when I give him a job to do...except potty training.


Dorothy keeps growing so quickly. She is eating solid foods and loving it. So far she doesn't like avocado, but likes green beans, peas and cucumber. All the newborn toys are getting too small and she now enjoys the exersaucer and bumbo chair. Unlike the boys, she is already sleeping through the night. She is such a joy to have around!


Thursday, May 1, 2014

Easter/Spring Break

We were thrilled to have my grandma (Giggi) visit us for Easter and Spring Break. She arrived on a very rainy Saturday before Easter. It still amazes me that she drives down all the way from New Jersey!

I was really excited to get a 4 generation picture. I wish I had the one to share when I was a little girl and my Great Grandma Olive is in the picture.


Drake was disappointed he wasn't in the pictures with the girls...you can see I didn't crop him out. After this shot, I made sure to take some pictures with him.

My little brother used to listen to Scripture Scouts ALL the time, when he was younger. They drove me crazy, and I would complain about it ALL the time. Well, you can imagine what the boys love to listen to in the car now. Yep, Scripture Scouts! They have been listening to the New Testament cds, which were so appropriate for this time of year. Drake colored a picture of Jesus and the empty tomb. He was very proud of it, and kept saying tomb, because it was a new word.

We did all the fun stuff at Easter too. We went to an egg hunt at our local park. They separate the kids by age, so that's why Drake isn't in the picture. These cuties are friends from Lincoln's school and from MOPS.





Pinterest is wonderful! We experimented with 3 different egg coloring techniques this year: coloring with crayons, permanent markers and rubbing alcohol, and shaving cream with food coloring. I think my favorite ones were done with crayons. They aren't the most gorgeous eggs, but we had a great time experimenting. Drake colored an egg with orange permanent marker (see below) and he made sure every inch of white was covered with orange. It took him a good 15 minutes, which for him to sit still that long is a marvel!


Some of the eggs are missing in the last picture, because they had already been cracked and made into egg salad for a picnic lunch. The boys, Giggi and I went to the Daniel Stowe Botanical gardens on a gorgeous sunny day. Lincoln kept complaining about all the walking, so it surprised me when he said that his favorite thing about that day was being at the gardens and seeing the water fountains.

Ok, I got ahead of myself. Back to Easter. Just like when I was a kid, the boys went in search of their Easter baskets, hidden in the house. Here they are posing with their baskets and checking out their surprises.




They also went on an egg hunt in our front yard and got to play with their friends next door. 


Papaw entertained the children while dinner was being prepared.


 As usual, I wish I had more pictures to show all we did with Giggi. We went to the Gardens, took her to our Story Time at the library, ate lunch with BB, played at parks, spent lots of time playing outside, read stories, and visited a historical museum. I know what you are thinking...how much fun did the kids have at a historical museum, right? Well, it was Civil War day, so they had people dressed in period clothing, musket shooting demonstrations, marching practice for the kids and quill writing too. Plus each floor of the old hotel had hands-on activities.

Update on the kiddos:

Lincoln is such a sweet, sweet boy. He takes his job of big brother seriously and has now extended his position to any other small child or baby he sees. He entertained a little baby girl at church on Sunday and she was thrilled. He is so imaginative, always creating new characters and imaginary friends. Every person we meet is his friend. I love that he doesn't care how old someone is or what they look like; he is just glad to play with someone. 

Oh Drake, Drake, Drake. He is just a tornado of energy and messes. I feel like I am constantly cleaning up something that he knows he shouldn't have been into. He is so independent and thinks he can usually do something, even though he should have asked for help. His eyebrows are so expressive. They usually scowl at me when I give him an answer he doesn't like. Although his antics are not funny to me at the time, I go to bed laughing and telling Dave about it all. He still loves his Bear Bear and has to go to sleep with him at night. 

Dorothy is such a love! She is giggling now, smiles all the time and is just happy to be here. The boys never did well in a stroller or a bouncy chair or anywhere besides my arms. She is content to just be on a blanket on the floor, looking at the fan. Her brothers entertain her just by playing together. She still has blue, blue eyes. I just love this baby girl so much!!


 Aunt Kim made her this beautiful blanket.


He would be embarrassed, but I also have to mention that Dave got a promotion at work. He really enjoys working at PG: he works very hard for this company and puts in lots of late nights, so I am glad to see him rewarded for it!