Recap of April-May Happenings

Easter seems like so long ago and yet I have no posted pics to show for it.....until now.

Our Easter was actually great except for a little bloody finger issue with  Maddie, who thought a crayon sharpener was for fingers also.  We weathered through a tornado near our house, and the kids learned to take shelter.  We had a beach trip and several parties.  And even met some new friends.   I'll let the pics and captions do the talking:

Here, after the bloody finger incident, Maddie finally returns to the decorating table to sprinkle crayon shavings over a still-warm boiled egg.  The egg turned out great, Maddie learned that not all Easter eggs are plastic and Dora band-aids saved the finger.

Maddie dyeing an egg for the first time....she loved it!

"Hey, there's a basket in the planter."

Maddie helping Mason find his Easter basket.

On Easter day, we went to my family's annual Easter Egg Hunt at Great-Grandma's house.
Here, Mason sees how many balls he can carry.  He is such a boy!  

This was the first year Mason really "got it" and he had fun finding all the eggs, but there's some heavy competition now -- four great grandkids and counting....

All the great grandkids (Maddie, Brendan, Mason and little Noah).

Cheese face.  He knows what "cheese" means and
uses his cheeks to their full potential (smile)!

Uh, are we out of these toddler snacks??  Mason is a huge snacker but not great meal eater....We have tried everything and the pediatrician says to keep doing what we are doing. He is not wasting away, though.

Self portrait of Mommy and Mason snuggling.  Such a sweet boy.

Mason helped set up for a party by removing all the juice boxes from the ice tub.....
He probably would have removed the wine bottles also if he could've lifted them!

One of Mason's favorite things to do is put a bucket on his head....
hey, whatever makes him happy makes us happy.

You da woman, Mommy!

  Mason during his nightly naked time.  Maddie and Mason both have a few minutes every night before bath or dressing for bed where they run around naked like wild things.  If Mason doesn't get his "naked time," he gets very, very, very upset.

OK, I'm sure I'll get some emails about this, but sometimes I miss doing little girl hair. Maddie won't let me do much with hers and uh, Mason's was getting kind of long and I was playing with it.  And the pigtails just happened.  But isn't he beautiful just the same?? 
And yes, I plan to keep these photos forever and show them to his first girlfriend.  I think she will laugh with me, no?

Strawberry pickin'.  Maddie was happy for about 3.5 minutes until strawberry juice got on her hat.  She had a tantrum, had to be taken to the car, and I finished picking with Mason.  Not one of our finer family moments.

Mason helping me fill the buckets.  He was actually a huge help to me. 
I'm glad someone enjoyed themselves!

Trying to wrangle the kids for a photo in front of the giant strawberry.  No go.

A few weeks ago, we managed to make it to Emerald Isle for a long weekend at my Aunt and Uncle's place. We had some concerns about Mason sleeping, but he fell into a routine the second night.  As usual, Maddie loves the water and wants to be in it almost every second.
Mason was hesitant and preferred to be held the entire time.

I love this photo of Maddie.  She's wiping sand from her hands because as we all know, beach sand doesn't belong on your hands.....cracks me up.

Dancing in the sand while we're getting the umbrella set up.

The first day was super windy, so Mason kept his shirt on and toddled around with the beach toys.

And had a blast feeding snacks to Frank!

My Aunt left a huge Care Bear collection at the beach house.  It did not go to waste.  Maddie made a nice little nest with some of them during the lazy morning TV time.

Mason tries on Frank's sun hat.

At a local gift shop, Maddie picked out a sparkly cape (for princess dress-up of course) and Mason selected a Brachiosaurus.

Maddie is posing with  her shark's tooth necklace.  Frank spent some time combing the beach for a shark's tooth for Maddie and found one!  Then he made a necklace with it and gave it to her.  She may be a priss, but she wears that necklace every single day.....even with her pinkest dress!

Here are a few pics from Maddie's Gymnastics Showcase.  All the kids in her preschool class go to gymnastics once per week.  They showed the parents what they learned this year.

Yay for Maddie!

Maddie goofing with her buddies before they strut their stuff.

Posing with her ribbon.  She definitely knows how to ham it up!

Camping out time!  Frank has promised Maddie for many months that they would camp out in the backyard together.  Well, the time came a few weeks ago.  She's obviously prepared, and a walking contradiction.  But I love how it's all cool with her.  Let's see:

*Keen hiking shoes: check
*Eyelet lace socks: check
*Pink dress with bows: check

*Boots ring: check
*Shark's tooth necklace: check

First taste of homemade s'mores before the camp out.  Yum!!

Frank roasts the marshmallows to perfection over the fire pit.

Every camper needs a Care Bear, right?  She's ready to turn in for the night.  Incidentally, Frank thought they'd be back in the house by midnight. He was wrong; she slept outside the entire night!!! Go Maddie!!

Memorial Day water play with Stella Dot.

Maddie's friend Salem practices her beach pinup.  She's so funny...

Mason tries to see if he can push the beach ball sprinkler around the yard using only his belly.  And he did!

The three of them are oblivious to each other.  In their own little worlds.

Salem, Maddie and Stella Dot -- water buddies!

Next post: Dance recital and Dinosaur trail visit!

Hugs and Bugs - Welcome Spring

So, I'm getting a little pressure from some people I won't name (um, Mama) to update the blog finally.  For the last couple of months, I kept taking photos, but I guess I didn't feel up to sharing them (or rather taking the time to upload them).  We had lots of sickness -- again -- with strep and croup. I'm so flippin' ready for sunshine.  Thank goodness Spring is here.


I know all you really care about are the photos, but here's what happened in Feb and March.  April will be a new entry -- soon I promise!


Oma and Opa visited with us for several weeks in March.  Mostly sunny but chilly days when they were here.  They spent oodles of time with the kiddos and as usual, helped out a lot with the house and garden.  It was a great treat to have a few date nights while they were here and Frank loved not having to cook every night.  They were amazed at how "big" the kids are even from a few months ago.


Of note:  Opa weeded and prepped the garden for this year's veggies.  Thanks Opa!  Oma cleaned the siding on our screen porch that we had on our "to do" list since the porch was finished in December.  Thanks Oma!  Getting ready for Spring.


Maddie invented a cool new game with/for them.  Buzzy Bee consists of Maddie chasing Opa in circles around our house.  Mason follows so far back that eventually, Opa and Maddie pass him and he thinks he's caught them.  It made for hilarious after-dinner theater.  Of course, Opa had barely put his fork down from dinner each night when Maddie asked him  to play Buzzy Bee with her.  Of course, he did not deny her. 


After Oma and Opa left for Germany, there were only a few days before Frank left for a conference in Denver.  Grandmama and Grandaddy came up to help with the kids for a few nights on their way to Charlotte.  They spent an entire day with them although I warned them!   Daddy mowed the grass, Mama cooked dinner.  Janet went to work.  And oh, it was picture day, and Ginger had a vet emergency, and while taking off time to get her to the vet, I ended up taking Mason to the Dr. for croup.  So we were all very happy to see Frank when he came back home!!  What can I say, when it rains, it pours.


Lately, we've been spending lots of time outdoors, scheduling indoor or outdoor playdates.  Soaking up the sunshine and planting our garden.  And I promise to post again within 60 days (wink).

Hugs -- they really love each other. I think Maddie has started to appreciate how mobile Mason is now.  She finally (sigh) has someone to chase other than me and Frank.

We bought a few new outdoor toys, and the sandbox is the most popular.  I think it is just big enough for the kids and every single one of their 20 plus beach toys!  

Mason loves to play ball and isn't really selective about what kind of ball.  Volleyball, wiffle ball, baseball.  They are all "abaaa" as he says.  

When Valentine's Day rolled around, I told Maddie she should sign her name -- to all 21 of the Valentine's cards to her classmates.  At first she was excited, then she got tired of it.  But after two signing sessions, the cards were finished and she had memorized the letters of her name.  (OK, I'm a bit proud of my pushiness here.)  A few more days of practice on the whiteboard, and she beamed with pride.  We were so, so proud of her and hugged her to pieces.  

Maddie  helping to cook No Pudge Brownies (really, that's what they are called).  She is wearing her then-new apron that I held as a reward for good behavior and then finally caved and gave to her in a Mommy moment of weakness.  Maybe the grim look on her face is because she thinks I might dump the High Fiber cereal into the No Pudge brownie mix.....hey, that's not a bad idea....

 

Family portrait.  Should we visit the dentist?????

First beautiful spring weekend meant picnic!!  Maddie, and it seems Mason too, loves picnics.  Smoked salmon, deli meats and cheeses, sweet peppers, apple slices and everyone's favorite -- salami!!

Pic-a-nic-a.

The next weekend, it was a bit windier when Grandmama and Grandaddy came to visit us and Oma and Opa.  Porch picnic time.  I'm so glad the kids love the porch, too.  We are really enjoying having a shady and covered place to eat and play.

Strawberry princess with her new German H&M dress on.

Decorating sugar cookies with Oma.  These cookies were amazingly good -- must have been all that love baked inside.  Maddie loves to help with eating -- er, I mean cooking sweets.

Both Grandmama and Oma get suckered into pushing the kids.  

Joking with Grandmama.  

Buzzy Bee in action.  Did I mention that the lead bee, and really all the bees, has to flutter his buzzy wings??  Opa was a great sport and I think he secretly misses the nightly buzzing.

At the Museum of Natural History in downtown Raleigh.  Maddie's third visit and my first.  She knew all the exhibits and showed me and Oma and Opa her favorites.  But she is way into dinosaurs, so we had to get a pic with this skeleton.  I don't think it's a T-Rex, but we pretend it is....she was a bit scared.

I love dinosaurs too and always have.  I think I'm saying something here like, "hey look at these huge teeth, good thing he's dead."  Or something equally calming to my four-year old.

Mason enjoyed toddling and checking out the beach scene.  I think at this age, he is just generally interested in seeing and doing new things, whatever or wherever they are.

Grandaddy with Mason