Family In Town from Maryland

My aunt, uncle, and cousin and her daughter are in town!

Tonight we went over to my mom's to have shish kabobs and visit with them. My Aunt Patsy (my dad's twin sister) and Uncle Bob drove in at the beginning of this week and my cousin, Jan, and her daughter, K, flew in on Thursday.

Little Miss and Little Man couldn't get enough of my 2nd cousin, K. Little Miss has actually been talking about K ALL week! She loves hanging out with older girls and the minute she saw K it was over. Little Miss didn't let her out of her site all night. They played hide and seek, chase, played with the kids toys and sat with K while watching Ice Age 3.

We had a great time getting to see Aunt Patsy and Uncle Bob. I talk to Aunt Patsy at least once a week on the phone but it's always fun getting to see them :)

Kindergarten Field Trip to the Fort Worth Zoo

I think it's a rite of passage here in DFW... all Kindergarten classes must take the obligatory trip to the Fort Worth Zoo or you can't move on to 1st grade.

Today I was the chaperone on Little Miss's class trip to the zoo. Little Man went to Meme's house to play all day while Little Miss and I had Mommy/Daughter bonding at the zoo. Great day except for the fact that I do not do well on the big yellow bus - especially when I have to sit in the back. I was queasy for the first half of the zoo trip - sick enough that I decided to catch a ride home with one of the other moms that came.




Little Miss and her friends had a great time though at the zoo. We saw the gorillas, meerkats, elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, lions, tigers, and bears (oh my), penguins, birds, sharks, komodo dragons and numerous other animals. We got to feed the birds and the lion was actually up and moving when we got there. We ate lunch in front of the white tiger and then headed off to check out the penguins and sharks.

I had a great little group of girls and the weather was perfect - slightly overcast with a little breeze!

Let's Go Plant a Garden

Your rake and shovel and wheelbarrow bring,

Let's go plant a garden this morning in spring;

Dig little trenches, and clear out the weeds,

Sprinkle some water, then drop in the seeds.

~Let's Plant a Garden by Richard Compton

We decided that today would be a beautiful day to plant our yearly garden so with shovel, rake, and seed packets in tow we set out to plant.

Ryan dug the initial "row" to plant in and the kids each took a handful of seeds and gently lined them into the row. Then Ryan and I put the dirt back over the seeds and hopefully tomorrow we'll make concrete garden stones to designate each row.

This year we planted corn, green beans, carrots, green onions, white onions, hot peppers, summer squash, lima beans, tomatoes and sweet bell peppers.

It was a beautiful day to plant - warm, a little overcast, and a slight breeze.

By the end of the afternoon Little Man was running around in his underwear with a bucket on his head and Little Miss was soaked through her clothes after a run in with Daddy and the hose.

Ryan and the kids planting together & Ryan and Little Miss planting the green beans

Little Miss was busy planting while Little Man took the rake to the trees :)

Wiggle wobble, wiggle wobble... Loose Tooth!

Will you watch my mouth, While I open wide

Take a little look, right here inside

What do you see? Tell the truth

Uh Huh! A real loose tooth

Wiggles so much it hardly chews

Oh yeah! I've got the loose tooth blues!

Wiggle wobble, wiggle wobble. Loose tooth!

~Loose Tooth Blues by Wendy Rollin

The tooth is gone! The tooth is gone!

Little Miss's front tooth has been driving us nuts this week! It's been loose for a while but on Monday she was reaching for something in her classroom and fell tooth first into a plastic tub. Since then, the tooth has been LOOSE! Not just a little loose but the kind of loose that grosses you out a bit :) She's been able to partially twist it and make it go completely back by pushing it with her lip. Seriously, it was even giving me the willies!

Well today at her soccer game - in the middle of the 3rd quarter - she up and pulled it out herself! She ran over to me - bleeding - with the tooth in her hand screaming "I pulled it out! I pulled it out!" - she was so excited!!

That's tooth #3 for Little Miss :)

Easter 2010

Sing it loud, Shout it out

Rejoice, Rejoice

Jesus, Is King, Victorious

What a wonderful Easter we had today!

We got up and got to church this morning at 7:35am (I know, amazing!) But we knew that we wouldn't get a seat if we didn't get there early enough. We've started going to a new church and the preacher is amazing so people flock to hear him speak. They had a line out the door and into the parking lot and were turning people away at 7:55am. The message was awesome. He preached on Colossians 1:15-23 focusing mainly on verses 21-23. The message really hit home for us - it was a great start to our Easter Day.

After church we came home to continue cooking the brisket that Ryan cooked for 5 hours yesterday. He wanted to try out his new smoker. Everyone got here around 11:30am and we ate soon after. Brisket, broccoli, potatoes au gratin, salad, bread, and dessert.

After brunch we went outside so the kids could do their Easter egg hunt and then we broke Mexican confetti filled Easter eggs all over each other! The kids then went through their eggs to see what goodies they had gotten (mini M&Ms, Hershey's Kisses, Dinosaur bouncy balls, sidewalk chalk and money) and then we all came in and rested. We were full and happy!