S'Mores

I got Bo a little campfire pit for Christmas, and with the wonderful weather we've been having, we decided to bust that bad boy out and make some s'mores for family night.

The kids had fun and I'm pretty sure that is going to be a common thing at our house this summer.

Derrick had the time of his life with his unlimited access to the graham crackers.

After we were done we had to hurry and clean up, due to a storm that was coming in fast. It doesn't look bad in the picture, but about five minutes before, it looked black, and even though the clouds look lightish, it still had some good lightening and thunder. We were actually on a tornado watch that evening too. hhaha

Meg's Dance "Recital"

Megan had her dance "recital" a couple of weeks ago. Since this was just like a class, and not an actual dance company, she didn't do the legit recital with costumes and everything. Instead it was just them coming to class as usual, this time the parents were invited to watch, and the teacher led the girls in a couple of dances, complete with princess music.

Megan was excited. She even wore her crown and brought her wand for the occasion. She was fun to watch too. I have some great videos, but I don't know how to make them smaller to fit on blogger. I'll have to have Bo check it out. Afterwards we went out to get ice cream and celebrate, which might also have to do with her excitement. :)

She loved dance and it will definitely be a repeat for this girly girl.

performing.
Getting her certificate.

Megan and her friends, Eliza (in green) and Sammy.

Dear Bo,

Your children are driving me slightly crazy today. If you want a sane wife, a fun companion, or a cheerful friend then come home soon.
And maybe pick me up a treat. I deserve it. I REALLY deserve it.
I don't get paid enough.

Love,
One frazzled/soon-to-lose-her-hair/baggy-eyed chocoholic. (me)

Spring Lovin'

We've have been having some wonderful weather here. It has been HEAVEN. The trees are blooming and the weather is a nice and breezy warm. Seriously in love with it here. The kids and I love driving around and looking at all the different colors of the blossoms on the trees. Megs and my favorite are the purple ones. Carter likes the pink ones. It's been a loooooong time since we've actually seen a real Spring.

Since it's been so nice, we've been taking the kiddos to the park about every other day. We even (finally) bought Carter a bike! Here are some pictures of our first venture to the park. Since this picture was taken, the trees in the background have started budding and turning green and the kids are no longer wearing sweaters/jackets and pants. It's been shorts and t-shirts here. Ahhh.

Now I just need to get some pictures of Carter riding his awesome new bike!

They don't look it, but trust me, they're excited.

Kid Logic

Carter and I were making his bed today and we found a random feather in his sheets. It was one of those fake feathers, but still I have no clue where it came from.
Me: "Carter, where'd this feather come from?"
Carter: "Huh. Umm. I don't know? Maybe there was a chicken in my bed?"

Yep, that was probably it. A random chicken sleeping in Carter's bed. I still laugh thinking about it. How random.
FYI-the feather was gray. if that matters.

5 Minutes

I went upstairs to get Derrick out of his crib and I came down to find this. I was gone maybe five minutes.

My New Best Friend

I met Shannon Hale!! A couple Saturdays ago I found out she was in Indy and was going to do a book signing, so you'd better believe I was there along with a good friend and her daughter. Oh man was I giddy. I LOVE Shannon Hale's books. For those of you who are clueless as to what her books are, she's written Austenland, The Actor and a Housewife, Midnight in Austenland, The Goose Girl, The Princess Academy, and much more. I just love the way she writes. She's so funny.

I pretty much told her I loved her...like three times. She showed me some pictures on her laptop that she had taken while they were filming Austenland in England, because yes, they are making it into a movie! She wanted to hold Derrick, but he wasn't having it. He doesn't know how lucky he is. I was pretty jealous. haha. jk. kinda.

Anyways, I was pretty much on cloud nine that day, and the next. Still am. Can you tell I like her books? I really do feel like if she lived by me we could be good friends. :)

I got her to autograph my very worn Austenland, and then I bought Midnight in Austenland for her to sign for me, and The Goose Girl and The Princess Academy for her to sign for Megan, because I think all girls should read them.

What a great time.

We're looking at the pictures on her computer.

See? What'd I tell you...Best Friends!

Tennessee

For Presidents Day weekend I loaded up the kiddos and headed down to good ole Tennessee to visit my good friend/cousin-in-law, Sydney. Bo has been doing ICU, so I knew he wouldn't be home AT ALL, and Dave, Syd's husband, had just taken off to Japan for three weeks, so we decided us honorary widows would get together and have fun!

We were there Saturday through Tuesday, and the kids and I had a blast talking, playing, and relaxing with the Heslops. Just last night Megan was talking about her best friend Logan. :)

The kids played with the legos and dart guns and everything else on Saturday and Sunday, and then on Monday we loaded up everyone and took them to the Memphis Zoo. Dave's mom, Linda, was with Syd too so that she could help out preggers Sydney (due in June) and the boys while Dave was gone. Linda was awesome. I felt bad, but she did most of the cooking and dishes. She insisted that she loved doing it though. Twist my arm. haha.

It was really fun. I'm glad we live closer to them so that we can have somewhere fun to go, within a fairly easy driving distance, on those three day weekends. Not to mention that they are our good friends AND family. I'm glad our kids get along pretty well too, but that is a minor detail. :)

Syd's gonna kill me for adding this photo! haha. L to R is Logan, Sydney, Sam, and Linda.

Believe it or not, it was much easier to just lift up the stroller so Derrick could see the animals than to get him in and out all day long.

Talking to the elephant guy.

We found this dinorsaur, obviously not complete, in a chained off section and naturally went around the chain, got on top of the dinosaur, and took pictures.

cutie patooties.

Derrick LOVED the fish. He would've loved Moody Gardens.

Derrick watching the penguins swim in the water.

I thought this was HILARIOUS. Note that the Statue of Liberty is holding the Ten Commandments and a Cross. Under the statue it says something like America return to Christ. Classy.

Derrick's First Birthday!

My baby is ONE. Actually he's been one for a couple of weeks now... haha.

Derrick is a Valentine's baby, but we didn't actually celebrate his birthday on Valentine's Day because Bo was at work ALL.DAY.LONG. So instead we celebrated it a few days later when he had a day off.

We took Derrick and the kids, you know... those other ones who shall not be named (jk), to a local bouncy house place. The kids had so much fun jumping around and going down the slide. Derrick wasn't too hot about the idea at first, but then warmed up to it towards the end.

That night we had cake and presents. Derrick got some bath toys, which the older kids promptly claimed, and thats about it. Hey, he's one, and he has older siblings who already have all the toys a kid could need, so he has plenty of things to keep him entertained.

I was lame this year. I'm sorry Derrick. I had grand dreams of making a super awesome cake and having a super awesome family party, but when it came right down to it, I was tired, I was frazzled, and you, you won't remember anyways. Besides, you got a cake all to yourself, which is really all anyone ever wants anyways. ;)

Derrick didn't know what to do with the cake. I envisioned him plowing into it. I envisioned him laughing while plunging those cute baby hands into the cake. I even in envisioned him looking at me with those gorgeous brown eyes and telling me that he loves me and that I'm the bomb-diggity (okay not really on the last one). :)

Instead he just dipped a finger in and licked it. Then he did again. Thats it. Finally I fed him a bite and he started enjoying it. He still wouldn't feed himself the cake though until I gave him the spoon. Funny kid.

So that's it. My baby is one. He's walking, he has around four teeth, he sorta says "Mama", he LOVES his brother and sister. He loves to throw anything and everything, especially down the stairs. He adores Bo, he gives me hugs all the time. He is taking bottles (YAY)! He drinks whole milk. He thinks the world revolves around him, which it does. He is a wonderful, wonderful baby. And yes, I'm still calling him a baby, even if he IS a one year old now. Because I am not even close to having another one anytime soon, so he will be called baby for as long as it takes.