Little Family Trip

We cannot resist a weekend beach trip. Last year we went camping and beaching with a bunch of friends on Memorial Weekend. This year we all did the same thing except we opted for a nice hotel room instead. (No regrets on that decision.) We went to visit them on Sunday night at the campsite and it rained the whole time, but when you are with so many great families it doesn't seem to matter. Here are some pics of our fun time.

Kimber, Maggie, Mike,

Jane & Charlie

Maggie
(My favorite picture of the weekend.)

Mom, Maggie, Jane & Charlie

Another great pose by Jane (on purpose)

Jane

(Mike could not resist these pictures and there are a bunch.) I've just included two.

Jane could stand at that mirror for hours and entertain herself. We enjoyed watching.

Charlie and Mags

Did You Hear?

Here are some things that I heard this week.

"Mom, Maggie's naked again." - charlie - (Mags has mastered the strip down, we are dressing her a dozen times a day)

Maggie thinks this is funny.... Me? Not so much

"We are the Nephites and they are the Lamenites, we've got to beat them." - charlie said to his friend while playing StarWars Lego Wii

"No Bern no! Sit, shake, good girl" - mags

"I'm not listening, I'm not listening" - jane sings while holding her ears.

"I want my brain to be all mushy, can I watch TV?" - charlie

"I wuv you." - mags

Charlie, Jane, Mags

(Charlie is showing off his "silly bandz" I think he was cutting off his circulation.)

"Do you want me to kick you?" - jane said to each of us at some point, maybe next time I'll just say yes.

"Mom, there are so many things that you don't even know." - charlie

"I want chocot mik and cookie dough, Mom, I want chocot mik and cookie dough, Mom I want chocot mik and cookie dough. DAD I WANT CHOCOT MIK AND COOKIE DOUGH." - mags wakes us up this way everyday at 6:00am. She walks into our room, climbs on our bed and no we don't get it for her.

Cyndi and Maggie

"Cyni hode you, hode you Cyni." - maggie - She loves our neighbor Cyndi and wants her every minute of every day.

"Sometimes I just feel like I'm the greatest on the whole earth." - charlie

Jane, Charlie and Maggie on the last day of Preschool.

To, Too, I Mean TWO!

Moe turned two a couple of weeks ago and we had a light family celebration.

We all ate cupcakes

She opened her present


We got her a pink little scooter so she could join her big brother and sister as they rode theirs.
The best part is that she goes straight until she hits something, then she picks it up and turns it around.

We are in full enjoy Maggie mode. She makes me smile and laugh every day. I love this age. She does get out of bed a lot (don't love it) and she can open her door (don't love it) but last night I stood in the hall waiting for her to walk out and instead she was laying on the floor sticking her fingers under the door saying "See me Mom? See me?" Love that.

Oh Jane

She's allergic to snakes. (just ask her)

She has over seven imaginary friends. They cause all kinds of trouble. There is Ashley, Erica, Asha, Vielle, Verna, Seenana and Lona. (that's all I can think of right now)
She will one up any story that you have. And they always involve her imaginary friends.

For example:
Charlie and I were talking about the strength of tornadoes. I was telling him that some are strong enough to lift up cars. While we were having our discussion we were rudely interupted with a story about the time that Jane and Erica were in a tornado.
Or
We went to Mt. Vernon a while ago. After going through the museum and seeing a diarama of a war slaughter with dead soldiers, Indians and horses she went on to tell me the story about the time she and her friend, Asher killed an Indian.
Charlie gets a little tired of her stories and he usually rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

Jane & Carys

My most recent favorite Jane story was a couple of weeks ago when she was at her friends house across the street. My neighbor (Cyndi) knows that I don't give my children caffeinated drinks.
The girls were playing nicely and then they went up to Carys' room and Cyndi heard them shut the bedroom door and lock it. A minute later she walked up and asked them to unlock the door. All she heard was a whispering panic of "hide, hide". She unlocked the door and couldn't find them. She looked under the bed and there were the girls laying on their tummies sucking down a diet Coke. So she took away their soda and they got a talking to about; taking it without asking, hiding it and locking the door. Miss Cyndi let them know that they would be on time out (at this time she was a little worried if I would be mad).
This is where the story gets good. As soon as she said they would be on time out. Jane piped up "Miss Cyndi, you can put me on time out but will you save that drink for me and I'll finish it when we get off time out because it was soooo good."
We've decided that these little three year olds are going to be giving us a run for our money. We will spend our lives doing our best to be on top of our game.

To My Mothers

I have two wonderful Mothers in my life.

My mom who raised me and tried her hardest to teach me everything that she wanted me to know.
Poor lady, she must be exhausted because I'm stubborn.

I also have a very sweet mother in law who is a great listener.

I know that not every one has a wonderful mother and mother in law in their life and I am very lucky to have both.
I love you.

Soccer is Back

This is Jane's first year of soccer. Charlie and Jane were able to be on the same "team". Really it's just a practice where they learn certain skills. Their coach is an adorable English Fellow with a great accent. He captures the kids attention (and all of the adults for that matter). I should remember to get video. Probably won't happen.

This is me, man-handling Charlie. He sometimes does this thing where he acts goofy and tries to make all of the other kids laugh. It can be disruptive to the coach or anyone else for that matter. Weird.
He must have inherited it from the Crosland side.

Jane
She begged to be in soccer but the truth is she really doesn't care. I don't think that she knows it though. She has good intentions but is easily distracted. I often find her on the side lines staring at a dog or baby or small child. She has even come to sit on my lap in the middle of a drill.

Charlie

Gets it. Loves it. And is pretty darn good at it.
And click on this picture because the view is so out of this world.
I live in a very beautiful place.

Another Visitor

We have a new visitor today named Tom.

I almost hit him with my car while driving the kids to preschool.

When I realized that he wasn't a rock in the road I slammed it into reverse, picked him up and handed him to Charlie.

We've had fun playing with him today and we are trying to make our front flower bed into a nice outdoor habitat for him. I'll post pictures if we can get it figured out.

Tom seems friendly and hopefully we can teach our children to be friendly also. His hard exterior makes them believe he is indestructible.

Tom and Maggie

Charlie, Jane & Maggie

Katch Up

• grandma and grandpa visited for two weeks
• started going to a personal trainer with some girlfriends - sore
  
• charlie is loving preschool, thanks to a new young man as his teacher
• took away maggie's binki - naps and night time aren't quite the same yet
• uncle brian, aunt leslie and cousin chandler came out this way on their spring break
• conference was enjoyable
• easter was fun
• toured mt. vernon for the first time
  
• spring has sprung and we are outside in the yard every day
• tadpoles are in season and we are catching a bunch of them
• a little turtle was captured but now we can't find it
• caught a crawdad - he lost a leg after being man handled too much
• played and toured with another visitor, girlfriend audra
• mike's been working hard in the yard - looks good
  
• get chewed out by maggie, can't understand a lot of it but she's definitely angry
• mike's convinced she has tourettes
• i think jane is the one with tourettes
• for not being able to understand mags she can say "cookie dough" loud and clear
  

Reading

Mom: "Would you please just focus and read the next line."

Charlie: "Lame, lame, lame. Reading is lame."

That's when I knew it was going to be an enjoyable reading lesson.

Plug It

So you know the cute aprons that you've seen my children wearing in pictures on my blog? Here's a reminder.

I bought them from my friends, Tami and Lynette, who have a little sewing business called All The Trend. They sew and make all sorts of 'boutique style' baby and toddler items. Aprons (like the ones in my pictures), appliqued tops and onesies, infant car-seat blankets, and all kinds of hair accessories.

They are calling April their 'Spring Sale Month'. Each Monday in April they will be having a killer sale featuring a different category on their website www.allthetrend.etsy.com. This Monday, April 5th, will be the day they are featuring their 'Just Like Mommy' Aprons. They usually cost $9.95, but for Monday only the aprons will be on sale for $5.95. That's a great price for one of their super cute and functional aprons. We use them every time we bake cookies, craft and sometimes when we eat. I can get Charlie and Jane to put them on for a messy meal because they are not "bibs", they are aprons, for big people. So check them out, they make great gifts too.