Praise the Lord, the Sun is Shining

We had so much fun . The sun came out, and Marshall didn't go into work until after lunch. We went outside early!  We had on our pajamas under our clothes so we didn't get cold.  Oh we had fun!

Granny took us all to McDonald's for lunch.  We had ice cream, too!  Thank you, Granny!

Here we are filling out real important paper work for library cards.

We got our very own library cards. We wore them all day and after we got out of the tub, too.

The library lady scanned our library cards and it said "beep, beep"

Thomas came to play!  He is a big boy.  He is nine years old.  We took a nap so we could play with him.  We did not want Thomas to go home.

Rainy Day Fun!

Erin: "Kensington, what are you doing with GaGA's newspaper?" Kensie:  "I am  covering the man up."  Erin:  "I don't understand."  Kensie:  "Here, I will show you."   (she lifts the paper to show a toy hammer that had become a man underneath.)  Erin:  "But what is it?"  Kensie:  "It is a tent to keep him from the rain."  

Hank wants a ride, too!

ummmm good!

We washed our hands to cook, but...

Pink is Perfect

Flying Car

Faster! Faster!

Kensington, Charlie, and Hank get so excited when Marshall gets home. You can't see Hank, but he starts crying when he hears Marshall's voice. He cries until Marshall holds him. Charlie and Kensington have been planning their bucket ride since nap time.

A Visit to the Library

We went to the library to checkout some books and movies. We had so much fun. We colored too! We even worked on sharing the baseball helmet. 

Kensington Arrives

" Kensington, what does Charlie's heart say?"I asked.  She replied,  "It says he's growing." 

"Open your mouth Charlie."

"Charlie, listen to Kensington's heart ... her heart, Charlie ... ok, her stomach."

What a BUSY weekend!

On Friday afternoon, Gaga brought Granny back home. Charlie was so excited because he wanted to show Gaga all of his tools. Charlie also had to paint! At first, this was pretty calm. Again, I was cooking supper during painting, so of course, things got chaotic. Gaga spread out a huge piece of wrapping paper on the floor, and Charlie, Gaga, Hank, and even our dog Mitzi all had a helping hand or paw in making ART. We even have a little bit of chalk mixed in with the paint.

On Saturday afternoon, Mam-ma and Grandaddy came to visit. Everyone enjoyed playing outside and getting some fresh air. Mam-ma and Grandaddy were very sweet and offered to take us out to supper. Off we went. The parade hit the road. We went to the Fitzpatrick Hotel with all of our cups, cereal (Hank's dinner), commotion, and charisma. At first the restaurant was almost empty, so we had very few people to scare away. The only other couple in the restaurant even offered to take our picture. Amazingly, Hank and Charlie were really well behaved and enjoyed dinner. At the very end, they both got antsy. We played musical highchairs. Don't confuse this activity with the game musical chairs. This is only fun to the babies. The restaurant was gradually filling up, so we made a rather quick exit. We left so fast that once we got to the parking lot Mam-ma asked, "Do you realize Hank has a spoon?" Mam-ma took the spoon back in to the restaurant and made one more trip back in to look for a rattle that was in the car the whole time. We made it back home where we enjoyed playing ball, cars, and trains with Charlie, watching Hank crawl, and ate pecan pie courtesy of Ma

m-ma and Grandaddy. What a fun evening.

Today, we rode to Jonesboro to participate in our class Financial Peace University. While Marshall and I were in class, Charlie and Hank stayed with Rich, Ashley, Kensington, Hodges, and Mimi. Charlie and Kensington were so happy to be together. Thank you all for letting Charlie and Hank come play. 

Hank is Crawling!!!

Elmo motivates Hank to move across any room, but today, Elmo motivated Hank to crawl!!!

Golf? Football? Basketball?

Charlie loves sports. Anything that involves a ball is fun to Charlie. This morning we started out playing golf. He is very particular for a two year old. He must have a tee. We just cannot play golf without a tee. 

Hank likes golf too. Except, he prefers to chew on the tee. Charlie can't stand this kind of treatment of the tee. Charlie gently and briskly takes the tee away and says, "No, Hank! Mine!" Hank usually cries because his two favorite things are Elmo and Charlie's red tee.

Then we switched to football. Charlie has a love for helmets. Although he does not have a football helmet, he does know how to improvise and pretend. Charlie's favorite part of football is tackling.  Actually, he incorporates tackling into every sport he plays. It is the cutest thing.

I thought that Charlie was pretty well occupied with football, so I decide to feed Hank lunch. Charlie comes to get me and tells me to feed Hank in the living room. I roll Hank into the living room and see that Charlie has been very busy just like Curious George (Charlie's favorite cartoon.) Charlie had moved a bar chair into the living room and was pretending that he had a basketball goal on the door. Next, he had a better idea. He brought his basketball goal to the front door and asked me to hang it high. I hung the basketball goal, and Charlie stood on the chair to make the basket. Between feeding Hank and fetching the ball, I got tired. I told Charlie he would have to start getting down to get the ball. So he came up with phase three of the basketball goal. 

Charlie had me get the goal down, and he put it on the back of the chair. This was not nearly as much fun. He quickly had me put it back on the door.

After all that work Charlie had me do, he needed a snack break. What a morning!

Supper Time - Part Two

Well, I knew all day that tonight was not going to be easy. Marshall had to work late and would not be home until almost bedtime. Hank still is getting over his ear infection and wanted to be held all day long starting at 3:30 this morning. 

Luckily, we had little Mark B. come stay with us while his parents went to a banquet. This is great because I love Mark, and he entertains Charlie. He and Charlie played together while Hank and I cooked dinner. Miraculously, we got dinner on the table and had a nice supper together. I fed Hank, and Mark helped Charlie.

After dinner, Mark dressed Charlie in Indian attire and taught him how to play Indians. We built towers, played mailman, colored, and much more. Marshall finally got home. Although he was starving, Charlie wanted him to come play and build towers. At bedtime, the chaos started again. Charlie was crying with tears because he wanted to play football with Mark, Hank was screaming in pain, and Marshall and I were taking care of diapers, pajamas, juice, medicine, etc. Luckily, Mark, who is a first grader, got in bed with Charlie and read him Curious George until I could come finish and tuck Charlie in for the night. Mark got Charlie grapes, and we laid with Charlie and sang songs. Finally, Hank fell asleep and Charlie was relaxed.

It was a busy exhausting evening, but fun. Mark was a huge help. I am glad this segment of our parade was contained in our house. Marshall did finally eat supper about 9:00.

Supper Time Parade

The phone is ringing, Hank is crying, and Charlie wants to be held. Marshall is on the phone, and his call continues to cut out.  He calls me several times, but he can't get his message across.  However, I get mine across. "Where are you? Wilkes county? Good! I need help!" I pop in the "Clifford" video for Charlie and feed Hank baby food. At the same time, I am trying to make supper. Marshall walks in the door, and the house is calm. Oh, but wait, it only lasted a moment. Charlie decides he wants to paint, and Hank decides that he wants some of the attention that Charlie is getting. I work on dinner. Marshall sets up paint, and we pass Hank back and forth. Painting is going well, so I decide to make a few hand prints. Bad idea! Charlie decides that he can make his own hand prints. It looks messy, but it really wasn't bad. The worst part was as usual everything climaxes together. Charlie needed to be cleaned up, Marshall is on the phone, Hank is screaming, and dinner is almost ready. As crazy as it sounds, it was fun, and we escaped the evening catastrophe free!

The Parade Continues . . .

Last night Laurel came and spent the night.  She and Granny decided that we would be at McDonald's for breakfast at 9 a.m.  Laurel and I worked diligently to get everyone bathed, dressed, and out the door.  That was a parade all by itself.  Hank has been awake since 6 a.m. and Charlie decided that he was not going to cooperate.  Hank LOVED his bath.  Charlie did too (once I caught him and wrestled him out of his pajamas and in the tub.)  Then of course, guess who would not get out of the tub . . . yes, Charlie!  Finally, I pulled Charlie out of the tub.  Then we began the routine of "I do it!"  Charlie, as usual, wanted to dress himself.  I am all about hands on learning, experimentation, exploration, and teachable moments, but we were on a time line.  However, with gentle coaxing and lots of patience Laurel and I finally got Charlie dressed and in the car. 

We pick Granny up ten minutes after our original planned time (not bad) and head to McDonald's.  Eating is always an adventure.  So much personality and determined people in one car.  Hank decided that his food would not do and had to drink out of a straw.  Charlie ate and played with Granny's cane.  Thank goodness no one was seated around us.  Then Laurel decides to take out the camera.  We took pictures and some how got packed up and back in the car.  As always, our adorable and loud parade attracted the attention of most of the restaurant.  We were so ambitious that we tried to go shopping afterwards.  Needless to say we were home by 11:30.  What a morning!!!!  The parade is temporarily on pause while the performers take a little snooze.