Bath Tub Fun

 The kids love to take a bath in "the big bath tub" in Mommy and Daddy's bathroom.

 We don't let them bathe in our bath tub very often, but since it was Spring Break, we let them.

They are silly and funny kids!

FREE Circus

I'm going to begin this post with a lesson:  When offered free tickets to the circus, just say, "No, thank you."  You'll understand how I came to learn this lesson if you continue to read. 

I took the kids to get their hair cut on Saturday morning last weekend. As we left, one of the hairstylists handed me a coupon for two free kids admissions to a circus that would be in New Albany on Monday only. 

Carly had the same free admission coupon, so we decided to venture our way to the circus.  We were about third from the table to pay when a lady announced that all seats were sold and there was floor room only.  I'm not above sitting on the floor, but I was concerned about the kids not being able to see with adults sitting on the floor as well.  As it was, we created our own front row and had some decent seats.

The trapeze artists were really neat.

The white tigers and the lions were cool.  We watched an act of very well trained dogs.  There was a clown who came in and out of the acts doing silly things too.

After about a half hour of circus acts, intermission came.

We sat still in our seats on the floor and waited . . . and waited . . . and waited . . . .

We didn't dare get up or we might lose our precious seats on the floor.  Meanwhile, the natives became restless.  They wanted to ride an elephant.  They wanted popcorn.  They wanted drinks.  They wanted high quality over priced light-up junk toys.

Carly and I tried hard to keep our little natives happy.  Carly splurged on popcorn.  I took pictures.  People were stepping on us like we were invisible.  People dropped peanut shells and spilled drinks on us.

We didn't budge from our seats though!  After AN HOUR of intermission, the show finally began again.  This time, despite having NOT BUDGED FROM OUR PRECIOUS SEATS, we were three or four rows back because these stupid bastards selfish jerks parked their butts in front of us.  We encouraged our kids to scoot forward so they could see.  Carly and I hung back.

The final act was the motorcycles inside the metal ball.  It was very cool and quite amazing.  The second half of the circus was only a half hour.  If you are doing the math, here's the run down:  1/2 hour of circus, 1 hour of intermission, 1/2 hour of circus.

Again, the lesson is that sometimes, you get what you pay for.  I paid $15 for my admission, and the kids were admitted free.  I don't regret going because it satisfied my curiosity.  The kids enjoyed themselves, and that was the most important thing.  When asked about our trip to the circus, I just have to say that it was an experience. . . one I don't plan to repeat.  It was quite an experience to remember though.

Saturday Afternoon

 

 I had a couple of errands to run this morning.  After our errands, I decided to take the kids out for lunch.  We had another stop to make in Sellersburg, and Steve's Pizza King was on the way.

 It is always such a treat to eat there!  Not only do we LOVE the pizza, but the train provides great entertainment for the kids.

 Then there is always the pay-TV too.  It always amazes me that I am willing to pay 50 cents for the kids to watch a half-hour of TV at a restaurant.  Why is the TV in the pizza restaurant so cool to them?  They watch TV all the time at home.

 After lunch we headed to Ivy Tech for the Egg-stravaganza.  There were crafts and games for the kids.  They won prizes at every game. 

 Then the kids were divided into age groups for Easter egg hunts.  We ran into 4 of the 5 McAfee's at Ivy Tech too.  Great minds think alike, I guess.

 Before we headed home, we stopped at the bounce house.

 It was just warm enough for us to be outside without being too chilly.

As we were leaving, the kids said, "THIS is how we wanted to spend our afternoon, Mom!"  I guess I had a good idea after all!

1st Place

 The 1st grade students at Gabriel's school participated in a Jump Rope for Heart poster contest in February.  Every student was to make a poster for the school's Jump Rope for Heart campaign.  Then the art teacher, Mrs. G, judged the posters and chose a winner.

Gabriel's poster was chosen as the first place winner!  When he told me about it on the way home, he was so nonchalant about it.  "Mom, I won first place in a poster contest at school.  I had to get up in front of the whole school in the gym this morning.  Everyone clapped, and I was so embarrassed."

I proceeded with 100 questions . . . You won first place?  In the whole 1st grade?  What did your poster look like?  Was there a prize?  How was it hearing your name called as the winner?  He acted like I was such a bother by asking all of the questions

I am so proud of my budding artist!  His idea for the poster was great!  He did an awesome job!

Special Little Bundles

 Six weeks ago, our good friends, the McGrew's, went from being a happy couple to a family of FOUR!  Yes, Crystal gave birth to two beautiful little girls.  We are so happy for them and so grateful that the girls are healthy.

 Grace held Miss Erin.

 Gabriel held Miss Carter.

 The adults and big kids ate dinner, and soon after it was time for the girls to have their dinner too.  These two little girls were born at 32 weeks.  They spent slightly less than a month in the hospital gaining weight and growing stronger before going home with Mom and Dad.  After being home less than a week, they are already stretching their feedings to every six hours.

These girls are beautiful and precious.  Tony was referring to Dan and me as Uncle Dan and Aunt Denise.  Let me tell you,  I would be proud to be a surrogate aunt to these two precious girls.

It was bath time after their dinner.  This was just their second bath.  When Tony had the water temperature right, Carter didn't seem to mind her bath at all.

If he had the water a little too warm or too cold, she let him know!  She let out these little howls that sounded like someone strangling a cat.

It was Erin's turn in the tub next.  She didn't seem as vocal during her bath as Carter was.  Maybe Daddy had a better handle on the water temperature by then.

Erin enjoyed having a little tummy time while having her lotion rubbed in.

Clean and pretty little girl is ready for bed time.

Sleepy Erin snuggled in my arms.  Erin still has some trouble regulating her own body temperature.  She felt a little chilly to me after her bath, so I wrapped her up.  It's been a while since I snuggled a sleeping baby, and I couldn't get enough.

Caught Ya!

I heard chattering coming from the bathroom.  When I peeked down the hallway, I saw Grace sitting on the toilet coloring a picture and talking to herself.  So funny!

Spoiling Evie

When Gabriel was about 9 months old, my brother, Eddie, had the great idea to serve Gabriel whipped cream from the can following Thanksgiving dinner.  Of course, Gabriel is my child, and he loved it.  It was funny, and we all had a good laugh out of his enthusiasm for canned whipped cream.  Well, what goes around comes around, My Friend!  I, in turn, enjoy spoiling my precious little niece, Evie, in the same way.

At first she is a little unsure what I am giving her, but she's willing to try it.

After a little taste, she decides it's pretty good.

The very protective Daddy thinks he will get paybacks by feeding his niece and nephew chocolate syrup from the bottle.  Little does he know, that my kids have had WAY worse things (I mean, we camp with the McAfee's, right?), and I am not the least bit bothered by this.  I think my lack of objection kind of ruined his fun.  Ha!

Oh, yeah!  She's a happy girl!

And there is the enthusiasm for whipped cream in a can that I love!

One of my favorite baby stages is when they clap for themselves!  She was clapping for that whipped cream too!

Thanks, Alicia, for taking these pics!  They are priceless!  And I hope you don't mind me poking a little fun at our camping indulgences.

Gabriel's 7th Birthday

February 23rd was Gabriel's 7th birthday.   He wanted to celebrate this year with a video game party with his friends.

Mommy and Daddy had a special birthday gift planned for him before his party started.  He opened the basketball first, and then read a message in the card to go outside.

He was so thrilled to see a basketball goal sitting next to the driveway.

He made his first three shots!  Daddy had to raise the goal a little higher for him already.

After playing some video games, the kids decided to go outside to shoot some hoops.

They had their own version of HORSE going.  I just wasn't able to figure out exactly how it worked.

We were very lucky to have beautiful weather so the boys could enjoy the basketball goal.

Hopefully the kids will spend a lot more time enjoying the basketball goal this Spring and Summer.

After some basketball, the kids came inside for cake.

Make a wish, Gabe!

And for the finale . . . Presents!

Gabriel had plenty of helpers as he opened his gifts.

I love this picture because it looks like Jackson is sucking on the Wii controller.  It's actually a candy dispenser that looks like a Wii controller.

Legos were "the thing" this year.

After the party, Miss Evie was changed in to her pj's for the ride home.  Grace wanted to put on pj's too.

Gabriel couldn't wait to get out his new Lego sets and begin building.