Baby Doings

Well, I was going to try to take pictures of what the babies have been up to, but Chassie kept jumping in front of the picture-apparently she has been neglected on the blog. So here she is, stepping right in front of the picture I was about to take of Caitlin.

Now that Chass has had her picture taken..here are my two little architects hard at work with the block set-
Matthew seems to make upside down towers and can never understand why they always fall over-

Here they are last night eating some delicious vegetable beef soup. Not something they usually would be eating with such gusto, but this was particularly good..thanks Nana!

Nature Monday???

Ok, what is it about Mondays? Last Monday was a snake, this monday...i hit a bird with my van! Oh dear!! It was horrible..feathers everywhere, and no sign of life in the bird. It hit right in my windshield, right in the middle of the drivers side. !!!!!! !!!!!!! !!!!!! Ive never hit anything like that before. Luckily Vannie made it thru the experience with nothing more than a few feathers stuck in the wipers, but the poor birdie was not so lucky. I feel TERRIBLE!
Next Monday Im staying INSIDE. Away from Nature-

Fun with Cousins!

This weekend we got a nice treat...we went up to visit Grandma and Grandpa-a treat by itself of course-but this time made even better by the fact that Steve and Jen and Will and Sarah decided to come too! It was great! And it didn't take long at all for the kids to warm up to each other-and when they did it was LOUD!

Will and Matthew played "tag" in and out of the kitchen, while Caitlin and Sarah played nicely on the blanket with the toys. They were so sweet to watch. Caitlin and Matthew did so many fun things while they were there; y'all aren't going to believe the number of things they got to ride on. First there was the cub-which I didn't get pictures of because I was too busy saying my prayers (airplanes + babies=mommy nervous; daddy says I would never let them have any fun if he wasn't around...). Then, of course the favorite golf cart...to the pool. Then (and this is big) A SCHOOL BUS!! A WHOLE BIG SHINY SCHOOL BUS ALL BY THEMSELVES! My parents have a kind neighbor who drives a school bus and the kids got to get on the bus and ride all through the neighborhood. They were so thrilled! And then, to wind things up, there was a four wheeler ride. Caitlin opted out of this one and just let the boys ride. In between all that riding around, the kids were quite happy to just do everything with the cousins-eating was a big part of being here (my personal favorite actually)-The best part about having all the kiddies together was that it gave Matt and I lots of time to visit and "veg"..which daddy (and the dogs) took full advantage of!

So all in all it was a wonderful weekend. I don't know why we wait so long between visits!

And speaking of visits, I have to post one of my new favorite pictures-this is of Grandpa and the babies when dad flew in for lunch the other day. We do this periodically where we meet (me by car, him by cub) in a central location and have a nice lunch out. This time it was at Pizza Hut and the kids really loved it! Here's the picture I got there-

Cute, huh?

EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!

You won't beLIEVE what was under my van this morning.

A BIG "I THINK ITS A GARTER SNAKE BUT IT MIGHT BE A KING COBRA" SLIMY WIGGLY SCARY SNAKE!!! YIKES!!!!

Ok, well maybe it wasn't THAT big...but still quite frightening.

All right, well it's probably a good thing Caitlin and Matthew didn't see it..they would have thought it was a worm and picked it up...(can you see that little speck under there??) And yes, I was seriously freaked out. I was here all alone (except for Chassie who would let a cat beat her up) and it was a SNAKE! Hope your monday is better than mine :)../

Baseball Saturday

This morning we headed out early for the baseball fields while it was still cool (relatively speaking). Caitlin and Matthew both love to play baseball- Here are some of the pictures I took.



Chassie was in heaven...the leaves have started falling a little bit here and her very favorite activity is to chase the leaves (or their shadow) as they fall.

Complete, Unadulterated Mommy Bragging

WARNING! I am about to let loose with some major bragging on my babies. If you are prone to nausea, please scroll down and enjoy the previous entry. Sorry..i just can't help myself today, and my only excuse is that I consider this blog their baby book, so Im hoping they will enjoy this type of entry when they are old enough to appreciate it. I promise I will refrain from doing this too often.

Caitlin: I am so proud of her!! Every day I am surprised at the sweet, smart, beautiful girl that she is turning out to be. One of her most endearing qualities is the fact that she is interested in everything! She is always wanting to learn new things-She loves having "homework" at preschool, and will go and get her worksheets or flashcards or whatever it is and tell me that she's "ready to learn her letters". She is a fast learner and has the memory of an elephant-if you tell her something one time she can retain it for weeks. She is also a great sister to Matthew. She wants to help him to do things and is usually pretty good about sharing. She lets him sleep in her room every night and tries to "protect" him when Matt is giving him the tickle torture. Above all though, Caitlin is just one of those people who honestly wants to do the right thing. She tries not to get into trouble and takes even the slightest bit of criticism very hard. Every day she finds a way to bring a smile to my face and i just adore her.
Matthew: Matthew is just my sweet little man. I swear it's so hard to see him growing up-I want him to be my little boy forever-he is so affectionate and loving! Today we got a great report on him from his teacher-I had gone in today to ask about whether he was a wildman at preschool (after the way he was acting at swim day I was a little concerned). Ms. Annette assured me that not only was he calm and well behaved, but that also that he was already showing signs of being able to focus really well for his age group. She said that he was very artistic and really took his time when he colored or did any sort of activity. I can't tell you how happy that made me! I guess he is constantly in Caitlin's shadow where school matters are concerned so I dont really notice his good behavior-but he is apparently thriving. He is full of imagination and is always willing to join in whatever Caitlin is doing. Overall he is such a good boy and Im ridiculously proud of him.
I can't can't can't wait for new baby girl to make an appearance; if the first two are any indication Matt and I are going to be the happiest people on earth!

Bath anyone??

It might be time to bathe her....I casually asked Chassie (not really meaning it) if she wanted a bath, and she went and jumped right into the tub! I think thats a yes...

Swim Day

I have lots of pictures to post today..Ive kind of been saving them up from the past couple of weeks. Not a lot has been going on here lately-mostly we've been trying to stay cool in this 100 degrees plus weather we've had! Today Matthew had "swim day" at his preschool-where they bring in baby pools and slip and slides and all sorts of water things and let the three year olds have at it-Matthew remembered Caitlin's swim day from last year and was so excited to be doing it this time. He was pretty much the wildest child there, running back and forth between the activities and generally acting like an animal. Needless to say he is back in his room sound asleep-and I don't expect to hear from him till dinner time! Caitlin was out of preschool this week because she has a bit of a virus that is causing ulcers in her mouth-no it's not handfootmouth...just a minor virus. But enough to keep her away from preschool for a few days. She is pretty bummed about it. Ive enjoyed having her with me though. I recently taught her how to play "war" (the card game where you basically see who has the highest card). I thought it would be a good way to get some math skills going (greater than/less than). She loves to play, and especially loves it when she's winning. Im happy because I love to play cards too, and since Matt is not a fan (plus we just got cable back) I don't usually have someone to play with.

In this set of pictures is also our visit to the chemistry professor/trainman/magician's house who has the neatest train setup in his backyard. It consists of two big traintracks that surround a goldfish pond and has little buildings and bridges set up around it. There are several toy trains that run along the tracks, and the kids just loved seeing it-and having their very own conductor to show them around. Pretty neat.

Also I got the kids all dressed up for church and had a few minutes before we had to leave (which is an unheard of event) so I took pictures. Enjoy!

This particular pool was the most popular...at one point i think they had all the kids in at once...

Matthew getting ready to jump in

Nothing better than playing in the hose...good thing the preschool's not on water restrictions!

Admiring the trains

Matthew is helping to fix the trains

At the duck park. We had an entire box of rice crispies that day...which the ducks loved

Bikes

Look at me!! Blogging twice in one week!! Don't get used to it though...this has just been an eventful week...and today was another fun day for us-today we got to buy the kiddies brand new bikes-Matthew got his first "big boy bike" with training wheels and a helmet, and Caitlin got a much needed upgrade. They were so happy-

Matthew hasn't quite gotten the hang of pedaling all that well yet...he has trouble going in one direction-he'll do fine and then all the sudden try to pedal backwards and inadvertantly hit the brakes. He was actually getting really frustrated because 1. he was exhausted from preschool, and 2. he is coming down with a nice little cold, which makes him extremely grumpy. He's napping right now, and im hoping he'll wake up fully recovered and very cheerful. :)

Preschool went very well for both of the kids-Caitlin was already talking about the "new special friends" in her class (those who were not in her class last year) and managed to find someone to play on the seesaw with on the first day! (for my shy little Caitlin this is quite a feat). She seemed to like her teacher (who has a soccer ball whistle..wow!) and is looking forward to going back on Monday. Matthew really enjoyed going as well-according to one of the teachers he's already got a best friend...Drew...who i think is the only other boy in the class. He also has a friend named Caitlin...how cute. Apparently though, the highlight of his day was finding an airplane in his classroom. It pretty much doesn't get any better than that for Matthew.

We are headed up to the mountains tomorrow for a day of hiking and picnicking...so hopefully i'll have some new pictures next week.

First Day of Preschool!

I can't beLIEVE school has started already for them! (they, of course, can't believe it took this long to get here) Today was Matthew's first day ever at preschool, and I halfway expected (hoped?) there might be just a little bit of separation anxiety from him..you know, "mommy why can't you stay?", or "when will you be back mommy?"...but no. He practically dragged Caitlin in the door without so much as goodbye to me! Im actually glad though-Since he is going to be there 3 days a week I really want him to like it. Caitlin seemed excited to have Matthew there-even though they are in different classes, they got to go in and wait for school to start together. Here are a couple of pictures of them waiting in the hall:

We met with their teachers on Monday, and I am really excited about both of them. Caitlin's teacher is very academically minded (I think Caitlin will be ready for college at the end of this year), which is exactly what Caitlin likes...and Matthew's teacher is very enthusiastic about her students...I can't wait to hear how their first day went. Hopefully the school bags will help with that...yes. I have to admit. I have stooped to competing with all the other moms in the "who can decorate their child's school issued canvas bag the best". Last year, I thought i was being creative by writing Caitlin's name in nice big bold black letters. Oh no. You've never SEEN so many pink frills, buttons, lace, ribbons etc. I had no idea what i was getting into. This group of moms is EXTREMELY craft oriented. me..not so much. However this year..I was determined to at least TRY to compete. So yesterday we went to wal mart and purchased all sorts of supplies to decorate the bags. We got ribbons, sparkle letters, navy blue letters, ladybug patches, "Cars" patches, and enough glue to ensure that I didn't have to do any "real" sewing. I stayed up way too late, and put way too much effort into this stupid thing. However...Caitlin and Matthew did seem to like them (in spite of the fact that they weren't allowed to TOUCH it until mommy finished the creative process...). So even if my two bags were still pretty much the tackiest most home-made bags there this morning...it's ok. Because they liked them. Or thats what i keep telling myself.

Anyway, you can kind of see the fruits of my labor here: ( I didn't want to do a close up...)

Im off to pick them up...Im dying to know how the first day went....I'll try to report back later in the week. Adios!