Playing and Picnicing

"Lincoln, say cheese for Mama.""Ethan, smile!"
"Guys, put your drinks down and smile for me."

You would think that the drinking photos happened AFTER the playground...but no! The picnic started with a gulp...a BIG gulp. I warned them SEVERAL times to save some for after they played, but as usual...they didn't listen.
I tried really, really hard to take it easy and stay home today. I couldn't do it! We had a picnic at the playground today. The boys played and played and played together. No fits were thrown when it was time to leave. I thought the trip home would be nice and quiet. (I took them to an awesome park in Maryland-a half hour away) BUT...they didn't have a drink and I couldn't find a gas station before the interstate...so LINK screamed MILK the whole way home! I chose this park because it had a HUGE playground, a carousel, and TRAIN. I thought this would be great...but they only wanted the playground. Neither of them cared about the train or the carousel. You never know!
*For those of you who are curious about Nate's trip...he got in fine. He met a friend who is taking him around Hawaii today and to a Luau tonight. He took my backup camera and told me he would upload some pictures to snapfish tonight. He was really feeling guilty about going. I tried to tell him I wouldn't be guilty one bit! I think actually being there has helped with the guilt!

Preschool with Mommy

I took Ethan to school this morning with me for a preschool nature walk. He was SO excited to see all my kid friends. He played in the classroom for a while and then we headed out on our walk.
This is so sad, but I have been working here for nine months and I had no idea that there was a Nature Preserve literally down the hill from us! It was GORGEOUS! We saw ducks.We saw caterpillars, worms, and turtles. The kids had a blast. Shelley and I took him back to school at noon. I seriously thought he was going to fall asleep in car!

I'm gonna miss.....

Nate's leaving for a couple weeks tomorrow. We played a game tonight at dinner to talk about him leaving. We each took turns saying, "I'm gonna miss _________'s _________." Some of the things we are gonna miss about Daddy are his eyes, nose, red hair, snuggles, and cleaning!! He's gonna miss our laughs, hugs, kisses, and snuggles! Hurry home Daddy O'Dee!
We also had swimming lessons tonight! Ethan was FABULOUS! He is getting so brave and trying so many things. He became so brave that he thought he could swim by himself. He told me to let go and he could do it. I got him all the way to the edge. He was semi-swimming and I let go. He went under to his eyes and I pulled him up. He just coughed and that was it...NO SCREAMING!!! YEAH!!! In six short lessons he has gone from clinging on me for dear life to swimming with a life jacket! PROGRESS!!

Final Countdown

What do you do with scrapbook supplies you haven't used in almost a year??? You make countdown cards. We do countdowns for lots of things....family member's visits, birthdays, Christmas, etc. Tonight we made countdown cards up to 13. I ran out of ones! Lucky for us, Memaw's visit is in thirteen days!!

Hiding

Quote from Nate: "This hiding thing is funny about one out of five times!"
They have definitely become a team. When it's time to brush their teeth, they run and hide together. When it's time to get in the bathtub, they run and hide together. When it's time to clean up, the run and hide together. See the pattern here?

Two minutes before church

Every Sunday before church, it seems we only have two minutes to take a quick picture. This morning they went to the card basket (yes we have a basket filled with music cards from Marilyn). They sat on the steps and had both going simultaneously. I begged them to look at the camera and say cheese. This is how it went.



There's always next Sunday.

Sticky Fingers

This is the second weekend in a row that Nate and I have been on the go shopping for gift baskets. Nate's office is having an event, and he is in charge of the baskets. We have been to sooo many stores. The boys are getting very irritated with getting in and out of carseats and carts. This morning we decided to hit the commissary for our groceries and some of the gift basket items. Little did we know, Saturdays after pay day are not good days to go.
Remember this picture from inauguration?

This is how we felt in the commissary today. Now imagine pushing a grocery cart with a two year old SCREAMING, "Mama WALK!!" Then imagine a four year old touching everything he sees...mainly all the glass bottles. That was our day in a nutshell.