Beach Week

Well, we're off to the beach again for a week and I'm not taking my computer, so it's time for a little blogging vacate! Have a great week everybody, and here's a little eye candy to keep you occupied while I'm gone. Yummy!

Preschool Days

Just now getting around to this, but last week was Patrick's last day of preschool. And I admit it, I cried. I have been very excited about him coming to "big kid" school with me next year, but I hadn't really considered that these days are over. Once we start school back up, there'll be no more short days, no more sleeping until we feel like it and going in late--school's going to be serious business next year! And I have no doubts whatsoever about putting him in full-time Pre-K because my school is the BEST, but it's hard to deal on those days that are designed to show you that your little preschooler is growing up. I'm really going to try to savor my time with the boys this summer--try being the key word there--because once August rolls around, things are going to change a lot, for the first time since Patrick was born four and a half years ago.

So anyways, his end-of-year party was fun for both my boys. They provided a lot of fun stuff for the kiddies, and even Patrick was bummed when he realized we were leaving and never coming back. He's since gotten over it, but it was still bittersweet. It's been a really good preschool for Patrick and I'm glad he got his time there.

Fun in the Sun

This morning we went to a fun-in-the-sun party at Jenny's house, which was an awesome way to spend this sunshiney May day! Jenny pulled out all the stops and provided a pool, slides, a giant sand box, a shaving cream table, the sprinkler, bubbles, and an art wall...and it was just TOO MUCH FUN for those kiddies! They all had a blast. Patrick was having so much fun, I couldn't really catch up to him to take a picture, but I did manage to get some of Ben. He was easy, in that he spent most of his time lurking around the food table.

Patrick doesn't nap often these days, but he couldn't stay awake when we got home. So Jenny, same time, same activities every day for the rest of the summer, right? I really enjoyed my afternoon off!

Team Brian

Today we went out to a nearby state park to hang out with Jenny and MK while Brian ran a marathon through the hills of NW Georgia. We've been having gorgeous weather and today was no different. Sunny and breezy, very springlike--a rare and all-too-brief season in our neck of the woods--it was perfect for being outside. So while Brian ran and ran and ran and RAN, we fed the ducks, played baseball, rented paddle boats, played on the playground, had a picnic lunch, and so on and so forth. Very fun times had by all...except maybe the runners. Ha! I kid, I kid...I know it is a major high to be able to run that far, and I am in awe of those that can do it.

We tried to explain it to Patrick ("Remember when you were watching Fireman Sam on TV this morning? THAT'S when Brian started running. And he's been running EVER SINCE.") But I'm still not sure he got it. He was however, very excited about seeing him finish, so he waited patiently at the finish line and clapped for everyone as they came down the home stretch. Even Ben got into the spirit of things...occasionally. For the most part, all three kids were really good and it was a fun day. I don't have any pictures of Brian running or after the race because for heaven's sake, he had been running since I got up this morning and I wasn't going to shove my camera in his face after that, but I am sure Jenny will have some on their blog soon enough.

Friday mornings are donut morning!

SSSSSMOKIN'!

Yes, this is my husband and yes, he is HOT AS FIRE!

Luke brings the hotness, Ben and Patrick bring the cuteness...

Be still my heart!

We got our pictures back from the fire department and as you can tell, I am very pleased! LOVE these pictures! I was a little worried because the lady who took the pictures was competing with numerous fire trucks entering and exiting the compound, but now I am impressed that she managed to get two shots with all three boys looking at the camera...and looking handsome as well! I *heart* my family!

P.S. Sorry for the bad quality of the pics...I guess I need to clean my scanner.

It's Mother's Day! Play Ball!

It's that wonderful day of the year again and Patrick celebrated by getting his hands on something far better than any old MOM, he landed a real authentic catcher's mask and mitt!!! I am not sure why Luke chose not to mention earlier that this was sitting out in his shed (I mean, it could've saved us a lot of embarrassment)...but for whatever reason, yesterday was the day he deemed appropriate to dig it out and make Patrick's young life even sweeter. Ma fixed the straps on the back and voila! Instant happy kid.

So as Patrick caressed and whispered sweet nothings to his new catcher's mask, my parents came up to spend Mother's Day with us. I can't even remember the last time my parents came up for a visit, so it was really good to have them over. My mom brought me some flowers to plant in my gardens and we took a long walk around the lake and then Luke hauled out the smoker and made his awesomely famous smoked pork tenderloin. It's like heaven on earth. Anyway, we were busy and I didn't think to snap pictures of all the fun (bad blogger that I've become), but I did remember to get one group shot before they left.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone--Mom, Luke's mom, Great-Grandma and my Grammy, Sandi, me and all my mommy friends. Hope you enjoyed your day as much as I did!

Summer Vacate

Today was Ben's last day of preschool for the year (BOO), so I had to take a picture of him with his ladies for posterity. On the left we have Ms. Phyllis and on the right is Ms. Donna. I have to admit, even though they were paid very handsomely for the eight hours a week of babysitting they provided, they were totally awesome to Ben. It wasn't easy putting my almost-new baby in the care of two strangers, but they really earned my confidence quickly. They saw him through a lot this year, from the times when he could barely glance at a baby swing without getting drowsy to giving up his paci to finally walking. They encouraged him every step of the way (no pun intended)...soothed him when he cried, cheered for him when he succeeded, taught him lots of great stuff and truly helped shape his personality. I know he really loves them. I just don't think he'll know how much he's going to miss them until three months from now when he's back in the toddler room next door and sees them again! At least they'll share a playground.

Have a great summer Ms. Phyllis and Ms. Donna! Thanks for everything!

Birthday Shout-out!

Today is the birthday of the one and only Katie, and since she's made it perfectly clear on her blog, I'll go ahead and reiterate that it's a biggie--it's her 30th birthday! Katie is awesome for many reasons, but today she is awesome because she was nice enough to turn 30 just before me, so she can try it out and tell me how it is. Like getting in the pool first. It's inevitable that we're both going to do it, but she can prepare me. You're awesome like that girl!!!

Anyway, here's a birthday shout-out from me and the boys that love you!!! We hope your birthday is the bomb!!! This day's all about you girl, so spend it like you mean it!!!! Happy Birthday!

An update

Not that there's too much to update you all on, unless you need to know the details of our family's diarrhea...no? Well, here's the watered-down version (pardon the pun). Patrick's Linda Blair-inspired moment on Friday night turned out to be the last of the throw up, but the mere tip of the stomach bug iceberg. Tuesday rolled around and he was still feeling the effects (as was our can of air freshener), but by Wednesday he felt well enough to go back to preschool...juuuust in time for Ben to start it up. Lucky me! But I prefer to look at the bright side: diapers are an excellent means of control for those little "surprises" that so often come with the runs. No carpet clean-up this time! :)

In unrelated news, Ben is getting to be very chit-chatty these days. I have enjoyed reliving the whole "learning to talk" experience with him...I had forgotten how cute it is. Patrick used to go to the bottom of any random staircase and yell "SCHELL!!!" (you'll have to ask Schell's mom about this), and now Ben is doing something similar. He goes to the top of the stairs and yells "AAAAAA-DA!!!" This is derived from our frequent calling for Savannah to come upstairs so we can drag her into the bathroom and give her heart palpitations by making her think it's bath time. Good cheap family fun.

So that's my last five days in a nutshell--diarrhea and AAAAA-DA. By all means, stay perched on the edges of your seats. There'll be more to come.

Score!

We got tickets to Friday night's ball game as a surprise for Luke, who has been working hard in rookie school. I must say, Patrick is getting to be quite a celebrity over there. He was on the big screen two times AGAIN and spent some quality time with his celebrity BFF, Romey the mascot. But we all know that with fame comes embarrassing pictures, and my little guy was not spared, no sir!
Patrick has warmed to the idea of being a catcher on a baseball team. Scratch that. He is totally obsessed with the catcher and spends all the time he is not being The Firefighter in a rousing game of being The Catcher. We all know about his dress-up standards--that they are low to nonexistent--so you should completely understand that wearing his hat backwards with his glove perched on top constitutes being the catcher.

So we had to endure half the game with him looking like this while the cameras loved on him, until it finally got so embarrassing that I was forced to get stern. He was bummed for a while, but as you know--with all the free swag, celebrities never stay sad for long. He scored a free large pizza during the "Scream for the Pizza" section of the game, and then the visiting pitcher rolled a ball over the dugout for him. We had a little conversation that went like this:

Patrick(with glee): Who gave me this ball?

Me: I think it was the pitcher.

P: The catcher?

M: No, the pitcher.

P: You mean the catcher?

M: No, I mean the pitcher.

P: I think it was the catcher!

So it was awesome all in all. We won, his favorite player (besides the catcher) hit a home run, and after the game, we went up to the press box to visit Uncle Jim, who was announcing the game for his radio station. I think Jim was going to put Patrick on the air, but for some reason, Patrick was not cool with that at all...hence the face. But he did get over it in time to give Jim some sage advice: "Watch out for porcupines." As sensible as this little tidbit is, I really wish he would have given us some other kind of warning, like how as soon as we got home, he was going to go all Exorcist on us and spew vomit into all four corners of his room. I'm just saying, THAT would've been a good heads-up. That's all I'm saying.

We *Heart* Firefighters

Lately in this house it's been all firefighters, all the time. But hey, that's cool--whatever keeps my boys happy, right? Here's Patrick decked out in his get-up, ready for action. Go ahead, try to get yourself into an emergency situation...he'll get you out of it faster than you can say "Turnout Gear by Carters Childrenswear"!

Today Luke had to get his picture taken for the department directory, so I hauled the kids over to the fire station to get a few shots with him. You never know how they'll turn out with three boys looking in all different directions and me having to yell "Look at the camera!!" at all three of them, but hopefully we got one good shot and I'll scan it in when they come back. For one of the pictures, Luke had to put on his jacket and helmet and then they smudged soot on his face and sprayed him with some sort of fake perspiration. That was the hotness right there!!! I will definitely post that one, and then Tom will see what all the hype's about!! ;)

After the pictures, Luke walked the boys around the bay and showed Patrick all the different trucks. Ben happily tagged along and got his hands on anything he could. I love this picture below, with Ben driving as Patrick shouts orders. They make a good team...

Classic.

A Grand Slam Night

Last week Luke took Patrick to another ball game and even though he had a ticket for me, I opted to stay home for the evening...so wouldn't you know that would be the night that Patrick steals the show. He got on the outfield big screen twice--once just for being so darn handsome and once for this little number with the mascot:

That's my boy...he climbed up on the dugout and shook his moneymaker for the crowd like nobody's business...and loved every minute of it.

I would have loved to see it, but when you're an almost SAHM, it's only fair to let the hubby have some of the great moments. Luckily, a friend of Luke's uncle Jim was sitting nearby and snapped these pics, so I didn't totally miss out.

The Mighty Beast

If there's one thing Luke has wanted since we moved into his house, it's a riding mower. Poor guy, I empathize with him--because I know it must be hard to cover all that yard with a push mower and have to push it up and down our steep hill--but have you seen the price of those things??? Sorry honey! Not gonna happen!
But last week he got the opportunity to store someone else's mower for a friend of the family that will come pick it up sometime in the summer. He was psyched because that meant he could use it for a few months. I was glad, too...however, I had to laugh when he came home toting this giant piece of machinery circa 1938:

Whatever, it got the job done in half the time (and trimmed back the remains of my daffodils...not on purpose) and Patrick was ecstatic with our new temporary acquisition. But I did tell Luke that he wasn't really going to look right on that thing until it had a white basket with plastic yellow Gerber daisies attached to the handlebars. Time to start scouring eBay, I guess...

Yes, he's a dork, but I love him...a lot.

As Patrick continues his obsession with masks, breathing apparatus and the like, yesterday he dug out my snorkeling stuff that Luke and I took on our honeymoon. Ahhhh, those were the days...those warm, warm waters of the Caribbean...anyways, while we transplanted bushes and performed various other gardening tasks in preparation for spring (which I am told will show up one of these days), my uber-cool son prepared for summer by "scuba-diving" in the "ocean" alongside "sharks".

When he got all the stuff out, we discovered that the strap to my mask had melted in the summer heat (you know, back when we used to have hot days). Undaunted, Patrick ran to his room to get his goggles that came with his Home Depot workbench set. I'm just throwing that in so you all don't think I went snorkeling using a pair of child-sized plastic goggles with no nose guard.

Then it was my turn to try it all on. Unfortunately, we missed snapping a picture of that, but I can tell you that the snorkel was still nice and salty. Luke told me that from now on, whenever I get a taste for the Caribbean, I can just come out to the shed and stuff my snorkel in my mouth, and that ought to take care of that.

"Daddy, you are so cool!"

Today Luke brought home his turnout gear that he will use in his firefighter training. Patrick was of course in heaven. The two of them went through it all piece by piece as Ben and I watched. Patrick enthusiastically tried on everything. He thought the helmet and the mask were the coolest, especially since the mask has a speaker on the side of it so the firefighters can talk to each other and hear what the other is saying more clearly. Patrick knows a lot about turnout gear from watching his firefighting videos, but this speaker was a new development for him, and he very much appreciated it.

After that, Patrick and I both said we wanted to see Luke in full gear, so he gamely put it all on for us. The helmet, mask and boots are his, but this is a used pair of pants and jacket. He will get his own by the time he starts his shifts. I thought Ben would get scared, but he was okay as long as I held him in my lap, though he never took his eyes off Luke for even a second. Patrick helpfully reminded us that "it's not scary--it's a just a friendly firefighter coming to help!" That's the video again.

Egg Hunt 2: Bigger, Better, Colder

Who goes Easter egg hunting like this? I don't know who's crazier, us or Mother Nature. I honestly believe if Jesus had walked out of his tomb all freshly resurrected and the weather was like this, he would have gone right back in and waited for a thaw...or at least gathered his shrouds to bundle up in...

Still, though...Gigi and Sandi put on one heck of an egg hunt. I am not sure we even got them all. Patrick gathered lots and lots of eggs and was especially thrilled to find one with a car in it. Ben found about four eggs with Grandpa's help, but as soon as he discovered what was inside of them, he opted to stop hunting and start munching.

I love this picture of Matthew, taking pause by the good old Blessed Virgin Mary!

This is one for the ages, I think. I've already got it as my wallpaper. It's not too often that we can get the three grandsons together, and even less often that we get a decent picture of all of them. Here we could at least distract them with candy for five seconds! I love it though...it's such a sweet picture, and it will always remind us of Easter 2007--the year the South froze over!

Happy Easter everyone!

We came, we froze, we lost.

As promised, on Thursday night we went to see the old boys of summer--er, I mean dead of winter--and rung in the new season by turning into popsicles while they racked one up in the L-column. There's not much to say except that it was cold (although merely a taste of what's to come this weekend), but as long as you stayed under five or so blankets, it was still fun.

Patrick was sorely disappointed that ice cream didn't come with the deal. He asked everyone but nobody would buy it for him. Ben, being the child genius that he is, thought "Cold weather + religious holiday weekend = It must be Christmas!" And come Sunday, they may well be wearing their Christmas outfits to church, so it wasn't bad thinking on his part.

Today it's off to Gigi's house for more Easter fun--wrapped up in coats and hats of course. Stay warm!

The Egg Hunt (no guns allowed)

Although it might not have been a bad idea to bring one anyway so I could off the mommy who made everyone eat outside in the freezing cold weather so her carpet wouldn't get messed up. Did I mention she's a Chick-fil-A foster parent? She's got nine kids--NINE--and she's worried about her carpeting? Yeah. So here's an idea...if you're going to ask Truett Cathy for deluxe Stainmaster carpeting, why not go ahead and get a steam cleaner too? That way, when you have people over, they won't actually know that you value your carpeting more than their company. But I digress...

Freezing temps aside, the egg hunt was not too bad. Patrick was as enthusiastic as I'd hoped he would be. The whole thing was very short. We basically picked up the eggs, ate on the driveway and then got kicked to the curb. All this in under an hour, which counted as Patrick's school for the day. The rest of the morning, I had to tote him around with me as I tried to get my work done. I'm lucky I have an understanding boss.

I am definitely looking forward to the egg hunt at Gigi's house on Saturday so much more. For one thing, Patrick will be allowed inside should his extremities start turning blue. Tonight however, will be a different story. Not foreseeing this early-April arctic blast, we got tickets to the season opener minor league baseball game. So we're going to go park our butts in some cold plastic chairs and root root root for the home team, and if we survive, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

A different spin on Easter...

This morning I had some plastic eggs sitting on the counter, waiting to be filled:

Mommy, what're those eggs for?

On Thursday, you're going to have an Easter egg hunt at preschool!

An egg hunt?

Yeah.

Can I take my gun?