I have been thinking that there isn’t much blog-worthy stuff going on around here lately, but this morning I took a look at the camera and found lots to talk about! Guess there is plenty of blog-worthy stuff, just not enough blogging!

Artwork
Lex has been on a drawing frenzy lately and I love watching how his artwork and his stories improve with each one. He came home with half a drawing the other day and said it was for his teacher. He finished it in the afternoon, told me the whole story behind it, and then brought it to school the next day. Here are two that he made for us.

A drawing of Alan's office. The word says Mascoma, which is the name on the building. Lex made the picture for Alan to take to work with him.

This is a drawing Lex made for me. There is a mom and kid playing outside while the dad is inside making lunch. The light blue windows are rooms with lights on, the dark blue window is a room with no light on. The green things are the roof are fallen leaves. I love the detail! The back says, TO TESSA :)

Eve
Beautiful Eve, drawing on a sunny day.

She wrote her name really well, but scribbled it out before I could take the picture.

Pedaling!
The past few days have been cold and rainy, so it’s funny to look at the camera and remember that just a few days ago it was 70’s and sunny! The bike helmets we ordered through school finally came in and the kids were thrilled to go out riding! Yay! Lex refused to wear a helmet last summer and therefore did no bike riding. I was hoping it would be different this year. The first thing he says to me, “I’m a little nervous to go down that big hill,” meaning a VERY big hill with a busy road at the bottom that our 5yr old neighbor rides down, completely out of control and usually crashing at the bottom. It makes my heart stop. I told Lex that he had no need to worry because he would not be riding down that hill for a very long time!! We will be sticking to our safe little street until he is a much more confident bike rider. (and until I am a braver mommy!)

Aren't they cute!?! Eve's helmet is a little big, but I'm not too worried since her bike is pretty small :)

Lex and Parrish

Eve

Dressed Doggie
Eve’s doggie made a rare appearance downstairs after she insisted on dressing it to the nines. Undies, skirt, shirt and sweater. I let her bring doggie downstairs to show daddy, and so I could take a picture! She is so proud. :)

Silly girls. (see where Eve gets her crazy hair from?!)

How’s that for a blog title? I really have not much to say, but I know people get antsy if I don’t update the blog in awhile :) We are keeping busy. Eve had her last swimming lesson yesterday and “graduated” with big smiles. She will be moving up to the next class and, likely, be in the same group as Lex. He has his last lesson today. We shall see if the teacher wants him to move up. I’m not sure. They start again in two weeks. They love swimming! I find it exhausting. Ok, these days I find everything exhausting! I’m starting to get some energy back though. I’ve made it through to the end of the day without turning into a total grouch for the past few days. Today Lex and I fought at naptime so I told him I wouldn’t nap with him. I think it’s more of a punishment for me though! He was bummed, but I think he’ll act sweet for tomorrow’s nap. Now I’m sitting here wishing I was napping. I know I could just nap in my own bed, but it’s not the same. We’ll see if I survive swimming this afternoon and still manage to me a nice mommy to the end. Anyway, seriously not much to say. :) I’m going to lay down and watch TV now and pretend my house doesn’t need to be cleaned, the laundry doesn’t need to be folded, and dinner doesn’t need to be prepped.

The kids have had several fun adventures with daddy lately. Last Monday I had to do some almost-overdue work for Good Beginnings so Alan decided to take the kids to the playground. He had the day off, it was nice. They packed a bag and walked to Dothan Brook (where Lex will be going to school). Alan saw a playground full of kids and decided to go into the school to see if school was still in session. I know the school hours, which is why it would have been a boring trip to the playground with me, but ended up being an exciting adventure with Alan. They went in and spoke with someone they met in the hall. Turns out she was the music teacher and apparently very nice. So Alan asked if there was any way they could see the kindergarten classrooms. She got a janitor who opened the doors for them and they all got a tour of the classrooms. How cool! I have a “transition to kindergarten” plan in my head and this was a very sweet bonus! After that they played on the playground and then took the city bus to the post office where I met them (I was headed there anyway). They all bounced in the car bubbling with stories about their adventures. So cute.

Today I slept in (after watching The Bourne Ultimatum until 11:30pm last night!) and Alan got up with the kids. Then he decided to take them for another adventure. They went to KMart to buy kites, went to a local ball field to fly them, went to a local Energy store to talk about solar hot water storage systems, and ended at a restaurant for lunch. The kids had a blast. I did some cleaning, went for a run, took a shower, ate a healthy lunch, read a magazine, and had a blast! :) They came home with stories of kite flying and XO laptops and half eaten grilled cheese sandwiches. Funny kids. They are lucky to have such an adventuresome daddy!

Just a few days late…

We had a nice Easter this year. It started, dark and early, with Lex coming into my room at 6am to tell me “I guess the Easter bunny doesn’t come until after the sun comes up.” I wasn’t sure how much he would remember from last year, but I guess he was expecting the bunny. When we went downstairs he found that the bunny had left little baskets on the table instead of beside the bed (guess he didn’t remember that from last year!) They got a few pieces of candy, a few Berenstain Bears books, and some stickers. They were happy and by 6:30 they were asking if we could go outside and hunt for Easter eggs. We had told them the night before that if the weather was nice we could do it outside. They were excited! I held them off until Alan woke up and the sun rose, and around 9am I snuck outside to hide some eggs. The kids came out and had a great time finding them. Then Alan hid them again while we went over to the neighbor’s house to see if Parrish wanted to come find Easter eggs too. The three kids together found them all, then the kids hid them for the grownups to find. Mostly the boys hid them and Eve followed behind collecting them :) Lex kept taking them out of her basket to hide, but I don’t think he realized she was collecting them, so the process went on for awile! Then we all played outside in the sunny weather until lunchtime.

With minimal protest I got the kids inside for lunch and naps (for all of us!) After naps we headed to the playground to use up some energy before dinner at Grandpa and Grandma’s house. As we drove to the playground I was thinking of kids putting on their Easter clothes for dinner at their grandparents house. My kids were securely fastened in the car in their grubby clothes from the morning. Sigh. We played hard at the playground for awhile then I washed them up and changed them into the spare clothes I had brought along, just in case. Not exactly Sunday best (Lex’s pants had a hole in the knee!) but not dirty and sandy and grubby. It’s a start, right? So we went to dinner. When we got there we found that Grandma and Katie had hidden plastic Easter eggs throughout the house. The kids had a great time finding them all and opening them to discover little candy treats and coins and toys. Then they planted themselves in Grandma’s chair to inhale their candy! A little chocolate and a lot of laughing (Eve and Aunt Katie together are very silly!) was a bad combination for Lex and he threw up (chocolately yuckiness!) all over! We rushed him to the bathroom, cleaned him up and the chair, and put him back in his grubby playground clothes. Then he was happy and raring to go again. In fact, he said “I’m just going to have one more piece of candy.” Umm….. no! Then we had dinner. Yummy lasagna and salad and ham that I’m sure was also yummy. Part way through dinner Eve sat straight up and said her back hurt. Before anyone could respond she threw up all over the table! More chocolatey yuckiness! I rushed her to the bathtub too and the sweet girl looked at me with big eyes and said, “I’m sorry mommy. I didn’t mean to throw up on the table.”

After that we finished dinner (someone cleaned the table up and everything was spotless by the time I returned) and laid low for awhile. The kids both felt fine right away, so I’m sure it was just too much candy and excitement. When I got them in bed at 9:30pm they both were asking for snacks (they didn’t really eat any dinner!) so I gave them milk and carrots while we read stories. They both ate happily. I LOVE when they eat carrots happily.

So that was our day. By the time I got to bed it felt like a very long day! Then back to school and routine on Monday. I’m actually ready for some consistent routine. We’ve been pretty far off schedule, and pretty hepped up on sugar, for awhile now and I’m looking forward to some boringness.

Some pictures…

One more quote from Lex. “I’m just going to hug this carrot shaped bag of jelly beans,” says Lex as we were driving home from Grandma’s. I told him he could hold them, but not eat them.

I have a list of thoughts to post here… written on a piece of paper. I was going to update tonight, ’cause I know it’s been awhile, but instead I spent my evening back and forth to a school board meeting (hotly debated, cutting school funding, poor kids!) and shopping for dad’s 60th! birthday present ;) It will be a day late, Dad, but worth it!

I will post about our exciting Easter celebrations and Lex’s love note to me and an adventure the kids took with Alan today… later. For now, here are a few pics to amuse you.