Summer is here!

Summer is here!! I love the freedom that summer days offer. Yes, it is one of the perks of being a teacher. One of the really good perks. I love getting to stay home with my kiddos and live the life of a stay at home Mama for a few months. We have already been up to some fun things. We had a fun water day with Kate at Gigi and Papa's this past weekend. I have been working on getting the kids' bedrooms into shape. I know... this is the longest project ever. We transitioned them into their own rooms months ago, and they are STILL not completely finished. My Mama hung curtains in Rush's room. She also found the perfect navy quilt for his bed at Target. It was one of those fun finds that was just sitting all alone on a shelf... not in its proper place, but it was just the right size for Rush's new red bed. I almost have his room (old guest room) cleaned out. I know that sounds like it shouldn't take that long, but I basically had a room full of stuff with nowhere for it to go. Slowly, I have found new homes for many of the things in that room. It is my priority to get both rooms completely furnished and decorated by the end of June. It WILL happen. Since we are redoing those rooms, we got new mattresses for both of their beds this week. The mattress that Rush has been sleeping on was really old. We were going to throw that mattress away, so I decided before it was thrown out, it would make an excellent trampoline. We moved it into the backyard for some good jumping time. Fun stuff! Another thing that I love about summer is that we don't have a schedule. Staying outside a little later for some fun time is no big deal!! Today was a day filled with impromptu fun. My favorite kind! This morning, we went over to a fitness trail that is near our house. The kids and I walked/ran/strolled for three miles. (We had the stroller with us, too, so I did some pushing.) It was fun. We saw cardinals, squirrels, old dead logs (who knew they could be so entertaining), a bridge, and some fish in a creek. It was lots of fun. We decided on our walk back to the car to zip back home and pack up a picnic lunch. We went back to the state park that is literally about two miles from our house. We drove through and found a picnic table near a big slide. The slide was a huge highlight. Rush would, of course, try to dive off the end of it. There was sand at the bottom, and he would just roll around in it. Such a boy!! I am having to get used to this dirtiness that comes with little boys. The germaphobe, hand wiper in me struggles with letting him enjoy himself if it means getting filthy. I am getting better with it. (And, I had my Wet Ones Antibacterial wipes in the picnic basket.) Between bug spray, sunscreen, and the big slide, a bath was necessary before nap time today. I think I only dumped about two cups of sand out of Rush's tennnis shoes. :-) When we were driving back home, Rush said, "Dat was so much fun, Mooooom! I wuv you so much." My heart melts. From Frannie: "We had a fun day, Mama. I love fun days!" Me too, sweet girl!!! Days like today make the ones (like yesterday) where they both pretty much whine/complain all day turn into a distant memory. Here's to looking forward to the fun days ahead. Last year, I felt like the summer zipped by us and was gone before I realized what was going on. When this summer is over, I am going to be sure we can say that we packed all of the fun and good times in that we could. These sweet days of their young childhood are flying by. Gotta hang on for the fun ride!!

Springtime Fun!!

It has been a while since I have posted!! We have been busy around here lately with lots of fun things. At the end of April, we took all of the kiddos (Rush, Frannie, and Kate) to Disney on Ice. It was a hit! It was lots of fun. Oddly enough, I think Rush was the most enthralled with the whole thing, and he is the least likely to pay attention and sit still. We purchased seven tickets for the parents and kids, but we only used four of them. The kids had to sit in a lap to be able to see, so Frannie and Kate crawled all over everyone's laps. Rush found a nice, quiet spot on Uncle Tony's lap and settled in. I didn't get many good pictures at all, but it is virtually impossible to get all three kids looking at the camera with all of the action that was going on at that place. There was way too much to look at to be worried about Mama's camera.

I love this one because Kate has her arm linked through Fran's arm. So sweet! Sydney Frances feels it is her purpose in life to take care of Kate. And yes, they have on matching dresses... on purpose. We decided they would love it now and hate us at their rehearsal dinners in about 25 years. :-) Could someone please provide a boy cousin for Rush? He doesn't seem to mind, though. I had a shirt that would have "blended" with the girls' dresses, but he opted to go with his favorite "gween one".

The crew

Tiny dancer also had her final performance of the year. She loved ballet this year, so we will probably stick with this same program next year. It is a good fit for us.

The kids enjoyed lunch outside in a little summer preview day. The weather was PERFECT!! Can't wait! Just this past weekend, we went to an event called Touch a Truck... also known as Rush's idea of heaven. In the downtown area of my cool hometown, they have tons of different trucks and cars that kids are allowed to sit in, climb on, and explore. Rush absolutely loved it. Syd was a little more hesitant. She saw the Chick-fil-a Cow after about two minutes of being there, and that really kind of put a damper on her day. If you remember the experience with the Easter Bunny, you know she doesn't enjoy animals in costume. Period. Meanwhile, Rush was snuggling with the cow and giving her high fives. So funny how different they are! Fran finally relaxed enough to get on a truck or two, but she always had one eye looking for the cow. :-)

P.S. Sydney Frances did get to fulfill a dream at Touch a Truck. She has ALWAYS wanted to see inside a school bus. They had one there. Putting a check sister's wish list at the same time we put a grin that lasted all morning on Rush's face--- well worth it!

Spring Break Fun 2012

Oh my! They have changed Blogger! We'll see how this post goes. It looks pretty self-explanatory. I was off work last week, and we got to enjoy some time at home. Little Frannie was sick at the beginning of the week, but after a few days, she was feeling better. We used some time at the end of our week to go to Callaway Gardens with Mama. Then, Phil took the day off and went to the zoo with us the next day. I thought the weather wasn't going to cooperate on either day, but we were able to deal with some cooler temps and a little rain to still have a great time! Mama and I really loved the butterfly house at Callaway Gardens. It was kind of funny because the first question out of Rush's mouth was, "When are we going to eat lunch?" In his defense, it was lunch time, but we thought they would be so mesmerized by the butterflies that it wouldn't matter. Apparently, when you are three, peanut butter sandwiches, using the potty, and seeing hundreds of exotic butterflies fluttering around your head are all equally important. We went back afer our picnic, though, and they were a little more entertained.

The butterflies finally started to land on us as you can see in the last couple of pictures. There was a beautiful blue one that was my favorite. I never caught a great picture that captured his blueness, but the butterflies were so much fun to me! Next day... the ZOO! Hightlights for the kids were feeding the giraffes and riding the train. It was a rainy day, and the zoo was a little crowded. There were many field trips there, and I felt the need to use my teacher voice a few times. :-) The animals seemed to want to get out of the drizzly weather because several of the animals were so snuggled into their habitats that it was hard for us to see them. The giraffes were happy to come and eat the alfalfa out of the kids' cups, though, so that was definitely worth the trip. P.S. Giraffes have long tongues and extremely large faces when you are nostril to nostril with one.

The day ended with new stuffed animals from the gift shop. Just what we needed!!! :-) Spring Break was a nice little taste of what we having coming this summer! I am ready!!

Neighborhood Egg Hunt 2012

Fun day!! We always look forward to our neighborhood egg hunt. It is very laid back and lots of fun for the kids. Well... for the most part. We will get to that in just a minute. We waited a few minutes for everyone to get there so we could start filling up those baskets.

This was the first year the twins could really do the egg hunt on their own. When they gave the signal, they both took off to find their eggs. On the younger kids' side of the street, they don't really "hide" the eggs. It is really more of an Easter Egg Race. As in race to fill your basket with the eggs that are obviously lying right in front of you. It works, though. The kids love it, and they get lots of little prizes and junk that they find completely thrilling.






And everything was all smiles, good cheer, and treats... until this guy showed up.

If you notice, there is a twin missing. Once again, Rush snuggled up with his long lost pal, ole E.B. Fran?


Not a fan of the Easter Bunny... This brought sweet Frannie's time at the egg hunt to an end. So, she headed back home with her Daddy. Rush and I decided to stick around for a while. He and I enjoyed a bag of popcorn and one more visit with the Easter Bunny. He was giving out lollipops after all.

We had a fun lunch after we got home. (Thanks for the idea, Pinterest.) I put the kids' standard fare (pb and j, goldfish, and grapes) inside Easter eggs, and then served them in two egg cartons I had saved for the occasion. They LOVED it!! I threw some fruit snacks in a couple of eggs to make it even more exciting. We don't usually eat those for lunch. :-)





We also did our first (of many) egg decorating sessions today. I boiled 18 eggs this morning, so after nap, we headed outside to dye some eggs. The kids did great with it. They were able to put them down into the dye themselves, and they LOVED picking out the colors. We made lots of different colors, and then at the end, I let them mix all of the colors together... thrilling..in case you were wondering. They had a ball with that part. I love how excited they get about the little things! I know it probably won't always be that way, so I try to soak those times in. I was pretty proud of myself for not getting too stressed out. I think being outside helped. The day was beautiful, and the cleanup was basically non-existent. It was a fun activity! I hope it will become a fun tradition for them in the years to come.





Looking forward to a beautiful Easter tomorrow! More celebrations to come!

The Lovely Miss Fran

It's her turn. That's what she would say. If she knew I wrote about Rush first. She would remind me that it is her turn. She likes for things to be fair. She also likes to be first. Even if it's not fair. There are so many adjectives I could use to show you my sweet Sydney Frances. She's spunky, hilarious, chatty, dramatic, sassy, silly, loving, inquisitive, and fantastic all rolled into one cute little three year old.

Her personality shines through in everything that she does. She loves to be in charge and wants to be the one to do the planning about how things are going to work out. (Wonder where she gets this trait?) Yes, I am well aware that she has many of the same personality traits that I have. Phil laughs often at our "battles". He says, "Oh,just wait until she is a teenager." He's right... could be interesting. She likes to be right all the time, and I am right all the time, so there is sometimes a conflict there. :-) I secretly love her spunkiness, though, even if it does drive me crazy from time to time.

She always wants to be around her family. She rarely enjoys playing by herself. She always wants to be in the middle of the action. We were talking a few days ago about who is the "oldest" twin. I told her that Rush is the big brother because he was born a minute before her. She immediately plopped into the floor and her eyes filled up with tears. She asked, "Where was I if he was here first? What were y'all doing?" I laughed at her. She doesn't want to miss a thing!

She loves Rush! She treats him like her baby. She rubs his head and tries to help him get dressed in morning. She will take both of his cheeks in her hands like she is his Mama and give him kisses. He lets her. We have to make sure that we keep him on his toes, or he would just sit back and let her take the wheel. Every time. She talks for him and tries to make sure he has everything he needs. She's a little Mama.

Her favorite way to play is to pretend. She loves to have picnics with her play kitchen and play with her dolls. She has hilarious "phone conversations" with various relatives...usually Aunt Ivy and Gigi. Rush, the realist, let us know at dinner the other night that "Her phone doesn't really work. She isn't talking to anyone for real." Thanks, Buddy! I was expecting a Barbie cell phone bill any day now. :-)


The details:

Favorite colors: pink and purple
Favorite TV show: The Fresh Beat Band (she does the dances with them) and Wow Wow Wubbzy
Favorite clothing: colorful dresses (For the record, don't try to make her wear anything brown.)
Weight: 30+ pounds (not sure exactly... again... proud of myself)
Height: At last measurement... 38 1/2 inches
Best Friend: Bailey
Special Talent: She can memorize and sing MANY songs. MANY. She has a new one almost every night.
Learning: She knows all of her ABCs, and she is beginning to write her letters. She can count and has really gotten good at counting objects lately. She likes to impress everyone with her skills.

I can't wait to see where life takes this sweet girl. In the mean time, I am going to enjoy her sweet heart and fun ways as she grows into a young woman. I am looking forward to every second. She is my girl, and I am so lucky to have her for a daughter.