It's a Doozy of a Blog Post!

So I totally missed February and March.  Sorry about that.  That just means there will be a LOT of pictures in this post!  Hold on tight people, this is gonna be a long one.

In case you forgot (you know, because it was a LONG time ago), we had a huge snow storm at the beginning of February.  The schools were closed for 5 days straight and I came about a hair's width away from going completely and totally stir crazy!  I'm terrified on icy roads, so I literally didn't leave the house for 5 days in a row.  It was also month-end close, so I actually had to do real work.  Made for a really weird week!

Anyway, the kids had fun, at least when we would let them outside.  It was SO COLD!!!

These pictures were taken on 2/4:

Yes, there was LOTS of snow and it was COLD!  I wasn't up for it and Katherine only stayed outside for a short time, but David and John headed out to a hill close by for some "sledding."  Not actual sledding you understand, but "sledding."  I have a video, but I still can't seem to manage to get a video from a phone, converted to some reasonable format that my iMovie program can read.  Sometimes technology baffles me.  So, you'll have to trust me, it's a cute video and it shows David "sledding" down a small hill with about a hundred other kids that had the same idea, but with equipment (that he borrowed).

Also in February, we whipped up some sweets...with my sweets!

Katherine takes after her mommy by loving to lick the beaters!

These pictures were taken on 2/12, just a week after all that snow that closed school for a week, we got a tire swing for the backyard and the kids love it!

At first, Katherine didn't want to go very high and would tell us she wanted to swing "just a little bit."

David, on the other hand, wanted to swing a LOT!

I love that Katherine is standing by watching her brother swing so big.

I also love this cute little picture of Katherine on the swing.  Now she'll go pretty high on it!

For Valentine's Day, John and I got a sitter (on the 13th, we're not crazy enough to actually go to dinner on February 14th) and went to dinner.  This is terrible, but I can't remember or figure out where we went!

Hmmm, let's see.  David also lost his 2nd of his two front teeth on 4/20.  Now he has that adorable grin of a 2nd grader!

Now lets move to March.

We started off March with a minor remodel.  David's room needed some updating since he's had the same (really terrible) comforter since he was about 2.  So we looked and looked.  David was very adamant that he didn't want to change the colors of his room and he wanted to keep a sports theme.  The kid...he's not much on change.

So we kept looking for a more "mature" looking sports theme.

Then we found Texas Rangers bedding.

Oh yes.  We did find Texas Rangers bedding.

Man caves everywhere have this stuff.

John also had knowledge (how do men KNOW this stuff??) of these "Fatheads" things.  These are huge pictures that are essentially stickers for the wall that appear almost 3D.  They are pretty cool, and again, scream "man cave."

So this is David's updated room.

That's a life size Josh Hamilton.  Yep, it sure is.

So here is the super cool, way awesome, very unique fact about this particular fathead (the stadium, not the hat).  David and John found two choices for a Ballpark @ Arlington picture.  One was a day-time picture and one was a nighttime picture.  David preferred the night picture.  When they zoomed in (still just looking at it online) they noticed the world series logo on the field.  Then, John zoomed in even more and determined that the pitcher on the mound in this particular picture is Tim Lincecum.  Of course it is!  He has a very signature pitch, you know.  And EVERYONE knows that Tim Lincecum pitched game 5 of the world series against the Rangers.  I mean, WHAT?  You didn't know that?? Come on, what kind of a Rangers fan are you anyway??

All of you should also know that David and John were in attendance for Game 5 of the World Series.

Yep, that's right - the only nighttime picture of the Ballpark in Arlington available from Fatheads was taken the night that John and David were there.

Coincidence?

I think not.

It's destiny for this Fathead to be in our house.  Obviously.

We also managed to re-use his expertly painted name and frame as the label over his closet (uh hum) locker room.

The picture over his dresser is of the Ballpark on Opening Day and the other picture to the right is a caricature of David playing baseball.

The caricature has actually been replaced by a collage of collectibles and pictures from the World Series game that John and David attended.  It's a pretty cool little collage if I don't say so myself!  We'll have to get a picture of that too and post it.

To conclude the remodel, I'm not really sure who likes David's redecorated room more, David or John.  I'm fairly certain that if I gave John free reign in our bedroom, it would be identical to David's.

Moving on.

We had a few iterations of Spring Break plans this year.  First, we were thinking about taking a vacation, but then decided we didn't want to spend the money, so the next thought was to have a stay-cation here and just do tourist-y stuff locally for a week.  Then as it turned out, John really had to be in the office and it was going to be a bit difficult for me to be off the whole week too, so John found a really great camp for David to attend.  We thought I would take a couple of days off to do some fun stuff with David, but when he saw the schedule at the camp, there wasn't an activity that he was willing to miss, so he went every day!  They went to Going Bonkers (the only place parents hate worse than Chuck E. Cheese), swimming (indoor of course), movies, and roller skating.  He had a good time.

The Saturday of Spring Break, we took the kids to the Fort Worth zoo.  We really had a great time - we got there when it opened and left around 1 when the mob was there and arriving.  It was crazy!!

Walking in to the zoo together.

Some monkeys.

Aren't they cute watching rhino?!

The rhino.

I think he's having fun.

More animal watching.

More animal watching.  Oh wait.  That's David she's watching!

Now that's just adorable.

Look, it's Pumbaa!

Katherine screamed and screamed at the lion to wake him up, but he was super sleepy and just laid there.

I thought these little guys were pretty.  And delicate.

There's an area where you can go in a cage and feed a ton of parakeets.  David and Katherine had a great time in there.

Then of course we rode the merry-go-round.  For some really strange reason, Katherine didn't want to ride a horse, she wanted to ride in one of the stationary carts.  But she had fun and waved at Daddy every time we passed.

David was all about the horse!

That's David in the red shirt - he's a little hard to see in this one.

You can't tell from those pictures, but the zoo was an absolute madhouse.  I've never seen so many people at a local zoo before.  You would have thought it was the main attraction for 100's of miles.  David actually thought there was a parade when we were driving away, but no, it was people walking over a mile from where they parked to go to the zoo.  Seriously?  The zoo?  We didn't get it.  Anyway, we were glad we got there early and left when we did.

On 3/21, David had a cub scout meeting where we thought he was going to get his wolf badge, but he won't get it until the end of the school year.  So Katherine was there in her "Belle Gown" as she calls it.

David did get a few accomplishments and a couple of badges that night.

To close out March, the 2nd grade did a musical called "Bugs."  Oh my goodness, this was greatness!  Each class was a bug.  David's class was butterflies, you can see the ladybugs, another class was bees.  It was so adorable.

Here is David in his cocoon about to turn into a butterfly.  It was quite creative!  There was also a stink bug, played by a good friend of David's.  The kids all did great and it was actually entertaining too!

On to April.  Getting sick of this yet?  Feel free to take a break and come back later.

Katherine, David and I made my favorite brownies the first weekend in April.  And unlike David, Katherine actually likes to lick the spoon from baking!  Now THAT's a girl after my own heart!

My birthday fell on 2nd workday this year.  For you non-accountants, that means that I was really really busy at work that day.  My birthday always falls during quarter-end close, so I'm quite used to it, but this year it was on pretty much the worst day it could be.

However, I work with pretty cool people that gave me a little surprise party!!

These cupcakes were A.MAZE.ING!!!  Do you see they spell "Cindy"?

Here was the spread.  There were drinks, German Chocolate cake, ice cream, a cinnamon bake...YUM!

They also gave me a shirt that says, "The zen of accounting" on it - very cute!  And a computer bag, and a mouse pad, and a coffee mug.  Did I mention I work with really cool people!?!

Also, the other Ferguson Three sent me flowers!  John's just full of surprises!  Aren't they beautiful!?!

This was a week later.  Still beautiful!  It made close at least *smell* better!

Bear with me people, we're almost to the end.

About three weeks ago, Katherine's day-care called me at work to inform me that Katherine had FINALLY made it to the top of the Dance Class waiting list and did I still want a spot for her.  Why OF COURSE I still want a spot for her, are you CRAZZZZY?!?!

So we got a list of things she needed and she and I went shopping.  That was an adventure in itself.  She needed ballet and tap shoes, so we went to a dance store.  I didn't tell her that tap shoes "tap" when you walk until she got them on her feet and it was hysterical when she realized it!  Then she wanted to jump up and down on a wood stage.  So funny!

So her first day of dance class was about two weeks ago.  She asks every day if it's Thursday (and several times on the weekend) because she goes on Thursday.

This was before we left the house the day of her first class.

Showing off her new backpack too!

Every dancer needs a good breakfast to start the day!

I drop her off in her ballet clothes and they change her into her uniform after class.  For her first class, I just had to go and watch!  I didn't let her see me though - I stayed in the lobby and watched her from the surveillance cameras.  The director of her day-care did take my phone into the dance room and take some (ADORABLE!) pictures for me.  Some of those are below.

I did catch the dance teacher before she went in and asked her about a recital they have planned for May.  She said that she would have to see if Katherine could do it or not, depends on costume, how she does for her first couple of classes, etc.  I told her to just decide and let me know - no pressure from me. 

Then she told me that kids usually take 2-3 classes to really start doing what she tells them to.  Usually they spend a lot of time in the back of the room until then - being shy, whatever.  I thought about telling her that Katherine would probably be the notable exception to that rule, but then I didn't want her to prove me wrong, so I kept my mouth shut.

Boy were we wrong!!  Katherine was ALL OVER the place in her first dance class!!  She would subtly (or maybe not?) work her way around the entire class to get right next to her teacher in front of the mirror.  It was positively hysterical.  She did everything her teacher told her to do and she did it with a huge smile on her face.  She had so much fun!!!

The girl with her in most of the pictures below is her "bestie" (their word).  They are pretty much connected at the hip.

We'll close with a picture that will more-than-likely repeat several times over the next couple of months.  This is Katherine watching her brother play baseball.  He's doing great this season!  He's hitting the ball very well and also paying attention to the game and learning more about the game.

So that should catch you up on the Ferguson Four!  Hopefully you enjoyed the binge of information.