2010 Colt County Fair

I know you must be shocked. It's another post inside of a month. Try to contain your excitement.

This week was teacher appreciation week at David's elementary school. For those of you that don't know, David has the BEST, most AMAZING, GIFTED, CARING WONDERFUL 1st grade teacher on the planet. So I (yes me) actually went up to the school and volunteered to help with the root beer float party. It was pretty fun! I'm fairly certain the kids enjoyed it more than the teachers, but hey, they all got a break to go outside for a while at the end of the week.

Friday night at school was the Colt County Fair. Complete with games, prizes, an auction and a riding bull!! There was also a drawing to let kids throw pie in their teachers' faces!

The bull had a long line, but after David played every other game there at least 10 times, he decided he wanted to wait in the line.

I think it was worth it. You decide...

After the bull riding, we listened to the auction. You know you're out of your league when parents are bidding $400 to name the car loop for next year. They also bid $350 to have their own personal parking spot. Seriously? I'm VERY glad that these parents exist and that they have kids at David's school. But wow!

After that was the pie in the face!! The kids could buy raffle tickets to put in their teacher's bag. Then they drew out of the bag for the kid that got to throw the pie. All the kids got one entry at lunch that day, and David paid $1 to get another entry.

There was a huge crowd and very tall people all over the place. I couldn't see what was going on, but then I heard the kids saying what sounded like "DAVID!!" So I peeked through the crowd and saw that David was going to throw the first pie at his teacher! The parents let me squeeze through to get this video of it!

So after he was done, I called him to come out of the crowd so I could show him the video. We were about 20 feet away watching it when David heard some kids calling his name. They had drawn the names of 2 other kids who weren't there, and then they drew David's name AGAIN! Wow, was he excited!

It was such a great time!! David had a blast!!

Today we had a baseball game this morning and then went to eat lunch with the team. We have such a great baseball team this season - we love them! The boys are all great and the parents are supportive too - it's the best of both worlds!

After lunch, we came home to put Katherine down for her nap. David said he wanted to read to her before she went to sleep. Isn't this just adorable???

Here's to bonus Saturday blog posts!

April, Easter, Birthday, Visit, Baseball...

Well once again, it's been a while since I posted. Nevermind, it hasn't been a while, it's been my new normal. Eh, better once a month than never, right?

To start off the month of April, we took a trip to see Granddad and Claire!! We had a great time, ate too much food and played hard. It was a great trip.

Granddad tempted Katherine with a Dora book - she wanted Granddad to read to her, but she wasn't so sure that first night that she was ready to crawl right up into his lap.

Claire on the other hand was a different story. Those kids know those grandmothers!!
Here's this silly smile again. For some reason, I always take a picture when she does this. You'd think I'd learn to *not* take the picture so I don't encourage the behavior. Nope, she's got me right where she wants me.

David however, did crawl right up into Granddad's lap and hang out - smart boy!

We also visited the Science Museum while we were there. We really had a great time - there were a ton of things to see, lots for the kids to do (and be entertained) and also lots of cool stuff for the grown-ups too! We even rode a segway!

There was a cut out poster for pictures at the entrance and we were failing to get a picture of David and Katherine together, but Daddy and David look great!
And David and Granddad...
Katherine finally thought it was okay to pose with Granddad...
This was actually the best one I got of the two of them, David's scratching his ear and Katherine's just watching him. Hey, I'll take what I can get!
Ummmm, yeah, I think Katherine finally warmed up.
For the record, I'm pretty sure that Katherine was just working Granddad the whole time. Now she's got him *right* where she wants him!!

On Easter Sunday, that Easter Bunny came and hid eggs all over our living room!! David and Daddy were out getting donuts when Katherine woke up, so she got a head-start on the egg-hunt.
Silly smile!!
Checking out the loot before deciding if it's worth the effort to keep looking.
Silly smile!!
Pointing out those eggs to me.
David got home and made quick work of the living room. We told him that he couldn't take any of the eggs "in plain sight" so that Katherine would still have some.

Notice the one balanced in the plant in the picture that David doesn't even see!
Cutie patootie!
Now this was SO sweet - David found an egg and was unsure if it was a "plain sight" one or not. We told him it probably was, but that Katherine had plenty, so he could keep it. Nope, he immediately handed it over to his sister. What a sweet big brother!
Okay, notice the orange egg sitting on the couch next to the (ADORABLE!!) Easter dress. Katherine doesn't see it even after David and I both point to it and tell her it's there.
She honestly thought the Easter Bunny hid eggs UNDER the couch!! That mean Easter Bunny!
Then we went outside for more egg hunting.
That bunny even put them on the trampoline (which by the way was COVERED in pollen when we got outside to hunt the eggs. Gross!!)
Cutie with a basket full of eggs.
I love this picture of Katherine - this is totally her personality!
She finally decided she was done looking for eggs and it was time to ride her car.
And her bicycle.
David on the swingset.
We colored Easter eggs later that afternoon. Is this supposed to be a pre-Easter activity so that you can hunt these rather fragile hard-boiled eggs without any candy hidden inside?

Anyway, for the very first egg, even though Daddy told her to carefully put the egg in, she splashed green color! Good thing we were prepared.
Silly smile!!
Sweet boy!!
Hard to believe that he can handle this by himself. Where did the time go????

When Katherine gives me the silly smile, I'm trying to get her to give me a more "normal" smile. I tried telling her to keep her eyes open while she's smiling.

This is what she did:
I think she might be confused between her eyes and her mouth.

I love the look on her face in this picture!
Later in the afternoon, David and I made brownies. YUMMY!! These are the same brownies that my mom used to always make me for my birthday. It was so much fun to make them with David!

Now, David was never the kid that wanted to lick the bowl OR the beaters. I can't imagine, that used the be the highlight of my week - when my mom would let me lick the beaters!! I only got to lick the bowl on special occasions like my birthday!
And here's David next to the cake he and I made together.
Yes, there are 35 candles on that cake, and yes, I was concerned about the fire alarm.
Perfect birthday with my kiddos!!!
Baseball season started for David right after Easter. He's already showing improvement and having fun playing ball as well.

Here he goes, sliding in to home!
Giving mom the obligatory picture after his first run around the bases of the season.
When we got home from the game, we got some pictures of the kids in front of the gorgeous azaleas that are blooming in our front yard. Aren't they adorable???
Now this is more like our "normal"...
As is this.
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and first half of April!!

Life after H1N1

So first, we DID go to the U2 concert last Monday night. I can't even believe that was a week ago. It seems like 3 weeks.

Anyway, the stage was so big, we'd heard that they had to raise the ridiculously huge screen up even higher so that the U2 stage would fit under it. Wow. The new Cowboy's Stadium is very nice - very large, and VERY over-the-top, but nice.

I got a panoramic picture, but for some reason, dumb blogger won't let me upload it, so here's a cropped version of it. You get the idea. We weren't close, but we were plenty close enough.

You know how they say, "If it's too loud, you're too old"? Yep, I'm too old.
John took this one with his cell phone - Bono singing in the spotlight.
Aren't we just adorable?
You should feel sorry for all those people around us. This was Monday night, October 12. On Tuesday morning, I didn't feel too well. I had a meeting so I went into the office anyway, just for an hour or so. It's not like me to miss work, and it's not like me to get sick, and I felt pretty bad, so I called the doctor to make sure everything was okay. She told me that I had a sinus infection and prescribed an antibiotic. She said she wouldn't test me for the flu because I didn't have a fever.

On Tuesday evening, I got a 102 degree fever.

Sometimes I really should just tell a doctor that I DO know what I'm talking about.

On Wednesday, FINALLY, I got into to see the doctor again (a different one) and they tested me. Lo & behold, I had H1N1. Duh. John and I immediately called the pediatrician to make sure the kids were okay. Turns out David was already *over* it. We didn't even know he had it - just thought he had a little allergy cough like he gets all the time. Katherine didn't have it, but John was feeling sick too, so with everyone in the house sick, the pediatrician didn't want to mess around. He gave her some Tamiflu too - just in case.

John felt like he had a really bad cold, but I was seriously sick. This thing is NOT FUN PEOPLE. I don't get sick very often, but this was the sickest I've ever been. Cold sweats, aches, fever, pain, headache, painful coughing, frozen hands, you name it. Y.U.C.K.Y.

So I was out of the picture for about 48 hours. I couldn't have even told you my name. I was pretty much toast. Then by Friday I was starting to come out of the fog and join the living again. Sheesh. On the bright side, none of us will ever get it again!

So, AFTER H1N1...

Katherine drinks out of a cup at day-care, but we always still give her a sippy cup at home. John decided that it's time to break the habit. This was Friday morning. Notice her "kitty cat shirt" and the milk spilled on the top of it.
David eating breakfast.
So this weekend - because we all needed to rest from our relaxing-time-off-work week, we had FOUR games!! Two t-ball and two soccer. Wow - we tried to divide and conquer. Each of us skipped a t-ball game, but we both went to both soccer games.

David playing 2nd base:
David batting. Notice his eyes on the ball!! Such concentration!
Sliding into home. He'd do it when it was just dirt, not mud.
Katherine has found her (for now) favorite dessert! Mini-M&M's.
She loves it best when Daddy will pour them into her W I D E open mouth!
David playing goalie:
He's quite good at goalie, but, in his words, he wasn't getting any "action", so he asked to play in the field too.

That's him in the blue shorts - notice the tongue.
That's him going up against the other team - those are twin boys.
This blue shorted boy is his teammate, but I thought this was a great action shot. Tyler had just kicked the ball to the goal and the goalie was catching it.
Daddy & Katherine enjoying the game (and the GREAT weather!!)
This video was taken last weekend. Katherine is reading "Ten Friendly Fish" and counted to 10. So cute!

Don't look now, but I just posted TWICE in ONE week!!