Cousins Visit

Last week my sister Ann Marie and her family visited from WI. They made it down here in 15 hours flat! Not too shabby! My sister is a HUGE "Consumer's Report" reader and had to check out Costco when she got here. It had a high ranking...even higher than Sam's Club! She was NOT disappointed! She LOVED the frozen yogurt. She got chocolate, and I tried to get Bubba Vanilla with berries in it to sneak in a piece of fruit or two to his diet. No such luck....he spit it RIGHT out, and ate Ann Marie's right up! This kid is NO dummy!
We have had BEAUTIFUL weather since February down here. The week before Ann Marie got here it was mid 80's. The day before she got here it was 70 and sunny. They got here and the rain started and it rained 6 out of 7 days and was in the 40's and 50's! They left at 10:30am on Friday, and the clouds broke and the sun came out, and it's back into the 70's and 80's! Go figure!

We had to find things to keep the kids busy, so we all didn't kill each other. First day we went to the Children's Museum.

Here are the boys as we were headed in.

Bubba LOVED the water table, as usual!

The cousins had a really nice time together.

We saw animals in the rain forest,

And learned that Auntie Annie still has it on the pulley system after all these years!

Ann did some baking with 13.5 lbs of Baking Soda!

I LOVE my economist husband!

On Tuesday was the only nice day of the week. We went on a Safari north of the city. I'm pretty sure I haven't laughed that hard with my sister in YEARS! The animals were trying to get into the car, and even left 8 inch hoof marks on their driver door. We were laughing, gagging, crying, and scared all at the same time!

This guy was too close for "company" according to Johnny who HIGH TAILED it over the seats to the third row where the windows don't open.

Ann was gagging like crazy when this guy liked the car windows! See video below!

I LOVE this pic, as Cullen was driving Ann Marie nuts sitting in the middle console and his head kept turning on buttons, such as the heater or radio!

Made me SMILE! How can you be mad at a face like that?

Bubba with his "Spicy Italian" sub afterwards! SAFARI'S make us HUNGRY!

(What DOESN'T make this kid hungry?)

Another morning we went to this indoor play area!

The boys were having a BLAST!

I got to take my "Fairy Godchild" out for an afternoon of shopping,and painting for his birthday. We did a "paint your plate" type of place. He did a rabbit and a cross. I gave him chips and juice AND made sure I took him out to buy a toy his mom didn't want him to have! A Beaver web kindz, which his mother thinks is SO ugly! That's what aunties are for! Finally, since Ann Marie LOVES baseball so much, I talked her into going to Curtis' game in the rain, and told her it would be cancelled. NO such luck, as it rained, and was 40 degrees and had two rain delays!

Look at her....she loved EVERY minute of it! This girl just screams, "I LOVE BASEBALL!"

Finally, after the cousins left, we went to a young authors conference where Johnny presented a book. He did a GREAT job considering he had to make this when his writing arm was broken and did it with the opposite arm!

Baseball Pics

Baseball season has been in FULL swing down here since the end of February! The boys love it, and so does THE BUBBA! We've come up with a few new nicknames for him such as "The BOSS" and "The COMMISSIONER" as he can frequently be seen bossing around BIG kids at the park while organizing games of tag and hide-n-seek! I will NOT have to worry about anyone pushing Bubba around EVER!

Also, all the mom's have taken to feeding my lil' Bubba during the boys games. He sweetly sits on their lap while sucking on suckers, eating rice krispie treats, bags of goldfish, etc. I might have to make a shirt that says, "Do NOT feed the BUBBA!" Here is is enjoying some Gatorade on Daddy's lap yesterday while watching Johnny play!
Curtis loves hot dogs MORE than I do at the ball park. I didn't think that was possible, but I guess it is! Here he is enjoying his POST game snack. Not pictured is Bubba sitting at the table eating a free hot pretzel that he got from the concession stand. He has THEM wrapped around his finger too! He always yells, "HI MISS RACHEL!" when he gets to the ball park! This kid knows how to get food....and I'm not talking fruits or veggies!

Both boys with their game balls after the first game of the season!

VERY happy brothers that day!

Lefty in the dugout!

Curt-Dog LOVES sunflower seeds now!

Curtis a few weeks ago lining up to slap hands at the end of the game.

Lefty catching!

Lefty on third!

I'm a total sucker for my kids in uniforms...sorry if the bball pics get repetitive...but I LOVE taking them!

Frog and Toad

Curtis was in the choir in the play Frog and Toad at school last week.

Johnny and Bubba thought the play was hilarious!

There is Curtis the fourth from the left in the back row.

Bubba's First Trip to the Dentist

Two weeks ago was Bubba's first trip to the dentist. All the boys had their first cleaning down here. Let's just say they didn't make dentist offices like this when I was little. Here the three of them are in the waiting room. This picture just reminds me SO much of their father from when I first met him!
The room had three stations for each kid. They all had their teeth cleaned, and then the dentist walked in to check each of their mouths! Very convenient for me, as I just sat on the side and drank a Keurig cup of coffee!Bubba did absolutely amazing and even was able to get a fluoride treatment! All my kids do well at the dentist, but he takes the cake! Made me realize he's NOT a baby anymore!

He look WAY too old in this pic! TEAR!

Lefty waiting for his brothers to be done at the Play Station section of the dental room!

NCAA Tourney

This past weekend a good college friend of mine flew in and took me to the NCAA Tournament in Charlotte. We got to see some GREAT basketball and it was a nice break from the regular routine for me. Our seats were amazing, and she even was able to get Curtis a seat for the UNC game on Friday night. That made for one VERY excited 7 year old boy!

Here is Curtis outside the stadium trying to win a Powerade.

Did he do it?

Victorious!

We had a great time!

I got to go to six games this past weekend. I saw Duke and UNC play two times, Michigan, Tennessee, etc. Sunday, our day ended with the Duke and seeing their coach win his 900th game! What a GREAT weekend in NC!

Last Week...

Last weekend we went up to the Bass Pro Shop and the BIG outlet mall. I wanted to see what it was all about. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll go back again. Here the boys are at the fish feeding. (**"YAWN***)
We stopped by the Nascar Theme Park....a Midwesterner would refer to it as an ARCADE! They boys loved it...but even Erik ranked it LAME!

Bubba LOVES race cars!

Lefty waiting to be dropped off at his school on Monday looking cute as ever!

Cast comes off on Wed. for an x-ray! Let's hope it's healed!

Guess who cleaned out her car?

I hate to admit...but this is only after 5 days!

Last week Erik was gone for the whole week in California. Of COURSE they had Tornado watches and Thunderstorm Warnings out his second night gone. We had a "Popcorn Party" to try to keep the kids minds off of it. Curtis was WAY into the storm and pulled up a chair to the window to watch. Lefty kept yelling at him in panic mode, "CURTIS YOU ARE GETTING WAY TOO CLOSE FOR COMPANY TO THAT WINDOW!" I LOVED it!
Bubba didn't get the memo that when Daddy is gone AND it's a Monday night, Mommy wants to just SIT on the sofa and watch the Bachelor! He was SO scared of the storm that he just kept getting up! So, He laid on my chest and fell asleep right before the final rose ceremony! He missed the BEST part!
Last week of course also had to be the ONE week a year where basketball and baseball over-lap. Which equaled lots of driving for me! Here the boys are heading to their first practices. Curtis was SO excited that his team name was the "Twins!"

Bubba got to sit in the car more than usual, and had to create his own fun !

One night we used our free coupons and stopped by our FAVORITE cupcake place! Curtis got mint chocolate chip, I got Smore, and the other two boys got Vanilla! YUMMO!

Bubba REALLY enjoyed his....

Until it was "BROKEN" and he wanted me to "FIX IT!"

When one kid has practice, the others play in the dirt or diamond dry mix they have between all the fields.

Thank goodness they LOVE it and it keeps them entertained the whole time!

One day last week, Johnny was at school, and Curtis was asked on a play date after school. I was able to do something with JUST Bubba ! This has RARELY happens... so off we went to Build-A-Bear!

He named his new bear "Star Wars."

And was SO proud of it!

Peek....

A BOO!

Before Erik left, he made a trip to Costco. I know some of you have been dying for a BIG trip like this to be posted! He got 800 dinner napkins, 304 zip lock bags, 200 Bic pens, 3 HUGE rolls of foil....

20 rolls of paper towels, 4 gallons of juice....

20 boxes of Kleenex and MUCH more! Who doesn't love it when Erik does the shopping? You don't hear me complaining! ( I just didn't know I needed 200 pens...but apparently Erik can NEVER find a pen when he needs one!)
I am LOVING all the blooming trees here! MOST beautiful place I've ever seen during the spring! More so than Holland. The white and pink Cherry Trees are AMAZING and are lining all the roads! Wish I could take more pics, but I'm always the one driving!
We had lunch on Friday with Curtis at school. Bubba thinks that if he turns around in his chair to eat his cookie...I won't notice! (Take note of the FULL tray of food in front of him!)

Loved the sign hanging in the lunch room!

Isn't it the TRUTH?

Thought this was a picture worth taking.

The car on the right is visitor parking, and the car on the left is the "Teacher of the Year's" car!

This weekend brought more baseball bright and early...

Followed by our last bball game of the year!

Was a fun team to coach and for Curtis to play on!

I'm looking forward to this spring...some visitors and a spring break trip to Florida planned to meet my BFF Lynne and her family! Should be fun!