The Tale of A Caterpillar Hunt...

Max has found many a caterpillar and sister has been longing to find one for herself since he won't share due to her love of squeezing, moving and loving them to death. Today we had a picnic lunch outside and ....

Off to look

Here maybe?

Over here?

Jackpot!

Look Ma!

He crawls here...

He crawls there...

He crawls everywhere!Storytime, Caterpillar

Love you. Time for bed, night night!

He's now deceased under our refrigerator. She had "not so gently" handled him so much he was just about dead, so we brought him inside to make a habitat. I left her inside with him while I got some leaves and branches. When I came in, she was screaming, "Caterpillar, caterpillar - I can't reach, Mommy!" He had crawled under our fridge to escape his captor. Luckily she took the news well that I couldn't move it and he would have a new home there. :-)

Our poor kids don't do have the fun things others do,...seems like every kid's in every sport, taking every vacation to every neat spot, getting every cool toy everyone has....however, every spring break Max does get to go to his Nana and Grandpa's house in NC by himself (thanks much to the fact that they don't have an aversion to driving.) They are so good to us.

So, here's Max in his own world on the beach of the inlet around the corner from their house....how many prepositions can I fit in one sentence!?! Oh, and one target practice with the nerf gun. Love this boy....and now we love spending time with him too :-) He is doing so much better with the help of many wonderful and caring people. He is healthy, happy and is the person that was hiding on the inside all along.

3 going on 13..ellie and brandi glam-ing it up with the help of dad. Cutest thing - him drying her hair has occurred on more than one occassion :-) such a good daddy

The secret is to blend....a little dab will do ya.

Ellie's first dentist appt with Uncle Erik and his wonderful hygienist Amanda. She was so excited and not really nervous at all - I was sooooo shocked! We had her watch Max's first and then she hopped right in the chair and was so annoyed that we were all googoo-ing over her.

Tiny Dancer...

We were shopping for jammies and I let her pick one - she chose this one. I swear - I didn't even sell it to her.

Playdate with cuz Reese. They played dress up and then took every item of Ellie's clothing and put it in the port-a-crib. Logical place. Then they grabbed books and dove in. Great entertainment.

I really do brush her hair every once in a while, regardless of what you see here :-)

Sorry to my Facebook friends - you see these all in double. But, I put the more risque ones on Facebook so you're extra lucky.

Shane took me out for a well-planned b-day overnight celebration. It was WONDERFUL! He rented a Mustang, drove me down to the Buckhead Westin, took me to dinner at Maggianos, movies - saw Benjamin Button and did a little shopping at the mall across the street the next morning. Fabulous little getaway - we should do it every year! (And the amazing thing was the Mustang rental was free from work and the $360 hotel was $75 on Priceline!!!)

The 'Stang

The Westin - Buckhead skyline

Dinner - sooooooooo much food! Look at us - we're so stuffed we can't even smile all the way.

Movies - what did you guys think of Benjamin Button?

Max and Ellie's first Starbucks hot chocolate. Watch Ellie.....

Ellie and Max: "Mmmmmm... this hot chocolate is wonderful, mom. Thank you."



Ellie: "Wait a minute... he still has some?"


(Max proceeds to walk away leaving his unguarded) Ellie: "I think I'll just take that, thank you."

"Right about there as far away from Max would be juuuuuuust right." Sneaky little devil.



The two little houligans hyped up on sugar....

We drove to my parents' in North Carolina for Christmas this year. The weather was freakishly warm the day after Christmas so we went straight to the beach. Here's some pics from that, but unfortunately when I cleared my camera of the Christmas day pics, the website I uploaded them to won't allow me to access the raw file from my home computer so crap about that. But, this was probably the highlight anyway. Well, it's between this and the movie theater with a snoring man to our right, two stoned with the munchies and food they couldn't keep quiet to our left and the lady in front of us asking her husband questions in an insanely loud voice. Hmmmm.




Cold water and street clothes didn't stop him - he was wet from waist down by the time we went home.


We had a fan blowing on her for this shot. She's got the far-off pensive look down - we're now working on her "you're a tiger" shot.

This would make you think they were working cooperatively on the sandcastle - not so much.

She loves her daddy!

Grandpa's kite flying skills. Ellie managed to hold it without letting it go for a really long time - I was shocked!

The lovely birds that don't leave you alone if you feed them. The kids practically had them eathing out of their hands just as we ran out of our food. We went home hungry, but Ellie talked about that the whole way home. My rough and tough husband has a secret fear of things flying around his head. Wish I had gotten a picture of him with the birds swarming. He can girly scream wayyyyyy better than me.

Pantless Wonder wants to play in the rain....