I'm a sucker

Eric's always making fun of me for being such a sucker when it comes to the kids. The little guy and I went to Build-a-Bear today (unplanned), and he made chewbacca for his sister.

I'm such a sucker.

Happy Easter!

My parents and my brother and my sister-in-law visited us for Easter weekend. It was great seeing them all! Here we all were after church on Sunday:

Aren't we a good looking family?

Airplane!

The kids organized an airplane in the living room the other day. They left room for Eric and me to sit among the stuffed animals. It was really sweet.

We flew to Dragon Valley (it's very dangerous), but were lucky enough to take off in time and fly back home.

Weekend with cousins

One of my cousins moved down to Charlotte a year or two ago and we decided we'd go visit her and her lovely family for the weekend. It's nice to get to see family whenever you can. We had a great time going to see The Little Mermaid presented by The Charlotte Ballet and then getting to hang out and catch up while the kids played non-stop.

After church on Sunday we went out to eat and the kids got their very own table. They were so cute.
Here are my cousin's kids, who obviously know what to do when someone is taking their picture, and our kids, who look like they were to busy eating to bother.


Also, Goose had another baseball game tonight. He got to play catcher. His Uncle Todd would be proud!

The girl was too busy with crackers to pay attention.

First baseball game!!!!

The little guy had his first baseball game this past Saturday. It was so much fun to watch those 5 and 6 year olds get out on the field for their first game. I was really excited about it, but I didn't know that I would get so emotional about it. There were several times I had to fight back some happy tears.

Here is my little man ready to go with his cool little baseball backpack. He was sooo excited to play his first game.

This is probably my favorite picture from Saturday. He looks like a real baseball player, but yet, he's so little. The base looks huge!

And that's my view, behind the fence, being a dad. Doesn't seem that long ago that it was me out there  and my dad was the one watching me be a kid and a ballplayer, all at the same time. Where have the years gone?

(And by the way, he went 3 for 3 with 6 RBIs and 3 runs scored, with 2 putouts. Well on his way....)

Science Night!

We took the kids to a neuroscience celebration at the science museum. It was really cool! They got to look through a microscope at slices of fish brains that were stained purple.

They also played an m&m game about brain inhibitors and delayed gratification. The highlight of the evening, though, was that the little guy got to hold a real human brain in his hands.

He said it was heavy. The guy helping him with the brain is a PhD neuroscientist who took time to explain all kinds of things about it-- where your eyes go, what parts let you talk, what parts let you throw things. It was fascinating!

McTeacher!

Tonight, McDonalds donated 25% of all proceeds to the little guy's school. We stopped by after church and got dessert. 

It was a fun treat!

Gorgeous Weather

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather on Sunday and went to a nearby playground.

It was wonderful!

Garden Time!

Pending the approval of our contractor (to make sure a backhoe doesn't crush our tomatoes), we started getting the yard ready for spring today! Eric mulched almost everything.

The baby planted a stick.

Both kids helped me get the weeds out of the garden and mix in the compost!

I love spring.

Backwards

The baby is writing her name, but she's doing it backwards the way they do when they're just starting out. Here she is planning where the letters will go!

Politics!!

The little guy has been asking a ton of questions about politics and the election lately. Today, I took him out of school early so he could join me at a Hillary rally! We had a pretty good time, although we left a bit early since he was exhausted from all the waiting.

This kid waited patiently for 4 hours!

There she is!!

The cutest thing happened as we were leaving. The Secret Service had taken our water bottles, including the little guy's construction cup. He was very sad about it, so on the way out I asked if we could get it back. The agents found it for us (in the box behind them), and the little guy just BEAMED when they handed it over. One of them said "See? We did something good today." Awwww.

Two Little Monkeys...

... jumping on the bed. Luckily, neither fell off and bumped their head.

Just in the interest of full disclosure, we do have a no-jumping-on-the-bed rule. It's obviously honored.

Spring is Springing

We have a daffodil in the yard!

It was nice enough out tonight to take a short walk. The pictures look like it was pitch black outside, but it was just barely dusk. I'm going to blame the flash.

We're all happy that it's back to walk-after-dinner weather for the week.

Busy, Busy

Between baseball, softball, volleyball, and church, we're unusually busy in the evenings lately so posting may continue to be spotty.

The kids had fun with art supplies last night. The baby cut green paper into tiny little pieces that are now all over the living room rug.

The little guy was the neat one for a change. He colored in his coloring book!

The kids and I all fell asleep around 8pm. ;-)

Happy!

Here are some pictures of the kids at dinner the other night. They were cracking each other up!!