An apple for the Teacher

Normally, I consider myself to be "on top of things" and I don't wait till the last minute. But, today - was not the case. All week it's been teacher appreciation week - and as of this morning - I had not taken Crawford's and Conlee's teachers a gift. Sure - I made a casserole and a chocolate chip poundcake - but hadn't done a thing just for them.

So at 7:30 this morning as I was trying to figure out what to do, Crawford looked at me and said, "Paint momma." And with that - we decided the letter of the day was "A" and we made apple stamp cards to put Sonic gift cards in for the gifts.

This was a much bigger hit than I anticipated. We painted for an hour and a half. I even left him alone for a while and he stayed completely focused. Conlee helped for the first bit, but had to go down for her morning nap. I heart the Crayola smock!!!! And don't forget the disposable table cloth cover. Both are incredibly important to my sanity. Without them - I couldn't imagine the mess.
"I wanna eat dat momma." So glad I heard this before he bit into the one with paint on it!
Between the 2 of them there are 6 teachers!

The finished project. I thought they didn't turn out half bad.

A normal evening

Just thought I'd show what our "normal" evening rush looks like. When Crawford gets home from school - he immediately starts screaming, "Eat. Eat." So - I have to cook dinner the night before to have something to warm up fast. Since I've been back to work, the time that I get home has varied a lot. Tonight I didn't get home until 6:15. Good thing spaghetti was on the menu. Here's the crew helping me cook!Conlee made me a Mother's Day gift at school. She did the yellow finger painting herself and the teachers said she loved doing her feet. It's one of the BEST gifts I've ever gotten.
I haven't posted about it a lot - but I LOVE Crawford and Conlee's school. I truly know that my kids are well taken care of and that they both have a BLAST at school. Today at lunch, Conlee didn't even want to nurse. She wanted to go back into her classroom with her friends. I'll admit I was sad at first, but then I was really happy. I am so glad she is with people who entertain her and love on her. I don't even have to tell you that Crawford loves it. He asks to go to school every morning :) This week is teacher appreciation week and I really am thankful for all of the teachers who watch over and teach my children!

The sun shines again!

This morning, it looked to be another complete wash-out. We ran errands all morning and then played games before nap.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Crawford loves to sit and entertain Conlee. They both just talk and laugh at each other. Can you see both of their cheeks? They are smiling ear-to-ear at each other.After nap and a snack - the most amazing thing happened - the sun decided to shine. It got up to 78 degrees.

Conlee and I went shopping for Mother's Day presents and came home to find the boys in the driveway looking at the clouds. They were taking a break from yard work.
Crawford found a worm and was so excited. Bo and I yelled so loud when he tried to put it on Conlee.
Then the best thing happened. The ice cream man came! This was Crawford's first time to order from the ice cream truck. He was so happy.

Of course, he picked out the Sponge Bob ice cream bar. How in the world he even knows who this is is beyond me (we don't watch it).
For those of you keeping track of the order of events, you'll notice this is pre-dinner. Oh well, the sun was out and who cares about rules!
"Look Conkey! I've got ice cream!"

He was really great about sharing his treat. I will say - it was super yummy.

Love this pic.
I got very lucky with my meal planning - because shrimp kabobs were on the menu. Even after the ice cream, Crawford ate almost an entire skewer himself. The kid loves him some seafood - just like his momma. Shrimp, couscous, veggies and Sponge Bob -what every 2 year old needs for dinner.

Sit-Ups

Now that Conlee is "sitting" by herself - she hates to lay down. I was talking to her and said she was doing sit ups and that's all that we needed to get personal trainer Crawford on the job!Wish this was video. She was in the middle of doing a crunch.
Bo trying to get Crawford to keep his feet on the ground. He cheats a bit.
Conlee laughed and squealed.

Adorable.

Painting Pottery

I've been meaning for the past 2 months to take Conlee to paint a footprint tile - but I just haven't gotten around to it. Well, thanks to the rain - I conned Bo into taking the entire family yesterday afternoon. We had a great time (I even think Bo enjoyed himself a little bit).

Conlee did great getting her foot painted. I had one of the girls who worked there help. Conlee just smiled and laughed. She got it right the first try.

I let Crawford pick out what he wanted to paint. I was thinking he'd pick one of the small animals (aka - the cheap things) but he wouldn't hear of it. It was the baseball hat bank or nothing. So my afternoon of family fun came with a bigger price tag than anticipated :) Boy am I glad that Bo got to see how much fun Crawford had. I'd have a hard time explaining it if he hadn't been there to witness it!
Bo helped Crawford make his into a Cups hat, but Crawford insisted on painting every square inch of the thing.

I can't wait to pick up the finished pieces next week. I'll post pics of the masterpieces :)

Look what Conlee can do...

She can sit up! While she can't do it without her hands to keep her steady, she's got the tri-pod thing figured out.How cute does she look with her doll? She weighed 11.11 1/2 oz last night. It's going to be cutting it close for her to hit 12 pounds by her 6 month b-day on the 12th!

GOLDFISH!!!!

Bo thought he hit the jackpot today. The give-a-way centerpieces at the Alzheimer's luncheon were goldfish. He grabbed one and couldn't wait to drop it off for Crawford. So, when Crawford woke up from his 3 hour nap, I told him Daddy brought him some goldfish. He smiled and said, "Eat it Momma." I replied, "No, you don't eat the goldfish."

Result was 10 minutes of complete hysterical crying. I realized he thought Daddy brought him Goldfish cheese crackers and little man was hungry after his nap!!!! Hilarious.

Can you see the tear on his cheek?

He was somewhat interested in the "real" goldfish - but was not happy until he had his crackers. You'll be glad to know that he did point to the "real" fish and said, "Don't eat that Momma."

Personally, I am glad he wasn't a huge fan. There are 2 fish; in a bowl way too small; and we have no fish food. Odds are they won't make it through the night. Makes me want to cry and I told Bo that flushing duties are all his.

FedEx brought a tasty treat today. Sweet Annie sent me chocolate covered strawberries for passing her resume along to a few people. The company messed up and sent us 2 boxes - score for us!!!!

Thought I'd show you just how"big" Conlee is. Doesn't she looks so cute with her Daddy?

So, I mentioned in a previous post that it was rainy today. Well at 6:30 I looked out the kitchen window and it was complete black. No rain - no nothing - just a strange calm. We turned it on the news and they were saying take cover - right where we live. So - I herded the kids to the bathroom and that's where Crawford had dinner (yes those are the flimsy pillows I grabbed). Turns out nothing developed - but Crawford loved it.

Letter of the Day - C

Sad to say, but since the weather has been so nice - it's been a couple of weeks since we've done a project! So with the rain - I was desperate - so we picked the letter C. We made a caterpillar and then painted words that began with the letter C. He as very excited when I told him that Crawford, Conlee and Cole all start with C.

I did this project when I was little -and 30 years later it was still fun. Note: the Easter Bunny brought Crawford an art smock. Bo almost died - but I LOVED it - he could paint away and I didn't have half of the mess to clean up. He also loved wearing it.

We took a nap to let the caterpillar dry and then it was time to decorate. He concentrates so hard. I promise he did all of the gluing himself (I did position the eyes for him).
The finished project - so cute!
R.I.P. Mr. "C"So, he was cute, but not so durable!