our gardens

"back garden"

just wanted to show how our gardens are growing! :) they are both in the back yard, but we call one the "front garden" and one the "back garden". "front garden" is closer to the house, "back garden" are in the back of the back yard.

close up of tomatoes in the "back garden"

wyatt and "front garden"

close up of the "front garden" – beans

claire relaxing at the "gardens" :)

oh, to be like daddy!

a saturday at home

we've been in town the last few weekends, but this weekend was different because we actually had no plans!! we just got to be at home and relax! it was so fun and much needed! we did some yard work, house work and playing too! we put the canopy up for some shade! matt, wyatt, claire and lucy were taking advantage of it during snack time! :)

pig-tales!!

claire's hair has gotten long enough for pig-tales! it took me a while and i had to follow her around a bit to get them in, but they are insanely cute! both of us need more practice–me getting them in, her keeping them in and letting me put them in! :)

frosted mini-wheat beard

yes, my kids like frosted mini-wheat's! i like them, but i just didn't think that they would, but they do. i have to make them a little soft for claire, then they are total mush by the time she is close to finishing. toward the end of breakfast, wyatt looks at her and says, "look, quair had da beard"!

the little mess showing off her full "beard"!! :)

it's warmin' up!!

the kiddos and i could not wait to get outside today, it was just a perfect weather day! here are some pictures of the fun we had! :)

wyatt got this car for his birthday last year...little did he know how soon he would have to share it with someone else...and often!

as you can see, he's not too worried about the car...there are lots of sticks
under the tree!

FINALLY getting to play with the sand and water table (currently a water/water table) they got for christmas. they love it!

lucy's going to end up really liking it too with all the sips of water they give her...however i think she'd like it even more if i'd move it out of the way so she could get on the deck with us.

dumping the water out. half on the floor, half on themselves!

"this is great!"

"this is...in my way!"

sweetest moment of the day – wyatt sharing a bite of food and feeding it to claire!

"mmm, da du"
(claire saying "thank you" ;) )

happy easter!

an excited wyatt holding the easter egg he made with his name on it!

we have had a wonderful easter! we were almost late for church...of all days...but it was the morning easter egg hunt that pushed our time. it was worth it! wyatt had so much fun finding the eggs, even if he had to have lots of help on the obvious hiding spots!! ;)

wyatt and claire shared a basket that we stuffed with goodies for them. after church he took daddy outside to see the bubble wand work. lucy kept trying to catch and eat the bubbles!! silly doggie!

our chruch had a potluck/picnic at a local park. it was fun to get to hang out and get to know more people in our church.

while the parents hid the eggs the kids were listening to the easter story that two of our friends taught to them using resurrection eggs (which is told using a dozen eggs that have little symbols inside of them that help visually tell the story of Jesus' resurrection...very neat). as you can see, wyatt is not paying attention and i am apparently distracting some of the other kids! oops! (he was already there hanging onto the rails, and i just thought it was funny how he was the only one not sitting down...he is the youngest, so he's not as used to that as the other kids yet!)

the line up for the charge up the hill to the "hidden" eggs!

the charge!!
(wy not pictured!! he wasn't sure what was going on or
why everyone just left him in the dust!)

daddy helping wyatt find a few eggs. he really didn't need too much help, mainly because the bigger girls brought him plenty...there was a 10 egg limit...
thank goodness!

taco salad

we had tacos last night, and with tacos, there's just not enough left over for another full meal. so, for lunch today i made this yummy taco salad with the left overs!! the shells are also never as soft on day 2 or more, so i stuck it in the toaster oven, yum!!! it was like the shell part of the crunchy salad bowls you get in a mexican restaurant! we have enough salad and taco left overs that this is what we will have for supper tomorrow. :)

trip to Delaware!

we've been trying to plan a trip up to see Grannie and Pop Pop since thanksgiving. we had planned to go up there then, but Grannie was recovering from some major surgery, so we postponed. we also wanted to really make sure they were up for us and two small children to come invade their space!! :) thank you both so much for having us! we had a great time, and i seriously think that wyatt would have no problem living there...fire trucks, combines, tractors, and wonderful family...what more do you need! :)

pop pop and matt took wyatt to the fire station. pop pop is a volunteer fireman of 50+ years (i think he may have been chief at some point during that too?! correct me on this if i am wrong! :) ) and matt's uncle rob is also a volunteer fireman. as you will see from these pictures, wyatt was in a piece of "wyatt heaven"!!

"what are you waiting for, let's go!"

a fireman in the making...?

'this is so cool'..."cheese!"

"which way to the fire?"

wyatt, you don't like ambulances!
"yeah, my like-ah ambuhlances!"

matt's uncle chris has a farm, wyatt has been talking about the combine
and tractors...AND uncle chris ever since! :)

there's no better place than behind a steering wheel!

thank you so much for a great trip! :)

trip to Charlotte

once again, i prove terrible at taking pictures!! at least i took two!! we were back in the charlotte area for a couple of days, the kids and i anyway. we traveled with our wonderful friends (carmen, oliver and evan) to visit some more wonderful friends: dan, laura, ed and sue (ed and sue are also dan's parents). our first stop was ed and sue's for a yummy supper. then, to leave them in peace (we are sure they felt as if a jungle had ascended upon their house with the 4 little ones squealing and climbing all over the place!), we headed to dan and laura's to put the kids to bed. the next day we loaded up and laura guided us to IKEA, where we met up with my sweet sis and nephew!! i had never been to one before. it was much larger than i expected and it felt like we rushed through it in 4 HOURS!! i look forward to going back in the future. it seemed sort of like a museum the way that you walk through it on a "path" with tons of living space sets (not sure how else to describe it) that everything you see is an item you could purchase! really neat. also, i wish i had a picture of this, i am sure we were a site to see: there were 5 ladies and 5 kiddos. so each of us had a cart (4)/stroller (1) and a child! believe it or not, the 10 of us (carts, stroller and all) could all fit in the elevator...with room to spare! it was a fun time!
thanks so much for having us dan and laura!
and, as promised, the 2 pictures:

dan reading stories to oliver and wyatt before bed.

notice how wyatt snuggles right up!

carmen reading to the boys (evan, oliver, wyatt) the next day.
again, wy is snuggle right up to the reader! ;)

sweet hubs...

...missed me (and the kiddos, of course) this weekend...as did we him! he surprised me with flowers and a rented movie to watch once the babes were asleep! what a nice relaxing evening with the sweetest guy ever. i love him!

Troutman and Matthews

the kids, my sweet friend gwen, and i took a road trip this weekend to visit my sis and her family (Troutman), then gwen and my friend amanda and her family (Matthews)! it was a very fun trip with a couple of long nights...claire had to sleep in the room with her aunt and uncle, not bad unless you like waking up a couple times during the night, know that your child is keeping others from getting their rest, and then yes, getting up at 5-5:30am for good!! (well, one morning i was able to go to their living room and snuggle sleep with her for a little while, thank goodness!) we figured the fact that the time changed sunday, meaning we lost an hour, didn't really help matters!! but, other than the/my lack of sleep, we really had a great time! the only thing we'd change would be to add another day, it went by so fast. here are a few pictures from our visit.

me, claire, andrea (my sis / "auntie ree") and eli on our "hike" at Lake Norman.
such a nice park.

gwen trying to hold wyatt still enough for a picture!
he loved being able to walk on the trails!

wyatt, andrea, eli and gwen

gwen and claire on the swing set at our friend amanda's house.

bella, amanda's oldest, was such a sweet helper and was so cute how she watched over and took care of wyatt while we were there. this picture was taken right after her youngest brother accidentally tossed wyatt out of their kid sized John Deere gator. he had landed right on his face in the dirt! thankfully no major injuries!

the kiddos taking a rest while watching a show.
notice how they are all under a blanket!!
gus, max, wyatt and bella (who is making sure wy is comfortable)!! too cute!

more snow!!

a proud wyatt in front of "his" tractor!

yaaay! more snow!! i love it! soooo pretty! we didn't get as much this time as the first one, but it was still fun to go out in. also hard to get wyatt out of it! i know if my toes were freezing, his whole feet had to be!! we definitely do NOT have snow attire here! :) i tried to stay out as long as i could! after claire's first experience with snow (face full of it!), i am sure that she was happy to be taking her nap in her nice dry warm bed!

he wanted to make a snowman sooo bad, but it was not snowman-making snow. so, we settled for a...well, more portable version...the snow-barrel-man! :) we were able to put him where ever we wanted. so, right at the end of the steps to the side door he stayed, that way we could check on him. (oh little ones, they are so cute!)