Great weekend at the lake!

We went to my family's lake house this weekend and had a great time. We met Cappy and Papaw Ruff there and the kids were so excited to see them! CeCe said at least 300 times in the days leading up to the trip "Papaw Ruff - Yake!" and "Cappy - Yake!" (yake=lake).

They both loved exploring laughing

thinking collecting

and pretending. Paleontologist Bryce dug for dinosaur bones one afternoon.

Saturday we decided to build a tire swing. Cappy and I went to the hardware store and got everything we needed and then Anthony and Papaw Ruff built it. I was very proud of the finished product!

Sunday we drove into Montgomery to visit with my Grandpa. It was a good visit but we could see a significant decline in his health which is so hard for me to see. He is my last living Grandparent and such a special special person. He has had a lot to deal with in the last 1.5 months--the death of his wife of 64 years and my Uncle's cancer diagnosis and treatment. He loves his great-grandbabies and is so proud to show them off to his 'peeps' at the nursing home! I'm so glad I packed the kids rain boots this time. They were able to get down really close to the water to throw rocks (their favorite pastime at the lake).

Here is the tire swing in action. They both loved it! CeCe woke up talking about it today.

Bryce wanted to go as high as we could get him! The first time he was swinging we had him facing the other direction and he asked to be turned around so he could look at the lake while he was swinging. I'm so glad he appreciates the lake like I do! It has always been my favorite place to be.

Proud of himself for climbing this tree

What a beautiful weekend!

We have been soaking up this awesome weather! The last two days we've only come inside for naptime and bedtime. Yesterday we drove over to Fairhope, AL for their annual Arts and Crafts Festival. It was HUGE! We all had a great time and didn't spend too much money!
Yesterday afternoon Bryce played with our neighbor Joshua (9) and one of his friends for over 2 hours. He had a blast! It was one of the first times we've left him alone to play for that long. We were outside most of that time playing in our front yard with CeCe and we told him to stay in Joshua's front yard so we could see them. But it was still weird to not be right there to hear what was being said and see exactly how they were playing. It was hard for me to 'let go'. I know that might sound crazy to some people....he is 5 after all!!

Today we went to a new to us park. It has a basketball court so we took Bryce's new basketball and sand so CeCe took some sand toys.

This is what CeCe does when she says no. She arches her back and says in a low growly voice 'no, no, no' while shaking her head back and forth! It is pretty funny to watch!

After the park we had lunch at Hopjacks downtown. Great pizza!!

Now we are home for CeCe and Anthony to nap. Bryce is having quiet time in the playroom playing with his dinosaurs and I'm sure we will head right back outside when CeCe wakes up!

20 Questions

For Bryce on his 5th birthday:

1. How old are you? Five
2. What is your favorite color? Blue
3. Who is your Best Friend? James
4. What is your favorite meal? Pizza Hut Pepperoni Pizza
5. What is your favorite snack? Cheezits
6. What is your favorite thing to drink? Orange Juice
7. What is your favorite toy? Hulk
8. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing
9. What is your bedtime? 8:00
10. What is your favorite TV show? Hulk
11. What was your favorite vacation this year? Busch Gardens and New Orleans
12. What are your teachers’ names? Miss Kathy and Miss Debbie
13. What is your favorite thing to do at school? play
14. Who do you like to play with at school? James
15. What is your favorite restaurant? Times Grill
16. What is your favorite book? Hulk
17. What is your favorite game to play? Trouble and Chutes and Ladders
18. How much do you weigh? 43lbs
19. How tall are you?
20. What size shoe do you wear? 11

FIVE

Today is the day! I can't believe I have a 5 year old now!! Bryce woke up this morning and ran into the bathroom. He came out with a sad look on his face and said "I don't look five". I think he wanted to feel bigger and look different! Despite not looking five, he's had a great day! He picked out his new Hulk shirt to wear and the weather was warm enough to wear shorts (which makes him so happy!). He took little bags of chips to share with his class instead of cupcakes. He is so funny! When he turned 3 he took chips and last year he took a snack mix we call monster munch. The teachers get a kick out of the no-cupcake thing. He has a couple more presents to open from us tonight after our Pizza Hut (chosen by Bryce of course). CeCe has been saying Hap-Birday Bryce all day and even sang the song a couple of times!

Here he is first thing this morning. We got this shirt when he was at Children's Hospital on one of our many stays there his first year. I remember thinking, he will be 10 before he is that big! It's still a little big but perfect to sleep in.

After school. They make crowns for the birthday boy/girl that they get to wear all day. He was very proud of it!

While I was taking his picture CeCe ran up and asked to have hers taken too!

5th Birthday Party!

I can't believe we have an almost 5 year old! Bryce's birthday is March 15th but we celebrated with an awesome party at an indoor playplace near our house called Triple Play on Saturday. He has been talking about and planning this party since March 16th of last year! My mom flew in on Tuesday to spend the week and Kiki and Papaw Duke drove down Friday to be here for the party. My dad has class (Master Gardener and Urban Gardener) and he volunteers with Head Start every week so he didn't make the trip down here. My sweet Aunt Sandra drove down from Montgomery to be here for the party too. She has so much going on with my Uncle's health but still took the time to come, that means so much to us!

Saturday morning Bryce talked Kiki and Papaw Duke into playing Trouble with him. This is a competitive bunch!
The theme was Superhero Squad (what else would you expect!?) and Bryce decided to wear his Wolverine costume to greet his friends. It only stayed on about 15 minutes though, it was pretty warm in there. Bryce and his buddy James on one of the slides

Aunt Sandra, Cappy and CeCe

I could not get him to stay still for a picture!

CeCe and Kate playing in the huge playhouse

Bryce on the 'huge-est' slide

Superhero cupcakes

Happy Birthday to you!

Love him!

Cappy, Kiki and their favorite Granddaughter CeCe (she is the only girl with 7 boys!)

Papaw Duke and Kiki

Fish class friends (preschool)

Everyone else

CeCe loved her cupcake!!

I don't know what they are talking about but I'm so glad I caught this on camera!

Opening presents

Once we got home CeCe was on a sugar high from eating her entire cupcake and was acting WILD and CRAZY for about 1.5 hrs. straight. She would just start giggling out of the blue and was running around like a mad child, it was hilarious!

Bryce opened some more presents once we got home. Here is a new costume....Thing from the Fantastic Four

Playing with his new dinosaur set this morning

Lazy picture taker

I've been pretty lazy with the camera lately. I don't know why! Oh well, I do have a few of pictures from the last couple of weeks.

The kids are waiting on us to get the paint out to paint our new cornhole game.

CeCe painted more on her pants than the wood

Bryce did a great job painting

Anthony and the kids have created a rollercoaster game using this car, running, and our sloping driveway. They take turns going down the rollercoaster and love it. I make CeCe wear her bike helmet because she goes so fast! Papaw Duke.....don't worry, we will never do this while you are around. You would have a heart attack for sure!

Last weekend we met some friends for dinner at Sunset Grill.

CeCe loved her grilled cheese!

This morning Bryce wanted to do some dot-to-dots. Everytime he sits here and gets his pencil out CeCe has to do some work too. If Bryce is coloring she will use crayons but if he's using his pencil she has to have her own pencil or one of my pens. So funny! It is monkey see monkey do around here all the time!!

I added a new button on the left side of the blog. I don't know these people but for some reason their story has hit me hard. Lucy is very close to Bryce's age and is going through a terrible time with cancer. She is at LeBonheur in Memphis and will be transferred to St. Jude soon to begin treatment. Thought some of you might like to join me in praying for this little girl and her family.

Cin-yeh-yah

I think we have our first obsession.....Cinderella! From day one (July 3, 2009) I've made it known that I don't want her to be obsessed or overloaded with princesses. I don't really know what I have against them because I love Disney and the Disney movies. I want her to be aware of them for sure, but I want her to be able to think about and enjoy other things too! My mom got her a cute, simple book for Christmas and on each page it has a different princess. This is what started it all! She fell in love with the Cinderella page from day one and has been obsessed ever since! We have a Disney CD in the car (been in there for years) and it happens to have Bibbity Bobbity Boo on it. Now when we get in the car she no longer asks for the Hulk theme song. It is Cin-yeh-yah over and over again! At home we read the book 100 times a day. Kiki sent her a Cinderella phone and she plays with it all the time. Today at Target I was looking at the 50% off rack and stumbled across the perfect Cinderella Tshirt. Most of the shirts have at least 3 princesses on them (and for some reason that is what I don't like!!) but this was just her face. CeCe about came out of her seat when I showed it to her. She was shaking and kept saying Cin-yeh-yah over and over again! She kept saying "take Cin-yeh-yah, take Cin-yeh-yah" (she always has to 'take' something, whether it be a baby from home in the car with us, a book from the car inside with us, something new from a store). I told her we could take it with us, but I don't think she really believed me because she kept trying to put it on in the store!

When we got home she thought about it again and started asking for it so I gave in and let her put it on on top of her other outfit. She was SO PROUD! I told her I wanted to take a picture to send to Kiki and Cappy and she stood still and said CHEESE!





-Oh and all this is without ever seeing the movie! We don't have it and can't buy it now since it is 'locked in the Disney vault'. She doesn't even know that she could watch her beloved Cin-yeh-yah on the TV! Funny how obsessions start......Bryce's obsession with Hulk started with a bottle of gummy vitamins, look where we are now!!!