Andrew, where are my keys?

Just a short note to say DON'T give Andrew anything of value.....even if you're trying to distract him.....because he's crying at your feet....and you're trying to make dinner.....it's a bad idea. Then you'll have to go digging through the trash the next morning looking for your keys, when you remember what you knew already..... Andrew likes to throw EVERYTHING away.

Kindergarten Field Trip

Rachel and her buddy Haiden

What's better than a farm field trip in Kindergarten? I was brave lucky enough to go along with Rachel's class to Genesis Farm last week. Despite only having 1 porta-potty for 40 kids we had a good time. The biggest hit wasn't even part of the farm! 13 year Cicada's have begun taking over NC and they were out in full swing. In case you don't know about this. The cicada live in the ground for 13 years, then they emerge, mate, fly down and lay there eggs in the ground, then die. Then the cycle starts all over again. Pretty neat except that they were e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.  The kids loved it though and it made for neat hunting.
Then they got to brush "Patches" the horse, feed, the cows and practice milking. Then one bottle of hand sanitizer later we were eating lunch!

Patches was sort of shedding in...well...patches

Get to work Millie!

Road Trip!!!



Rachel and Jacob at the "Rocket Museum"

We took our first road trip in awhile up to see Aunt Nessa, Uncle Jon, James and brand new baby Elise. It was an exciting weekend. We went to the Air and Space Museum and guess what was there?!! MCDONALD'S!!!! Right there in the museum! Who needs a lunar module when you can have nuggets and fries right? Even Andrew ooohhhhed and ahhhheed over the nuggets rockets. All kidding aside, we had a great day at the "Rocket" Museum.
Next, we went for a walk because it was a beautiful day in DC. The carousel was spotted and well....enough said.
After a puppet show where Rachel was the boss director.  We loaded up the car and headed out. It was a short weekend but a great one. Thanks Aunt Nessa and Uncle Jon!
P.S All our pics of Sweet Baby Elise turned out blurry so I couldn't post them.



Buckle up partner!


















The fam in front of an Apollo Command Module.
Very cool!



Making the trek back home

The first nap Jacob has had in 2 years : )

Happy Birthday Jacob!!

Our sweet Jacob turned 4 this week! It has been amazing to watch Jacob grow into such a sweet, joyous, funny, little boy. Here are a few of Jacob's favorite things this year....

Baseball

Spiderman

Baseball

Football

"Rogies" (Perogies)

Natawee (The girl next door....who's name is actually Natalee...and is 11)

And oh yes....baseball

What did Jacob get for his birthday you might ask? BASEBALLS!! A whole dozen of them so when we're in the yard, we don't have to keep chasing the two that we had left. We now have actual bases too because who could have an actual game without bases?

So needless to say, Jacob is up at 6:30 and asking if I'll "throw to him" by 7:00 (After he has his "rogies" for breakfast of course). It's a long day but I wouldn't trade it for anything!! Happy Birthday Jacob!!

P.S. Right on que, Jacob just asked me to "throw to him"......gotta go!

Spiderman was a huge hit but Jacob isn't much of a cake kid so he just licked the frosting
















A new Red Sox outfit! Awesome!
















A new bat from Aunt Meghan! Thank you!!

Easter Weekend

Happy Easter to all! We had a very nice weekend and even made it to church on time to get a seat! Woo Hoo! It may not sound like much but we go to a MUCH bigger church than we used to and we have 3 kids (4 including Nathan) folks. Anyway, the weekend was complete with the Easter Bunny's arrival on Sunday morning and a visit with family in the afternoon.

T-Dawgs

It's T-Ball time! I can't believe that it's my turn to be sitting on the bleachers. The best part?.....she LOVES it! Ok ok so she has only had 2 practices and one game but so far so good. Here are some pictures of the first game. Rachel did great. Went 3 for 3 (what a natural heh?) and even got to field a couple of balls. Focusing before her first at bat....

Look at that swing!


Speedy quick!

Safe at first whew....it was a close one...can you see the how ready the little boy at first base is to catch the ball and get Rachel out?

"I'm thinkin' like a first grader!"

Rachel has been hard at work at school and I realized it's been quite awhile since I've mentioned what she's up to. As most of you know, we're on year round school so Rachel's year starts in July and ends in June. We are only 12 weeks away from first grade folks! (that includes her 3 week break so really only 9 weeks left!) It's amazing what they do in kindergarten. She's doing addition and reading short stories like the one in the picture. Scruffy and Sam have become part of our weekly lives! Last week she asked me if we could "discuss the dog's attributes". I've decided I may need to hire a tutor as she gets older.....for me.

Rachel hard at work on her homework.


Sam and Scruffy stories--they really work on not only reading but understanding and re-telling the story. (and discussing attributes apparently)