Blackberries

We decided to spend Memorial Day by trecking out to our favorite little farm picking berries. We missed the strawberries for the most part, A & D did find a few, but the blackberries were GREAT!!! The Caswell Kids were FAR more engaged this year. (Last year they each lasted all of like 5 minutes, granted it was extremely hot.) This year was much more of a game...actually a competition in the beginning that ended wih a nice sibling tie with each of them trying to have exactly the same amount when we reached the scale. We may have found a new Memorial Day tradition. :)

Now I've Heard It ALL

We've heard the "Don't cross that line" line for a while now, but tonight the kids went "swimming" in the "big bubble tub" and I overheard Little Miss A say to Mr. D "Don't cross those bubbles!" Ha!!!

The BEST Bike Ride EVER

We set the bikes out for the kids to "ride" while we were doing some yard work.

We may have to do this more often, well until we ditch the training wheels anyway. That said, after reading a friends blog of the big boy bike riding buddies, I have renewed hope that Little Miss A and Mr. D can do it even though we had such HUGE failure last year. This little video is actually the FIRST time the kids have been on their bikes since that traumatic experience last summer. Our last Kindergarten readiness steps...drop both sets of training wheels, get Mr. D tying his shoes and maybe learn to blow a bubble gum bubble. :)

Holding Strong

Little Miss A has had a loose tooth for a while now and I am crossing my fingers and toes that she actually holds onto it a little while longer. I would really like to be there when she looses her first one, and summertime almost guarantees that. I could totally see her coming home from school one day with a lost tooth that really is lost. Only a few more school days left. Even though it is SUPER wiggly, with the way she's nursing it, it may be next school year before it finally falls out anyway. :)

Speaking of teeth, the other day she found a new molar coming in and she's been playing with it non-stop ever since. She loves to use my make up mirror to check it out, she is constantly feeling it with her tongue and asking us to look and see if it's growing. :) So cute.

Keep an Eye on Me

Mr. D has become VERY needy when he needs to do something by himself lately. Tonight as he was going to go get a drink, he asks "Who is going to come with me?" No response. "Hey guys, someone needs to come with me...to keep an eye on me! I can't go by myself." I guess we need to revamp the conditions in which he needs us to keep an eye on him...the other room doesn't constitute the necessity of an ever present chaperon.

Just Plain Cute...

We borrowed a movie from Ms. K for our Friday night, family movie night...Peter Pan. Okay, I thought we had all the good ones, apparently not. We have the original Disney Peter Pan, but this was a different one, one with real people. As we are watching, Little Miss A leans over to me and says so sweetly that she almost has tears in her eyes "Mommy, when is Peter Pan going to visit me?" Wasn't sure how to answer that. Condoning some strange boy flying to her "princess tower" as her bedroom has been dubbed makes me a little uneasy. Suggesting that maybe he has already tried to visit makes me worry that we would then have to battle the issue of strangers trying to get into our house at night. Shooting the idea down altogether was clearly going to crush her. Instead I just left it at "I don't know, sweetie" then directed her attention to Tinker Bell for a diversion. Sweet girl!!!! :)

Answering a Vexing Question

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Day 1...
Little Miss A: Zoo Keeper
Mr. D: Jedi

Day 2...
Little Miss A: Veterinarian
Mr. D: Jedi

Day 3...
Little Miss A: Teacher
Mr. D: Jedi

Ya think Mr. D wants to be a Jedi? I wasn't sure... :)

Field Trip (Take 2)

I stayed at school when the kids went on their last field trip. I was so bummed that I missed it, that I promised myself I would go with them on their next one regardless of what was going on in my classroom that day. Today was the day. I only took a half day off, so I could still get stuff done, but I am so glad I went!!! Another splash park that we used to visit back in our playgroup days. Fun in the sun on a warm afternoon...I felt like a Mom again.

Playing with friends...

Creating a shady spot for lunch.

Hopping back on the bus after a fun-filled day!

I am SOOOOO beyond ready for summer. Camp Mommy, here we come. Only 3 and a half days...I'm counting! :)

The Splash Park Adventures Continue...

After 9 long months, we returned to our summer play land...the splash park. We have been going to this park since the kids were TINY. This is the same place we had the kids 1st birthday party 4 and a half years ago. We met our bffs for some desperately needed playtime after school and played, played, played. Little Miss A was BEYOND elated to see Ken and Mck!!!

Mr. D was super excited to just run, play and be LOUD!!! How in the world is it, that he is ALWAYS the loudest kid at the party? It's not just me hearing it either, I overheard other Moms commented on his volume. GREAT!

An extra fun treat were the sweet duckie family parading by the edge of the park. Little Miss A actually got to touch one...my little animal whisperer. :)

Joe (Take 2)

The last we saw http://www.joemcdermottmusic.com/ the Caswell Kids were quite stand-offish. Well, Joe McDermott came to school today for a Pre-K through 1st grade concert!!! Today was a completely different show. Little Miss A and Mr. D were singing and dancing along with all the other kids in the MPR. We had so much fun!! Gotta love Joe!

Peeking In

I LOVE being able to peek in on the kids at school during the day. I swear, that is BIGGEST job perk EVER!!!! I was going to get one of my students and saw the kids' class in the MPR listening to a visiting author. I just HAD to stop and watch for a bit. They were completely entranced to what he was saying and doing...literally hanging on EVERY word. I love being able to be a fly on the wall every once in a while. :)

Just Another Day at the Races

A & D LOVE to race their friends A & E after school. I swear, our principal is going to get involved soon, since nothing that Mr. D can do is EVER even remotely close to quiet. The four of them literally race around the 2nd and 3rd grade neighborhood. A is in 3rd grade and E is in 5th, so you can probably guess the races aren't even close, but A & E still let the Caswell Kids win every once in while. They are so sweet!!!! Every time Little Miss A or Mr. D see A & E's mom (Ms. K) in the hallway, they ask about racing after school. You won't meet a more busy family and yet they still manage to make time for my two little monkeys. I swear, my little man has the BIGGEST crush EVER on Miss E!!! Don't know what we're going to do next year when she goes off to middle school!!!

Daddy Long Legs

For weeks now Little Miss A and Mr. D have been obsessed by the Daddy Long Leg spiders under the stairs in the backyard...always inspecting and checking them out, although they're usually WAY up high. Today we pulled into the garage after school and found one on the wall. It was huge and right at the kids level, so I showed it to them thinking they'd like to see one up close. Little Miss A thought it was cool, then walked into the house. Mr. D, on the other hand, FREAKED out!!!! SCREAMING, CRYING in the middle of garage refusing to come anywhere near it. Seriously? Is this the same kid that just 2 days ago was completely mesmerized by the giant tarantula at school? Holy crow, I can't keep up.

Natural Consequences

I am the BIGGEST fan of natural consequences!!!! Our daily "issues" usually have something to do with Little Miss A getting dramatically injured by Mr. D. The injuries are quite often the result of his ZERO spatial awareness problems. The other day he was swinging a roped whistle around like a lasso, I warned him not to get too close to Little Miss A and he ended up clocking himself instead. He cried and cried. I'm sure it hurt, it left a nice visual reminder as well. He usually acts like Little Miss A is just being a baby when she cries after getting hurt, but this time I think he truly realized the consequences of his actions and how they affect others. We'll see how long this lesson lasts. :)

Indoor Rainy Day Games

With afternoon rain showers the past few days, the Caswell kids have been enjoying some new indoor games. This was one...

Wheelbarrow races were a HUGE hit one rainy afternoon. :)

Researching...

Gosh, I love the computer!!!!

Anytime we have a question and want to know the answer, we hop on the computer. I've found a couple cool websites that read the information aloud, so the kids can sit and listen while browsing around at the pictures on the page.

Caught in the Act

I walked out on the balcony and saw Little Miss A on top of D's back next to the fence. I thought it was cute, and went to grab the camera, but was apparently was a little too loud on my return and caught this instead...When I asked them what they were up to, they both said "NOTHING!" There's my first sign of trouble. I eventually got out of them that they were trying to hop the fence to grab a ball that bounced into the greenbelt. My little escape artists. That was another post move-in conversation I wasn't thinking we'd have to have. What will those monkeys think of next?

Glitter Sparkles

Little Miss A and Mr. D found a wonderful caterpillar in the yard. They (my little girl) named her Glitter Sparkles. She was so cute and tickled our arms so we laughed so hard we coul hardly breathe, that they were so sad to let her go...particularly my son. Mr. D was DEVASTATED that Glitter Sparkles couldn't stay in the house. He began collecting everything she needed to live, while crying hysterically, in the backyard. We reminded him that we do have a wonderful feline in the house that LOVES to play with anything that moves (Sophie is our spider spotter in the house, although our other little girl is getting close to claiming that title). Realizing Glitter Sparkles would survive one night in our house, we reluctantly let her go. It was a super sad day at the Caswell house. I felt like we should have played Taps or something like that. Mr. D was still crying about it off and on for over 2 hours afterward. Did I mention this was also in the early evening hours of a "no-nap" day? :)

Recital Costume

Let me just say how happy I am that we don't have a black and yellow recital outfit this year...2 years in a row was too much. :) As we left dance class with costume in hand, Little Miss A smells inside the bag and announces "it smells like whipped cream!!" Mr. D says "maybe they used whipped cream to make it, it is fluffy, you know." We tried it on when we got home and she looks like a prima ballerina. They are doing their performance to the Jane and Michael Banks advertisement for a new nanny song from Mary Poppins. It's really cute. :)

Cups and Cones

The kids had a pretty rough afternoon visit with the dermo today, so we hit our favorite local ice cream shop for a fun treat. Shouldn't everyday should be a cups and cones kind of day? :)

Tarantula

We got to school an found a CROWD of students gathered around the door. Thinking maybe the power was out (electric doors) and we were locked out, I walked up not suspecting to see this...

The picture doesn't do it justice...it was my phone, but this was seriously a SOFTBALL sized tarantula that had the kids attention this morning. He was a little less than thrilled with the fanfare, legs raised, fangs poised ready to protect himself from the student that got too close. So I got spider watch that morning before our campus watchdog DADS came to the rescue. I have to admit, it was PRETTY cool!!! Mr. D did NOT want to go to class...he just wanted to stay and "check it out!" :) Gosh, I love Texas!!!!

Concert

We went with our dear friends from school to the high school concert. I thought the kids would love to see and hear all the instruments. Apparently not so much...half way through the first song, Mr. D leans over and asks me, "How much longer is it?" Meanwhile Little Miss A is at the other end by Ms.K and asks her "When is it the end?" At least they had fun with the girls!!!!

Alex?

As I was picking the kids up from school the other day, Little Miss A's teacher asked when we decided to switch Allie's nickname to Alex. What? When we first decided the kids names we thought androgynous nicknames would be fun, but opted for the girlie Norwegian shortened version for our sweet baby girl. That's about the only time "Alex" every came up. When we started working on her "long" name as she likes to call it, we were explaining her name starts with Alex's name (a sweet friend in class), has a little of her brother's name in the middle and a cheerleader RA at the end. Ever since that, she's been writing Alex on her papers in school. I asked her the other day if she wanted to be called Alex instead. "Just at school, I still want to be called Allie at home." Make me cry...she's already becoming a different (more grown up) girl when she's away from me at school. :(

Mother's Day

Before you were conceived, I wanted you. Before your were born, I loved you. When you were born, I saw your face and knew I was in love. Before you were an hour old, I knew I would die for you. To this day, I will.

Little Miss A and Mr. D I love you SOOOOOO much!!!!!

Kindergarten Registration

We went, as a family, back up to school tonight when Daddy got home to register the Caswell kids for Kindergarten!!! So official...I can't believe my "babies" are actually enrolled in "big kid" school. Granted, they've been going all year, Kindergarten still sounds too old for my sweet Little Miss A and Mr. D. Seriously, where has the time gone? Like their 5th birthday back in November, they both were under the impression that they would begin kindergarten immediately. Though it's not until August, I already know it will be here TOO soon.

For the Birds...

We went to the Pecan Street Festival downtown this weekend (as we have EVERY year) and found some seriously cute ceramic whistling birds. You know, the kind you fill with a little bit of water and blow through the top and it really sounds like a bird? Anyway, Little Miss A and Mr. D have had so much fun with these. The kids do bird songs to the neighbors across the greenbelt in the backyard ...holy crow it echoes like crazy. They sing bird songs to Sophie (the cat) who absolutely HATES it. The birds HAVE to sing before we leave the house for school. The kids are currently taking "bird baths" as I am typing this. Are you noticing a trend? After the "noise" of Christmas, what on Earth possessed us to make a double purchase of these little treasures? ;)

Star Wars Day!!

As much as we are into Star Wars around here, it was so fun to celebrate Star Wars day today. Mr. D wore his brand new shirt for the occasion. So, to all those Star Wars fans out there...

"May the fourth be with you!!!"

Early Mother's Day Present

Mr. D made this for me the other day...

I absolutely LOVE it...totally up my alley!!!!. Isn't this the most beautiful ring you've ever seen? I think I have an early Mother's Day present from my bouncing baby boy! :)

FIVE AND A HALF!!

My precious punkins are officially 5 1/2 years old today!!! Where has the time gone? How is that my "little babies" are now closer to 6 than 5? I can't think about it too much or I'll cry, but my "babies" definitely aren't babies anymore!!!