2nd Annual Minton Easter Egg Hunt

The girls took part in the 2nd Annual Minton Easter Egg hunt (at Joann and Ernie's house). So cute, Ernie was master of ceremonies and explained the "rules" and where and what they would be finding and then they were off. They are a bit like locust so it only took minutes to find all the eggs but at the Minton Easter egg hunt we started a tradition last year that we reset the eggs and take turns finding them again. Great fun, 3 hunts for the price of one.

All the girls found lots of eggs and inside was loads of candy. Joann baked some of her superb brownies and we relaxed on the deck. Blissful weather for us and a great hour or two of fun. Thanks Joann and Ernie.

Cowgirl fairy and friends

Sorry, this one is blurry - I uploaded the wrong one.

All cowgirl fairies need a pet pupster to love and protect them. Apparently Border Collies are the preferred pup to have.

Milk that sucker

Sawyer taking her turn to milk the cow

Maren got a blocked teat and didn't get much milk out of the cow

Romay was a born natural at cow milking - she even warmed her hands before she started.

This was all at the zoo in the farm area.

I will never worry about cellulite

You see, even after 3 kids, my butt is not as bad as some others!

Riverbank Zoo, Columbia at Spring Break

Really nice zoo with all the usual animals (lion, bears, penguins etc). Laid out with families in mind. We came home with some tired kids.
Spring break week was filled with activities to keep us all busy - Ikea (Mon), friends to play (Tue), Zoo (Wed), Concord Mills to buy new sneakers for all 3 kids (Thurs), hanging in the yard with Mom and Dad (Friday). Lovely weather and nice and relaxing as I got to lie in past 6am!!

I will have 20/20 vision by the time I'm 56

Seriously, each year when I go for my vision test my eye sight has improved. It is currently improving at .25 each year, which may not seem a lot, but I've gone from being minus 5 (aka blind!!) to minus 3.75. Hurrah. At my current rate, I will have 20/20 by the time I'm 56. Now, by that time I might also get some degeneration with old age but I'll not worry about that yet.....

I'm not donating any of my 30 boxes of cereal

Ok, before you all think I'm a bad person, I did fully intend to donate them all but they met with an accident.

I had them all anally lined up in color and expiry date order on my kitchen counter top. That may be weird for the majority of the population but for the other domestic goddess addicts like myself that is normal.

Anyway, my neighbor dropped by and I was forcing her to "shop" my coupon contraband and take some of it off my hands. We got distracted and moved out of the kitchen and upstairs to see some thing else, leaving the 3 girls in the kitchen playing with the "stock". We heard some screaming and laughter but it was only when I heard the "MOM" cry that I came running. Only to find Maren standing on my kitchen counter top crying because she had peed herself. Yip, you guessed it - all over the microwave, and in a huge puddle that was soaking up nicely into all the cereal boxes.

Anyone want some cereal?

Bounce, Bounce, Bounce

The rib cracker. Bounce, bounce, bounce, fight, fight, fight, bounce. I love it. Now that I've relaxed about them killing themselves on the trampoline I can let them enjoy it without being in the yard. So far, it is only Sawyer who has bounced right through the entrance way and out onto the ground and that, was only a matter of time. Great gift Santa.

Veggie patch all planted for spring

After being so late with my Christmas cards and newsletter (ok, I never actually got round to creating the newsletter this year but ....), I'm actually ahead of the game with my vegetable patch. I used the little tiller machine which we bought at the end of last year, to do all the hard work and then Romay and Sawyer helped plan some lettuce seeds. I doubt that many of the seeds were properly planted in the rows but they had fun doing the job and its great for them to learn. Because of frost danger, we can't plan the tomatoes until the first week or so of May, but by then the first of the lettuce crop should be ready. I'm not holding my breath though!! Now, if I could just get some grass to grow and survive the summer, well, then I'd be happier than a pig in a mud bath.

McApline Mile fundraiser

7.45 am !!!!!! Romay's gym class is at 7.45am in the morning. Sawyer, Maren and Mum all joined her at school for the fundraiser that took place at that ungodly time in the morning. All the kids got taken through some stretching exercises and then off they went to run the mile. Three times round the track. Maren and Sawyer held Romay back as she kept with them, so we will just say "she was not the first to finish - by any means" and she was not last (but close to it). Mom run the last third with her and some of the other stragglers. Perhaps it is time to get us all back to the gym?
And the day after the run? The girls all complained that their legs hurt.
All in all, it was a fun, great event and we will definitely take part next year.

Teacher McInnes

This is Romay's classroom. I caught her at play one afternoon with her bears, dogs and elmos all lined up in class, listening to teacher McInnes as she went over the days lesson plan. Very cute. Apparently, Elmo regularly gets his ticket flipped! He is a bit of a trouble maker and has outbursts of uncontrollable giggles (he is tickle Me Elmo). He has even been sent to the new Principals office!

Too tired to carry on .....

Maren asleep in the coffee table - It makes a nice bed if you have a sheep pillow and a cute duvet. She was just too tired to carry on after playing Wii Fit bowling and running.

100 days of school

I can't believe it - we have already passed the 100 days of kindergarten mark. That is 100 days of getting up early, 100 days of being on time, 100 days of catching the school bus. Only a few more to go ........

This is Romay wearing her 100 days shirt - 100 items, all carefully attached by Granny Barnett (thank you Granny B!).

Soup and salad at the Olive Garden with Grampa and Granny

Gran and Grampa Barnett were here for two weeks in February and we all headed to lunch at the Olive Garden - an old fav for us. A slap up feast of soup, salad and bread sticks was enjoyed by all.

Team work to save $$$

Dad came along with me to do a couple of Harris Teeter triple coupon shopping trips. Much easier with that extra person to take a load through the checkout. Officially you are only allowed 20 coupons per day (that will triple up) but we all know that your loyalty card also allows you to make 5 trips in one day. So, Dad just helped me do an extra trip or two at the same store instead of having to move store. As always we saved lots of $$ and got lots of good items very cheap. Lip salve anyone?

Romay's Birthday party

Romay's 6th Birthday party at home, just the girls from her class and Sawyer. They were all so well behaved and great fun to have. We did all the old games like musical statues (aka freeze), clean the room (balls of socks to throw around), and eat the fruit roll up off the washing line - all washed down with juice, pizza and lashings of cake.

Romay rips into her birthday gifts

Happy birthday baby - 6 years old. The birthday party is on Saturday 31st at the house (what was I thinking!!!).

Everyone out - wet balls

Maren before the incident - butter wouldn't melt in your mouth.

Great party at My Gym, all happy, everyone having fun until the cry went up of "some of the balls are wet". The cleaning equipment was produced fast and everyone tried to make sure no child had been sick etc. You know that horrific realization that one of YOUR children is unaccounted for. Gulp!! Where was Maren? I was hoping she wasn't still in the ball pit swimming in some horrible unknown ick. I looked around and then the realization hit me - the toilet. Oh, Maren you peed in the ball pit and all down the slide!!! It was my child.

She was in the restroom calmly taking off her socks and panties and throwing them in the trash. If I, and everyone else hadn't noticed, she might have blazoned it out and re-joined the party.

Quote: "I just got excited Mummy". Yes, Maren, you did.

Snow Day

Yeah, snow day. Bummer, school make up day. This was Tuesday 13th and the roads were clear by the afternoon and all the snow was gone by Wednesday night. Just as well be stocked up on bread and milk (only because I had a coupon) as that was a long time to be snowed in.

Sawyer and Maren lasted 2 minutes and as you can see Sawyer was not happy for at least one of those two minutes. Delicate Southern Belles that they are. Romay proved to be very hardy in the extreme cold and loved being outside. Freya as always loved to snow and Drum, who we think was seeing it for the first time - well he went puppy crazy.

Christmas Eve

New PJs for Christmas Eve gift. What more could a kid want? Aparently Sawyer didn't want PJs because she just wasn't happy. Look at that poutie face!!

Check out our tree - we had it up at home for a couple of weeks and then packed it up and in the car and off to the beach - a portable potted pine.

Just waiting for Santa

Drum and Romay - hanging and waiting for Santa. Come on give us the goods.

Anyone for tennis

If you ignore Daddy's boats aka his bright orange crocks, his red tee shirt and his two rackets - well, he really does have great form for tennis and really looks the part.

Romay was quite enthusiastic and wanted to practices daily. Tired me out.

Lunch at the Market Street cafe - outside and sunny

Our usual slap up feast at the Market Street Cafe at Coligny Plaza on Hilton Head Island. This was a couple of days before Christmas.

Before Christmas at the Beach - Hilton Head Island

It was cold before Christmas - really cold but it didn't stop the girls heading to the beach for a paddle in the ocean. The dogs, as always, were having a blast chasing tennis balls and generally being mad mutts. The picture of Maren is her after time on the beach - just too tired to stay awake. Crashed and burned.