Signs of the season

The weather here has been BEAUTIFUL the past few days- and we have loved being outside. Yesterday was so pretty that I pulled out the sprinkler and Brett was so excited that you would have thought we were at Disney again.  After running in and out and around the sprinkler a few dozen times and trying to get the water to hit his belly button (see picture below), Brett ran to get his bat- and a golf club to play with in the water.  What a boy- everything is more fun with a few pieces of sports equipment!  He had so much fun- and I had so much fun taking his picture.  And to top off the day we had a fun visitor after dinner- the ice cream truck!!!!  I have never seen the ice cream truck in our neighborhood before- but when I heard the music coming down the street I turned into a kid again.  Brett picked out a Dora ice cream treat and shared it with all of us- even Georgia (who he is calling Georgia Tech these days- and with no prompting from mommy either).  What a perfect ending to a beautiful Spring day!

Someone please tell me where my baby is???  He looks so old!

Trying to get the water to hit his belly button.  Excuse the diaper hanging out.  My little skinny guy has a hard time keeping his pants up these days.

Everything is more fun with my baseball bat!

Eating his Dora treat while wearing the construction hat Daddy got for him.

It's Daddy Bob's Birthday!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY BOB!!!!!

I love you so much.  Thank you for being the best grandfather ever.

Love, Brett

(Brett and Daddy Bob on his birthday the past three years)

Egg Hunt #3

Yes- I know that 3 egg hunts is a bit much (my sweet husband was such a trouper)- but I just love them.  This time we met my brother at the Rock Ranch- and man was it crowded.  Despite the crowds we still had fun- and went home with a bucket full of eggs.

You make me that happy too- sweet boy!

Watching the chickens with Uncle Rob.  Brett really could have cared less about the egg hunt- what he really wanted was to see the animals.

Having fun with Uncle Rob

And we are off.....

I told you it was crowded!!!! (and this is just he 2 and 3 year old field)

The loot

Checking out the eggs- Brett learned very quickly that there was candy inside.  We would open one and he would immediately pick up another one and say "This one". 

Staph + Croup + Spring Break= No fun!

Well- the title pretty much says it all- but this was not a Spring Break that we want to repeat.  My friend Katie, her daughter Anna Grace (8) and son Andrew (2) came to the beach with my mom, Brett and me.  We arrived on Monday afternoon to a breezy and cold beach.  Here are the kids looking longingly at the beach.

Tuesday was FREEZING (as you can tell from the clothes).  We did get to take the kids to a fun playground in Rosemary which they loved.  Little did we know that this would be our only Doctor free/Hospital free day.  

I should have a picture of the doctor's office here- since that is where we spent most of our time- but I didn't think to take one.  On Wednesday morning I called my pediatrician because a spot on Brett's stomach was looking funny.  The nurse said, "That sounds like staph- you need to get him to a doctor right away."  Sure enough, Brett had staph.  By the time we got back to the condo Andrew sounded like he was getting croup- so Katie had to take him to the hospital.  Praise the Lord that my mom went with us and her mom was already down at the beach- I think we would have fallen apart without them.  Thursday morning we did get to go down to the beach for a little while.  The kids had a blast- and my little guy loved the water.

When we came up to eat I checked on Brett's staph again and it was much worse- so we were off to the doctor again!!!  He checked us out and advised us to leave early enough the next morning to see our doctor back home.  So, we grabbed some donuts from the Donut Hole on Friday morning- drove the whole way home only stopping once, and were back at the doctor for the third day in a row.  I have never been so glad to be back home.  I don't think Katie and I got to sit down for even one meal together- crazy!  And wouldn't you know what Brett woke up with on Monday- the croup! Poor little guy!

Egg Hunt #2

On Friday we had an egg hunt at our house for some of my friends and their kids- about 50 people came!  If you live in the south, you know that it has rained non-stop the past few days- so we had to move all the festivities into our garage.  Thankfully, it was dry enough for the egg hunt itself.  We had a great time- and the Easter Bunny even came!  All the kids were beyond excited to see him- all except Brett that is.  He was hysterical and wouldn't even stay in the backyard with him.  He ran up the steps into the house and would not come out until he was gone.  Needless to say, he is not a fan of people dressed up in costumes (remember Winnie the Pooh).  The funniest thing is that Brian asked Brett what his favorite part of the party was and he said the bunny.  And he keeps asking me to show him the pictures of the bunny- crazy kid!  The kids played with Play-doh, made egg shakers, played an egg guessing game, made bunny salads, and colored.  I am so thankful that Brett has such wonderful friends to play with.  They are all very anxious to meet Kate too.  In fact, my sweet friend Andra has a 5 year old little girl, Chloe and they prayed for Kate on the way to our house.  Chloe said, "I have a friend named Kate at my school too- now I have two Kate's to love."  How sweet is that!!!!

Look at this cute basket my friend Sharon made.  Those are rice krispy pops sticking out- which the kids loved! (and look at the bottom left corner- see that little hand getting a marshmallow- yep- that would be Brett!  I won't let him eat marshmallows because of the chocking hazard- but I guess he found a way to sneak one in!)

Making the bunny salad

The bunny salad (pears, cheese, raisins, and a cherry)

Mary Joy adding the nose

Making the egg shakers (or should I say making a mess!)

Playing with the play-doh

Andra with our huge basket of eggs to hide (there were a ton!!!!)

And they're off!!

Brett running down the backyard for the egg hunt- when he got to the bottom of the hill he threw the basket down and started to climb his swing set- he could care less about the eggs.

The Easter Bunny! (aka my friend Susan's husband)

Let the egg hunts begin!

On Sunday we went to the first egg hunt of the year- and what an awesome one it was.  It was a helicopter egg drop- you read that right- a helicopter flew over the field and dropped 20,000 eggs onto the ground for the kids to get.  Brett was fascinated.  As you can tell from the pictures- it was freezing.  Brett had on a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, and a fleece.  It was such a fun day though.  Brett knew just what to do- but once he had candy in both hands he was done.  No records set for the number of eggs he got- but he was one happy boy to get candy.  He thoroughly enjoyed his first taste of Nerds.  

Not the best picture- but we one of the few family pictures we have taken lately.

Brian pointing out the helicopter to Brett

If you look closely you can see the eggs coming out of the helicopter

Pointing at the helicopter

More eggs falling

CANDY!  Look at his face- how does he even know what that stuff is anyway?

Checking out his loot (but still firmly holding his two boxes of Nerds)