Spring Break

Ours was truly a "Spring Break."  A break from school and work, yes, but also a break from the cold weather.  We thoroughly enjoyed the warmer weather, especially as we returned home to snow!  It was a fantastic trip home seeing much of our family and friends.  Thank you to all of you who were able to rearrange your schedules so that we could see you.  We had a wonderful time!

 The week started off with a celebration of Hudson's 6th birthday with lots of family.  Aunt Bebe had Caz laughing it up.

 

 Grandmama had her arms full with both Caz and Evangeline.

 

 As did Grammy.  The two little ones put whatever they could get their hands on in their mouths, including each other.

 

Grammy pulled out a lot of old costumes from when Dad, Uncle Britton and Aunt Kristen were young.  Ben Franklin has an idea below.  Nate wasn't as thrilled at playing dress-up as he used to be, but he put this one costume on since it used to be his Dad's.

 

How now, Pocahontas.

And I think these costumes suited these little clowns the best.

PopPop and Uncle Rob built a pretty cool fort for the kiddos to enjoy.  They played outside most of the time...soccer, football, sword fights, chase with Nate as the bad guy stealing the girls' glass slippers, and baseball.  As a special treat they even got to drive Grandmama's golf cart around Grammy & PopPop's front yard.  That yard was a happening place throughout the week!

 

Caz was content indoors in the walker.

 

When the little guy didn't have the walker toys in his mouth, it was his hands.

I neglected to take my camera, but we got to visit our dear friends, the Tyre family too.  The kids had lots of fun playing together as always and I always treasure being able to catch up with Amy in person.  All the kids had fun, but I was particularly tickled with MC and Emery.  Mari Cagle and Emery played together for a while.  Later Brandon teasingly asked Emery if he had been hugging and kissing MC.  Emery replied as he ran out of the room, "I better go do that."  Emery was also so sweet with Caz.  He came running in the room any time Caz was crying to see if he was ok.  He is growing up so much as are all the kiddos.  That is one of my biggest revelations each time we head home...how much the kids change and grow between visits!

The latter part of the week was more good weather at Nana & Pa's house.  Nate and especially MC enjoyed hitting wiffle golf balls up and down the hill.  I forget how picturesque Mom and Dad's front yard is with the lake across the street, but there's not denying it in these shots.

 

 

 I love his tongue hanging out.  Such concentration.

 Pa had just finished building a beautiful swing in the front yard.

 Caz and I loved the swing watching MC and Nate swing the golf clubs.

 

 Mom had a special treat...a girl's day of shopping in Atlanta for Terri's wedding dress.  (Terri found a gorgeous one, by the way.)  That left Dad, MC and Nate back at home to take care of Caz.  They did a great job!

 Mari Cagle was especially excited to feed Caz a bottle.  She's such a little mama.

It was a great break, so good, it's been difficult getting back to the grind this week!!  Happy April to everyone!

March Madness

Nate has caught March Madness for sure.  He has filled out a bracket on yahoo, but he has about 10 additional brackets filled out on paper.  He asked yesterday if he could stay home from school to watch the games.  He really 'needed' to fill in his bracket as the games finished.  After a little begging on his part, I convinced him that it would be just as fun to look up all the scores he missed online and that there would be games on TV when he got home from school.  Sure enough, he came racing in the door today ready to get to work.  Below you can see his many brackets spread out on the table as he works diligently on another.

Nate and Caz are fast becoming best buds.  Nate wants so badly to take care of him.  And Caz is so often mesmerized watching Nate talk and play.  He seems to listen so intently to his big brother and Nate can make him laugh like crazy. 

 Nate loves to 'hang out' with Caz.

Nate has surrounded Caz with pillows to protect him should he fall out of his seat.  (Caz is buckled in so it's pretty impossible that he would fall out, but it's the thought that counts.)

Mari Cagle loves her baby brother too.  She is always a big help watching him for me while I do things around the house.  She was especially helpful when I had that nasty stomach bug and was just too weak to carry him around.  She would carry him when it came time for feedings.  She loves to help, but she still steers clear for those diaper changes!


Caz has completed a new feat...he's officially rolling over.  He's a little different than MC and Nate.  They learned to roll over because they hated being on their belly.  Caz, on the other hand, loves to roll over onto his belly and play.  Maybe he just has a funner playmat. :)  Here are some shots of the munchkin on his belly which he rolled to all by himself. :)  These days he's also putting everything, especially his hands (even whole fists at times) in his mouth.  Not sure if he's teething yet, but he's definitely gained that baby-typical oral fixation.

 

 

 

What a smile!

Stomach bug

This week has been no fun as three of us have been hit with the stomach bug.  Nate was the first to go down, then myself, and now MC.  I know you're glad I have no pictures to share from the week, but Mari Cagle has me a little amused.  She has been learning so much in writing, I guess, but her figurative language and similes are cracking me up.  It might just be that I'm delirious from being sick and then up with her much of the night, who knows, but here are a few of her gems that I can remember....

"I feel like a teapot with no tea in it."

"I could drink five gallons of water." (Her math teacher would be proud as they've been studying units of measurement.)

"I wish Ruthie were real so she could get up and pass me the remote."

"I've been asleep for like six centuries so since the 15th century!"

"Caz, I'm glad someone's happy."

And on more than one occasion, "I think I might be dying."

I think my baby's on the mend.  We offer up continued prayers that Caz and Brandon continue to escape this nasty bug.

Nate the Great: Posted by Nate Himself

Hi. This is Nate. You won't believe what I got for Valentine's Day! I got Mario Sports Mix Wii, the video game. My favorite characters are Mario, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Yoshi, Ninja and Black Mage. There are four sports. They are volleyball, basketball, dodge ball, and hockey. I would place them like this...
1. dodge ball
2. basketball
3. volleyball
4. hockey.
There are mushroom cups, flower cups, and star cups. These cups are the prizes for when you win tournaments. I love to play Mario Sports Mix!

Mom's Note: So you heard it straight from the horse's mouth. This was good writing practice for Nate. They've been working on 'small moment' stories at school. These are stories that focus on one small event or subject. For example, instead of writing about Valentine's day, write about one specific part of Valentine's day. Mario Sports Mix has definitely been what Nate has been focused on lately. It's how he spends almost all his free time. It's a good alternative when snow has blanketed the outdoors! And though the pictures aren't that exciting (It's never much fun to watch someone else play video games.), you can kind of see how much he's grown. He's getting so tall!

Caz's New Toy

Caz turns 4 months today and is showing many signs of growing. He is learning to use his hands, working on that hand coordination. He gets multiple daily ab workouts as he's always trying to sit himself up when he's laying down on an incline. We have to begin being more careful leaving him lying on the bed as he can roll to his side now; he hasn't quite made it all the way over, but I'm sure that's just around the corner so we'll have to keep an eye on him. To keep up with his new moves at trying to grab at things and desire to always be up and at 'em, we got him a new jumper toy. I think he was a little overwhelmed at first, so many new sounds, but he quickly got comfortable and began to try to explore. It will be fun to watch him grow into this toy, and we hope it makes him very happy for at least a few months. :)





And as you can see by the dampness of his shirt and the evidence hanging from his chin, he continues to be a master drooler and a total sweetheart.

My Valentines

I love my three little valentines...

Basketball

It's cold as ever here, and cold weather means basketball season. This is Mari Cagle's second year playing, and she's really enjoying it. She and her teammates have wonderful coaches and they even enjoyed a Lady Husker's basketball game together. They play better and better each week and seem to be having lots of fun, so it's been a great season. Yesterday, MC had her best game yet, playing "with her hair on fire." Her dad was especially proud that she fouled the other team. I realize it may sound mean and a little odd to reward her for getting called for a foul, but it's a real challenge to get young girls to play aggressively, so in that context, we were excited. I put together a montage of clips from the game so you can see just how great she played. It includes some great defense, her foul, and her shot! (To make your viewing a little easier, MC's team is wearing the blue jerseys, and MC is wearing pink shorts and white basketball shoes.)