Happy Easter!

We are having a blessed Easter celebrating our risen Lord! We've hunted eggs, the Easter bunny has visited, we got dressed in our Easter duds for a much needed trip to mass, and enjoyed some playing and relaxing.  I have lots of pictures to share, especially of the kiddos in their Easter outfits.  Then I'm off to attempt a re-creation of the wonderful pot luck Easter suppers Brandon and I remember so fondly at our Grandmas' houses.  Many blessings to our much-missed family and friends!

My silly Nate.

Such urgency & concentration.

Yes, it's pretty cool here for Easter.  We are definitely ready for sunshine and warmer temps.

Quite a haul for a backyard hunt.

Beautiful in blue.

 

 

Caz's expressions are so sweet.  He was such a sport, so quiet and sweet throughout mass and then he tolerated my many pictures.

Our baby is 6 months old this week!  He checked in at 17lbs 6oz and 27 1/4" long.  He's enjoying rice cereal and a special Easter treat....squash.

Soccer update, Flag Football & Caz's first bites

We have been up to the usual this week....school, work, and soccer.  But we had some new additions to our spring schedule too...Nate's flag football games and Caz enjoying rice cereal.  First, a soccer update from this weekend: MC had her first game with no score. :(  But she did get one assist and her team won another blowout.  So it was still a great game.  Nate had a super defensive game as he continued to 'mix it up.'  He played goalie for a quarter of the game blocking two of two shots from the other team.  And at the end of the game playing defender, he had a key block to keep the game tied at 2-2.

In flag football news, Nate and his teammates had a fun game.  In other words, it was chaos with as much socializing and horse play as football, but they certainly enjoyed themselves. :)  Below you get a sense of the laughing and chatting going on as Nate confers with his teammates, but he's ready, gloves, mouthpiece and all.

At almost 6 months, Caz enjoyed some rice cereal this weekend.  It's much later in his life for this first than with Mari Cagle and Nate, but he was ready.  He had no trouble at all with swallowing it down, and he really seems to enjoy the stuff.  It was definitely the easiest first feeding I've experienced.  I have to give a shout out to my camera woman, MC.  She took all the pictures for me while I fed him.  She even worked two cameras, mine and her own while Dad worked the video camera.  Enjoy her awesome shots...

Ready for that first bite, not sure what is about to happen.

Waiting patiently for Mom to thicken it up some.  She was a little rusty.

Getting the hang of it.

Wondering why Mom had to take the spoon away, it seemed perfect for chewing on, as good as any toy.

Keeping an eye on Dad.  You never know what he's up to.

He's got the hang of it and now seems to be enjoying it.

Yum!

Look at the mess Mom made of me dripping cereal on me and splashing it on my head.  She wasn't just a 'little' rusty.

All done!

MC Spring Soccer - this time with pictures!

MC had another great soccer game today!  It was unseasonably warm for this time of year at 84 degrees and the wind was blowing steady at 25-30 mph!  Pretty nice weather so we all got to go watch this week. And it's a good thing we did or we would have missed more awesome soccer action as MC scored TWO goals!!  She got the first of the game again this week and her team went on to win big.  She is hoping for a hat trick next week. :)

Chatting it up getting ready for the action to begin...

Ready for a pass...

  Racing to get in on more action...

 

And this is just a sweet shot of Caz sleeping with his buddy Quackers...

Nate's game is tomorrow barring the fruition of forecasted thunderstorms, so stay tuned.

Spring Soccer

I have no pictures to document the beginning of the spring soccer seasons for Mari Cagle and Nate, but the season is in full swing.  And despite the lack of pictures, I had to post that on Saturday, MC scored!!  She was so excited and it filled her with confidence.  Caz and I stayed at home because the weather was so cold, but I got the text just after the goal was scored...."MC just scored a goal.  Big time."  As I was later updated, the 'big time' referred to her taking the ball down the field, apparently juking an opponent and shooting for the score!  It was the first goal of the game and her team went on to win it, 7-1.  Dad had the video camera, but as it always happens to us, we never have it on when something big happens.  Hopefully, she'll score many more goals as the season continues.

Caz and I did get to attend Nate's game this week.  He played great too!  As his Dad said, "I am so proud.  My son was mixing it up today!"  Nate was getting in there and being knocked over, but every time he popped back up and 'mixed it up' some more. 

It's always fun to watch both MC and Nate play!  We'll be sure to get some pictures and videos at future games.  Hope everyone has a great week!

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.