Kent and Maeve

Basketball practice

2012-02-11T17:24:00.000-06:00

2012-02-11T16:53:00.000-06:00

kiddos

2012-02-10T14:29:00.000-06:00

First Night New Years Eve Party in St. Louis

2012-01-25T12:57:00.000-06:00

New Years Eve!

2012-01-22T20:05:00.000-06:00

2012-01-22T14:07:00.000-06:00

Christmas dancing

2012-01-22T13:59:00.000-06:00

2012-01-22T13:52:00.000-06:00

Unwrapping presents at Grandma and Pa's house

2012-01-20T12:31:00.000-06:00

Maevey on Christmas Eve

2012-01-20T12:17:00.000-06:00

Nana and grandsons

2012-01-16T17:44:00.000-06:00

Pa Bob and a couple of crazy kids watching tv

2012-01-11T15:26:00.000-06:00

Cousins

2012-01-08T17:11:00.000-06:00

Kent and Maeve and I really enjoyed helping Nana babysit Lukey during Christmas break. The kids especially enjoyed eating meals together, watching tv together and playing together in Nana and Pa's basement.

Santa's Bag

2011-12-14T16:12:00.000-06:00

Yay! I am pretty much done Christmas shopping for the kids. Here is what they are getting from Santa:

Maeve
Disney Princess coloring book
Leapster game "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue" to go with her Leapster from Tim, Robin and Lukey
Fairies for every season (four Disney fairy dolls)
Hello kitty socks and zip up sweatshirt
Hello Kitty Razor Scooter
TInkerbell dress-up shoes
The "Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy rescue" movie
The "Little Mermaid" movie
mini pink and purple football
Large Tinkerbell bouncy ball
Surprise ink Disney Princess game book
DK "Ballet School" book
"Fancy Nancy and the late late night" book
"Princess Party" book
purple yo-yo

Kent
Wii wheel
Wii game "Cars 2"
Spongebob zip up hooded sweatshirt
Spongebob coloring book
Spongebob painting book
"The Adventures of Ook and Gluk" graphic novel
Spongebob Surprize ink game book
"Jokes from the krusty Krab" set of 3 joke books
"Danny the Champion of the World" Roald Dahl book
"Every thing on it" Shel Silverstein book
Leappad game "Spongebob fists of fury" for the leappad from Robin, Tim and Lukey
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" movie (the original)
Spongebob card games (Rummy, crazy eights, go fish and spit)
mini orange and blue football
Large Spongebob bouncy ball
Orange yo-yo

2011-11-18T08:15:00.000-06:00

2011-11-18T08:06:00.000-06:00

I can't believe my Maevey is three!

2011-11-03T21:57:00.000-05:00

Maevey is three. Where has the time gone? It seems the toddler stage is over and Maeve has really come into her own personality. She is such a big girl now! Maeve gets herself dressed, brushes her own teeth, uses the bathroom independently and doesn't wear diapers at all anymore! Even at bed time! Maeve knows her colors, shapes, opposites, letters and can count to 20 (for some reason she sometimes skips 15 just like Kent did at her age). When I asked her what her favorite color was she listed all of the colors including silver and then said, "those are my three favorites". She still loves horses but also likes the Disney princesses (especially the Little Mermaid), Dora, and her American Girl Doll that she named "Styja". Her passion in life is dance and she wants to watch Prima Ballerina, Polina Semionova, on Youtube everyday. Maeve loves playing in Dramatic play at school with the other girls (especially Olive). When I asked her the name of her school she insisted it is called "The little kid school". Even though she promised to sleep in her big kid bed if we gave her a birthday party, she still sneaks out of her room and tries to convince us to let her stay up every night. We usually try to ignore her so she is often playing in her room (and making a huge mess) into the wee hours of the night. Maevey is as whimisical and charming as a fairy, messy and dirt loving as the character Pigpen from Charlie Brown, sweet and snuggly as a kitten, and tempermental and spoiled as a diva princess. Maeve is reminds me so much of myself. Only a new and improved version. She is everything I could of ever dreamed of in a daughter!

Happy Birthday Maevey!

2011-11-03T21:23:00.000-05:00

2011-11-03T21:11:00.000-05:00

Maeve concentrating on decorating a pumpkin

Maeve and Olive

Maeve and Olive on the two person swing

Wheeeeeeeee!

Maeve opening one of her many mermaid dolls

2011-11-03T20:55:00.000-05:00

Decorating cupcakes for the party

Kent adding sprinkles

Mmmmm!

Nana moitored the pumpkin decorating

Kent and one of his many pumpkins (He was only supposed to do one)

Getting ready for Maeve's birthday party

2011-11-03T20:42:00.000-05:00

Pa and Kent scooping out the pumpkin yuck

More scooping

Daddy carved the kid's designs

Maeve decorating the cupcakes

Kent playing in a street band

2011-10-08T08:40:00.002-05:00

We thought that these musicians must have been really clever to see how adorable and musically-inclined Kent is when they asked him to join their band. We later realized that street performers often ask kids to join in their performances. This makes parents all giddy and willing to give money. Oh well.

Maeve and me on the swamp tour in New Orleans

2011-10-08T08:33:00.000-05:00

2011-10-07T21:01:00.001-05:00

I invite you to consider the above a teaser/placeholder image, a foretaste of coming photo-essay updates. We have only recently gotten back online in a truly multimedia sense. In the interval between the present and the most recent photographic posts - which are very old by now - much has occurred. It'll take some time to load all of those photos (not to mention the accompanying narratives). They will, however slowly, be posted eventually.

Kent has begun playing soccer, and he loves it. He's also quite adept. His excitement is nearly impossible to contain; we've had to work on upper-body control, as he's apt to throw a few elbows in the thick of things. We're looking forward to another game tomorrow (10/8).

Maeve, meanwhile, has taken up dancing at a studio in town. (That's right: even in Clarksville, AR, such things exist. But good luck finding coffee that's not from a gas station.) She is just as excited about her weekly dance time as Kent is about soccer. There is, notably, one key difference between their current hobbies, viz., we are not allowed to watch Maeve and her terpsichorean cronies go through their routine.

Yeah, I'm serious. They practice behind a big blue vinyl divider (see above). We can hear the music, but what she's learning is utterly mysterious. The reason for this, we're told, is that parents are distracting. We'll be treated to a recital at the end of the course, at which point all that Maeve has learned in secret will be made manifest.

So, stay tuned. There's more to come.

ps Patrick wrote this post. (I don't want people to think that I got a crazy awesome vocabulary during the time that we were offline and expect such things of me.)

Updates

2011-08-19T14:40:00.000-05:00

It's been a really long time since I have posted anything! Hopefully, we will get a new computer soon and I can start uploading pictures again. In the mean time I would like to take a few minutes to write about what Kent and Maeve are doing right now. Kent started kindergarten this week! Monday August 15th was an exciting day for Kent and super emotional day for me. I never thought about how hard it was going to be to send him off to school. He seems to like it so far. However, I am getting paid back for all the trouble I gave my parents every morning. He is not a morning person and we have to literally drag him out of bed. Maeve on the other hand hops out of bed every morning asking for milk in her Dora cup. It seems unfair because Patrick drives Kent to school at 7:30 and I don't have to work until 9:00. I keep trying to convince Maeve to sleep in a little longer but she's not having it.

Kent has mentioned counting by tens and twos, doing the calendar on the smart board, going to art, music, lights (a making good choices class), and the library, reviewing the colors, and who gets to keep their good choice card. Of course he seems the most interested in talking about his friends. He has even pointed them out to me when I pick him up. He hasn't bothered asking them their names. He seems to to think that those kind of details are unimportant. Kent also shared that he was one of three kids in his class to go to "reading class". Reading class ending up being a reading test but Kent kind of likes tests and he got a sticker so he thought it was fun. When I asked him what he read he said "The Lucky Coin" which is a first grade level assessment. He said, "It was SOOO easy!" They then had him read "Danger in the Deep" which is a fifth grade level assessment. He said, "I told her that I already read it but she wanted me to read it again." (Thanks to Nana we have DRA testing set.) I had Kent read to me the page that they asked him to read and he read it perfectly. I am so proud of that boy!

Maeve is doing very well in school too. She is especially enjoying inside choice time because she LOVES to dress up. Today her and another little girl named Olive dressed up like princesses. Then they went to the "ball" (the rug where we do calendar time) and tried to recruit the boys to come dance with them and to marry them. They were not at all successful in getting any princes to come to their ball or to marry them. However, they were pretty pleased when Cole came over in his fire fighting costume and said, "Bye honeys, I'm going to work at the fire station now." and gave them both a hug. I'm not overly excited about Maeve's fascination with marriage and princess stuff but it was pretty cute to see her actually playing with another girl and loving it so much.

Maeve has also a love for Dora. She wants to watch the same Dora episode over and over. It's the episode where Dora and her family are trying to save the twin babies from rolling in their stroller into a volcano. Pretty freaky. Last weekend Maeve got a new Dora set (with a little house, two Doras, a Boots, the twin babies and a few other pieces), a whole set of dress up clothes, complete with tiaras and two pairs of princess shoes and a new stroller for her babies for only 10 dollars at a hundred mile long stretch of yard sales. Kent got a big set of Mr. Potato head parts, a large foam dice and a sit and spin. They absolutely loved the experience of picking out toys and paying for them themselves (Maeve brought her purse with $10 and Kent his wallet with $10). I have never seen them play so nicely together with their toys as they have with these cheap yard sale toys. Well anyways, I need to pick up the boy from Kindergarten. Hopefully I will be posting a lot of pictures very soon......

New Orleans

2011-07-27T10:31:00.000-05:00

Playing outside at OVDS

2011-06-17T16:49:00.000-05:00

This is one of the four armadillos that were grazing on the other side of the fence while the children played.

Watching the armadillos

Conner, Jake, Alec and Kent

Kent in the tunnel

"Ready or not here I come!"

Maeve running really fast!

Cutie

Armadillo profile

The armadillo family

Jake and Kent

Racing down the hill!

Maeve

Another Maevicus pic

Kent sitting in the backyard at OVDS

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with a surprise ending!

2011-06-12T12:12:00.000-05:00

Accepting his award and falling out of his seat

2011-06-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

Graduating from preschool and reading chapter books

2011-06-06T15:32:00.001-05:00

Although Kent has been a fluent reader for quite a while, he hasn't taken much interest yet in chapter books. However, last week Kent discovered Roald Dahl. In just three days Kent read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory all by himself! He loved it! Afterwards we watched the Johnny Depp version of the movie. We didn't like it as much as the original- Johnny Depp just wasn't as good at being Willy Wonka as Gene Wilder. Today Kent finished Matilda. I think I know what movie we will watch on our next family movie night!

Getting ready to graduate...

The graduates

From left to right: Patience, Conner, Erin, Brock, Maddie and Kent

The kids and their mortar boards

Kent really enjoyed his graduation. He sang some songs, got a medal and a diploma, received a certificate for being the student to most likely become an ornithologist, and had his very own cake shaped like a puppy wearing a mortar board. It was a special day!

Watch out Kindergarten here comes Kent!

Kent going down the slide

2011-05-30T22:39:00.000-05:00

Maeve at the pool

2011-05-30T12:34:00.000-05:00

Just hanging out, cookie from great-grandma, feeding the bunnies, modeling some new clothes and family movie night

2011-05-15T13:34:00.001-05:00

Great granma sent this cookie to the kids because Maeve started school and Kent was so brave for his shots!

The buns really love the weeds that grow on our hill and the kids love to feed them.

Great Grandma sent Maeve some money to buy clothes for school (she is going to send Kent some in August when he starts Kindergarten). Here Maeve is wearing a striped Princess and the Frog t shirt, jean shorts and pink jellie shoes. I bought Kent three new shirts (Tom and Jerry, Spongebob and yet another super hero shirt). He wanted to model them in the pictures too.

Maeve is wearing her new "Owl always love you" t-shirt. I can't resist a shirt with owls on it; no matter how silly the saying on it is.

Maeve is wearing her new pimk and orange Oshkosh outfit.

New brown and white shirt and brown skirt. Yes, Kent is grabbing himself!

New purple dress and matching purple headband. Yes, Kent is picking his nose!

New green shorts and yellown tank top with white flowers.

Flowery dress

Watching Beauty and the Beast during family movie night

Walking up our driveway

2011-05-14T08:53:00.001-05:00

New Toy

2011-05-13T14:17:00.000-05:00

Patrick and the kids got me a Flip Video recorder for Mother's Day. I've already had a lot of fun recording the kids. However, I am irritated with blogspot for erasing a few of my videos!

Kent at his t-ball game

2011-05-11T17:41:00.000-05:00

Kent found a turtle...

2011-05-11T16:34:00.000-05:00

Putting the guineas in the shed

2011-05-10T22:32:00.000-05:00

These guys are getting big!

2011-05-03T21:33:00.000-05:00

Some foul smelling fowl. These guys presently live in our bathroom. I have always complained about how smelly the kid's bathroom gets. These fellas have taken it to a new extreme foulness. I can't wait for when we can put them to work outside!

Check out the feathers on his wings! When we got them a week and a half ago they didn't have any feathers yet.

Branson with the Browns

2011-05-01T12:52:00.000-05:00

The elk that we saw on the way to Branson, Missouri.

Patrick and Kent on the bus ride from the parking lot to Silver Dollar City.

Nalisa and Marty Brown

Zeke, Alec and Nick Brown

Maevey in the bus

The kids outside "Grandfather's Mansion" in Silver Dollar City

Maeve's favorite was the carousel

Maeve and Patrick on the carousel

Kent and the boys on the carousel

Behind bars

Kent and the boys on a huge rocking chair

Daddy and daughter

The boys on the rocking chair again

Maeve fell asleep during the step show

After the show

Kent

Silliness

Maevey has a gun!

Maevey Oakley

Kent loved the ball area

needs more balls

Putting another ball in and shooting at the target

Maeve hadfun with the balls too!

Putting the balls in the pipe

Making sure that they are going in

"Yay!"

"I'm gonna put more balls in there."

Grins

Giggles

Making music

Alec was very helpful with Maeve

"Ouwie!"

"That pinched my finger!"

More music making

Cutie!

Alec and Maeve

Boy on a bug

Kent in the tiny tykes area

Maeve on the slide in the tiny tyke area

Maeve on daddy's shoulders

Kent on daddy's shoulders

So proud of my Patter....

2011-04-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

Patrick received this award and a generous gift from the University for doing such excellent work. The faculty and staff chose who gets this award every year by voting. I am so proud of him!

Maevey turns 2 and a half and starts preschool!

2011-04-26T17:09:00.002-05:00

I told Maeve that I wanted a picture of her. She walked over to this spot and said, "Cheeeese!".

"Cheeeese!"

Maeve did AWESOME at school! She had snack, (and spread cream cheese for herself for the first time), looked at books quietly on the rug, sat still and listened at calendar time, got picked for a job (I picked her to feed the fish), made a flower craft, played with the music center and the play horse stable at center time, sat still and waited to use the bathroom, used the bathroom, lined up to go outside, played outside, lined up to come in (lining up was kind of a new thing for her), washed her hands by herself, and had lunch. After lunch she said, "I think I want a nap." I got a mat out for her and she fell asleep! I usually leave work at 1. I left her with the other teachers while Kent and I went to the store. When we came back to get her she was still sleeping and didn't even realise that we had left. As we were driving away she said, "We had fun at school today."

Maevey did a good job spreading cream cheese on her bagel by herself!

"Don't take any more pictures of me. I'm in the jungle."

Can you find Maeve at the lunch table?

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T13:56:00.002-05:00

Our backyard and Easter Morning

2011-04-24T12:57:00.003-05:00

Maeve in the playhouse

Maeve and the new child size picnic table

Maeve and the sandbox

Maeve looking out from the playhouse

In the Playhouse

Viola the bunny

Lily the bunny

Cute bun with muddy feet. We got these buns from the man who sold us the picnic table. I asked him how long they live. He said they get "old". I asked him what kind of bunnies they are. He said "big ones". He wasn't too informative. We were excited to find out through some internet research that they provide great fertilizer for the garden. Now Patrick has to make a hutch....

Kent and one of our 10 guinea fowl keets.

Kent is very excited about our new pets

Kent loves to hold the guineas

Maeve petting a keet

"Look at her mouth!"

We finally decided to purchase some guinea fowl to eat the ticks in the yard. Our neighbors' guineas have already helped get rid of a lot of the ticks and they have only been out a few weeks! We have to keep them under a light for a few weeks and then they are ready to live outside in a coop. A few weeks after they go outside they will be ready to be set free!

Future tick eater

Picking up eggs on our front lawn

Looking in the lilies for Easter eggs

Maya doing some serious tail wagging

Egg hunting is a serious business

That tricky Easter bunny even hid some on the bushes

"These are my eggs puppies!"

Kent found a lot!

Jessie giving Maya a kiss

Licking her lips after sampling some candy

cutie

dimple

Why does he always make this face when I try oto take his picture?

Kisses from Woody

Maeve and her Easter basket and Patrick and his coffee

What a pretty girl!

Making the face that daddy always makes

Candy eating time

Starting to get silly

Candy time!

Yum!

School

2011-04-24T10:24:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Earth day and Easter by recycling old milk jugs and turning them into bunny Easter baskets. Here is Kent standing in line next to Erin and Owen.

Standing in line to go out for the Easter egg hunt. From left to right: Patience, Erin, Kent, Owen, Maddie, Emmanuel, Cole, Brock, Kajsa, Xander, Olive and Conner

Running around looking for eggs. Can you guess who found the most?

I am going to get a package with 124. Please tell me how many you want and what sizes by tomorrow so I can decide which package to buy.

I am going to get 129. Once again, let me know what you want....

The Boys and their Buckets

2011-04-22T20:46:00.004-05:00

I told the boys that I wanted to take a picture of them and their buckets. This is what they both did immediately.

Strawberry picking at Cox Berry Farm

2011-04-22T20:14:00.004-05:00

Kent, Alec and Mary

Maevey picking strawberries

Alec

Kent hopping over the strawberry plants

Kentsky!

The kids

Kent and Alec and their buckets of berries

Working in the field

Kent took the berry picking very seriously

Maeve and Mary

The boys swapping kindergarten shot stories. Here Kent is telling Alec how he got three shots.

Alec telling Kent how he got a shot in his arm

We told them not to eat any until we got home...

Sneaky girl!

Maeve ate a lot of strawberries before she was supposed to.

Kent had a few too...

Strawberry face!

Kent update

2011-04-16T19:42:00.002-05:00

Chicken pox

Tetanus

MMR

On Thursday, I took Kent to the doctor to get his Kindergarten shots and physical. He weighs in at 50 lbs. (90th percentile) and he is 47 inches tall (97th percentile). He was very brave for his shots. However, the two nurses who administered them freaked him out a little in the way that they aggressively pinned him down to the table. They didn't even talk to him about what they were doing. He didn't cry, but I could tell he was upset. Truthfully, I was a little surprised about how they tackled him to the table too. I think I made him feel better by asking the nurses what illness each shot prevented. That got the nurses to talk to him and tell him that they had measles and chickenpox and how bad it feels to be sick. He seemed to relax after everyone was talking about what was going on and the nurses loosened their hold on him. Poor Kent! He is not used to people not filling him in on everything that's going on or being manhandled.

Maeve update

2011-04-16T18:04:00.003-05:00

Before

After

The time is near when Maeve will say goodbye to her babysitters and hello to preschool. Once she is 30 months she will get to come to the Day School with Kent and me. We are pretty excited. Since she is such a big girl now I think that the time has come for her to take care of her own hair too. I am tired of having to chase and tackle her every morning in order to brush her tangled tresses. Last week during one of these hair fiascos I asked her if she would like to have her hair cut off so that it wouldn't get so tangled. She said yes. So we decided it was time to say goodbye to her baby hair. It is time for big girl changes for the Maevicus.

T-ball Game!

2011-04-14T22:41:00.001-05:00

Pre game huddle (sort of)

"Go Little Giants!"

Yup. Kent's the one playing in the dirt.

Maeve brought a car to play with.

Regann is in Kent's class in school and on his T-ball team.

Kent and Regann say that they are "best buddies"

My boy in the dugout

Kent and Regann hugging

Some more hugging

This is how they watched the game

This is how Maeve watched the game

Bleachers are terrific for playing with cars

Kent getting ready...

He is in position

Putting the ball on the tee...

and...

He hit it!

Running to first base!

He's safe!

He made it all the way around the bases. Unfortunately, the pitcher from the other team got to home before he did. Kent thought he got a point because he didn't get "tagged" and he went al around the bases. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it didn't count. So technically he didn't get a run today. He was really proud of himself though. On the way back to the dugout he looked up at the bleacher and yelled out "Mama! I didn't get tagged at all!"

Kent as the catcher

Maeve really liked having a toy at the game. I think she said, "I want to go home." only once or twice. A vast improvement over the last two games.

Kent's favorite part. Snack!

Perhaps, the most exciting part of the game for Kent was that he played against his buddy Owen. Regann and Kent cheered more for Owen than for anybody on their team.

Dallas, Texas!

2011-04-13T19:15:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we traveled 334 miles to Dallas, Texas. The plan was for Patrick to run the half marathon with Ben and for us all to have a little mini family vacation. We had a minor set back the night before we wanted to leave: Maeve threw up in our bed and on Patrick. However, by the time we were ready to leave on Friday she seemed back to normal. We had a nice drive through Oklahoma. Which by the way, is kind of a pretty state with more lakes than we expected. Anyways, the vaca started out great: The hotel was lovely (Crown Plaza), the weather was perfect and the kids were behaving wonderfully (for the most part). We had a fabulous time strolling around the Dallas Arboretum and we also had an opportunity to experience the Deep Ellum and Downtown areas. Unfortunately the Dallas experience was tainted by the fact that Patrick got Maeve's "tummy bug" and was sick all Saturday night. He was too exhausted and ill to run on Sunday morning. What a bummer, considering the fact that he had paid the entrance fee of 75 dollars the day before! Oh well. Despite the tummy bug, we all agreed Dallas was a lot of fun and it was great to have an excuse to hang out with Uncle Ben. (No worries...Patrick is feeling much better now)

Dallas

2011-04-12T16:38:00.005-05:00

Walking back to the car after the half marathon

Uncle Ben and the kids after the run

Uncle Ben carrying sleepy Maeve

The dudes in Dallas

Walking around Dallas

My guys!

Patrick got some cool new glasses in a cool area of Dallas

A cool store

Some cool people

Maeve was very excited to see Uncle Ben

Sleeping girl

Cool Ben and Cool Maeve

Cranky girl

Dallas skyline

We really enjoyed the Dallas Arboretum!

It was pretty windy!

Azaleas!

Maeve and the Azaleas

Kent liked this one

Salvia

Kent and the pansies and violas

Daddy and Maeve

Pansies

Kent in the Trial Grarden

Trial Garden

Azaleas

Maeve and the Beauty and the Beast Castle

Sitting in the shade while Maeve played in the castle

Running to the castle

Silly guys!

More of the lovely flowers at the arboretum

Daddy and Daughter

Kent's first photo

Daddy hugging a tired girl

The kids on a rock in the arboretum

Some flowers and a statue

Lovely!

Sitting by the water

Kent and a statue

I thought these were pretty fabulous

Very pretty

Cutie!

Kent had to touch the water in every pool

"Where's Daddy?"

Ball Game

2011-04-12T15:58:00.000-05:00

Kent played in his first real tee-ball game last night.

His team – the Hurt’s Superette Little Giants – wore green shirts. (This, by the way, is a minor perk of playing organized rec sports in the south: they still use sponsors with quaint-sounding business names.) Kent got number 3. One of his friends from school wound up with number 5 (the one he wanted, I think), which, for some reason, was printed backwards. He got to bat during the first half of the first inning, and cut an impressive figure striding to the plate: the only boy wearing a glowing pink helmet, brandishing a matching bat, and obviously eager to knock the yellow softball off the tee. (The umpire seemed concerned he might lose a finger while setting the ball, Kent was so avidly poised. I was a little worried myself.)

He hit the ball hard, and down the center of the infield. Like a swarm of bees – the other team was wearing yellow – the fielders chased after the ball, heedless of position. Kent decided to follow them. Instead of heading to first, he charged out toward the pitcher’s “mound” (in reality, a flat, chalky circle).

Even the third baseman from the yellow team knew that wasn’t right. He gave up on the ball and, charitably, began chasing Kent toward first base, mildly urging him on with a hand between his shoulder blades.

Kent got a little confused at this point, probably because so many kids were running around him in a relatively small space, surrounded by a metal fence and ringed with shouting grown-ups. He looked at the boy pushing him in the direction of first, and – I think – decided that the kid was trying to hurt him. (Maybe it was the outstretched arm). Kent screamed and started running directly across (more or less) the infield in the general direction of first base, peeking frantically over his shoulder every few moments to see if he was still being pursued.

He lost his footing somewhere deep in the foul territory of right field, and tumbled head-first onto the grass. He lay prone for a few seconds, and when he got up, it was apparent he was crying. He wasn’t hurt; he was upset that the other kid had caught him.

Nana, suckers, painting, and the movies

2011-04-04T22:38:00.003-05:00

Rainforest birthday party!

2011-03-28T15:56:00.002-05:00

Putting up the streamers

Drawing and coloring

Everyone hard at work

More party prepping

Zena meets the pups

Hunting for Snakes! Kent took this game very seriously.

The guys

Kent's friend, Kelsey holding Woody.

Cole holding Jessie

The kids playing in the backyard

Conner holding Jessie

Owen on the monkey bars

Carson swinging

Hayden

Ian and a snake

Kent was the first to hit the pinata.

He refused to wear the scarf as a blindfold

Carson hitting the pinata

Ian hitting the pinata

Conner hitting the pinata

Uncle Ben made this fabulous toucan pinata!

He was very handsome!

Kelsey was the one who brought it down.

Gathering the goodies

Ben, his bird and a beer.

Ani liked our new playhouse

Ani playing with the phone that came with the playhouse

Kent, Conner and the fabulous rainforest cake made by Mary.

Eating the animals off the cake

Patrick cutting the cake and the kids eating it.

Yum!

Uncle Ben scooped the icecream.

Maevey enjoyed the cake too!

Maeve was the last one still at the table when everyone was watching Kent open presents

More eating!

Time for presents!

Opening a present from Alec

Giving Alec a hug

Alec got Kent a book. While everyone waited to see him open more presents he read the book.

"I'm a fast reader."

A butterfly net from Ian and Ani.

A bug magnifier

Dog monster truck

Ben and Zena

Alec and Kent

Silliness

More silliness

Even more silliness

Kent tapping on his head with a toucan finger puppet

Maeve falling asleep at the table

All partied out!

Kent's 5th birthday

2011-03-27T13:16:00.001-05:00

Kent loves his new light saber from Uncle Tim, Auntie Robin and Lukey!

Maeve looking at her new tutu bathing suit.

Pretty cute!

Opening presents!

More presents....

Maeve got a few new things too!

Kent's cake

Happy birthday to Kent!

Kent loved it when we sang to him.

Blowing out his candle!

Dogs

2011-03-18T19:21:00.000-05:00

A few months ago Peggy Sue and Shiloh ran off. We hope that they have found their original owners or that they will make their way back to us soon. Although I feel bad that they are gone, I also feel that we at least tried to give them a home and had them spayed. Last week, we found out that our neighbors' Kemmer Cur and Black lab had puppies that were ready to take home. We picked out one female and one male. They are both blond. The kids named them Woody and Jessie. Hopefully we can train them to stay by the house (their parents stay outside next to our neighbors' house so I don't think it will be a problem). I still hope that Shiloh and Peggy Sue come back to us someday, although it would be pretty crazy to have five dogs!

Puppies!

2011-03-18T17:16:00.001-05:00

Woody and Jessie!

Jessie taking a nap on my leg

"This is the best day in my life!"

Woody (on the left) and Jessie (on the right)

Woody likes to eat

Jessie looks like a Kemmer Cur like her mama. Hopefully she will be as friendly as her mama but not as scary looking.

Woody on Kent's lap. I think Woody looks more like a lab like his dad.

Kent and Woody!

T-ball!

2011-03-17T21:54:00.000-05:00

Kent had his first t-ball practice today. He was extremely excited about it. We waited to the last minute to buy his helmet and the only one left with the face mask was bright pink. When I pointed that out Kent said, "YES! Can I have a pink bat too!?" I said "Sure. Why not?" I did feel like I should warn him that he would probably be the only boy with a pink helmet. He just shrugged. Anyways, Kent LOVED practice. When we were leaving he said, "Mama, that was the best thing ever! It was even funner than eating gumdrops!" He later changed his mind and said that it came second to eating candy but it was still really great.

Kent's first t-ball practice

2011-03-17T21:42:00.001-05:00

running to second base

waiting to get to run to second

talking with the coach

waiting for his turn to bat

I thought the moon looked cool.
So I took a picture of it.

Good hit!

the swing

getting in the right position

coach showing him where to stand

Good catch!

waiting his turn

still waiting

throwing

winding up

some more of the wind up

oops...this one got by him

practicing catching with the assistant coach

practicing running the bases

more running

and more running

and still more running

All Time Family Fitness

2011-03-12T10:49:00.001-06:00

eye balls!

big smiles

serious pose

working out is fun!

smiles

silly

serious

Artists hard at work

2011-03-12T10:32:00.000-06:00

We wanted some art for the wall. However we didn't want something corny, cliche or costly. We decided to buy some canvas from Walmart and commision the young budding artists that live with us to make us some original masterpieces. They had lots of fun and they didn't even charge us!

Works of art

2011-03-12T10:16:00.000-06:00

New futon cover and new hardwood floor!

2011-03-12T10:14:00.000-06:00

Saturday Morning Dancing

2011-03-12T10:11:00.000-06:00

Bird Watching

2011-03-12T10:04:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Day

2011-03-12T10:01:00.000-06:00

Oops, I forgot to add this picture. This was on Valentine's Day. Great-Grandma sent the kids a huge cookie!

Daddy and daughter snuggling

2011-03-05T17:02:00.000-06:00

Finches

2011-03-05T16:59:00.000-06:00

I was so excited when the goldfinches started to come to my finch feeders on the front porch. I was less excited to see what they keep leaving behind all over the porch.

A bowl full of Burns

2011-03-05T16:56:00.002-06:00

barefooted in the rain in February!

2011-03-05T16:54:00.000-06:00

Sleepy heads

2011-03-05T16:50:00.000-06:00

I love to see these two snuggle together. It doesn't happen too often because, although, they share a room Maeve prefers to sleep on the floor.

New do

2011-03-05T16:47:00.000-06:00

Kent got his haircut. He told the stylist exactlyhow he wanted it,

Snow Day

2011-02-09T21:33:00.004-06:00

Today we had out 5th snow day this year! These pictures were actually from our 4th snow day. Maeve was in a cranky mood because she badly needed a nap. Kent and I had a lot of fun though.

All bundled up

2011-02-09T21:30:00.000-06:00

Kent on the swing in the snow

2011-02-09T21:25:00.000-06:00

Maeve in the front yard

2011-02-09T21:23:00.001-06:00

Cranky

2011-02-09T21:18:00.002-06:00

She wanted to go outside but she didn't want snowpants. She wanted to play in the snow but she didn't want her mittens to get snowy. Sometimes it is hard to be two.

Maevey doesn't like snow on her mitten

2011-02-09T21:17:00.000-06:00

Relaxing

2011-02-09T21:13:00.000-06:00

Silly Kent in the Snow

2011-02-09T21:11:00.000-06:00

Too cold

2011-02-09T21:09:00.000-06:00

Patrick and Kent playing chess

2011-02-07T20:36:00.001-06:00

Patrick started to teach Kent how to play chess. I was very impressed with Patrick's patience.

Kent and his chess piece

2011-02-07T20:35:00.000-06:00

Maevey needed a picture with a chess piece too

2011-02-07T20:33:00.000-06:00

Making Moves

2011-02-07T20:28:00.001-06:00

How to plant seeds indoors:

2011-02-03T21:13:00.005-06:00

1. Sort out the seeds that need to be planted indoors 8-10 weeks before it is warm outside.

2. Read the directions on the back.

3. Fill up the tray with potting soil.

4. Make holes in the soil. If you get bored, assign that job to your mama. Put seeds in the holes. Freak out a little if mama helps too much.

5. Tell your mama to do the rest. Spend the rest of the time learning really fascinating stuff like growth zones and say stuff like, "Whoa! You can plant these in Arkansas in March and April!"

Maeva Stewart

2011-02-03T21:08:00.001-06:00

I admit the apron was my idea. However, walking around the kitchen with an oven mitt and chewing on a stalk of celery was all her.

Brother needed to have a picture in the kitchen too

2011-02-03T21:06:00.001-06:00

How to prepare and eat naan:

2011-02-03T20:41:00.003-06:00

1. Let your mommy cut the pieces and arrange them on a cookie sheet. Then paint on lots (and I mean lots) of olive oil.

2. Sprinkle on some spices. Or just pour the entire container on one spot and let your mommy figure out how to spread it to the other pieces.

3. Sit and wait about 10 minutes. Look as cute as possible and say, "I'm sitting and waiting!"

4. Examine the finished result. Scowl a little at the burnt spots (mommy's fault).

5. Give a tiny taste. Then abandon it on the table and concentrate on something way more delicious like cheese!

Brother needed to have a picture with his dinner too

2011-02-03T20:36:00.000-06:00

Rain Day

2011-02-03T20:29:00.002-06:00

The public schools in our area were closed due to the possibility of the rain freezing. It didn't freeze but we enjoyed having a day off. The kids played really well together all day! Here they are in their playroom on our "rain day".

Uncle Robin

2011-02-03T20:25:00.001-06:00

Maeve stuffed a doll up her shirt and said, "Look at me! I'm Uncle Robin."

How to accessorize your cat:

2011-01-30T21:29:00.004-06:00

1. Squeeze his head to determine his head size and to test how much he will put up with.

2. Pull his head up until it is in the desired position.

3. Try all kinds of interesting looks.

4. Don't be timid about being forceful with him. If you need to smash his head a little do what you have to do.

5. Voila! Examine your masterpiece.

2011-01-30T21:26:00.000-06:00

Who says that redheads don't look good in pink?

Ring around the rosie with Ian and Ani

2011-01-30T20:54:00.003-06:00

"Come on guys. let's do Ring around the rosey."

Ring around the rosey. Pocket full of posies.

ashes, ashes....

I really wish I took a picture of them all fallen down. You'll have to use your imagination.

Pizza Hut Copycat recipe

2011-01-30T20:45:00.003-06:00

The kids and I made pizza. We used a copycat Pizza Hut recipe that I found online. It was pretty good and it actually tasted a little like Pizza Hut.

Surprising new skill

2011-01-30T20:38:00.002-06:00

I put a cutie in front of Maeve and before I new it she started to peel it by herself. I was shocked. I thought that when I put cuties in her lunch her babysitter peel them for her. I guess not.