the perfect fit

miss gracie & i went shopping for a special someone's birthday present yesterday while bubby was in preschool.   little gal loves the mall i found out!  we did things at her pace, something we often fail to do when we are out shopping.   every chair was sat in, every wet floor sign picked up, every headless manequin laughed at ("this daddy doesn't have a head, heeh heeh!"  or "this mommy doesn't have a head, heeh heeh!") and  clothes rack hidden in.  & every high heeled shoe tried on. 
these were her favorite pair.

she said they fit "juust right."

ridin

ben & his first ride on his bike!

where's waldo?

not one of his better hiding spots.

oh my darling gracie girl,

could you be any stinkin cuter??

 

i wuv you, my wittle gurl!

sunday, oh what a funday!

papaw got the kiddos some kites to fly. despite the sprinkles, we had a fun time outside. 

miss gracie loved it.

it was a team effort on her kite  aunt peggy or damaw chased her around "flying" her kite for her. 

mr. ben was determined to fly it all by himself.  no help. 

he did share with daddy though.

after kite flying, we had to get out the teeball set to show papaw ben's baseball skills.

 & to get some pointers from an old lefty. 

everyone took a swing & ran around.   

oh, the countless numbers of ballgames that have been played in that backyard over the years.  good times.

hey batter, batter!

daddy & ben hit the field for the first time this weekend.  it was so sweet watching them, almost brought tears to my eyes. 

base hit! 

running the bases.    a bit of direction was needed the first time (he headed for third after his hit).  after that though, he had it down. 

check out that fielding!  a future philly in action!

ben got to meet his coach & a teammate, who were there after a big brother's practice.  the boys (big & little) had a good time practicing.  when the other guys left, ben yelled,"bye coach!" 

benj is lovin ball already & his first "real" practice isn't until after easter.  

little sis is ready to play too!  (not really, she did not like t ball one bit on saturday.)

daddy's home!

the kiddos couldn't wait for daddio to get home.

running into the airport. 

waiting paitently.  we got there a tad early. 

home!  miss gracie, the goat face (what she wanted painted on her from the children's museum earlier in the day), helped him pull the suitcase all the way to the van. 

momma jaguar keep away!

after preschool thursday, we headed to the zoo. i had promised we'd do it sometime in the week while daddio was away & time was running out. 

 the kiddos were a bit worn out towards the end, dragging a bit.  "this was the worst idea ever!" they said.  oh, the drama! 

we hit amazonia last & got to see the baby jaguar cubs. 

momma jaguar was quite interested in miss gracie.

  staring. & pacing. 

i think maybe it was her dress.  check out that jaguar looking at her!

grace thought it was all pretty cool! 

a bit too scary for this momma though.  i'm glad there was some thick glass between us.  it freaked annabelle, melissa & me out a bit. 

mr. ben checking out the wildlife through the binoculars in amazonia. 

at the end, we had some dippin dots ice cream & everyone was recharged & happy again. 

yea for spring!

today felt like a lovely spring & we took advantage of it (once we finally got out of bed)!  unfortunately, the house work i was planning on doing this week while daddio is gone is not getting done so much.  we'll have a rainy day soon for that. 

played at the playground with friends after preschool.  always lots o fun.

played at home & went for a walk in search of mr. friendly kitty.  he was no where to be found today. 

but what a wonderful day! 

so many neat things to look at!

i asked ben to smile for a picture for daddio.

here it is.  he loves ya!

miss grace was hugging on ben & of course, i had to ask them to do it again so i could get a picture.  i annoy them so! 

looking forward to another fun filled day with the kiddos! missing you justin!

chunky cheese's

we went for the first time ever with the kiddos to chunky cheese's (as benj calls it).  they sponser a lot of kids' pbs programming & other shows we seem to watch, so the kiddos have been asking for quite a while to go.  "someday," has always been my reply.
well, daddio suggested we go saturday for some special fun before he headed out of town.  many others had that same idea.  there was a line at some points to the door to get in to the stinkin place.  while i was waiting in line to order, the lady behind me who was apparently a "regular" said she had never seen it so crazy. 

& crazy it was!  i'm not a perfect person by any means, but i really couldn't believe some people.  a lady screaming that someone stole her kid's $80 shoes (yes, $80).  & that's why he shouldn't of taken them off in the play area (yes, he should).  parents yelling at kids, kids pushing in front of others (& my kids) to play games.  i got in a stare down with a probably 8 year old over butting in front of miss grace.   i don't know how we survived. 

the kiddos did have a good time. 

gracie got to ride a horsey.  loved it.

ben found some racing game with spongebob.  loved it.  he plays everything with such intensity.

& the play area.  he really loved that. 

miss grace couldn't quite make it up to the next platform in the play area, so i asked ben to help her. 

he just lifted her up like nothing.  taking care of her. 

by the time we left, we were all ready to go home.  they were both out shortly.


saturday night was not so fun.  mr. ben got sick. 
all.
night.
long. 

 & gracie was way wild up (as ben says) after her nice long  nap & the breathing treatment before bedtime which really got her wired.  she was bouncing down the hallway around 11:30 pretending to be a bunny.  i quit looking at the clock & turned off the alarm clock for church then.  ben was puking on 1 side & gracie was jumping in the bed on the other (daddio was asleep on the couch, trying to avoid the sickness before his trip).  she did hop into the kitchen to get a sick bowl for bubby.  i heard clanging around in the kitchen for what seemed like forever (ben was upchucking a lot).  she came back with the biggest bowl she could find.  she was such a helper taking care of her big brother.   the next morning when i went into the kitchen, all the bowls from the plastic cabinet were out & lined up just so. 

i had to recreate it, as i didn't take a picture at the time.  but this is what it looked like.  she took some time there.