Guy Day...

This was our conversation on Thursday evening over dinner:

Wade (to Clayton): Hey, Buddy, do you want to go fishing at the pond tomorrow after I finish with work?
Clayton: You mean, like, have a guy day?
Wade: Um, yeah, I guess you could call it that.
Clayton: Good, 'cause I am soo into being a man.

Wade & I are both trying to contain our laughter, at this point.

Wade: Well, that's a good thing. I'm glad that you want to be a man.
Clayton: Yeah, 'cause if I was a woman, I'd have to wear a dress and I couldn't hang upside down on the monkey bars. (Apparently, he figured out that concept from a Fancy Nancy book that one of the little girls in his class brought to preschool???)

Yep, he's all boy. No doubt about that one.

The next day, they had "guy day." Clayton caught a pretty decent sized bass, and out fished his Daddy. He was pretty proud of his catch. ;)

Spring is in the Air

It's Springtime - Yay! We've been enjoying this beautiful sunshine and the warmer temperatures.

We've been:

* Riding Bikes - Actually, let me rephrase that... the boys have been riding bikes. (Me, notsomuch. Bikes and I don't get along so well. ;) ) Wade bought a trailer for his bike for Drew to ride in.

As you can see, he likes it. :)

* Wearing Shorts - After just one week of wearing shorts, there are 4 skinned knees among my offspring. Good gracious! What are their little knees going to look like by the end of the summer?!?! Boys...

* Raising Butterflies - A while back I bought a butterfly habitat at Target (HERE, apparently it is available online only now) for Clayton. He has been begging me to order the caterpillars. I finally broke down at the beginning of March and ordered them. They arrived on March 19th as teeny tiny itty bitty caterpillars. The company guarantees that you will end up with at least 3 painted lady butterflies. Lucky for us, all 5 of our caterpillars became butterflies. It was so fun to watch them change grow, change into chrysalises, and then emerge as butterflies. Clayton really enjoyed watching the whole process. He would check on them as soon as he got up each morning and several times throughout the day. I would highly recommend it for little ones (it would be a fun birthday gift to give, too).

Yesterday we had a butterfly release in the backyard. Good times...

* Making a Bird Feeder - Today we used the instructions from Family Fun (HERE) to make a bird feeder. It was easy to make and cheap - an old orange juice container, 2 wooden spoons, and some bird seed.

Clayton is pretty excited about his feeder. I hope that he gets to see some birds tomorrow. :)

I hope that y'all are enjoying the beginning of Spring, too. Summer's just around the corner.... Yipee!!!!

Easter 2010

We had a wonderful Easter this year! It was filled with sweet candy, sweet family, sweet friends, and (best of all) sweet celebration of our Risen Savior!

The boys woke up to Easter baskets filled with goodies and eggs hidden around the living room. They both LOVED searching for the eggs. Drew got some big eggs that were filled with Sesame Street figurines. They were a BIG hit! He kept lining them up and then saying, "Mel-Mo! Mel-Mo!" What is it about that little red furry monster that toddlers find so fascinating?!?!

I'm so envious of those of you who have gorgeous family pictures from Easter morning standing in front of blooming bushes outside. None of my boys were feeling the picture love (surprise, surprise!). I managed to capture a couple of descent ones, though...

Our pastor delivered a really wonderful sermon. I caught myself with tears in my eyes several times just thinking about the miracle of Jesus' resurrection. He rose & conquered the grave! What joy that brings my soul...

After church and naps, we went to Wade's Mamaw's house to have dinner and another egg hunt. The kids had a ball with their cousins! We sure did miss Kaylee, Colin, Luke, Cameron, and Hailey, though. There are 12 cousins on that side - and they all have a ball when they all get together. :)

The Kid Table

Colby & Clayton
Clayton adores Colby, and Colby is always so sweet to play with him. He's such a good example to our boys!

My Gorgeous Nieces - Aren't they beautiful!?!?


Drew really got the hang of picking up eggs and putting them into his basket. :)

Cousin Pic

C and our sweet Mamaw

There was some Ladderball playing, too.

When we got home from Mamaw's, Clayton was thrilled to see that there were more eggs to search for. These were glow in the dark - right up his alley!

Wow - that was a lot of celebrating for one day! We have GOBS of candy at our house. Way more than there should be under one roof, for sure! I guess that's a good problem to have... ;)

Preschool Easter Party

Has anyone else noticed that almost every post from this month has revolved around my firstborn? Man, I'm feeling some Mommy guilt over that one... I promise that I will have an entire post devoted to my littlest boy very soon. :)

Today was Clayton's Easter party at preschool. They had a fun lunch, a craft, and an egg hunt. He made a cross with "He is Risen" written on it. It really is so pretty - I'll treasure it always! He was so excited to show it to me, and couldn't wait to display it in a prominent place at home. ;)

Class Photo before the Egg Hunt

His chapel teachers made a point of starting the egg hunt by saying, "What is Easter really all about?" The kids all shouted (in unison and with hand motions), "It's about a cross and an empty tomb!" The teachers stressed that the egg hunt was fun, but there was a much, much BIGGER reason to celebrate. Amen to that!

And, he's off!

I think that he was the first one to reach his 12 egg quota. :)

Checking out his loot...

This is one of his sweet school friends.
(Doesn't she have the prettiest hair???)

Another of Clayton's little pals...

He was most excited about his golden egg.
He said that it "must have cost a lot of money." Ha ha!

I know that I say this all of the time, but I really do love his little preschool! It hit me today that this would be his last holiday party at preschool. I am so sad about that. :( I'm thrilled about next year, though. I know that kindergarten is going to be GREAT!

Easter Traditions

I absolutely LOVE Easter! It ties with Christmas as my two favorite holidays. What could be more worthy of celebrating than the birth and resurrection of Christ?!?!

Every year, it seems that Easter means more and more to me. I love studying the death and resurrection in the weeks leading up to Easter, but it always makes me so emotional. It is hard to think of the physical pain that Jesus went through in the hours leading up to his death and the horrific torturous death that He endured. I'm so grateful that my Savior was willing to pay that price for me. Aren't you? I'm also eternally (literally!) thankful that He didn't stay in the tomb, but rose again!

Today Clayton and I made "Resurrection Rolls." I love the Resurrection Cookie recipe that we used last year, and I plan to make those again with him this weekend. I love the way that it uses scriptures throughout the recipe to tell the Easter story. But, this was a fun, quick recipe to try. It also tasted better (in my opinion) than the meringue cookies. You can't go wrong with Crescent rolls, butter, and cinnamon/sugar. Ha! ;)

Resurrection Rolls:

1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 pkg. jumbo size marshmallows
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1 small dish of cinnamon/sugar mix
wax paper

Separate the uncooked rolls and spread out on wax paper.

Give each child a marshmallow. Explain that the marshmallow with its white color represents Jesus who was pure and without sin. Have children place the marshmallow in the middle of their roll and fold/roll the dough until the marshmallow is completely covered up.
Explain how Jesus was laid in the tomb and how the tomb was sealed. (Be sure all of the edges are "pinched" together!)
Then tell the children how normally when people were buried in Jesus' time someone anointed them with oils and spices, but that Jesus' friends had to wait because the Sabbath was upon them and they could not go into the tomb. (During this time, have the children dip their "tomb" in the butter and then in the sugar/cinnamon mix.)
Then explain that they had to wait three days until they could come into the tomb. At this point, put the rolls in the oven and bake according to the directions on the crescent roll can.

When baked, give each child a tomb. Ask them to "open" it and see what the women found when they went to the tomb the first Easter morning!
The "tomb" is empty! Celebrate, Rejoice, and Eat!

After eating one (or a bunch!) of the rolls, we dyed Easter eggs. We had fun together while Little Brother was napping. Maybe next year Drew will be old enough to join in the fun. ;)


When Drew woke up, Clayton showed him the eggs. He kept saying, "Ball. Ball."

What a fun day we had!