Father, Daughter

Easter Sunday

We kept things quiet, because Win had to study most of the day. But we did all the Easter stuff, went to church, made a cake, and had a delicious Easter dinner. There was lots of playing outside and relaxing. And candy eating.


Riding the sugar high at about 8 a.m. Sunday morning. The Easter Bunny left eggs in the living room and candy in the baskets, along with Matchbox Cars, Star Wars Legos (for Bean Dip), and a Leapfrog phone (for Baby G.)


Hunting Easter eggs in the backyard after Easter Mass. Yep, we made it to church. All of us, even Win. We were late and got to sit in the front row, but we made it.


Making our Easter cake. Bean Dip came up with the design/recipe -- chocolate with pink frosting and strawberries. The menu for our Easter dinner was ham, French potato salad, and roasted asparagus. Bean Dip made my day by eating it all, and proclaiming, "Mama, the food you made is really good."

Done, and DONE.

Win had his final check ride last night, and he PASSED. After a year of torture, he's done with flight school. He is so happy, and so am I.

Also, in other exciting family news, his brother is back from a very tough deployment in Afghanistan. We are so happy he is home safe.

Holy Saturday

We had a birthday party on Saturday. Bean Dip and Baby G were both invited. It was at the Fun Factory in Enterprise, and the kids had so much fun. Alex turned three. His cake was camouflaged and had a helicopter on it. As you can see, the room has helicopters, too.


And then we came home to wake up Win and dye Easter eggs. Bean Dip made a huge mess with the dye, but he had a blast. Baby G kept yelling, "Egg!" and ended up eating on that had cracked. She is a huge fan of boiled eggs.

The Carrot Seed

Is now a carrot.

Spring Break

Bean Dip's spring break wasn't all that exciting. It is hot, hot, hot here, so we have had lots of mornings and afternoons outside with the kiddie pool filled up. Baby G loves the water, and now assumes that every time she goes outside she gets to swim. Which she does.

The one day we had something fun planned, the car wouldn't start -- a dead battery. So the next day we spent the day up in Montgomery while the car got some work done. Friday, we spent Earth Day not being good Earth lovers. We spent the day shopping in Dothan.

During all of this, Win has been busy finishing up his last phase of flight school. It is unbelievable that after two long years it is almost over.

And now I'm going to get some blog posts written while the computer is cooperating. It is being very temperamental!

Problems

I am having trouble posting pictures on my blog. Every time I attempt it, the entire page freezes. I don't know if it is a Blogger problem, or just another computer problem. I'll add it to the list after Trouble Connecting to the Internet and Can't Sign on to Yahoo Messenger.

Can it really be time for a new laptop? This one is less than two years old ...

Spring Party Photos

A few photos from Bean Dip's Spring Party ...

Waiting while the two-year-old class gets a head start on the egg hunt.

Waiting for snack time.

G got to paint a picture, with a little help from her brother.

Strawberry Picking

Friday, we went strawberry picking at a farm just outside Enterprise. It was with the meetup group. Bean Dip was really excited to see his friend, Savannah. We hadn't seen them since before her baby sister was born.

The owner of the farm was very nice, and encouraged "tasting." She informed us that they don't use pesticides so it was safe to eat the strawberries straight off the vine. Baby G didn't do anything other than eat strawberries and yell "daw-derry" for more.

Bean Dip had two in his bucket, and spent the rest of the time eating strawberries and playing in the dirt. And playing with Savannah, of course.

We picked four pounds, and they were all gone by Sunday.

'Tis the Season

The tornado sirens went off around 1 a.m. this morning. Both Win and I got up, and ended up staying up until 3 a.m., watching the weather news and bad infomercials and waiting for the storm. We knew they were coming -- Win didn't fly and was home early because of the weather. I got our tornado shelter ready, and Win stood out watching the sky (the one thing they tell you not to do.) Luckily for us, the worst of the storm passed south of us, and all we got was a gentle thunderstorm.

We can see the fire station from our house, and there is no ignoring the tornado siren when it goes off. And here, people take it seriously. In March 2007, an F-4 tornado came through Enterprise, hitting the high school and killing eight students. It is very sad and scary what they can do. Funny that tornadoes are Bean Dip's favorite storm (that also happens to be his pick-up line: "Do you know what my favorite storm is?) Thankfully, both kids slept through the sirens and thunder.

This line of storms did a lot of damage in Alabama and the rest of the country. Here is an article.

The upside of the bad weather is that Win was home early, and we watched Black Swan. It is terrifying, dark, and twisted without being a horror movie, and absolutely fantastic. Natalie Portman deserves the Oscar she won for it. But definitely not a movie for everyone (like you, Mom!)

What Makes Me Happy: Preschool

Bean Dip has Spring Break next week, so yesterday his class had their Spring Party. Really, it was an Easter party, but officially it was a "Spring" party. Anyway, on Tuesday they had made Easter baskets, and yesterday they dyed Easter eggs. With real, messy dye. The party started with story time, while volunteer "Easter Bunnies" hid the eggs outside on the playground. Then we all went outside, and each kid got to find two eggs. What was so sweet for me was that the teachers had made sure there were extra baskets for all the siblings who came. So Baby G had her own basket and got hunt eggs, too. She stood by BD in line and held his hand until she got overwhelmed and wanted to be held.

After the egg hunt, we came inside for snack time. They made bunnies in the grass with a pear half, baby carrots, raisins, lettuce and a marshmallow (for the tail). They also sang the song "Little Bunny Foo Foo," one I remember from childhood.

I love, love, love this first school experience BD is having. The teachers are always smiling and friendly, and the kids are always doing some kind of cool project. Just the other week, they got to play with live worms for "W" day. How cool is that? I love that the teachers aren't afraid to get dirty. And yesterday, during snack time G wandered off to wash her hands at the sink. One of the teachers came over and helped her. Then G found the easel with paint, so the teacher got her a piece of paper and helped G paint a picture.

So now we have a week off ... and I know Bean Dip will be missing school. He was really disappointed when I told him it was Spring Break. I hope this love of school will last through college.

Thunder Chicken

Rocky took the feathers from Win's turkey home and mounted them for him. He brought the finished product over this week. I think he did a good job. Now Win needs a trophy room.

Hotel!

What's the best part about staying in a hotel? Jumping on the bed and playing with the air-conditioner!

(And yes, Baby G is carrying Bunny in her mouth.)

Trains, Trains and Trains!

This weekend we had an impromptu mini-vacation. I happened to find out there was a Day Out With Thomas, and after a quick discussion with Win, immediately bought tickets and booked a hotel. The event was in Calera, Al., at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum. It was about 2.5 hours away, so that's why we decided to spend the night. And Bean Dip loves hotels, so it added to the fun.

We drove up Saturday afternoon. We went swimming at the hotel -- at least Win, Baby G and I did. The water was pretty cold. Bean Dip stuck his feet in, then entertained himself by retrieving balls thrown out of the pool by a couple of boys playing catch. It took Baby G a minute, but eventually she held her arms out to me, and I brought her in the water. The cold doesn't bother her like Bean Dip.

We went out to dinner at Jim'N'Nick's BBQ. We were told they have the best BBQ, and man, it was delicious. We had quite a nice dining experience too -- we sat outside and the kids behaved. It wasn't even that humid. G inhaled her food -- she cleared her plate of fruit and BBQ pulled pork. It took her about 30 minutes to chew a mouthful of meat, but she was determined to see it through.

We had tickets for Thomas on Sunday. The event was pretty cool -- an entire little festival devoted to kids and their love of Thomas. They had train tables set up to play with, mini-golf, temporary tattoos, jump houses, Sir Topsham Hatt, live kids music, etc. We took a ride on the mini-train that was part of the museum. There was even a storytelling/movie area that was pleasantly surprising to me. Inside an old passenger car, they had a large TV showing Thomas videos. They had a carpet in front for the kids to sit, and chairs for the parents. It was quiet, and best of all, air-conditioned. Perfect for kids (and parents) who needed a little break.

The biggest event was a ride on a real train pulled by a real Thomas. The conductors were all dressed up to fit the part. We had tickets for the second open car behind Thomas. It was a 30-minute ride, out into the countryside and then back. Baby G would have fallen asleep if she'd have let herself, and I think Win would have, too.

We left after the train ride. It was time -- if we would have stayed longer, someone would have had a meltdown. We stopped for Bread Co. in Montgomery on the way home (yippee!). It was a great little vacation, something that I think we all needed.

Check Out That Ponytail!

In the Gardens

On Saturday we went to the Dothan Botanical Gardens (who knew?). The gardens were free, well-cared for, and nearly empty (might have been because Dothan City Fest was going on). We spent about an hour there, just roaming the gardens and exploring. There was a koi pond complete with waterfall and bridge, a wetlands observatory, and a nice herb garden. The weather was spectacular, so it was nice to be out in nature.

After the gardens, we did a little shopping and then went to the "train library." We ended up eating an early dinner at Outback, and then headed home to watch basketball. The kids fell asleep on the ride and ended up sleeping straight through the night. Guess the gardens wore them out.

Here's the website: www.dabg.com.

How does our garden grow

Our little garden has really taken off. Clockwise from the top corner: potato, rosemary, thyme, carrots, lavender and oregano. Just behind the carrots, we have some basil just starting to come up. Our flowers never sprouted, but we are going to plant the flower Bean Dip planted at school. The potato plant started from a red potato that got lost in the cabinet and sprouted. And Bean Dip just planted some tangerine seeds somewhere in the mix. It has been a bit of an experimental garden and very fun.

Happy Friday

Thank you, New Girl on Post, for introducing me to this band!