"My First Tie"

Nati's funny little comments

We celebrated my dad's 65th birthday a bit early this weekend since we were all together. Natalie saw us putting the candles in and asked us how old Papa Joe was. I told her 65, and she looked at me with wide eyes and said, " That is a lot of years! That is too much!" I think the rest of us found it to be much funnier than my dad. Sorry Papa Joe. I also complimented her on her careful stewardship of her Zhu Zhu pets. She said, "Thank you." I told her that was very polite and without missing a beat, she said, "it is my pleasure." That really cracked me up, that adult like phrase coming from my goofy-prone-to-temper-tantrum little 4 year old girl!

A few random photos

And not very good ones at that! Still, can't leave out photos of my munchkins. Peanut, as shown with Natalie, got a new collar finally! Her old one was around 4 years old and was really a cat collar that Meagan picked out when she was two. I love the Daddy/Nati picture; it is so sweet. The picture on top is from the Texas Memorial Museum at UT. Meagan is making a longhorn sign. Traitor.

Arts and Craps on a Cold (Spring?!?) Day

Meagan and Natalie call Arts and Crafts Arts and Craps. That is often a good name for it.
Could've fooled me that it is Spring! It sure doesn't feel like it with the cold 40 degree day that blew it's way into town early this morning. We have done quite a few things today, both productive and fun to try to stave off the boredom. The not so fun part was my running out to rent a Rug Doctor and Andy cleaned the high traffic areas. The carpets do look nice, though. The more fun parts included dying eggs. The high stress part of me doesn't like doing projects like this, but I remember dying eggs as a child and I really enjoyed it, so I pushed the Gold (teacher friends know what Gold personalities are) part away and let the Blue part of me do a messy project. For some reason a few of the colors acted funky, but the rest of them were good. Natalie cuddled the eggs like they were babies and Meagan liked the wax resistance crayon.
Natalie is ultra-obsessed with her Zhu Zhu pets. I will have to capture a photo of her with all (nine, thank you Grandma Lois!) hamsters. When we got them back in December we all figured that Nati would not be so interested and Meagan would love them. Turns out that Meagan likes them enough, but Natalie is in love. She carries them around in a basket all over the house and gave them new names that mean something just to her.

As of tomorrow...

...I am 5 months old! I am such a good baby and everyone comments on my easy smile. I am strong and can flip both ways. One of my favorite things to do is to go to my swimming lessons every Monday at Emler Swimming School. I love the "Fishies in the Pool" song (sung to the "Wheels on the Bus" tune) and the part where I get pushed around on a big floaty fish. Also, I grin whenever my sisters walk into the room. I am still a little guy, but I am catching up! It appears that my blue eyes are here for good, just like my sister.

Gymnastics Show

Meagan had her spring break Gymnastics Camp presentation today. She did a great job! All of the kids had a blast. She particuarly loved getting her medal! She took the camp with two of her good friends Avery and Lexi, which was a real treat since they go to another elementary school. Natalie felt a little left out, but we tried to do neat things all week like going to the book store, etc. Today she was able to sample out some of the equipment.

Happy Siblings!

Look at Matthew and Natalie's matching blue eyes. Not to be outdone, Meagan hams it up for the camera too. She adores her little brother, or as she puts it, "her baby."

Just in case you think being a stay at home mom is easy...

My AM:
Got up at 4:30 to my human alarm clock (i.e. Matthew) crying.
Went to gym at 6.
Came home, got girls ready for day
Folded load of laundry
Took Meagan to gymnastics.
Ran to bank.
Got Matthew ready for his little swimming lesson.
Nati, Matthew and I headed to swim lesson (which was fun!)
Ran home to feed Matthew
Off to YMCA to pick up Meagan
Unload dishwasher.
And this was all before one.

Nati's new haircut

Natalie and Meagan both got their hair cut, but Meagan's was not nearly as dramatic. Natalie had somewhere around 7 inches cut! It looks adorable. I may be biased, but she looks very pretty. The photos don't do it justice.

Today was Meagan's first soccer game. It did not go well as far as the actual game went; they must have lost by 10 points. The U6 league doesn't keep score, but the kids did! All in all it went well. A few years ago I would never have thought that Meagan would play anything like soccer, anything that would require people to be looking at her or cheering for her. She was so ultrashy, but kindergarten has been good for her.

I can't resist that smile!

I just have to photograph it (and kiss it!) He is such a good little guy.

crazy kids and first swimming lesson

Today has started off in a rough way. As soon as she woke up, Meagan was a mess. She was crying and saying that she didn't want to go to school. I am not sure really why other than she said that she didn't feel well. On the other hand, she says that all of the time so it is kind of a case of the Little Boy (girl) who cried wolf. We aren't used to Meagan truly throwing fits, though. Natalie does tend to throw some amazing crying, screaming fits when she wants to, but Meagan usually does not. Hopefully she will come home in a better mood this afternoon.
On a happier note, Matthew and I attended the Bathtub Babies class today at Emler Swim School. It was the cutest thing! He loved the water, even when his head accidently went underwater. He sputtered a little, but then was happy. The class was sort of like Gymboree in water; there were lots of songs and games. I am glad that we tried it out.