Grady's First Skype

Dear Aunt Jenny,
I miss you! I am going to have to talk my parents into getting a camera for our computer like Pete has so I can talk to you more. That was really fun! Don't worry...I'm going to convince them to get me one! I can't wait to see you in June!
Love, Grady

Easter

Easter Bunny's goodies...
BUBBLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

checking out the new crayons...

After church, we had lunch with Josh's family at Aunt Vonnie's house. Grady had a BALL hunting for Easter eggs! He was a little pro!

Happy Easter!!!

***Disclaimer: My corny husband decided to make a post on the blog under my name without telling me (see previous post about dyeing eggs...) NO, I would not describe the color of the ruined eggs the way that he did on a blog post for all to see. In the future, Josh will have to sign in as himself if he would like to post! ha!

Dyeing Easter Egg Experiment

This year was round 2 for dyeing eggs with Grady. We had to restrain the poor guy in the high chair, or the cups with dye would have been empty before we started. We tried to avoid a mess, but ofcourse, Josh ruined any chance of that. Josh splashed one all over the eggs and a few ended up the color of terd brennel. We survived the potential disaster and managed to keep the cups from being toppled over on us. 

Momma, I promise I won't break them!

The new meaning of egg drop soup.

Evidence of minimal mess

Some eggs just never make it to Easter.

Backyard Baseball

Dad and Erin, these are for you...

3rd Grade Cafeteria Conversations

Kids say the darndest things. When you are a teacher, you hear so many funny things... The first year I started teaching, someone told me that I needed to keep a little notebook just to write down the hilarious stories. I have had some GREAT ones over the years... WHen I taught kindergarten, I definitely had more stories than I have in 3rd grade.....but still, I get a few every now and then that are just moments that crack me up... So here's one from Friday in the cafeteria:

Most of the time, my kids want to talk my ears off at the lunch table, but sometimes, they are so involved in their conversations, that I'm not even noticed even though I'm squashed in on the end of the bench like a sardine... oh, the joys of eating lunch in a school cafeteria every day! ha!

Well Friday was one of those days that they were chatting away to each other and I was just taking up space on their bench. ha. I returned to the table from heating my lunch in the microwave and found within 3 seconds of listening in to them that they were discussing how old their mamas are... Here's the conversation that made me bust out laughing:

Boy: Hey, how old's your mom? Is she 25?

Girl A: No, she's 32.

Boy: (shaking his head...) MAN! 32! (turning to another girl...) Hey, is your mom 25?

Girl B: No, my mom's 41. And my dog's 42...in dog years.

Boy: (eyes popping out of his head and shaking his head like he'd heard some awful news...) MAN!!! Old dog and old MOM!

I couldn't help it...I busted out laughing... They were dead serious. I guess I am ancient to them! ha! Funny what kids are thinking about.

The Paci-Thief

I am a bad mama. Grady still has a paci...but ONLY in his crib when he goes to sleep at night. That's it. I know, I know...I need to get rid of it. But mamas will do ANYTHING to get sleep, it seems. When I was Grady's age, my mom told me that the Easter Bunny needed a paci for her baby...and according to Mom, I just accepted it as that, no questions asked...and that was the end of the paci for me. Hmmm....... Josh wanted to do this at Christmas and let Buddy the Elf take it to Santa for an elf baby somewhere. But I didn't think that would fly with Grady-man, and so we didn't. So now, Josh has told me that I have no choice...the paci is going bye-bye. SO, Grady and I have been having some "talks" about it at night when we are doing the bedtime routine, getting out of the bathtub, getting his pj's on, etc. I told him all about the Easter bunny and all of the baby bunnies around the world that need paci's from big boys and girls who don't need theirs anymore... (Meanwhile, Grady listens to every word I am saying very carefully with wide eyes...) I am feeling good, like he's paying attention and might be possibly comprehending just a portion of what I'm saying. And then I ask the question... "Grady, are you going to be a big boy and give the baby bunnies your paci?" He looks straight at me and says REALLY loud and emphatically as he shakes his head, "NO!" Ok, so he DOES understand me... But the boy has a mind of his own for SURE! Lately, we've figured out that his favorite word on the planet is NO. But we've also realized that it's our fault... we say it to him all the time, so he's quite used to hearing it and knows exactly how to say it himself. ANYWAY, maybe he'll change his mind about the whole give-the-paci-to-the-bunny-thing. We'll see... Here are a few of his "bunny pictures"... He would NOT let the bunny sit in his lap, or on a bench near him. He liked it "over there" but not up close and personal. Poor kid...he was probably thinking this was the paci-thief and didn't want to get too close...