Spring Break

I intended to sit down and post pictures on the blog at some point while I was off this week, but didn't get around to it.  Grady, Vera, and I have been super busy enjoying this week off!  We didn't go out of town, (other than a day trip to visit Pete and DeeDee in Yazoo), but we've played hard and had fun!  We had a play date with our friend Ruth at Pump It Up and another play date with Fisher, Sophie, and Sadie at our house, but I didn't slow down to take pictures of either!  I am loving this daylight savings time!  Going to be hard to wake up early in the morning!  One more "nine-weeks" of school left to go and then we get to do this for two months!  Hip Hip Hurray!

Here are a few pictures from the week...

Crawfish Boil at the Hopkins' house

Will's first trip to the ZOO!

 Vera is still fascinated with flamingoes...  She calls them "mingos" and gets so excited when she sees them!

Is this not the cutest little face you ever saw???  He was such a sweet boy!

Vera was cool with petting the pot-bellied pigs and goats.  Guess who wasn't so thrilled about it though?  ha ha.  (Hint:  yellow tshirt hanging out in the background)

And someone fell asleep before we could take a train ride...  maybe next time!

On Thursday we went to Yazoo for the day.  The fence does wonders!  Grady is all about feeding the goats as long as the fence separates them!

Lately...

I've been a bad blogger!  Here's what we have been up to lately...  

We've been enjoying the warmer weather.  Took a trip to the zoo...

 Vera danced for the monkeys...

I got to go and read to both Grady's and Vera's classes for Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Didn't take my camera and get pics but here are the treats we made for their friends to share.  Of course Grady-man and his friends were super well behaved and great listeners!  Vera's friends were great listeners as well.  But not Miss V.  She ran around the room in circles the whole time I was reading.  AGH!

Cat-in-the-Hat HATS

 Green Eggs and Ham

 Grady and Vera's school had a Mardi Gras day and the dressed up in costumes...  Vera was Minnie Mouse and Grady was Superman.

Valentines Day

Don't know how much longer Gradyman will think it is fun to help me bake/cook...  but while he still thinks it's cool, I am taking advantage of it!  We started the tradition of having a special Family Valentines Day Supper last year and continued it again this year.  Grady helped me decide on the special dessert...  We made a strawberry pie with a heart crust.  Thankfully, Vera was entertaining herself while all the baking was going on...  Don't know if I could have handled all of the help that she would have offered!  ha!

Happy Valentines Day from two little clowns...

Mississippi Snowstorm 2014

Today we had no school due to the gobs and gobs of winter weather present here in Mississippi....  HA.  Poor Josh woke up really early and left for work at like 6:15 a.m. because he figured it would take a while to get there.  When he pulled up at his office, his boss called and said they were closing today.  So he made the trip back home, going on side roads to avoid the standstill traffic on the interstate.

Oh well, I guess 6 snowflakes is better than no snowflakes...  (Just kidding...we had more than 6, but I am sure Jenny, Eric, and PawPaw will be laughing at these pictures of all of our snow!!!) 

We stayed inside all morning and just watched it, hoping that we would get at least enough to cover the grass and have a decent amount to play in.  After lunch, Josh decided from watching the radar that we probably had all we were going to get.  So we went out to play for a bit.  It was COLD!  This Mississippi girl lives down south for a reason...  I HATE to be cold!  So we didn't play very long.  But Vera and Grady thought it was great!  They looked just like Ralphie and Randy.  

 Vera thought it was hilarious when Josh threw snowballs at her!

 Of course my little eater had to taste some snow...

Now...let's hope for some warmer weather to come our way soon!  This cold is the pits!  I am ready for the beach!

Memphis Trip

For Christmas, we gave Grady and Vera tickets to the Fresh Beat Band concert in Memphis at the Orpheum.  My kids LOVE this show!  They watch it when it comes on tv, but they also have one of the season's DVD's and so we can watch it all the time...  ha ha.  When I first heard they were coming to Memphis, let's say that Josh didn't jump right on that as fast as I did...  It took him a while to give in and agree to get tickets for them for Christmas.  It was so worth it because they had SUCH a great time, and we did too.  They put on a good little show and there should just be more things like that for kiddos with positive messages and such.  Here are a few pics from the concert...  Neither of them were very interested in taking pictures as usual.

Josh sure looks pumped up about the Fresh Beats, doesn't he???  HAAA!  (He had a good time...even if he doesn't admit it!)

 Grady totally got into the music and actually danced and tried to sing along with the songs he knew...and we did know most of them!  V. even clapped and tried to sing along, too!

 We got seats right on the aisle as we had read reviews about the band encouraging kids to get up and dance in the aisles.  Grady and V. got in the aisle a few times, but were more fascinated with the big girls dancing behind them than the band on stage.  ha.

 Back at the hotel...  Aren't their little guitar shirts so cute!?  And we have already broken one of the fabulous light-up sticks!  Oh well!

 We spent the night and then took them to the Children's Museum of Memphis the next morning before heading back home.  This children's museum is the first one I ever went to when I was a kid and I had such great memories of it.  It did not disappoint!  It was SUCH a great children's museum and these two little kiddos (and two BIG kiddos) had a ball!  We hope to be able to take them back really soon as they thoroughly enjoyed it and didn't want to leave!