Busting out the Shorts AND the Tank Tops

This afternoon was lovely!  It was finally in the high 70s (and, yes, I am aware that in just a few short months I will be wanting cooler weather back), so the kids were able to shed a few layers.   No one is more excited about this than E.  This child had resorted to wearing tshirts OVER long sleeve shirts with shorts OVER pants.  He was desperate for this weather.

 i really wanted to get a picture of the kids together in front of the pretty tree we have just outside of our garage.  it blooms big white flowers, but they don't last too long and they haven't really been thrilled with the warm then drastically cold weather changes we have had lately.  so, i didn't know how much longer it would be white!

any way, this is how it went.  evan - totally ready to pose.  gracie - 100% Get. YOUR. HAND. OFF. ME.

 Seriously.  Don't TOUCH me.  in her defense...she went to bed at the time that she normally gets up from her nap, and we had to wake her up at 4pm...she was really not thrilled about that and decided to be grumpy for quite a bit of time afterwards to pay us back.

 when, i say cheese and look at the camera...this is what i get.  

Babysitting/Playdate

Today, I babysat for a friend for a few hours in the morning.  The oldest is in Evan's preschool class, and her daughter is just a little bit older than Gracie.  It was WAAAAY easier than I thought it would be!  Normally, with my kids by themselves, they are always going off in opposite directions and wanting to do different things.  Somehow, with four kids, they stuck together and played relatively happily with the same sort of activities...or the boys did one thing and the girls did something else.  My main job was peace keeper and general safety authority!  It was a little strange not to be activity coordinator/main entertainer!

the boys played with squirt guns and amazingly followed the orders  that they were not to shoot water towards people

lots of time was spent moving sand...individually

and as a group

we had snack time.  gracie asked for a snack at 10am...you could almost set a clock by her with her requests for food.  piper joined her and ate a little bit.

then e joined in

and THEN, it was just gracie.  who ate all her snack AND the rest of piper's and evan's

and, because for some reason i am the go to hair stylist for any little girl that i spend time with,  piper ended up with matching pig tails with gracie.

Rainy Weeks and the BEAUTIFUL Weekends!

 If it rains all week (literally downpours all day and all night), then it probably means pretty decent puddles outside!  It all means that the pump in our basement is taking a vacation from too much work!

if it rains constantly it also means that the boys will be out mowing...a lot

gracie also got to take her very first spin on the riding mower.  e was busy playing with his bff next door because usually he is with bret for 100% of the yard work

gracie isn't picky when it comes to shades!  if she sees hers, evan's, bret's or mine out, she must put them on.

St Thomas VI

I LOVE St Thomas.  One of Bret and I's stops during our honeymoon cruise was St. Thomas, so we were really excited to be able to make the trip again 6 years later!

one of the docks around the island...this one is at red hook

so.  if you know me, you know that i'm not a big drinker.  i never have been.  lucky for me, bret's customer that came along is also not a big drinker.  on our second full day of the trip. we went out exploring in st thomas and ended up at a really fun bar.  sahsha (the customer) spied these plastic alligators at the bar and commented on how her 3 year old son would love one.  i thought e would too, so we asked what we had to do to get an alligator.  it turns out we had to take a shot..out of the alligator.  anything for the kids...and we even convinced the boys to join in so that both e and g could have an alligator : )!

coki beach...super beautiful beach.  we stopped here  to visit coral world on our mission to find great souvenirs.

i got up close and personal with a couple of iguanas just chilling around coral world

cruise ship!  our hotel was very close to a port where the cruise ships stop in, so we saw a lot of cruise ships throughout the week

one of the pools at our hotel

another view from the hotel

the group (almost...we were missing one ferguson couple).

leaving st thomas en route to st john

all bret wanted to do was snorkel!  so, we planned a trip over to st. john to visit the famous trunk bay (a beautiful beach that is wonderful for snorkeling).  this was neat for bret and i because we made this same trip over 6 years ago on our honeymoon!

bret and jason getting ready to head out in the water!

and off he goes : )

somehow we ended up at duffy's love shack (bar with the alligators) again??  and, of course, the drinks were chosen completely by the glasses they came in.  bret got one that came in a shark for evan, and i got one that came in a monkey for gracie.

on our last full day (after all the customers and most ferguson people had already left), bret and i planned an afternoon to go snorkeling with sea turtles!  i was in heaven!!  i was a smidge nervous considering my less than stellar performance on the last catamaran i was on in hawaii, but this turned out to be MUCH better!  two 45 minute trips, and I was even slightly nauseous!!  we bought an underwater camera to take pictures, and i did take 27 pictures of sea turtles.  however, after developing the pictures, we discovered that you really can't tell that the pictures are of turtles..more like small slightly darker blobs in the distance...oh well!  the water really was incredibly clear, and it was really neat to see the turtles swimming along.

more views from the hotel!

and one of the many iguanas that hung out around the hotel

view from the rum bar at the hotel...

Misc Weekend Pictures!

What do the girls do when the boys go to the store?  Take pictures...obviously!  this is the moment when i realized that gracie isn't really my baby any more.  she is rapidly becoming a little girl!

and this is the moment that gracie (or say-see as she calls herself) realized she was done taking pictures

when you can't decide between milk and water...get both.   i think right now she is trying to make 2% milk by drinking her water and whole milk together.

and like everything else...if one kid is doing it, the other is not far behind!

if you asked evan what his favorite seasons were, he would with out a doubt say spring and summer.  this kid LOVES yard work!

Happy Easter!

I was not very good at taking pictures this Easter, but we did celebrate in New Castle this year.  The Easter Bunny did not disappoint with over flowing baskets and dozens of hidden eggs.  Gracie wasn't really into finding the eggs, but it was ok because Evan was SUPER into finding the eggs.  Both kids spent some quality time snacking on the treats in the eggs though! 

St Louis

    Since we don't get to see Kate, Brian, Zoe and Emma all that often, when they left Indiana to go to St Louis to visit Brian's family.  We sort of followed them.  Luckily, Brian's family let us crash at their house!  St. Louis had great things to do and explore, and I think the kids will be requesting a trip back very soon!  They loved the Magic house and couldn't get enough of the elephants at the zoo!

gracie playing in the sand!  the good news...she wasn't a playground bully this time and refrained from body slamming people out of her personal space!

evan did one thing the entire time he was there.  he fished.  they had a little pond indoors where you could catch pretend fish with magnets.  then, you dropped the fish in the pond on the other side of the room and watched the current take them down the river that run under glass tiles in the floor.  he loved it so much, i may insist that bret dig up part of our floor to recreate it!  or, maybe we will just visit st. louis again ; ).

gracie loved the nursery with all the babies and vet office with all the stuffed animals.  it took some serious negotiations to get her to move from either place!

with all the activities it wore everyone out...but gracie always finds enough energy  to put her hands up and dance!

then, evan, who could take or leave naps found it in him to snuggle with packaw

gracie swinging like a big girl!!!

and one of the best parts of brian's parent's house...a GIANT hill in their back yard.  if this was at my house, i would have my kids out there every day doing sprints up the hill.  they both thoroughly loved running up and down it.

another great thing about new places?   new friends!  this is e with my new  bestie, amanda.

and, of course, kate was all about the hill too!  when she woke up from her nap that was approximately 1.5 hours longer than she expected (i MAYBE forgot to wake her up), she hit the hill!  amanda was a little more willing to stop and pose with aunt kate than evan was!