Eating

I think I take entirely too many pictures of the kids eating. Is that weird? Well, regardless, they're stinking cute. The big kids are having a picnic in the back yard... they love to play outside. Lauramae has decided that she needs to be like the big people and use a fork or spoon. So, we oblige her.

Ice Skating with Riley

Coralee got to go ice skating with Riley and had a lot of fun. I was just thrilled that I didn't have to go and get out on the ice with them!

Valentine's Day

I stayed home from church with Lincoln & Lauramae. We had a fabulous dinner of frozen lasagna & salad. We had bought the kids candy and let them have it as dessert. I bought Ken a bacon chocolate bar and some Fitz's root beer. He bought the girls and me flowers. I love flowers! We brought the kids to church that night and then went to Catfish Parlor with friends.

Valentine's Weekend

Last year we went to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco for Valentine's Day. It was so much fun that we decided to go again this year. Lincoln woke up croupy but I figured he'd get better during the course of the day. We drove to the zoo, started to get out and realized that Lincoln's coat was at home. It was way too cold to not have a coat so we used the blessed iPhone to find a Walmart. Thankfully they still had some coats left! We decided it was too close to lunch time to go to the zoo first, so we had lunch at Poppa Rollo's Pizza. A friend of ours from church has a great TV show on KLRU called The Austin Daytripper and went there on the trip to Waco. It was very yummy. We had a great time at the zoo but unfortunately Lincoln sounded like a chain smoker by the time we were done. We stopped at the Dr. Pepper Museum for a drink and then headed up to the Czech Stop in West for kolaches and beer bread. After that we headed home and Ken took Lincoln to the after hours clinic at the pediatrician's office. They gave him some albuterol and orapred. We love those drugs!

Coralee's Class Valentine's Party

Lincoln had been coughing and Lauramae was snotty but I felt like I really needed to go to Coralee's party. So, I loaded the little ones in the stroller and we attempted to enjoy ourselves. Lincoln was very upset about not being able to play with the trains. Lauramae wanted to be held. It was far from pleasant for Mommy. We left after Coralee did her last activity (a scavenger hunt). The entire way out Lincoln screamed. We got home and I put him in bed because he continued to scream. He fell asleep for a little while and Lauramae went to sleep too. I definitely needed the peace and quiet after all that!

Sisters

Lauramae was wearing Coralee's Easter dress that day. We used to take pictures of the kids dressed up for church all the time. That rarely happens now but it did that week. Aren't my girls pretty?

What could be more fun?

Lincoln loves to make trains with the laundry baskets. That's been fun for a while but now he's found Coralee's dirty clothes basket is a ton of fun, too.

Messy, messy, messy

The kids love frozen lasagna and they always end up with greasy orange mustaches. So cute!

Slave Labor

One of the things I love about our new washer/dryer is that the kids can take care of the laundry by themselves. Changing the loads is my least favorite part of laundry so it's great to have them do it for me!

Homeschooling

I'd like to say that we totally have it together. Homeschooling is the easiest thing I've ever done but boy howdy, it is not and I do not have it together! We've moved Coralee up to the Saxon 1 Math after giving her a placement test. I thought she knew all the stuff we had been doing with K but figured we'd just plug away anyway for practice. Reading has been hit or miss. We're on book #3 for reading.... this time it's the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. The idea is that you teach the kids the rules (aka grammar) of reading before tackling words. I'm also using my sight word cards from college. Glad they're finally useful. Generally Lincoln sits at the table with us. His favorite thing is to "draw draw". Here's his picture of a balloon. I feel a little guilty for doing so little with Coralee when she was his age. He's going to be leaps and bounds above where she was at 3.

We have signed up for Classical Conversations next year. It's a one day a week program where we'll work on memorization (timeline/history, geography, math, science, Latin, and English grammar), art, music & science. We're planning to finish out the semester after Spring Break. I've been asked to tutor next year and I'm really excited about being in Coralee's class. The director and I thought it would be good if I saw everything in action as much as possible. I'm really excited about it!

Jody's Visit

In January, my favorite cousin Jody came to visit. He had to be in San Antonio for combat training before leaving for Iraq. As always, it was great to see him. We thoroughly enjoyed having his family so close when he was stationed in SA and can't wait for them to come back when he retires from the Air Force in a few years. Mom & Bubba came up that weekend, too, which made it extra nice. Friday night we had dinner at home. Saturday we went downtown for the Texas Rally for Life which was a neat experience as well. Lincoln picked up on people shouting "Pro-Life" but his variation was "O A" and he repeated it a lot as we walked down Congress Ave. That afternoon we went to Maria's Taco Express for a little snack and then had dinner at the Salt Lick in Round Rock. Somewhere in the middle, Lauramae had a stinky and being the oh so prepared Mom that I am, we had to get more diapers because I neglected to pack any in the diaper bag. I'm not nearly as prepared for things as I was in the past!

Sometimes you just have to get out of the house!

This winter has been cooler than usual and it seems like wetter than usual, too. I can't say how many days I've walked around in jeans that are soaked from the ankle down. I've always loved being a Texan but even our wet and cold weather (in comparison to the rest of the country) has made me even more thankful this year. We finally had a sunny day so I took the kids to the Nature & Science Center for a little while. Oh how I miss those trips... Coralee & I used to go all the time! I have never enjoyed being outside as much as I did that day! It was gorgeous!

A Day in the Life

Before Coralee I didn't work full time for 4 years. I couldn't stand staying at home all day.... had to get out once a day. When she got here, we rarely stayed home all day. With Lincoln we got out a good bit but boy howdy have things changed now. I feel a little scarred from Lincoln's behavior over the last year. Being 2 is just hard although thankfully it is getting easier as we get closer to 2.5. We stay at home a good bit with at least one pajama day a week. It's just easier that way!