Taking turns

On a rainy day Parker and Bennett took turns playing with the hula hoop.

Thank you Crissie's mom for sending us Baby Jaguar!
We are so glad to have Baby Jaguar back in our lives. He went missing the Saturday we went to Starkville to visit for Taylor's birthday. I had no idea that she brought her with us and then left him at the Cook's house. We were frantic for a couple of days until we heard that he was comfortable living in Starkville and that she would be home soon. Since she has been back home sleep comes a little bit easier each night! Thanks again Crissie's mom for taking such good care of her!

Here is one of the ultrasound pictures of baby girl. As you can see she is very active and kicking wildly with one of her legs straight in the air. I also learned that she is breach right now so pray that in the next couple of months that she turns the right way. The ultrasound continues to have my due date on September 9th and I think that my doctor is going to induce around then so we might have a baby born on 9/9/09. That would be easy to remember!

Parker, what do you think it is?

We are very excited but I'm not sure Bennett feels that same way!

Well, I finally did it. Bennett got his first haircut! Parker was needing one too so on Saturday morning, Clif took the children to Waffle House for breakfast and then to get their haircut (I had a tennis match). Clif said at breakfast all the ladies were asking how old she was and they were referring to Bennett. He said "funny you should ask because HE is going to get a haircut today". I guess it was time.

Bennett hates to wear bibs these days so I guess he thought the smock was just one big bib and he didn't want to wear it.

As you can see, he wasn't quite sure what to think. To the right of him was a women with foil in her hair under the dryer.

The first cut of his beautifull curls! Clif made sure to keep some for for his baby book.

Parker got hers evened out too so we could let it grow long....I'm going to try again but I'm not sure if I can do it. She is so cute with it short and she will barely let me brush what she has.

And the result......He is even more adorable! And looks like a little boy so Clif is much happier. Also, he still has curls in the back!

The other night, Beth, Brian and Ruby came over for dinner and later in the evening while we were winding down and the children were watching Dora, I tried to sneak in a picture but Bennett moved from sitting on Parker's right side to her lap and starting saying "cheese". I think he was trying to sit in the middle but fell into Parker's lap. Either way I thought it was cute!

Sunday, Clif left early for New Mexico for work, so I tried to plan fun activities for the children since it rained on and off. We started off the day with some painting....we used these paint pens I got hoping that they would be less of a mess than having to use water. I was pleasantly surprised. Parker and Bennett had fun painting a few pictures for dad and there wasn't too much cleanup for mom!

Parker was concentrating hard on her masterpiece

Bennett was just having fun.
These are some random pictures of my lawn improvements. Back in February, we planted a new tree in the front lawn since we cut the dead one down last year. I selected a tulip poplar because it is a fast growing tree and we have a lot of lawn in the front. It was a little twig when it arrived but as you can see there are leaves blooming. This picture was a few weeks ago and it has leaves up and down its trunk now. I will keep you posted of its growth because I know that y'all are as interested in this as I am....HA!
This is another tree that we planted in the back yard. It was a tiny, tiny norway spruce sapling but it seems to be thriving and the lawn people haven't mowed it over yet! I know it is probably too big for the space but since it is such a slow grower I thought we could have a backyard Christmas tree eventually...Parker is excited about decorating it!
This is a picture of the irises that are in the backyard. They were already in the yard when we arrived so I won't take credit for them but they did much better this year than the last two.
I didn't take a picture of the hydrangeas yet but they are looking like they will have bountiful blooms this summer and I can't wait to show y'all!

Here are a few pictures of Coco and Poppa's Easter in Natchez with Crosby, Lauren and Crosby II. Below Crosby got the hang of hunting for Easter eggs.

Just hanging out at Grandmother Belle and Tootsie's house.

Big smiles after Easter brunch.

I realize that I don't take enough videos and I really need to do better so I took this cute little video of Bennett playing at the table while I ate my breakfast. Hope you enjoy!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. The weather was nicer than any other Easter that I can remember. Last weekend, we had a trial egg hunt at the Methodist Church. Since it was sprinkling that morning they hid the eggs inside. Dad said that it looked more like 52 card pick- up than and egg hunt but Parker knew exactly what to do and Bennett quickly got the hang of it. I tried to get smiles out of both of them but it was kind of hard. Then this past Saturday the Country Club had it annual Easter Egg hunt. Two years ago it was the egg hunt that Parker lost all of her eggs running after other eggs. I will re-post that video and try to get Bennett's first egg hunt posted. He definitely knew what to do but there are sand traps on the golf course and he ran right past the eggs and into the sand! After I got him out he filled his basket to the brim!
Parker's basket was overflowing too as you can see!
Two smiles!
Parker ended up getting 2nd prize which was $5 for picking up the 2nd prize egg during the hunt! She is not quite sure how she wants to spend it yet but my guess is for more candy.

Easter morning we woke the children up early so that we could hunt for eggs and still make it to church on time. Parker did not take a nap on Saturday so she took a few more minutes than usual to get going.

But she was excited to see if the Easter Bunny came! You might notice the scratch on her face below her right eye....that was a result of not napping and therefore losing her coordination. Unfortunately, she doesn't have much to begin with and the lack of sleep doesn't help.Coco and Poppa came to town last Wednesday and while they were here they dyed eggs with Parker and Bennett. I expected to see a disaster when I came home from teaching class that night but it wasn't bad at all and the eggs looked great! So on Sunday, the Easter Bunny hid their eggs and they were able to find all of them!

After church we all went to Poopaw and YaYa's house for lunch. Below is a picture of Bennett and his new bubble mower that the Easter Bunny brought him. He hasn't stopped pushing it since he got it and he won't let anyone else touch it!
Playing on the swingset and Poopaw and YaYa's house
Clif and Parker were swinging and Bennett wanted to swing and this was the result...it was quite challenging for Clif especially when Parker and Bennett switched roles.Here, Bennett was trying to push Parker down the slide so he could go!

We had a wonderful Easter in Greenwood and hope all of our family and friends that couldn't be with us had a blessed Easter as well!

A week ago Clif's cousin Emily came over for dinner. Parker really enjoyed her long hair and kept calling her a princess. Stop by anytime Emily!

Since our wonderful trip to Centralia for Spring Break, we've been busy getting back into the swing of it. We've been enjoying the on again off again weather and trying to be outdoors as much as possible. Bennett is a quick little thing. He loves to run and be chased. As a result, he falls down a lot and skins his knees but gets right back up and takes off again. He will take short breaks as you can see below. He loves his chair! Thanks Uncle Shannon and Aunt Sarah!

Here is a close up of his skinned knees

As you can also see in these pictures, he loves his pacifier and his bunny. This Spring/Summer I am determined to get rid of the pacifier. Parker even takes it away from him and says it is only for babies. I would like to be done with it before the new baby arrives so I think that I will send it to the angels like we did for Parker. Since he is younger than she was, I'm not so sure that it will go over as well. We will see!

Here is Bennett helping me vaccuum in the den. He loved it and wouldn't let me put it up. Only if I could get him to do the other rooms too! You might be wondering where his shirt is....he took it off outside so he could bang on his belly like a monkey!

You might notice that there aren't any pictures of Parker well, that is because she is always off playing with her BFF Ann Gerard next door. Lately, they have been getting into some messes with all the rain we've had. It appears that my little girl likes to playin the mud. At first they start off in their princess dresses and the next thing you know they are naked and covered in mud! It is a pretty funny site but I don't think I will be posting any pictures.

Welcome home Shannon!

We are so thankful that he made it home safely last night after a few days delay. I even got to talk to him. He sounded great and was definitely happy to be home and we are happy to have him home!

The children and I had a wonderful time visiting Coco and Poppa Jack in Centralia. the day we arrived the weather was beautiful and Parker and Bennett headed straight out to the make-shift sand pit. I was certain after seeing how much fun they were having that the pictures from out trip would consist of Day 1 in the sand, Day 2 in the sand and so forth but that proved wrong as you will see.

After the sand, we headed over to Coco's garden to dig for worms and help spread mulch. Coco had already captured Parker and Bennett a tub of worms before we arrived but soon we had to dig for more....don't ask what happened to the first tub.

On Wednesday, the weather was beautiful and we headed out early to the on of the top 10 zoos in the nation (source: www.americasbestonline.net). We had a wonderful time and Parker and Bennett still wanted to see more at the end of the day...amazing! Below is a before picture as we were having a snack before heading into the zoo.

Parker and Bennett taking a photo op before heading into the Children's interactive play area where they both got to pet the guinea pigs.

Below they are patiently waiting for the Zooline train to take us across the park
Coco and Bennett waiting for the train

Bennett enjoying the train ride

This might be the ugliest animal I've ever seen! He stood at the front while all the other camels where lying in the back. He would look to the right and then scan the spectators and then do it over again. Everyone kept their distance because they were worried that he might spit! Parker is still talking about the ugly camel because Mrs. Lynne asked me about it.

Coco, Bennett and Parker looking at the zebras

When Parker and Bennett first walked up to the window they didn't even notice the huge chimpanzee sitting in the corner. Every once in a while he would turn and look at us behind him and yawn. I had no idea that a chimpanzee had all those sharp teeth!

Parker and Bennett waiting to see the sea lion's feeding

Bennett was so tired from the zoo visit they we didn't even make it out of the parking lot before he fell asleep! But they both got their rest on the way home and headed directly for the sand when we go back to Coco and Poppa's house.
On Thursday, our 70 + degree weather was gone but the sun was still shining and we found other activities to keep us busy. Randy Winkler, a family friend, helped us put together an enormous play structure that dad salvaged from the neighbor. This was the distraction from the sand that kept us on out toes (literally) the rest of the week. Parker mastered the rope ladder and Bennett the real ladder. Don't worry, as soon as I snapped the picture I was on the ladder with Bennett!

You would be amazed at how fast he climbed this thing!

It took several runs but we finally convinced Bennett (with Parker's help) that the best way to go down the slide was not face first! She made sure that his feet were first before he slid down.
We also added one more swing to the Woods Lane Playground so that Parker could enjoy swinging alongside Bennett.
After all that fun, they were exhausted as you can see. This was taken the night before we left as they were winding down and watching a little Sprout before bedtime in their new playroom (some of you might know it as the study).We got home and daddy was excited to have a little noise back in the house! We all missed each other as you can see!
We miss you Coco and Poppa and can't wait to come back in the summer!