The Royal Wedding

I have never been into the whole Royal Family drama and I did not watch one program leading up to the wedding but I broke down and recorded 6 hours of the wedding.  I figured I would watch a few minutes of it and that would be that.  Well, I got sucked in and sat on the couch laughing and crying on Friday as they waved at the crowd.  How am I such a sap?  Then I had to leave to take the kids to school so I headed to the gym and what do you know, every TV at each machine was tuned to the wedding.  So here is a bunch of mom's in their 30's working out with a big smile on our faces and tears running down our cheeks.  It was pretty funny.
  I thought I would be done with the wedding by the time the kids came home from school  but apparently, Amelia's teacher is also a royal wedding fan because Amelia got to "watch Princess Katherine walk down the aisle" while at school.  To which Luke, the expert on the royal family as of late, said, "I just like to call her Kate."  So Amelia and Luke were begging, seriously, begging to watch more of the wedding and how could I say no, it's history right?  Thankfully, Stephen was at work so the three kids and I snuggled on the couch and watched the "wedding show."  Even this morning, Addison keeps asking for her favorite part, "Mommy, I watch Princess get out of the car!"  She loves watching Kate get out of the car before she entered into the Abbey, Luke continually asks to see the kiss, just one more time.  He has always been my little romantic at heart.  Amelia thinks the royal carriages are amazing and Luke could be a broadcaster with his constant updates.  "Amelia, you know that lady from sesame street (Diane Sawyer) she said, that is Kate's mom."   "Amelia, that is Prince Harry, that is Prince William's brother."  "That's Kate's sister, Kate's father" etc. etc.  You would think he has been following the wedding for months with all of the information he picked up.  Anyhow, I must be a romantic at heart too because they looked so adorable and in love and I really hope they have years of happiness.  Oh, and don't even get me started on the hats.   I could only dream of rocking an awesome hat like that.
  Ha!  Okay, I am writing this early Saturday morning and Daddy is still asleep but the kids and I are up.  They are eating their cereal and instead of cartoons, they put back on the royal wedding :)  Too funny.  I hear Addison saying, "Princess beautiful, Princess beautiful."

Happy Easter 2011

Easter morning and Amelia led the troops on the hunt for where Easter bunny left the baskets.

Addison thought it was so funny one of her baskets was in the barbie tent.

Woo hoo!  Easter bunny brought an old fashioned rope swing for our big trees outside.  Too bad Easter Bunny couldn't be the one to risk his life trying to hang it up for us.

Pure excitement!

The kids and their loot, already well on their way to sugar comas.

Look at Mr. GQ.  I told him it was his turn for his picture and look at the pose he struck.  

Our best attempts with balancing the camera on the garbage cans and setting the timer.  

Happy Easter from our family to yours!  May the hope they felt on that first Easter morning be felt in your life too with the joy that only Jesus can bring.  Christ is Risen, He has Risen Indeed!

Big Girl Bed!

Another milestone passed by and I have such mixed feelings about it.  Addison Kate has started sleeping in her big girl bed!  She is so proud of herself and loves it but I have to admit I was sad and teary watching Stephen take the crib out of her room.  (Actually I made all the kids give it a kiss goodbye which is probably totally creepy and they will be telling their therapists about it in 20 years).  Stephen did not kiss the crib by the way, party pooper.

Coloring Easter Eggs (and Addi)

Okay, I admit, sometimes I take on too much.  Saturday was one of those days but I really wanted the kids to dye Easter eggs.   I thought to myself, of course I can dye 36 eggs with the kids and capture cute pictures and movies simultaneously for my loyal readers.  There is Addison during the first 30 seconds of our egg experience, she is still normal flesh colored.  About one minute after this, I turned around to put down my camera and pick up my movie camera and Addison is chugging down the blue cup of Easter egg dye.  Ahhhhh!  "Addison, no, yucky!" I yell.  She was crying, blue from the chin all the way to her toes, including down her diaper.  All I am thinking is, "oh crap, how am I going to get all of this blue off of her before Easter church?"  Seriously, so blue that she looked like I dunked her in toilet bowl cleaner.  

So I got Addison wiped up, clean would not be the word because she was still a light blue, mottled mess but I thought we would give it another go.  Amelia and Luke had been happily coloring eggs through the whole ordeal anyway.  So I sat Addison back down, gave her the yellow dye (less damage to the skin I figured) and plopped in egg in her cup and gave her the spoon.  As I picked up my movie camera, (I know, you think I would learn) I see Addison slurping the dye up with the spoon, like soup.  At this point I am thinking, "What is wrong with this child, it's like straight vinegar, disgusting."  So I take the cup away and tell Addison "No, no, yucky, not in the mouth."  So she goes and gets her sippy cup and hands it to me and says, "Put it in here."  She actually likes the nasty vinegar juice.  What in the world?  So coloring eggs was lost on Addison this year but I did learn she has weird taste buds.

The finished creations:)

Exploreum!

Addison so chic, eating her spaghetti dinner with my shades on.  She decided the sun was much too bright for her little princess eyes so she ate her entire dinner like that.  It took me forever to clean my glasses!

This week the kids have been on spring break so the day Daddy was off of work we headed to the Exploreum in Mobile, Alabama.  It is a hands on science museum for kids that so brings out the inner science nerd in Stephen and I.  I forgot my camera so the pictures are stinky again because they are from my phone :(

Luke checking his pulse pre and post exercise...with his sisters keeping a close eye on him.

We thought it was pretty funny that Addison was so interested in the Endoscope machine considering how often her poor Daddy has had to have these done.  

Amelia challenging her strength by testing how long she can hold herself up.  It turns out 59 seconds, Addison held herself up for 12 seconds and Luke just watched because right behind this exhibit was...

this exhibit.  This exhibit allows you to push buttons to hear real sounding bodily noises.  Do I really need to go further?  Luke would have spent the whole day here, he couldn't believe his little ears and he couldn't stop giggling.  

The museum also had a giant bug exhibit and I mean giant!  They were motorized too so all of a sudden they would stand up, lift their wings up, etc.  This is the first picture, before we knew anything moved.  

The rest of my pictures are just of the girls because Luke was hiding behind me.  

I took Luke and Addison in the little kids part while Amelia and Stephen explored the electricity and light parts of the museum.  

The kids had a fun day and everyone was worn out and ready for naps when we returned home.  Sorry for the el quicko post, while I post this I am trying to peel and cut 6 pounds of carrots, 2 pounds of asparagus, roast them and decorate another two dozen bunny cupcakes with the kids.   Speaking of naps, I need one!  

Easter Egg Hunt!

Our friend had an Easter Egg hunt out on a beautiful property yesterday and it was such a fun event for the whole family.  There was delicious food, face painting, balloon animals, bubbles, the Easter Bunny and an egg hunt.  

Amelia had a cute bunny and a unicorn on her cheek.

Our three munchkins ready for the egg hunt :)

And they're off!  Addison got the hang of it this time and got down to business.

Amelia taking a break to show me all of her eggs.

I had to catch Luke mid-run, he wasn't slowing down for any pictures.  There were eggs to be found, no time to lose.

Hi Easter Bunny!  The Easter bunny was our babysitter again for the day, Addison followed him around all day hopping and yelling hi to him.

I just loved this picture of my boy...by the way they had an amazing food selection with caterers and Luke took a chicken strip and a bunny cookie.  Go figure. 

School Events: Run, Pull, Hop!

Amelia's First Field Day at Oak Park was a success!  She told me Field Day is her favorite day of the year, "except all of the holidays and my birthday and stuff."  

Notice something missing in that smile!  Cutie pie is now the toothless wonder.

Three-legged race is always a Field Day favorite.

Tug of war, the girls still beat the boys in the class at this age but probably not for too much longer.

After field day it was time for Amelia and I to get our bake on.  It's that time of year for Easter parties and oodles of bunny cupcakes.

The next day brought Luke's Easter party, the party kicked off with some music on the porch.  The school is Montessori so ya know, we are a little granola that way :)

Luke showing me his favorite find in the egg hunt, a Star Wars egg.  Look at Little Miss behind him, hunting eggs all on her own.

Little sis getting in on the fun.  Once she figured out candy was in the eggs, she was all business in collecting the eggs.

At first Addison wanted me in the picture but then she warmed up...

Long after all the other children had visited with the Easter bunny, Addison stuck around and said, "Hi Easter Bunny, Hi Easter Bunny!"  Poor guy couldn't talk so just kept holding her hands and waving.   She was a little bit obsessed with him and wouldn't leave his side until he finally hopped away.  Then the rest of the day she told anyone that would listen, "Easter Bunny had to go bye bye" in her saddest little voice.

Luke and his best buddy Devin.

Sand, sand and more sand

Our friends invited everyone down to the beach last weekend for a "Welcome Spring" bonfire.  Bonfires are always a great way for the kids to run around and have a blast and the parents to sit around and have a blast, drinking a beer and having some good food.  

I just don't know how my kids could have possibly brought pounds of sand into my minivan?

Ouch...more sand.

Luke with all the ladies, look at that happy smile.

Luke about to crazy jump again...more sand.

Ouch, more sand...

Addison and her best friend Tommy.  Lucky for us, our friends take to heart the phrase, "It takes a village..." and are all quite hands on with our little two year old terror.

Addison the smore monster.  Yelling for anyone to come help her, "Hands dirty!"

After the night before at the bonfire we did a hose down of the kids and left the mountain of sand in the bathtub because we were off to Horn Island.  First trip of the season and it was BEAUTIFUL!  Amelia and Addison showing off their snazzy new beach wear.

Luke and his buddy Boyd had so much fun together.  They never stopped running, jumping and swimming in the waves.  The other side of the island has the big waves so we walk over there to body surf but keep the boat tucked safely in this little cove.  We were lucky to see two families of dolphins swimming just behind our boat the whole time we were anchored.  One of the families had the cutest little baby dolphin, we couldn't get enough of watching them play.

Burying the Driggers kids in the sand.  Besides burying themselves in the sand, which certainly invites sand in some unwelcome places, the children body surfed the waves a lot on this excursion.  The boys especially kept asking an adult to walk them over to the wavy side of the island.  Well, they would body surf and then the wave would turn them over, flip them over, dunk them and deposit them on the shore.  (We were in water up to my knees, don't worry my readers, safety first).  Anyway, every few minutes Luke's swimsuit would start heading south and he would ask me to tighten the drawstring on it.  I did, repeatedly and then I thought, "what in the world, why do his shorts keep coming down?"  I then reached into both of his side pockets and his rear pocket and pulled out at least a cup and a half of sand from each pocket!  He's lucky he didn't sink, it was like having mini anchors in his shorts.  Amelia also needed to do some sand clean out of her swimsuit too after body surfing.  A girl's suit is a little harder to release the sand though so I had to take her suit off, turn it completely inside out and dig out all the sand.  While I did this, I just told her to swim behind the boat where no one could see her.  Let's just say I hope as she gets older, she is not quite as comfortable skinny dipping.  She swam around with a big smile, naked as a jaybird, singing a little song.  That girl cracks me up.  

For children of the 80's...doesn't Addison look like Drew Barrymore in Firestarter???  Creepy.   And yes, that is two inches thick  of white sunscreen on her face, a hat, sun glasses and sun protective shirt.  We don't mess around with the sun down here.  It was a fun weekend and as I keep coming across piles of sand throughout the house, Stephen keeps reminded me how much I wanted a beach house.  Be careful what you wish for my friends.