The Ball Rescue--The sprinklers are on, need I say more?

To clarify in the first picture Charlie is not crying he is just making this face because of the water hitting him. I can't stop laughing everytime I see these pictures. He was so proud when he emerged with the ball.

You really should click on this picture to get the full effect:

Meeting Dora and Afternoon at the Beach

To end April school vacation we took a road trip to meet Dora. Michelle and Grace were both thrilled. I wish I had a video of when Grace found out who was coming she was SO excited. The first picture is of Grace running to me when she found out. Charlie was such a sport, he could have cared less about Dora!!




Michelle approached Dora with caution but ultimately did.





Today we decided to head to the beach for some playing in the sand on this abnormally warm day. There was much more wind then I was anticipating but it was fun regardless.



Charlie was quite intrigued by the group of boys playing some war game (I think). They were going on missions?

School Vacation

While Michelle and Charlie's "Kramer cousins" played in the Florida sun, they got to play in the rain. Unfortunately for Charlie he doesn't have an umbrella so he was stuck with the extra large beach umbrella. Seriously what is it with raingear for boys. I find all sorts of cute raincoats and boots for Michelle but nothing for Charlie. Mike tells me because boys aren't supposed to wear raincoats????







Today we got to play with the "Cazeault cousins" the good thing about them is that not only do they wear out Michelle and Charlie they wear out the dogs too. Zoe got LOTS of attention today. She is the perfect kid size where as poor Max doesn't realize his own strength. He is such a good dog though. (Just have to give him some credit)

A fire truck?

Today I bought Michelle and Charlie a new fire truck to go with their "policeman's car". Charlie received the police car from Nani and Grampa for Christmas and although he drove it around the house for a good bit we finally managed to sneak it downstairs one night. Since the weather has warmed up we have been outside a lot the kids have been driving me crazy fighting over the police car. I was not sure how Mike would feel about the fire truck but given the choice of Charlie potentially driving a fire truck or a pink car he choose the fire truck/car, ha ha.

Thanks to Grampa the car got put together today (we think Daddy took overtime just to avoid the task, oh wait that is to pay for the Disney trip I booked, yea!!!!!).

Swimming x 2

I had Mike come with me to Charlie's swimming class this week so he could see how great Charlie was doing. I think he was really amazed. Charlie has no fear which is a good and a bad thing as you can imagine.




Michelle has been looking at the photos of Charlie swimming all week. Who would have thought it would have a profound effect on her. She has been clinging and I do mean clinging to her teacher for 6 weeks now. Today she slid right into the pool and started swimming!!!!! Her teacher was so impressed. I heard her say several times that she has never seen anything like it and she is retired now so you can imagine what she has seen in her career. I of course didn't bring my camera because I was expecting a repeat of the last 6 weeks!!! I managed to snap a few with my phone, although grainy they get the point across.




And just because I like these pictures, again disregard the grainy phone photos....Maria the first one is for you!!!! Poor Zoe just wants to cuddle.



Charlie and his Dad walking in the woods.

Michelle Goes to the Dentist

Michelle did awesome at her first dentist appointment today!! I was so impressed. She jumped into the chair and had no problem with the hygienist checking out her teeth, in fact she was very excited. Thank you Sid the Science Kid!!!!!!
I felt weird taking pictures so I took one of her in the waiting room and one in the chair.

Happy Easter!!

There is a good chance I will not be able to post tomorrow so I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Easter. We are fortunate to have Mike off this year and it is his birthday to boot!!

Seems hard to believe this is Michelle's 4th Easter already!! Time surely does fly....see below.



Charlie is growing up to be one handsome man!!!!! Charlie loves his tie. He thinks he is "just like Grampa". He had to wear it to his first music class the other day I'm sure all the parents thought I was nuts.





Disclaimer: Should you be on this blog long enough to hear the second song, I hope you are laughing like I am. I can totally see Mike saying these things when Michelle is a teenager!!!!

Happy Easter!!

Playground fun!

Since the egg hunt was SUPER fast we decided to head to the playground to burn off some more energy! It is amazing how much different Michelle is on the playground this year. When we went the other day I was shocked at how easily (and quickly) she could climb this year, today it was Mike's turn to be amazed at how dexterous she has become.




Charlie and I enjoyed a "slide" and then he amused himself "jumping".

Easter Egg Hunt

Although the weather is dreary we decided to take the kids to an Easter egg hunt this morning. They had a blast. I was quite suprised that Michelle wanted to get close with the Easter Bunny while Charlie wanted to admire and follow him from afar. Pictures have been posting in random orders lately so bear with us, :-)




Charlie was quite content just running around when the eggs were collected, while Michelle wanted to open and see what was in them. (There were tickets for either fruits or toys back in the hall which we thought was actually a great idea)


We found the bunny and this is what happened.






Eventually Charlie decided to get a little closer....