Catching up again

So, there seems to be a pattern here. Whenever I don't get a chance to upload pictures and go through them, I continue to put it off because I know the job will be overwhelming the longer it's been. And I refuse to blog without finishing the pictures. And then a month passes, and I have failed to blog! (Except for the "bug" post because I could find a picture of that on the internet.) So, here's the low-down:

I took John to a local Tax Day TEA Party, and he thoroughly enjoyed himself--he blew bubbles, waved the flag, played in the sandbox, tossed around a beach ball, and played on the playground. Other than having fun, he has no clue why we were there :) Here are a few funny pics, including my favorite sign there:

One of John's favorite places is "The Moo Place" (a.k.a. Chick-Fil-A). On Family night, kids dressed as superheroes or Princesses got a free kids meal. Since John is "in love" with Karson, the girl next-door, we took her with us. In the first pic, they are posing with the Cow. While there, they got their faces painted and signed up for the raffle. And... (drum roll please)... John won a super-big cow! That's him sitting by the cow in the second shot. Why did John have to win it??! We are living in an 800 sq. ft. apartment! So, cow sleeps in John's bed when John isn't in it :)

Finally, we have begun potty-training. I say "we" because I think I am being trained more than John--it's really time-consuming! The only pics I have are when we first started. Since John refused to sit on the big potty, or to even try the little potty for more than 5 seconds (and never going), we took some suggestions and sat him in front of a movie (so he would actually sit). Notice, he has a drink in hand, to help speed up the process. It didn't work--notice the second pic where he has closed the potty and used it as a stool to get a close-up of the TV, which is more than big enough for our small living room! Yes, that is Goofy Sports in the background, for those of you who are wondering. Potty-going has gotten a little better now. John likes to race to the potty and see who can go faster. But, he still refuses to go a lot of times (screaming, hitting, and kicking to keep from going). We're working on it! I'll keep y'all posted...

Have you seen this before?

I have been absent from the Blogosphere lately, and I promise to post some pictures soon to play catch-up and let you know what we've been doing. But for now, I will just give you this picture of a lovely bug that my son insists on keeping--in a Mason jar because his bug-box is in Daddy's truck, out of town.

I'm not really sure what it is, although some people seem to think it is a dung-beetle. I haven't exactly explained this to John because "poo" is a potty-mouth word at our house, unless you have to go... So, this nasty, black bug is living in a Mason jar (with no lid because I can't find one to poke holes in!) until I can convince John that he needs to go outside. ICK! Why couldn't we have kept the lady bug and roly poly we saw yesterday?!?

Easter weekend

Sorry for a late post on this one... blogger wouldn't let me post pictures yesterday, and I didn't get around to blogging before that. Better late than never.

Saturday night, we dyed the eggs. Yes, I stripped my child down so he wouldn't ruin his outift (does dye come out in the wash? I have no clue). There doesn't seem to be any way to dye eggs without a mess, especially when Mr. Independent decides he can do it himself. Smart folks that we are, we invited ourselves to DeDe's house to make a mess.

In case anyone else couldn't get the egg-catcher that comes in the package to work, just take John's advice and use your hands.





Then, late Saturday night, after we had procrastinated long enough, we began to prepare for the next day. And as usual with procrastination, there was a problem! I bought John's button-down shirt and linen pants at The Children's Place months ago, when they put out the Easter line. (I'd had the vest from a prior year sale--because that's how I do it). When Rob started ironing the shirt, he noticed several stains on it, some yellow and some blue. So, we gave up on that and prayed that John's previous white button-down still fit. It did--barely. Then, the pants were supposed to be adjustable-waist; however, the tabs don't work when sewn down! All of John's other pants look like he's preparing for a flood, so we had to rip out the inside seam. From now on, I will thoroughly inpect all clothes I buy, especially from The Place! Despite the drama, we still cleaned up pretty nice, if I do say so myself.




John slept in Sunday morning, and we actually had to wake him to come see what the Easter Bunny brought, so we could get to church on time. When we mentioned Bunny, he snapped his head up, jumped out of bed, and ran down the hallway still half-asleep. I have video, but it's really long (and a lot of my sluggish-southern talk), so I'll spare you. But, John noticed the chocolate bunny first, and then Wall-E, and then Dinosaur. Check out the goodies below:

After church, we went to Mema's house and quickly changed clothes and hunted for eggs while the less fortunate (i.e. Mema and Big Daddy) were stuck inside preparing lunch. This was John's first hunt this year with HIDDEN eggs. Of course, I use the term hidden lightly, but his hunt at school and the last one I blogged about were both on open fields. Not much to the "hunt" in an open field. At least he had to look up and down and all around the yard to find them this time.

After the hunt, Rob counted out the change (Mema stuffs her eggs with change) and got the candy out of the sun. Then, the boys took a ride in Uncle Steve's Miata. It was John's idea. As soon as Steve and Michelle drove up, John said, "Ooooo! Shiny, red car! I drive! I drive!" Of course, Steve didn't let John drive, but he was crazy enough to let Rob drive.


After lunch, we made a Bunny House, which is similar to a Gingerbread house, except with Jelly Beans and pastel colors. Notice how things normally work in our family: there is a worker (Rob), and a supervisor (Matthew), and an eater (John). I know, I know, you want to know where the extra supervisors and eaters are? Well, I was behind the camera, and I classify as both eater and supervisor--never worker.

And last, when all the other Easter activities have been done, there's always bug-hunting. I was inside when John ran by, grabbed the magnifying glass, and ran outside. What? He wanted to find bugs. The idea struck him on the fly, as he noticed the magnifying glass. This is how things usually happen with John--he never sits around and thinks. He just does. Deep-thinking and conniving are done on-the-go. You can't really tell in this pic, but the bug is actually dead. That's because Kacky or Aunt Michelle pointed out that it was a stinging type of bug, and Aunt Jan and I both said, "Well, let's not play with it!" as Uncle Steve and John were investigating. And then Mema took action and squashed it. (Squash, -ed, v. stepped and twisted in the same motion.) But that didn't stop Steve and John from studying the remains of the "deadly" bug.