Christmas Caroling

It's that time of year when there is lots of singing in the air! Last night we enjoyed Christmas Caroling with our friends and neighbors. There were about 50 kiddos and at least one parent for each. We had three trailers full of kids and we sang loud for everyone to hear. This year some of the big boys (9-10 yr old) were the ding dong dashers--which means they rang door bells and ran to get people out of their houses so we could share our glorious sounds with them. OK so not really so glorious but fun and screechy. The girls trailer was the best by far. They were so loud and they knew their stuff. I was with the little kid trailer--and about the only mouths moving were the parents. My singing voice isn't so great, but I am loud so that helps a little. Gates knew a few words to Jingle Bells and We Wish You and Merry Christmas, we sang those a lot. After the caroling we went back to another neighbors house for hot coco and cookies. A hot coco explosion occurred right as we got there--UGH! Something happened with the coco maker and it literally exploded. Poor lady, I felt really bad for her. It's a new couple in the neighborhood that hosted--they have 3 little boys, we met them at the pool this summer. She was a brave soul to host, honestly I think she had any idea what she was getting herself into. The coco got cleaned up and night ended with Santa stopping by for a visit. He was very very believable!! Gates sat in his lap and told him exactly what he wanted -- a ROCKET! I sure hope Santa comes through. Until next time......

Let the Parties Begin

Saturday night Todd and I went to our first party of many for this Christmas season. Todd's boss Mark always has a party at his house, with lots of yummy food and fun friends to catch up with. Myself and Liz are the people watchers of the group--we sit and analyze what everyone was thinking when they put on their outfit for the night--jeez some people just don't get it. You have to remember there is quite an array of people there--ranging from 20 to ??80, people with lots of money and people with no money(me and Todd)HEHEHE, people that work at NC State and people that don't work at all, bosses and well, yes their slaves, retired folks and NC state students, and the list goes on and on. Some of the people I literally see once at year at this party. It's always fun to see what is going on in every ones lives. Yes, I'm nosey and always have been---right mom? My parents always use to tell me they were going to buy me a jacket with a great big nose on the back and make me wear it. I guess I haven't grown out of it. I try to think of it as being interested in peoples life not prying, but call it what you will.. Our next party is Tuesday--NC State Athletic Dept. Until next time.....

Disney On Ice

Friday night we took the kids to see Disney on Ice. Gates was mesmerized!! His little eyes lit up and he watched speechlessly. His favorite part was from Cars(the movie).. I think I kinda liked that part the best too. It was really cute. This was Gates first time seeing anything like this. Gunnar loved it too, but her favorite part was the SNOWCONE!!!! Go figure. I must brag a bit and tell why Gunnar was even able to get a $10 snowcone in a most beautiful tinkerbell cup---she got 20 out of 20 on her spelling test!!!YEAH! She is doing so great and we are trying to reward her progress. She was so excited, she got to pick out anything she wanted and thankfully she only picked the $10 item instead of the $100 one. I would have bought that one too because we did have a deal, anything she wanted:) Even though I had to listen to Todd moan a bit about being there, I think he enjoyed watching the kids as much as I did. He likes to pretend to be all tough but I'm starting to think it's all for show. Knowing him he's dreaming about being out there on the ice toooooo!

Did you say he lost his marbles??

So my wonderful hubby, I don't often call him that so he must have done something really good, or something really dumb. If you had your guesses which would it be? If you guessed the second one (really dumb) you were right. Well, he was trying to be nice, but somehow that always ends up with more work for me. He put up the lights on Saturday and oh my my. Poor guy I think he missed class the day they taught problem solving. So he put up our new Santa, which he did well, but he attatched it and about 7 extension cords to two sets of net lights which he threw(literally) over two dead bushes. One of the bushes came completely out of the ground roots and all, but my dear husband took two rock and stood the tree back up and left the lights on it..... UGH!!!! Soooooo, today I went back out, unattatched everything and restrung the lights, put up our reindeer and took that poor dead tree to the trash. Now, my house looks so lovely, not GHETTO!! Do I really expect to much?? Oh and by the way now I'm only using TWO extension cords instead of 7....

APEX PARADE

Saturday evening we endured the freezing weather to go downtown to a Christmas parade. Gunnar had some friends in the parade and wanted to see them. We had a great time, however we forgot our hot chocolate. And let me tell you we were bundled pretty tightly but I was still cold, but of course you know who was the only one complaining--no not Gunnar, no not Gates, yup you got it TODD!!! He is such a WIMP.. Gunnar finally gave up her Santa hat so Todd could wear it and warm up. We watched til the end because we had to see Santa come by, but then we made a mad dash to the car to thaw out.. It was home to a warm bath and hot tea!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Saturday December 6th.

This is going to be a SPECTACULAR Christmas, I can feel it. Gates really understands what's going on this year and is just having a ball singing Christmas songs, and looking for the Elf on the Shelf every morning.(she came back Thanksgiving weekend). That is the first thing both kids do when they wake up--they go in a frantic search for Ruby(our elf). The first thing I do when I wake up is ask Todd "did you move the elf?" Some days I'm making a mad dash down the stairs to make a quick position change!! She's gotten pretty tricky this year with some of her hiding spots. I tell ya that Elf is a clever little thing.

Anyway, about the Christmas tree. We waited patiently all morning for Gunnar to get home from her sleepover with Lindsey. She walked in and saw our tree and she couldn't wait to start the decorating FUN. Gates thought stockings were to be worn on your feet and had lots of fun slip sliding all around the house. Gunnar was over joyed with all the ornaments as she remembered special things about each of them. Funny how much thought she puts into every ornament she touches. Todd and I had a blast watching them and listening to Gunnar explain things to Gates. She was telling him all about the ornaments she had made over the years, and what the pickle means on the tree and how she gets to put the Angel on the top of the tree because she's the oldest!! So cute when they are being nice to one another. Gates put every ornament on one branch--and me being very much like my dad had to move them and spread them out... NO WAY could I leave them like he had put them. I explained that it made the branch toooo heavy and they would fall. He bought it and was fine with my adjustments:) I love this time of year. I love seeing my kids faces light up and threatening them with Elves listening and Santa watching, but really I love the Holiday Spirit, everyone is happy and cheerful and bright. I love the stories of Christmas, and holiday traditions. I love my kids anticipation and antsiness. I love our Christmas tree it is beautiful and my sweet little bugs helped make it that way... 16 days and counting ---- have you been naughty or nice? Only Santa knows!!!

Beachy Thanksgiving

Here are the pictures I promised from our beach trip... Only a few but better than none! Love to you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who's the Real Santa?

Christmas is definitely in the air at the Henry house! Ruby(our elf on the shelf) came back the night we got back from Thanksgiving and you better believe we are on count down. We are going to get our tree on Friday, if the rain holds off. Suppose to get really cold and rainy here. The Christmas list are growing by the minute, and the attitudes are looking up! Whew, if only it could be Christmas all year. All I have to say is --"ruby is watching you" and I immediately get "sorry mom I'll be better". My new threat is for every time someone is ugly Santa takes a toy away. That makes Gates cry, but it works! He is being really good. Gunnar needs a few reminders here and there too. But overall they are both behaving remarkably well. I have been ask by Gunnar if their really is a Santa--didn't want to deal with that quite yet, but we just told her in this house if you don't believe you don't receive! I think that's a great motto. HOHOHO- -only 21 days to go.....

Preschool Christmas Fun

Gates had his first big show today! So cute he was. He got up this morning not feeling like a star but by the end of the day he was beaming from ear to ear. He was tired and grumpy and very upset with me for putting him in an under shirt. He said "these R jammies I'm NOT wearing this to school!!!". I tried to explain it was an under shirt as he crawled back in bed, but he wasn't buying it. Finally, after I told him he was wearing his "work" shirt over it he decided it would be ok. We put his dress shoes on him for the big show and he informed me they were his "dancin" shoes. Don't know where that came from, but OK. Then I asked him to sing his song for me to practice one last time---Jingle Bells never sounded soooo funny. According to Gates as Santa is riding in his sleigh he is also going PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Thankfully it didn't come out that way on stage. Actually nothing came out at all, from any of them. They just shook their bells and smiled. His class went last and even without voices they stole the show. They waved and yelled "hey mom", and just did their own thing. Got to just love those sweet little faces. Gates spotted Gunnar and stood up and said "hey Gunna" and showed his muscles! Of course we all chuckled and that made him act out more. He was shooting spider man webs and giving everyone a thumbs up. I love that little guy. He makes us laugh all the time, his peronality is almost always uplifting:) Notice I say almost--we all have our moments! I'm going to try to add a video we will see how that goes--

A Beachy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving at the beach is well, what more could you ask for, besides all of the family to be there of course. It was awesome though. The weather was a little cool but no one seemed to mind. The kids were in the ocean and didn't even notice how coooolllldddd it was. I stuck my feet in and instantly they were numb. Maybe that's why the kids stay in so long, their bodies go numb and they just don't feel it anymore.

We took 30 pounds of crab legs with us, yes, you read that right 30 pounds! And you better believe that all 30 pounds were gone, and quickly. We actually did have a little left and had planned to make crab legs on Friday night, but some crazy men decided after eating a huge Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, they would just finish off the crab meat too. That was after a nice cigar on the beach--must give you the munchies, because I can say that I could not fit another bite in my mouth after our huge turkey feast. (and all the women had gone to bed, so they snuck it only to leave us blind sighted on Friday when it came crab time):) MEN!!
I cooked the turkey and let me give myself a little kudos---it was fabulous!! Yummo!! We had enough food to feed an army, so we had left overs for days, which is always my favorite. I won't even get into the long list of goodies we ate, just trust me when I say it was a lot and it was great.
We had football wars on the beach. Family against family. The Hen's didn't score so well---YUP we are 7 and 0. Have you seen the size of the Walters!!!! We have little people on our side and those guys are Giants!! And their legs, well Shayne can walk over me without me bending down, and Tiff she's got the ghetto boodie which equivalates to POWER!! OK so really we aren't great ball players but we sure can do some flips.. Gunnar did back handsprings(by herself) all day long down the beach. She's good, yes I'm bragging. And Gates well he's just down right crazy!! They are both great at everything they attempt.
We didn't shop on Friday, just too far to go and really nothing on sale that we wanted, but on our way home Saturday we did stop by the outlets and grab a few goodies. The men grumbled because we left them to deal with the kids, it was only fair seeing that we did put them to bed every night so they could have MAN time which means cigar smoking...
It was a great trip, so much fun, so many great memories. The kids love the beach and well, so do we. There is just nothing like playing outside, being completely carefree for five days during November. We played games, saw dolphins, ran races, told stories around the fire, made smores and just enjoyed one anothers company. That just doesn't happen all the time, so you gotta take it when you can.

Glitter Girls Bake Off

Last night Gunnar and I went to Glitter Girls.. We baked pies!! We had such a great time and I actually learned a lot. Each girl got her own pie crust to mold and create, then we put them into muffin tins and filled them full of filling. The girls got to design the top however they wanted then into the oven they went. While they were cooking we played some fun games and had a wonderful time of sharing. We talked about how God makes everyone special and unique. Every girl got to tell what makes them special. Gunnar said her heart because it helped her to love!!! Soooo sweet. They also had to share their special talent, Gunnar said hers was fashion design and gymnastics. I can't deny that. I think for sure she will do something very creative when she gets older. She is very artistic and truely does love to create, and design things. Who knows? Maybe that is what He has planned for her. Maybe that's why we should consider a magnet school for her. I feel like she has such talent and maybe she's not given the opportunity to share that where she is currently. So many questions so few answers. Anyway, the pies were awesome the company delightful! At the end of the night we always ask one of the girls to pray and my sweet little Gunnar was choosen. She said the most precious little prayer and prayed for two girls in our group that are moving soon, she prayed that they would love their new home and make new friends quickly, and she promised never to forget them. She did a great job!! She always makes me so proud to be her mommy. Thanks for choosing me God to do the biggest most important job in the world to the two most important little people ever.

Sunday November 9th--A Day at the ER!!

The day started out great. It was a beautiful day and we had been playing outside for most of the morning. We came in to grab some lunch and Todd was going to take Gunnar and a friend to the park so Gates and I could grab a quick rest. I had to work and Gates was just worn out. While I was cleaning up lunch dishes Gates ran out in the backyard to play for a few more minutes. Todd was out with him and the big boys that live behind us ask if Gates could come play football for a bit. Todd lifted him over the fence and then came inside but left the back doors open. About 5minutes later we heard a blood curling scream. We knew something was wrong. Todd ran outside and grabbed Gates and ask what had happened. Apparently he had just fallen so we tried to cheer him up and do the normal after boo boo kisses. That wasn't working this time. He continued to cry and hold his little arm, but wouldn't let us look at it. He ask for some ice, so we now knew that he was hurt. He NEVER keeps ice on his boo boo, but what kid does? I really thought he had broken his arm so we rearranged the park date and Gunnar went to a friends and off we went to the ER. I must say he was excellent. The only time he fussed was when I had to move him. We were in the ER for about 30 minutes before they took us back then we sat another 15 or so before X-rays. Now that was not a fun thing. They really had to manipulate his little arm a lot and he didn't like it one bit. He settled back down quickly after we got into the room and we waited for the doctor to come back in and give us our results. Good news and Bad news he said---good news first "it's not broken" bad news "it's dislocated"! Which means putting it back in and seeing how he does with it. If he responds quickly then no splint, if not then a splint for a few weeks. About 5 minutes later our little Gates was back to his old self. Jumping off the bed and acting like a wild man, not quite as wild as usual but we were happy with the results!! Now that this has happen he is much more likely for it to happen again, so the mom I use to be has changed some what. My theory was "oh well he will learn his lesson", now I am cautious,not overprotective, just cautious. I do NOT want to experience that again any time soon.. Just makes you appecitate the little boo boo's and pray that no big ones EVER occur.

Super Salamader Shirts

Who knew being room mom meant--lots of work? Well obviously I didn't realize you had to be really crafty to take this job. I signed up without the full description. About 2 weeks ago Gunnars teacher ask me to make some shirts for the classroom for when they go on field trips and such. Three days later Gunnar brought the shirts home and they were due in 4 days! YIKES! I thought I would have a few weeks at least but oh well here we go. Usually these shirts are just tye dyed, or fabric painted. WELL, I had to do something really creative--no easy peasy stuff here. UGH!! I was definately shooting myself for trying to be creative about 2 days into the project. I went to Joanne fabrics and bought salamander material(they are the Salem Salamanders)and a large roll of heat and bond and some puffy paint. I cut out big S's for Salem and then two salamanders to put beside the S on each shirt. It really wasn't that bad except for the cramp in my thumb after cutting out 48 tiny salamanders with lots of little tails and feet. After ironing all the cut outs with heat and bond then I had to iron them onto the shirts. Next I puffy painted the outline so they would look marvelous. I must say that they turned out pretty good. And Ms. Shaper said I went above and beyond!! Now my plea to her is to PASS my kid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheetah Girls!!

The weekend didn't end with Halloween, or birthday parties or costume parties--On Sunday we went to Greensboro to see the Cheetah Girls Concert!! Wow, can you say lots of screaming preteens! Gunnar and I, along with Tiffany, Savana, and Aleah, and Ms. Annie, Bailey and Madison all loaded up for a surprise trip on Sunday afternoon. The girls had absolutely NO idea what we were doing. We've had this planned for about 2 months. It has been really hard for me to keep the secret. I'm soooo bad at secrets and surprises. I did manage though, this time. We got in the car, made them all close their eyes and handed each one a ticket. Aleah who is in kindergarten thought we were going to a movie, everyone else could read and understood what was going on! They all screamed with delight! So off we went with Cheetah girl music blaring throughout the car and crazy girls, laughing, singing and carrying on. It took about an hour to get there, so you can imagine by the time we arrived my ears were already ringing.

The first act came out 454, a boy band with the singers looking to be about 10-14 years old. So cute and pretty good. Aleah looks at me and says "they don't look like the cheetah girls I know" she was as serious as she could be. I chuckled a bit and told her who they were. I guess if you've never been to a concert you wouldn't know to expect an opening band.

The Cheetah girls were great! Our girls dance and sang throughout the entire concert. Annie got some great pics that I'm hoping to get a copy of so hopefully I will have them to share soon. The concert ended and the smiles turned to frowns. They wanted the fun to go on forever. We did grab a bite to eat before heading back to Cary and the giggles returned as the girls told stories and jokes to one another. We all enjoyed the show, but I enjoyed being with my girlie most of all..

Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson

Todd and I went to a costume party on Saturday night---we have partied this weekend away. I am a little bit exhausted, I must say... Todd went to the party dressed as Tony Romo and I was who other than his eye candy--Jessica Simpson. We had a blast. The party was in the neighbor hood, Adults ONLY!! The kids went to their own party one house away. There were probably 20 couples and EVERYONE followed the rules and dressed up. It was soooo much fun. Thank goodness we set the clocks back because I definately needed the extra hour of sleep!!

Guns took the pictures--hopefully some from the party will be a little brighter, but I thought I would include these just in case...

PARTY TIME!!

Nov 1st, Saturday was the birthday bash.. Gates woke up roaring and ready to go. You can only imagine what theme we went with----can you say BASEBALL again and again and again. We made ball dogs(hot dogs), took a big pot of chili, chips, carrots and ranch, apples and dip, and a huge baseball cupcake. Todd was in charge of the baseball game. Dads and kids played a little ball while the moms cheered for their big and little sluggers. So cute those little ball players were. Gates had a fantastic time, as did everyone, I think. The hot dogs were a hit and the cake was a grand slam---YUMMO! Everyone was excited to watch as Gates opened his many, many gifts.. He was overwhelmed with goodies. Shark books, playdough, soccer ball and goal, basketball and blow up hoop, batman, aquaman, a movie, a shirt, and a really cool Mickey Mouse that actaully was from Disney(thanks to the Savinos for thinking of him on your trip). I think his favorite gift came from his big sis though, it was a Harley Davidson scooter. So stinkin cute. It makes noise, and has lights and blinkers. The day was awesome--perfect weather, perfect crowd and a perfect time.

Spooktacular time!!

Halloween was spooktacular. We went to the Walters for pre-trick or treat dinner. We cooked out in the drive way, visited with lots of neighbors and were joined by a few friends from church. The kids could hardly contain themselves. They were so excited to go BEG for candy. We had lots of adorable costumes... Gunnar turned from Dorothy by day to the Wicked Witch by night, you know what Gates was????(a BASEBALL PLAYER), we had Hannah Montana, a 70's girl, Maddie from Zack and Cody, Darth vader, Buzz lightyear, a pirate and on and on.. We started the trek at about 6:30 and didn't end until almost 9--can you say CANDY! Yes, we have plenty so don't send us any, any time soon, PLEASE. Gates didn't actually make it til 9, he was asking to go home about 30 minutes after we started. You must remember that his little legs have to move REALLY fast to keep up with all the big kids, so he was worn out quickly. I must say it was pretty chili too. Todd took Gates home and put him to bed, he was out quickly.

After trick or treating Gunnar went to the Walter for a camp out... Tent in the backyard campout. We never thought the girls would make it all night, but surprisingly they did. There were 5 girls and Mr. Shayne and Elijah. They stayed out til 6am--then they decided they were really cold and went in and crashed on the floor in their living room til about 8. No one chickened out, no one cried, but everyone did have a blast!! I'm hoping that next time I get invited too!!!

Oct 31st--Gunnars story book character.

As we all know times have changed. No celebration of any such in schools. Well today being Halloween, Gunnar got to dress up like a story book character. She had to write an essay on the main character and rewrite the ending to the story that she chose. She decided to read the "The Wizard of Oz". This is one of her all time favorites. Can't imagine where she gets that from. She did a beautiful job on her essay. And her ending kept Dorothy in OZ with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry coming to live with her there. Oz is such a spectacular place who would ever want to leave?

Being the room mom in her class I couldn't let the day go by without planning a little "activity" (PARTY)!!! We couldn't call it a party,but party we did. We decorated pumpkins (thanks dad for the pipe cleaner suggestion it was adorable)and cookies with frosting and sprinkles, ate lots of goodies and just had a wonderful time enjoying the pre-halloween excitement.

DOES MOM EVER GET A BREAK??

I'm beginning to think that the answer to this question is NO!! I swear sometimes I can barely hear myself think. In the car all I hear is MOM, MOM, hey mom, mom can you look at this, speed mom, go mom, slow down mom, turn up the radio mom, the radio hurts my ears mom, turn it down mom, mom can I have gum, mom can we get panda express, mom I want pizza!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, yes sometimes I just roll down the window and scream. Moms, just can't ever have a bad day. You always have to put on your smiley face, after yelling first, and apologizing for being mean and saying things you really might not have said had you had one minute to process the first question you were asked. Moms wake up and before your feet ever even hit the ground you're running. I worked all night last night. I walked in the door to the fact that Gates peed his bed, so the sheets were torn off the bed laying in the floor waiting for the laundry fairy to wash them, dry them and put them back on the bed. Gunnar was up screaming (literally) because she couldn't find jeans that fit, Todd was still laying in the bed with his head under the covers(must be nice). I must say, a good mood is hard to find when you walk in to this chaos. I bite my lip, step over the sheets, go in the bathroom, wash my face and crawl in the bed trying to ignore all that surrounds me. Next, Todd storms out, yelling at Gunnar to be quiet so I can sleep, Gates is yelling about his jeans being too big---OH so I might as well just get up and intervene. I first help Gates. I walk in and say "what is it that you'd like to wear?" little jeans is his reply. I pick a pair he says "yup, those are great", one problem solved. Next to Gunnar. "Why are you yelling" I say, very calmly. "I can't find jeans that fit". How about these, I ask, "no they hurt when I sit down" (I wanted to say well then stand all day, but I didn't) ok then how about these, holding up another pair, "OK" problem 2 solved. Now noone is crying the house is quiet maybe I can sneak back in the bed without anyone seeing me. I just doze off, Todd comes in. "Do you know where Gates new shoes are, he's pitching a fit because I can't find them". I get up look around the house, and finally find them beside my bed where he took them off before Todd gave him a bath the night before. I now crawl back to bed, climb in and off to dream land I go. At 12:30 Todd puts Gates in bed with me after picking him up from preschool, and feeding him lunch. It takes him about 30 minutes to fall asleep, by this time I'm awake and having a hard time laying their so I decide to get up and come down stairs. Apparently the laundry fairy did come and wash the sheets but didn't know what to do with the laundry that was in the dryer because I found it laying all over my couch. Just what I want to do now is fold laundry, but I have a hard time leaving things like this, so I just do it so I can be done with it and not think about it anymore. I open the mail, to find such lovely news, my health insurance is going up---yipeeee, can it get any better? Frantz autobody calls next, "Mrs Henry your car is ready, only a minor problem, only gonna be $$$$$!! Great thanks be there in a bit to get it. Really I wanted to say just keep it!! I need CALGON!!!!!! The day did get better. Gunnar came home with her sweet smiling face and was very understanding when I said she couldn't play with a friend because we had stuff to do. Gates woke up in a great mood, besides the fact that he doesn't get the fact that the weather is getting cold and he can't wear shorts all the time anymore. Small fit about that, but I let him win and wear short and a short sleeve shirt, hey if he wants to be cold so be it. Both kiddos were very understanding and didn't complain when I said we were going to the gym because I needed to sweat out some frustration. Maybe the look on my face was all they needed. The were thinking we better not say one word or she is gonna BLOW!!!! This post was me using all of you to vent---some days are doozies same are filled with daisies, today well you can guess what category mine fit in.

Parks and Picnics

Well yesterday, Oct 27th Gates and I went on an adventure. I use the word adventure because we took a walk to the park and somehow I let my 3 year old convience me to take the dogs along. If you know anything about my dogs, you are laughing right now. I love them to pieces, but they are, well let's just say a bit rambunctious!! Pacey does great on a leash, Knox, yeah well, not so much. We looked like the traveling circus. We passed some lady with a dog and I swear I was tangled up in the stroller as it was tipping because Knox was trying so hard to go meet her dog, Gates almost flipped over and I was trying to look like I had it all together. The nice lady did ask me if I needed a hand. UGH!! I smiled, no thanks I've got it all under control. I was grumbling under my breath hoping she couldn't hear me. She must have been thinking, boy I'd hate to see you out of control. We finally made it to the park and enjoyed a few hours of play, before walking home again. We ALWAYS take a ball and bat with us everywhere we go now a days. So Gates and I played a little ball, pretended to hunt for the beast(you know the one from the Sand Lot), and we just had a grand time. I forgot to mention that Gates got new shoes. Black converse high tops, just like Benny(from the sand lot). He actaully wore PF flyers, but you can't get them for little kids--Gates couldn't tell the difference so we went with it. I mention this because we met a few new friends and all Gates could do was say "do you like my new shoes?" to the moms, the kids, their dogs yadayada. He is VERY proud of his shoes. He kept telling everyone, Benny wears these shoes. I'm sure they were wondering who the heck is Benny?!! I didn't even bother to explain. I just let him talk, and talk, and talk, which is about all he does these days. He never stops talking. So funny not too long ago we were wondering if he was ever going to talk. I think God is playing tricks on me. He says, you ask questions and I will give you answers. Oh and yes HE did. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining because I do LOVE to hear his sweet, little voice, but occasionally I would like to ride in the car without being told how to drive, especially from a 3 year old who can't even reach the pedals!!!!! So back to the story. On our way home Gates ask if we could go home get lunch and go back to the park for a picnic. This would have been a great idea had we thought of it in the beginning, but NO WAY was I doing this again. I did manage a picnic on the deck with a blanket, pb and j sandwiches and chips and cookies and a wonderful conversation!!