girl's best friend

a busy weekend it has been...dad & austin headed to oklahoma early this morning for a basketball tourney, coleman headed to his second birthday party of the day (a sleepover) this evening, and mom & hampton enjoyed some fun girl time! we had dinner and manicures, before settling down to watch her favorite disney channel show, "wizards of waverly place." i quietly moved a few inches toward the computer, while hampton was actively engaged in the show...and now, a mere 5 minutes (or so) later, she is fast asleep on her bestest buddy, dodger doodle! what a sight!

BOB

coleman never ceases to crack me up in the morning before school...and today was no exception. "hey mom, it's BOB!" huh?...i replied. "BOB...look" (as he pointed to the microwave). awww, yea...i get it! seriously? it's the little things, i say...coleman knows just how to make the mornings even brighter!

lip gloss and diet coke

for you cannot drink a can of diet coke after applying lip gloss, right? problem solved...a straw. well, not exactly! problem is, the "fancy straws" we have, get in the way. after smoothing out the static electricity from the fringy trim, hampton agreed to take over MY can. seriously? if that was not enough, she wanted to pose for a few pics! oh, and with each pic, a new coat of chanel lip gloss was applied. diva indeed.

easter day

CHRIST the LORD is risen TODAY, alleluiah! what a blessed day! this was the first year garry and i were awake before the kids! we put monkey bread and a breakfast casserole in the oven, and wandered around, awaiting the arousal of our dreamy children! austin (again, surprising) was first, followed by coleman, who gladly "checked" on hampton! within minutes they were ready to find their easter buckets and hunt the candy traditionally scattered throughout our house. a delightful morning it was, complete with candy and a yummy breakfast! the kids quickly posed for a pic before we left for church, and then lunch at aunt ju-ju's and uncle t's house. there, we further enjoyed the day, with yummy brisket and all the fixin's, more sweets, and an easter egg hunt! austin participated (i am guessing because money was involved), and luckily found the golden egg. coleman, however, happily announced that he found more money in the end! oh my, the competition...it is crazy! that said, hampton is also competitively inclined (granted, the influence of her brothers)...and hurried to gather any egg in sight. i was happy to discover though, toward the end of the "little girl hunt," that hampton was locating eggs for her younger cousins, evie and sallie. what a fun family day...our whole family was together! that, in itself, was blessing enough for me!

pinkalicious

a treat of a day, with hampton, aunt ju-ju and cousin evie...to experience the musical production of pinkalicious at the crown uptown theatre. we feasted on a grand lunch of chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, french fries, hot dogs and pink applesauce. the girls loved the pink cotton candy (which the moms LOVED even more)...hampton busted me for eating too much! we had planned on sharing the day with mema, aunt ney-ney & cousin sallie...however, they didn't feel so good! we were happy to share the memories, however, as sisters...with our girls. what a treat! i look forward to many more times like this!

pretty eggs

we enjoyed the annual easter egg dyeing tradition the eve before easter...complete with various colored dyes and of course, a wax crayon. coleman had fun mixing colors, and happily made an egg with austin's name (since he is still "too big" to do such childish things). hampton happily dyed nearly every egg she could get her hands on, pink! always a fun time...and the boys enjoy eating the "egg cutter eggs" for the next few days!

nine candles for coleman

we celebrated coleman's ninth birthday with family, on the eve of his actual birthday. he chose sumo (surprise, surprise)...he had fun catching shrimp tossed to him by the chef! mema & papa, and uncle t, aunt ju-ju & evie joined us for the fun night! coleman spent the night with mema and papa the night before, and opened his very own odyssey putter, custom-sized. uncle t, aunt ju-ju & evie surprised him with a dick's gift card to expand his golf accessories. upon our return home, coleman opened a new set of golf clubs. he was ecstatic! i am quite certain there will be many days spent with dad (and papa) on the course! finally, coleman enjoyed his favorite birthday dessert...cheesecake. i made one from scratch...and he thought it tasted just as good as cheesecake factory's! mmm...coleman is a sweetheart, with a sweet tooth! love, love, love him...and i am so proud to celebrate his ninth year of life (sniff, sniff)! looking forward to his football party in a few weeks!

hippity hoppity

our dear friends, the jargo family, hosted their annual easter party, complete with yummy snacks, fun games & crafts, and of course, an easter egg hunt! hampton was accompanied by her dad this year (as i was under the weather that day)...who was able to share in the fun! when they arrived home, garry suggested that i NOT do an event of this sort at our house! ha ha!! i suppose only us moms can handle the complete chaos of 50+ kids and their parents! wow! i am in awe...for only the jargo's could pull off such an event! what a fun day, and a great beginning to the easter festivities!

smencils

a new fun find...a scented pencil (cotton candy was my choice)...made entirely from recycled newspapers! unbelievable! in my green world, where recycling has become second nature (and rather fun, i might add)...i love this new invention! i purchased the yummy cotton candy pencil from michael's for coleman. he is afraid to take it to school apparently, because it still lies scrumptiously in my "office" drawer! no complaints, for the smell is divine! you MUST check this out!

flat stanley

hampton received the special delivery of flat stanley, constructed by her friend, hannah, in st. louis. he spent most of his time in wichita riding in the car...to school, dance, basketball, and the park. we had fun showing stanley the sights of wichita, before sending him back to hannah with pictures from his adventure! hampton knows just where she will be sending HER flat stanley someday!

shamrock castle

for the second time around in our house, we received the lovely task of constructing a leprechaun trap for st. patrick's day...for school. unfortunately, the one austin made (about five years ago) didn't fair well enough to turn in again. dang. now how is one to catch a tiny little green man anyway? our idea was a house, with all but one window covered, sparkly green stuff, rainbows, the whole sha-bang! leading to the window, was a tiny ladder...which would then cause a big fall, into a pit of lucky charms cereal. we had fun designing, spray painting, and gluing the castle...and i, in particular will have fun carefully storing it, so that hampton can turn it in when SHE gets the assignment, in hmmm, five years!

music around the world

we enjoyed a wonderful music concert on garry's birthday, including coleman and his fellow second and third grade friends. he did an awesome job...singing every word of every song, and standing still in between each one! wOw! they ended the concert with an american medley...which always warms my heart! what a joy to hear those sweet voices sing about our beautiful country!