Funny Guy

Here are a couple of things we've heard from Clay lately:


Me: Do you want to watch The Berenstein Bears or the Wild Kratts?
Clay: I want to watch that one--the Holy Craps.

Mike: Clay, you need to clean up the Mr. Potato Head stuff in the living room.
Clay: But I didn't play with it.
Mike: Yes, you did. I was in the room when you were doing it.
Clay: But you didn't see me playing with it!


Me: Clay you need to tell Carolina sorry for pulling her off my lap and onto the floor.
Clay: It was an accident. Honey, you know that!

Clay: (first thing when he sits down at the breakfast table in the morning): So, how do we get our own baby?
Me: No comment.

Clay: When you have another baby, is Jesus going to take him out?
(FYI, we're not having another baby)

Clay: Daddy, if Mommy has another baby how is it going to get in her belly? Her mouth is really small!

Clay: Mama, if we have another baby, do we have to give Carolina to another family?

Clay: I want to have another snack.
Me: We'll get one when this show is over in a couple of minutes.
Clay: A couple of minutes is a long time, honey.

We went to a gender reveal party where we had to wear pink or blue according to our guess on the baby's gender. I was explaining to Clay that when they cut the cake we will see whether it's a boy or a girl.
Clay: If the cake is pink, do I have to go home and change my shirt??

I wish I wrote down all the things this little guy says on a daily basis. He is so smart and inquisitive (especially about our non-existent baby) and we love to hear what he has to say!

Critterman

So it turns out that our small town library has some pretty fun people come through in the summer and we got to meet one of them...Critterman! He's not that exciting but given that it was just up the road and it was free- that meets some of my criteria for a good outing!


We got there right on time and we still got to sit on the floor in the front row. My crew is not quite ready to sit by themselves so I got a close-up seat for all the critters, too. (Yay.) The room filled quickly with daycares and other kids and pretty soon it was standing room only. Again, I was surprised at the crowd for our small town!


Critterman came out and was really personable and funny. He told lots of kid jokes that were just a little above my kids' heads but Clay laughed anyway. He brought out lots of animals and told us what part of the world they were from and about their habits.


It was really educational and neat to see the animals but it was almost an hour and so it was a little bit long for my little ones. There were lots of wiggles and talking and reminders about good manners (from me, not Critterman) but I think that's all part of the experience at this age. The kids got to see lots of fun creatures and "people-watch" all the other kids.


Critterman brought out about 10 animals (Madagascar hissing cockroach, sugar glider, tortoise, opossom) and it was fun to see what he would pull out of the cage next. He ended the presentation with a bunny that he let all the kids come up and pet. The line was pretty crazy and disorganized so we waited until last and the kids got a nice long turn.


It was really cute and I'm so glad that we got to go and see some neat animals and learn a few things, too! Now if only I could get Clay to stop asking for a pet rabbit every day since...

Water Fun

Mike reminded me that there was a cute little aquatic park nearby that we hadn't been to yet. I am so glad we tried it because we had the best time! The kids were SO excited when we got there and Mike and I loved it because it was a great size for kids but just small enough where we could see both kids at all times.

Clay went straight for the water slide and Carolina went for the water itself. She is quite the mama's girl so she was pretty big on sitting on the edge with me, too.




As much as the kids play together at home, they almost always go in completely opposite directions when we're in public. It's not surprising given their opposite personalities but it does make it harder to track them!

The water was a perfect depth for the kids. It was just tall enough where they were wet but not tall enough where floaties were necessary. Clay did the slide a bunch but he also worked on putting his face in the water and trying to swim. The kids have never had any type of swim lessons but Clay is quite the fish! I'm sure some lessons are in the near future.

Carolina loved running in the fountains and jumping up and down in the water. She cracked us up because this was the first time she's worn a bathing suit with a skirt for the bottoms and she kept pulling it up and yelling to me, "Mama! My baving soup's fawwing off!" Poor girl thought she was losing her bottoms for the first hour we were there. Thank goodness she got used to it!

She would go to the entrance of the water (there were no stairs, it just gradually got deeper) and call over to Mike and me to walk out of the pool to her--and then immediately we would walk back in. It was completely pointless but that's what she wanted and she has a little bossy streak. She would call, "Mama, come here" until I complied and then we would do it all over again a few minutes later.

Ever since she was itty-bitty, I would tell Mike that I thought she would be one of the kids that was always hanging out with the adults instead of the kids and that's exactly how she is. She would much rather Mike and I be her playmates than any of the kids wherever we are. It works for us right now but I'm hoping she'll branch out a little as she gets older (she did play with some little girls at Chick-Fil-a yesterday after I led her over to them and told them her name and it was the cutest thing).


Clay, on the other hand, was completely content doing his own thing. He found a little girl to play with toward the end and they followed each other around. He loves to find a friend to play with but he also wants us to be watching everything he does. When Mike and Carolina and I got out to dry off, he kept telling us to come back in the water until I came and stood close to him in the water. He's happiest when we're right there with him (and that's where we want to be!).

Carolina thought she was big stuff hanging out on the lounge chair with her cover-up on. She had a couple of kids her age come up and talk to her and you would have thought she was the queen on her throne!



We had such a great time playing in the water and watching the kids. We're loving getting in the water this summer so we'll definitely be heading back!

Nash Farm

Yesterday we had a fun playdate planned at Nash Farm. We met up with Clay's best friend, Cody, and his mom, Leslie. Cody and Clay could play together for hours (and normally do).


The kids were immediately drawn to the tractor that pulls the wagon ride. They were climbing all over it and they were thrilled when the man came over and offered to take us on a ride. The man tried to tell us about all of the things that were planted on the farm and all the equipment but the tractor was so loud it was kind of hard to hear.

It was super sunny and hot but the kids thought it was hilarious when we would go over bumps in the road. It was a fun ride but we were all glad to get back in the shade!


They had tables with toy tractors set up and other tractors to climb on so it was fun for the kids to get to be hands-on with it all.


We went into a barn and saw a some little kittens and the kids thought that was great. When Mike asked Carolina about her day she told him about the kittens. So cute. They also had some old-fashioned games and the kids played and played with them. Clay asked me several times if we could take them home!


It started to get super hot so we wrapped up our time there with a trip to the garden. The kids thought they were big stuff when they were watering the plants. Carolina watered her clothes several times but who could blame her? It was hot!



After Nash Farm we went to a local park that was super shady but even there the kids were really red and their hair was dripping. Summer is here! We wrapped up our day with lunch and an INDOOR playground. Yay for air conditioning! It was a fun, fun day!

Embarrassing Carolina

We went to a festival today which was held in the town where Mike works. We talked to Mike on the way there and since it is in his area, he told us that he would swing by.

We got to the festival and I was talking the the ticket lady when Carolina TOOK OFF running. I could hear her screaming, "Daddy! Daddy!" but she couldn't hear me yelling after her, "Carolina! STOP! That's NOT Daddy!".

She reached the officer who was in a uniform just like Daddy's, standing next to a car just like Daddy's. She grabbed his leg, looked up at him and RAN back to me!

She never said anything about it to me but when we saw Mike a couple of hours later at lunch (he never made it to the festival) and he tried to take her out of her carseat, she screamed and cried for me. That's never happened before so I think she might have been a little spooked by the Daddy mishap. Oops.

We had barely been in the festival for 10 minutes when we had our next embarrassing moment.

Our first stop was the bounce house and all the kids were playing in it while the parents were talking. It was one of those bounce houses with the big climbing wall inside where they get to the top and slide down. I knew they were safely playing inside and I could hear the kids laughing as we talked. But at one point, Carolina came running out fussing about hitting her head. I picked her up to hold her and comfort her and then realized- she had been playing in the bounce house with her dress on and no diaper!

I'm positive that I had just changed her and put a diaper on her before we left the house and I'm pretty sure that I couldn't have buckled her and unbuckled her in her car seat without noticing her lack of a diaper (could I?!). What happened to her diaper between me changing it and her playing in the bounce house is another story. When I asked her where her diaper was, she said, "At home." Hmmm.

I was SO embarrassed that she had been bare bottom in the bounce house but luckily I did have a diaper in the bag I had next to me. Phew! She's been taking her diapers off all the time at home now when she's wet or dirty so I think today was a big push to potty-train. Big push.

There's never a dull moment with that girl.

Super Hero Festival

Today we got to hang out with some super special people- super heroes! It was a local festival that was being held for the first time. Some of our friends were also there so it was really fun to get to hang out with them, too.


It was a pretty simple set-up (which is great for my crew) with a bounce house, snow cones and games. The kids loved jumping in the jump house and could've played for hours!

We reluctantly left playing in the bounce house to play some games with the super heroes. All the kids were divided into teams and my kids were on Bat Girl's team. She was super sweet and Carolina just loved her.


The kids did sack races and I was so impressed by how mine listened and stayed in their spots like they were supposed to. They came in total last place but hey, they got Honorable Mention ribbons and couldn't have been more thrilled!



What's the best way to cool off from a sack race?? Snow cones! Clay and Carolina and their little friends all thoroughly enjoyed their purple snow cones. The mamas will worry about the purple laundry later!


We did more bouncing on the bounce houses and headed for lunch with Daddy. It was really neat to get to see some super heroes up close and get to talk to them, too. Clay is still pretty shy about pictures with characters but Carolina was all in!



I think we'll definitely be back next year.