The Tweeties Flew the Coop...

Here is the last photo of the birdies.... They flew the coop on Saturday just before we headed to the beach. Nathan peeked outside to see the last one on the ground and then fly to the pool fence. I can't even take credit for this photo... Nathan snapped it! :) We seriously think they were only hatched and in the nest for two weeks.
Bye bye birdies!

Making progress!

Kaitlyn is definitely making progress in the potty training department!
Today she used the potty all day long, and only had a wet diaper after we had been at the Y for an hour.
I'm SO proud! :)

How about a weekend in Iowa?

Kaitlyn sure enjoyed playing at the Neipert's house, and she really loved the DIRT. She's obviously not my daughter. Ha.

Kaitlyn really also loved their swing.... Get a load of the videos at the end.

Mattie and the cherry tree!

Bennett was lying on the cement playing completely and contently by himself until I butted in with my camera. This is him, getting up to walk away from me. :)

Bennett's 3rd birthday party!

Look at those extremely jealous onlookers. :)

Kaitlyn took a break from present opening to practice "bags" for when she's in college.

Bennett opens a basketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa Wilcke.

Kaitlyn and James sacked out after the long day in Des Moines.

Drool! :)

Surprise on our back porch!

Our back porch holds a surprise... can you see it?
No, not the horrendous mess... look closer...

No, not the deflated and faded pool innertubes... look closer...
Closer still...
Now do you get it? It's a nest!
Birdies!!!! Tiny little fuzzy birdies! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!

Actually, they are still too young to tweet yet... we think they just hatched a few days ago! I get this response by going over to the nest and making kissing noises. You can only see 4 here, but there are 5 lil' ones! They are right outside our bedroom doors (french doors on pictures). I can't WAIT until they start tweeting at 6 AM! ;) AND pooping all over! Ha ha ha.

Spider web!

Check out this spider web that Nathan found in the backyard!

Kaitlyn's sensitive side.

This morning a few things happened that I had to blog about. They are just so sweet!
The kids woke Nathan and I up by playing loudly in James' room. I heard them talking about St. Margaret Mary school, but really didn't know why. I heard James say, "When I am 5 I get to go to school at St. Margaret Mary." Kaitlyn replied, "I get to go to St. Margaret Mary too!"
When I walked in and was talking with them, Kaitlyn pointed at their school toy set and told me, "This is St. Margaret Mary!" SO sweet.
Yesterday, the kids both went to school and both brought home the paper Scholastic book order forms. James, for some strange reason, grew very fond of these tiny booklet and wanted to keep it forever. It was on the floor of the family room while the kids were munching on Cinnamon Life. Unfortunately it was in range of Kona's back paw when the dog decided to scratch himself, and his claws ripped the corner off of the back page of the pamphlet. All hell broke loose in James' world.
He cried and cried and cried. I tried to explain to him that it was just paper and it wasn't meant for us to keep forever. "It's something that you can look at to order books, but then you're supposed to throw it away." I tried to reason to him.
Kaitlyn says to him, "James, are you sad?"
"YEEEES," James cried.
"You should have Mommy hold you." She told him.
SO SO sweet! She is becoming more aware of how other people are feeling! At a different point this morning when we were up stairs getting teeth brushed and I was changing a dirty diaper on Kaitlyn (YES- still using pull ups- that's a whole different story), James was mad at me and she told me, "I want to go give James a hug." Unfortunately she was mid-changing and I couldn't let her get up or I would have. She's such a girl!!! ;) I love it!

Potatoes Tomatoes.

Kaitlyn LOVES tomatoes. She doesn't like potatoes. However, she can't seem to get it straight that tomatoes aren't potatoes.
For months now, she has called tomatoes "potatoes". We'll say to her, "Kaitlyn, these are NOT potatoes, they are TOM-A-TOES." She repeats, "tom-a-toes." Yes, good job.
Next time, it's the same thing all over again. She knows too, she KNOWS that she gets it wrong and now is starting to try to get around trying to actually calling them what they are.
Tonight's dinner was a hodgepodge of things. I put together plates for the kids, James got zucchini leftovers from last night (with chicken and rice) and Kaitlyn got a diced tomato (also with rice and chicken). James doesn't like tomatoes, and Kaitlyn isn't so fond of zucchini, so I humored them a little and gave them what they liked.
Nathan had the pleasure of putting the plates down on the table in front of the kids. Kaitlyn got excited when she saw the bowl of chopped red things that she loves so much sitting in front of her.
She said to Nathan, "Are those potatoes?"
"No, Kaitlyn, they are not. Tell me what they are."
Kaitlyn replied again, "Potatoes!"
"No, try again."
"(insert mumble here)-ta-toes."
We laughed a bit under our breath, and then Nathan said to her again, "Tell me what they are Kaitlyn and then you can have them."
Then she busts out with, "Just trust me, Daddy."
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Seriously... potatoes/tomatoes.... what a cutie.

Polishing off the house!

This was a conversation between James and me on the way to school this morning....
James: "What are those trucks there, Mom?"
Me: "Those are landscaping trucks. They are bringing trees and bushes to plant to make that new house's yard look pretty."
James: "Our house isn't pretty."
Me: "You don't think our house is pretty, James? Why not? What can we do to make it pretty?"
James: "Make it sparkle."
Me: "How do you think we could make it sparkle?"
James: "Wipe it off."
Me: "Are you talking about the inside or the outside?"
James: "Both the inside AND the outside."

So apparently, to make your house sparkle, you need to wipe it off. ;) There is your DIY project for the weekend.

Look at me!

Kaitlyn has been doing one of those "copycat" things lately, and it absolutely cracks me up every time.
If she tries to tell me something and I'm not looking at her she says to me, "Mom. Look at my eyes." and then starts in with whatever she was going to say.
:) CRACKS me up.
I won't be reporting on the bad things she picks up that I do or say. ;) LOL.

She is making progress with "going" on the potty. It's still a hazy road that lies before us... but it's becoming a bit clearer. I just keep thinking, NO MORE DIAPERS! YESSSS!

In other news, James was officially accepted into St. Margaret Mary Catholic School! My heart swells with pride as we start this journey with Christ as the center of his education. How sweet HE is!

Kaitlyn and James see the Easter Bunny!

Dying Easter Eggs!

We had a lot of fun today dying eggs for Easter tomorrow. The kids really enjoyed it... I think Nathan and I enjoyed it a little too much too. ;)
This is the first time we dyed eggs at our house as a family!! Happy Easter everyone!

Easter is upon us!

James and Kaitlyn have been on spring break this week, but someone (Barbie-:)) posting on FB that their daughter had a dream that she died reminded me of something completely blog worthy.
Easter is coming, and The Methodist School that my kids attend are very good at telling the kids about Easter and what it means.  Jesus died upon the cross for us....
If you read back to one of my blogs a month or two ago, you'll read about how once I told James about my brother's cat having to be put down.  "Speedy died today," I told James.  He replied, "Upon the cross?"
Well, last week, probably because of all the "Jesus died upon the cross" talk at school, James asked me as we were getting ready to go upstairs to bed, "Mom?  When are you going to die?"  *Thunk* my heart hit the floor.  I told him, with my most honest sincerity, "James, honey, I don't know.  Nobody knows when they will die, but honey, you don't need to worry about that."  I'm pretty sure my mouth hung agape after he turned around and walked up the stairs.
Kid, you're only 4!  Why are you starting to worry about that already?  I remember when I was a kid and that feeling of anxiety of not KNOWING when my parents could die.  I would worry, worry and worry, that something bad would happen to them and they would die in a car accident or something.  Poor kid.  Him asking me that brought back all of those feelings of uncertainty that I used to have as a kid.