Right now...

A has taken quite a few of her small kitchen toys and has them lined up all along the railings of the steps. She says she's going on an adventure to the city and she needs all of this stuff to take with her. I've asked her if she's going to clean this up and she assures me that she will. We shall see... ;-)

C is napping and Daddy just came in with a proposition for A. He wants to know if she would like to put on her bathing suit and play in the sprinkler. Something tells me, I'll be cleaning up the adventure mess afterall!

Swimming

Our neighborhood pool opened this weekend. A was so excited when Daddy told her it was open, she just had to go swimming. Saturday, the weather wasn't as warm as we thought it would be. It was kind of overcast and dreary, so he told A after the sun comes out, they'd go to the pool for a bit. Wouldn't you know, the sun poked out for a bit, and she insisted on going. Off they went, Daddy and daughter to the pool. Daddy said the water was freezing, but A got in and played anyway.

Yesterday, the air temperature was much warmer, but the water was about the same. C and I joined them yesterday. Believe me, it was chilly! We had a good time and stayed for about 2 hours or so.

Today, we went again--same conditions as yesterday. We had a great time, but I will say that I won't be submerging myself completely until the water warms up quite a bit! These nights of temps in the 50's don't help the warming of the water much. ;-)

I know we'll spend many days at the pool this summer. I'll try to remember to bring my camera some so I can share the pictures with you all.

The beginning of summer?

Wow. Where has time gone? We just got home Monday night from our first beach trip this year. We went to Oak Island and although it was a tad windy, we still had a great time. The girls love the beach, and Mommy and Daddy love seeing their girls have fun. I'll add some pictures after I finish posting this entry.

We left for the beach as a family of 5 (4 Albertys and 1 Hoops), but came home a family of 7. We've added 2 hermit crabs to the mix. Ermie and Pinky are our newest household family members. A found some crab holes on the beach Monday morning and wanted to bring them home. We figured it would be easier to transport hermit crabs than the crabs from the beach (and a LOT easier to care for!). A and I headed to one of the beach shops and picked out her hermit crab. She'd already named him while we were still on the beach, so there was no turning back! On our way back to the beach house, Daddy brought up a great point. We only had ONE crab, but TWO girls. Back we went to the store to get yet another hermit crab. A named this one Pinky. Why Pinky? Pink shell? Is that your guess? It would make sense, but Pinky's shell is white. :))) In A's defense though, the very tip top of Pinky's shell is pink, so I'll give her a pass on this one. We got back to the house and A just had hold Ermie. Wouldn't you know it? Ermie pinched the daylights out of her little finger. She was quite upset, but after we got him unlatched, she declared that she still loved him because she is his crab mommy. Poor kid, she's not even 4 yet and has learned that love hurts sometimes. ;) Anyway, Ermie and Pinky traveled home to Charlotte in their little carrying case. I went out on Tuesday morning and bought them a proper home. A has them proudly displayed on her nightstand in her room. Who knew that hermit crabs could be such entertainment? A and C both will stand and watch them for the longest time. I think A must have picked out the most active hermit crabs ever!

On another note...tomorrow is A's last day of preschool this year. Tomorrow is the last day that A will go to school and C will stay at home with me. C starts 2-year old preschool in the fall. That doesn't seem possible! Where has the time gone? :(

Mother's Day

Today marked my 4th Mother's Day (well, 5th if you include when I was pregnant). It amazes me how fast these years have gone by!

I had a wonderful day with my girls. A made a hand print tile at preschool that she couldn't wait to give me this morning. She was so excited to help me open it. Daddy and I kept nursery at church this morning and A made a little notebook for me in Sunday School. After church we went over to The Fresh Market to grab some steaks for dinner tonight. We came home, had lunch, and had planned to go get strawberries, but C had other ideas in mind. She wanted to nap early, so while she napped, Daddy mowed the lawn and went to the Y, A played and I napped too! It's always a good day when I get to nap too! We did manage to get those strawberries after our naps and treated ourselves to some strawberry ice cream. Daddy made dinner, we got the girls in bed and now we're watching the finale of Survivor. (What a shocker on the winner!) All in all, a good day. ;)

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there. What a blessing motherhood is!

Knock, knock. Who's there?

That's the question around here lately. A has been bit by the knock, knock joke bug. It's so cute! She's really telling jokes. Mostly ones that she's heard at school or ones we've taught her, but I love how she's really "getting" the funny parts of stuff now. Here are two of her favorites:

A: Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
A: Boo
Me: Boo who?
A: Aww! It's nothing to cry about!

A: Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
A: Lettuce
Me: Lettuce who?
A: Let us in you silly goose!

She makes up some pretty silly ones too. It's always related to something we're doing at the time, but A always finds the humor and plugs it in. I love how her little brain is working now. :)

"Edgies" (Lots to write about tonight!)

A has in the last few months learned about the dreadful wedgie. She calls the "edgies" 90% of the time. She knows how to say "wedgie" but I think she just gets a kick out of calling them "edgies." Silly girl. Anyway, this morning on the way to preschool, she says to me, "Mama! Drive faster! I've got a edgie! I can't get it! I need help! Hurry up, Mama!" We made it to school and amazingly, she'd forgotten about her edgie by then.

Later, after school, we took Daddy to the airport. Poor A had yet another edgie that required me to do all sorts of maneuvering to help her. (Daddy was driving, I can't help with edgies and drive!) I really think she likes playing up the edgie just to see us giggle at her.

Counting

C has been hearing her big sister count for 21 1/2 months now. It's no surprise that she's picked up on many things A does and counting is one of them. Counting for C however, isn't like counting for us quite yet. She's got her own system. It goes something like this:

"un, do, tee, fibe, heaben, nine, den, webbin, dewlb" (One, two, three, five, seven, nine, ten, eleven, twelve) It is the cutest thing to see her count out all sorts of things!

Planes

Both girls love going to the airport to drop off Daddy for his trips. We go over to the airport observation area after leaving him and watch the planes land and take off. A is so proud of herself for being brave when they take off. She's not big on loud things, so for her to ask to have the windows rolled down is a pretty big deal. C (again, monkey see, monkey do) saw A cover her ears the last time we were there. Ever since then, every single time she sees a plane--be it at the airport or at home--she covers her ears and says, "Pane! Loud!" She sure does love her big sister, and would do anything she could to be like A!

Busy, busy, busy!

Wow, what a busy weekend!

Friday, Daddy and Pap-paw went to the Wachovia golf tourney. C stayed at home with Nana while A and I headed to Carowinds to meet up with some play-group friends. It was a beautiful afternoon and A got to ride all of her favorite rides. Her current favorites are the yellow roller coaster, carousel, and the flying boats. Those things really fly high! Apparently, A gets her daredevil side from me. ;)

Saturday morning, Nana and I went shopping. We picked A up some new clothes including some PJ's from the "big girl" sizes. I can't believe that she's already moving into a whole new section of the store! My girl certainly is growing like a weed! Afterwards, we went out to IHOP for breakfast then I joined Daddy and Pap-paw at the Wachovia. While the weather wasn't quite as warm, it was still a great day to walk around the golf course. A and C spent the day with Nana and Sara. They had a great day and were worn out from all of their fun. A had a sleep over with Nana and Pap-paw at their hotel and met up with us at church yesterday. It was her very first sleepover. :)

Yesterday, we spent a lot of time outside. A and C helped Daddy wash his car. A does a pretty good job of "washing" while C does a pretty good job of playing in the soap bubbles. She was a wet soapy mess when she came inside, but she had fun and that's what matters. A was amazed at all the earthworms that appeared when the water drained into the yard. She made sure I turned them around before they made their way into the garage. Worms are OK outside, but not in the garage!

The rest of this week's weather is supposed to be beautiful as well. I'm sure we'll spend quite a bit of time outside. We have several trips coming up, too. I'll be sure to post about those as I'm sure there will be all kinds of tales to tell!