Neglected Blog

Okay so there is no real excuse for the fact that the blog has been neglected so I won't make any. I will try to do better. The past few months have been filled with the typical Spring outings and we've been busy. First there was Easter. Connell and Clara went over to Anna Witt and Wesley's house to dye easter eggs.

Then there was the Easter Egg Hunt at Heron Lakes. This is about the only picture we got of Clara since she was not at all pleased with the big blue bunny. She said if he would have been purple like last year she would have gotten down. Easter is one of my favorite holidays so you can imagine my disappointment when Clara refused to hunt eggs and Connell came back with a whopping two eggs. Ben was embarassed when I announced out loud that they weren't my kids.

The kids did manage to pull through on the obligatory Easter morning picture though.

Spring brought about Field Day at St. Mary's, a first for Connell being a kindergartner. It was very exciting for us as parents and in fact we postponed flying out to Durham for Ben's 10 year reunion until we had seen Connell at Tug-of-War. Even with Connell anchoring the team they couldn't pull through. One thing Connell has learned through all of his sports is how to be a graceful loser. Still working on the graceful winner part though.



We made one more additional trip so far which has been plenty after almost missing our flight to Durham. We spent Mother's Day in Memphis. We went up to see AJ's performance as Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast. We had a great time. AJ was fabulous and the kids loved it. Here's a picture of Ben's parents with all their kids.

As if our Spring wasn't busy enough we are expecting an even busier summer with swim team and the Fall looks like it won't be slowing down any with the addition of a 3rd Heinz kid in November.

Root Beer

This has been Connell's first year playing t-ball. So far his team is 9-4-1 with two games left in the season. He plays for the Angels at Municipal Park. It is amazing how much he has progressed since the first game. When we got to the first practice game, one of the Team Mom's asked Connell, "now what is it I'm supposed to call you?" Ben and I looked at each other trying to figure it out--con, connie, thinking of nicknames that we call Connell, but nothing came to mind. That's when Connell replied, "rootbeer" The Mom replied back oh yeah and from that day on, everyone on the team, their parents, grandparents and anyone else at the game has called Connell Rootbeer. Often there are chants from the stands when Connell gets up to bat, "hit it hard rootbeer, run rootbeer." and so on. So you might be wondering, why rootbeer? So are Ben and I and maybe one day we will figure it out but for now, he's rootbeer and he probably will be for life.

Cleptomaniac

We have been on a little bit of a hiatus from writing, but we do have a legitimate excuse. It seems as though our little cleptomaniac Clara struck again and hid the digital camera. What good was writing when I couldn't attach pictures. So to fill you in on what's been going on the past month--February began with Mardi Gras. After Mardi Gras we signed Connell up for t-ball. I had no idea it was going to be as time consuming as it has turned out to be and he hasn't even played a game yet. March brought about the BBQ contest. Last year Connell slept out at the fairgrounds with Ben and ended up getting sick from drinking AMP and gatorade and proceeded to throw up under the tent while everyone else was eating. Well this year was not to be out done. I was pleased when Connell and Clara arrived home on Saturday night tired, but Connell had not yet thrown up. We tucked them into bed and went to bed ourselves. At 1:45 am, Connell arrived back in the room and proceeded to vomit all over our carpet. I ended up sending Ben to the grocery store to get carpet cleaner at 2 am. Did I mention that this was the weekend of the time change? Made for a very long night. We are looking forward to our t-ball games this year and the beginning of Spring.

Connell's First Mardi Gras Parade

Connell paraded as a Clone Trooper for his school's RIF Mardi Gras Parade. The kids threw harder than the adults. We had a crew there to watch. Gigi, Pappy, the D'Anella family and Liz and Patricia all made the rounds. Here are some pics of Connell and his Kindergarten teacher and Clara enjoying the festivities.

Casey in the Sun

Casey loves to lay in the sun outside. We let her inside the other day and she found the one spot in the kitchen where the sun shines in and laid down on the floor to fall asleep.

Visit from Ted

Last night Ted spent the night with me and we enjoyed many adventures before I had to send him back to school. Here are pictures of us.

Mardi Gras in full swing

Mobile Mardi Gras is in full swing at our house. We have already attended two Dauphin Island parades, two downtown parades, one school parade and one neighborhood parade. The prize catch so far is a giant Brown bear that connell has begun to sleep with. We also managed to catch Casey a cheeseburger squeaky toy which she has thoroughly enjoyed. We have had one really cold night and today was a wet neighborhood Mardi Gras parade. We weathered the rain and got out there and caught some beads. Connell will be parading at his school on Friday and we already have a huge bag of items to throw. We have already been to one float inspection. We almost didn't make it since Clara let Casey out the door and the family along with two separate neighbors chased Casey down the block for about 30 minutes. Included you will see a picture of the kids with Casey prior to her escape. You will also see a picture of Connell with some of his friends from school at the float inspection. Hopefully the weather will clear up. Ben has been checking the 10 day forecast and he assures me it should be nice by next weekend. Here's hoping at least.