Whew!

I am wiped out.  Just arrived home today after a busy week in Virginia.  We went to Busch Gardens, I ran the Run for the Dream 8K, we went to my brother's birthday party and visited our chickens, the kids had a little photo shoot with their grandparents "H", the kids and I visited the Governor's Palace and played in our favorite climbing tree, the kids painted pottery, I lunched with a sweet college friend, and we all attended a Roman Banquet.  I had the notion to come home today, do swim practice, and then spend the evening checking things off my ever-growing BeasKnees to-do list.  However, two tired eyes and bearing witness to the world's most spectacular tantrum have turned me off of that.  Just for tonight.  I think a little snuggling on the couch with Geof and Troy the alligator hunter is in order, and I'll be all refreshed and recharged for a full weekend of clearing off that list. :)

In the meantime, here are a few of the not-so-obvious sights down in Colonial Williamsburg.

I have never ever seen a ladybug all stretched out and ready to take off.  Isn't she amazingly cute?

our ladybug friend decided to take off.

What to post, what to post?

OK, I have two options.  I could post pictures of Hi-Hat in his George Washington costume that he wore for his second grade wax museum at school last week.  He was so cute handsome!  Or, I could post photos from our photo session with Jennifer McKinney in Charlotte a while back.

Hmmm... what to post, what to post?

OK, you twisted my arm.  MckMama photo shoot it is!  Here is a sampling of my favorites.  My only editorial comments are that A) it's really strange now to look at an image and be pretty sure what Lightroom edits she used for each image, B) I would have edited some things differently, C) I am posting everything below as I received them on her CD, and D) I will probably make some of my own adjustments to some of them before blowing them up to hang all over the house.  'Cause I'm kind of a control freak like that when it comes to pictures.  E) After seeing these pictures, I feel pretty validated in the work that I do.  I think maybe in bits and pieces, I could hang with MckMama!  All in all, I was pretty happy with the results!

Bok-bok-bok-ba-bok-bok-ba-GOK!

Did your kids have that Fisher Price farm that made all the farm animal noises?  I can still hear the chicken sound clearly in my head when I think of that toy.  In case you haven't heard, we are rearing a little flock of chicks over here.  Except that they are now chickens.  My brother brought us 8 baby chicks on Easter weekend, and they have lived in an incubator in our basement bathroom ever since.  We thought it would be a fun learning project for the kids.  And since we don't have the dog anymore and Fancy is so crazy about animals, how could I have said no to such an offer?  This has been a temporary chick-fostering situation - they are destined to return to Uncle Ben's farm this weekend.  THIS WEEKEND!! And the only reason I'm excited is because they drop smelly poop everywhere in their incubator, including their food and water containers and their feet freak me out the little chicks have quickly grown into little chickens in the past couple weeks, and I'm thinking they could stand to stretch their legs and run around the farm.  Here's what they looked like when they first arrived:

Here's what they looked like last week:

And here's what they looked like on Thursday:

And as of this morning, our charges are making their way back to Virginia.  Bye bye birdies!

My Thoughts for the Day

I am not cut out to be a poultry farmer, especially when said poultry resides in my bathroom.

It is very expensive to have school-aged children in the late spring: recital tickets, recital pictures, recital charms, recital flowers, recital tights, recital DVDs, swim team registration, his and hers speedos, end of year t-shirts, pizza parties, teacher gifts, school celebrations of summer birthdays, class projects, spring field trips, year books, registration fees for next school years, etc.  Enough already!

I am making the official executive decision around here that if an item goes into the laundry hamper inside out, said item will be washed and folded and put away inside out.  I'm thinking it's a pretty good bet that a) Hi-Hat won't even notice and b) Hi-Hat will wear things to school inside out in the next few weeks.  I am also no longer folding underwear or bathing suits.  I'm probably the last person on the planet who still does did that.

I need a vacation - some short get away.  Not necessarily sans family; we just need a change of scenery.  I'm thinking Carowinds for the day.  My Peanuts-crazed son would love it! I would also like to go stay in a pink house on the beach, take a cruise, and go to an aquarium.  And maybe visit IKEA.  Wonder if Geof reads this blog...

And now I have work to do.  And chickens to tend.

random.

A Few Easter Photos

Easter morning - a tad disheveled looking, but as the kids get older and busier, it's a little harder to a) remember to go shopping for coordinating Easter Sunday clothing, and b) no one is really willing to be strapped into a bouncy seat to have their hair neatly fixed.

Easter baskets

my sweet little niece was here for Easter morning (look how put together SHE is!), so we gave her a little Easter basket.  I think she was saying, "what do you mean I'm too little for jelly beans and a Cadbury Cream Egg?"

Chocolate or no chocolate, the basket was a hit!

after church we went to Danville for a family lunch at Mary's Diner.  Of course, I just took pictures of my niece.  My own kids were there too.  Somewhere.  Probably en route to the buffet line.  I do believe Hi-Hat's place was littered with  6 plates by the end of lunch.

Rella thought that if everyone was going to pass the baby around, she wanted in on that action!

egg hunt!

swinging with great grandma

And let's look at the world's happiest baby some more.