Scooby, SpongeBob and Bone.

First thing this morning we took a trip to Walmart for Easter stuff.  Although we went early it was still packed with people.  I hate crowds!  Glad that is over with.

Lately Max's favorite thing to watch is Scooby Doo.  The other night he was pestering me at 4 a.m. because he wanted to get up and go watch Scooby!  He and I sit together in this chair while I nurse him, and he watches Scooby on the TV screen while I surf the internet ... that is our pattern lately.

We don't watch TV at our house at all -- just DVDs and internet.

Gabe's favorite show to watch is SpongeBob.  Since we have to be quiet a lot in our house while Max is asleep, Gabe can often be found with his SpongeBob headphones on using any of a number of electronic gadgets that I don't know how to operate.

His favorite thing to read is this comic book series called Bone.

He got a "rat creature" for his weekly toy today, and was so thrilled!  He says this one is purple, and the purple one is "rare."  Gabe watches toy reviews and monitors e-bay constantly.  He even figured out which toy Dan ordered him for Easter because he noticed that someone had bought the one posted there.

Max loves riding this tricycle (although he propels is with his feet on the ground, not the pedals) ... He zooms around the barn and amazingly manages to keep from running into things or hitting his head on the ping pong table!

His new favorite food is blackberries.  Every night after dark, he whines that he wants to go outside and get some more!

Buster has an appointment to get fixed in June.  We're taking him to the animal shelter, and the price is $40.  (Very different from $500 at the vet!)

Rosewood Hills pond.

Gabe and I have started LONG DIVISION.  He doesn't get it yet!  Afterward we went to the Rosewood Hillls pond.

Max was excited about seeing the ducks again.

Gabe and I also played some more Monopoly today.  There's a pretty hefty prize awaiting whichever one of us manages to land on FREE PARKING now, and Gabe is sooo mad every time he passes by that space without landing on it!

Headed to the swings.

Max has limited tolerance for swinging.

He tires of it quickly ...

I remember when I thought Gabe would NEVER learn to swing on his own!

Lots of memories from this pond from our childhood.

Max spent a lot of time playing at the water's edge.

He flung some seaweed on me while I was trying to take pictures!

I hate that these irresponsible birds lay their eggs on the ground.  I don't see how this species survives.

Here's the mother bird, pretending to be hurt so we'll go after her and leave the egg alone.  She has no idea what she's up against when the pond gets crowded with kids over the holiday weekend.

Frog's Unfortunate Fortune.

Today was Gabe's school play, called Frog's Unfortunate Fortune.

His character was Gus Armodillo the Hat Maker.

Here he is with Buford T. Frog, the title character ...

Daddy and I both got to watch, while Grandma kept Max entertained in the next room!

We didn't practice as much this time, but Gabe still knew all his lines better than the other kids!

Max had fun goofing around in the "gym" room.  Thanks to Grandma for watching him.

Max screamed a lot on the way home.  He says, "Help-oo, help-oo!" ("Help you," because he wants me to help him.)  He also tells me repeatedly that he is "stuck" because the seatbelt is on!

On the way home we stopped at Mail & More, once more, to get a notarized document that we are common law married for the insurance at Dan's work!

I wanted to put up Gabe's whole play (11+ minutes), but when I uploaded it it only uploaded the first minute (which was mostly the teacher talking)!  I'm going to try again to upload the thing tonight!  Here is the shorter version ...

Uncooperativeness and upcoming.

Monopoly is a surprisingly fun and effective way to learn about math and money!  Gabe and I have an ongoing game where we save all our money and properties for the next time we pull it out.

We also made a trip to the library today.  Lately Maxie is totally obnoxious, hollering and screaming wherever we go!  He is strong-willed and opinionated, like his brother (and his mom).

It's harder to go to stores and nearly impossible to take him to restaurants now.  He doesn't want to sit still and would much rather run around hollering, fall down, get hurt, cry, repeat -- everywhere we go.

He enjoyed running around the library.  He patted the Grinch and told me, "Grinch -- nice."

Buster has been trouble lately too!  He keeps escaping from the fence.  We can't even keep a collar on him because his neck is so thick, he always manages to work it off.

Upcoming events:

Tomorrow is Gabe's play and my Skype interview about being BRCA+.  (Getting paid for it!)

Friday is a school holiday.

Saturday is soccer picture and game day.

And, of course, Sunday is Easter.  This is my grandma's lamb cake pan.  Let's see if I can resurrect her tradition ...

Garden pictures and goofy goings-on.

After multiplication and a tale about Sir Lancelot, the first order of business today was to get Gabe a haircut.  He's "starring" in a play on Wednesday and has soccer pictures this Saturday.  Here's my good-lookin' boy!

Next, on to the boot problem ...

Max was uncooperative in the shoe store, to put it mildly.  This is the only other pair of shoes he would tolerate.

They are water shoes, but at least they'll keep the stickers off his feet, when the stickers start to "bloom" this year.  He doesn't like them as well as the boots, but we're working on it ...

Now on to Dad's ordeal of the day.  He got stung by a bee and felt like he was having a reaction.  So he had a nice trip to the emergency clinic and some IV Benadryl!  Now he's ordering an epi-pen in case of emergency, and Dan has volunteered to lend a hand too.

Now, onto gardens and good things growing in our yard!  It's officially blackberry season.  The blackberries grow wild ...

... and it won't be long before the loquats are bright orange-yellow and juicy.

Inside the greenhouse Dad has planted all sorts of good things ...

... like tomatoes and broccoli ...

... parsley (with just a little stinging grass) ...

We've also had some nice strawberries..

He planted Hopi (Indian) corn behind the barn ...

... and started a third compost pile in the yard.

The 1500 gallon tank for storing water.

Water lilies continue to grow in our pond, despite Mom's best efforts at eradication.

Dad planted some cattails ...

Here's another thing growing in the yard.

Potatoes, corn ...

... and beans growing in the Pumpkin Goblin's scarecrow garden ...

... located across from the pond.

Dad intends to plant millet here.

Pigeon pea plant brought over from the Dominican Republic.

Shed for the garden implements.

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The porch herb garden is now Buster-proof.  (Buster likes to munch on the crunchy black pots inside for a snack.)

The side garden ... squash, peppers ...

... very nice ...

... and zinnias.

Pretty!

We might not have a knack for raising animals yet (unless you consider it an advantage that these chickens will not have to be plucked much before they're boiled).

But someone around here definitely has a green thumb!  (Thanks, Dad.)  Here's a fig tree growing from the clippings harvested from Granny and Gramps' house.