five small humans and their two big humans!: memorial day weekend

meh... i'm only a week late on this. not bad, considering what the week has been like and that i'm, you know, flying solo here. not that it's an excuse... just a reason. :)

kelvin was home for a few days for the holiday weekend, probably our last chance to see him until the job in tennessee is finished. we made good use of it, spending time with the kids.

on a slightly random side note, i finally tended to the rhubarb by the side of the house. it's a pretty small patch, but looks can be deceiving. i got enough for 8 pies plus a little extra from it. i couldn't use all of it, because as you can see in the photo, some of it was just too big. like, 2 inches across.

'barb on 'roids?

madi gets to ride facing the front now! it's gotten to be a real headache anytime we go somewhere because she's got nothing to look at except the headrest of her seat. the poor thing was nearly bored to death and quite literally bored to tears.

all madison really cared about at this point was her toes...

friday night we took the kids to see grandpa dan and grandma ruby. we had supper together and the kids got to spend a little time with their grandparents.

this, however, was the highlight of cole's day. maybe his whole week...

he got to see the "baby killies"!

(that's how he says 'kitties'... sounds cuter in real life!)

he tried to convince us that the baby kitty was coming home with us.

well, this mommy loves kitties, but i've got enough little creatures to clean up after right now!!

someday...

madi and her daddy

it's like the bluetooth of hydration: hands-free cuppage!

daddy, cole and grandpa dan got a little four-wheeler riding in, which cole was more than excited about.

kelvin left early monday morning... it's much easier when he leaves before everyone's up. since we didn't have any plans, the littles and i ended up taking a day trip up to the farm to see grandpa cal and grandma laurie.

cole's in love with the "motorcycle" at grandma and grandpa's house!

madison doesn't much care yet, but i don't give it long...

miss cutie pie herself!

her hair got messy after she fell asleep in the van. the a/c went out late last summer, and we just got it back friday. fortunately, the problem was covered under an extended warranty issued just for the rear a/c lines (or something like that) so it didn't cost us. whew! until then, though, once it started warming up, that van got pretty hot, and the kids wound up pretty sweaty. made for some neat hair-do's, though.

these two love to chase each other.

until someone gets an owie... then they cry. after the tears, they start the whole process over again. i feel like a broken record... "stop running!!".

ahhhh, summer...

while madison took a nap, i got to spend some one-on-one time outside with cole. that kid... he's just a hoot!

even when he got scolded for taking the "motorcycle" into the garden (thankfully he missed the veggies and things... no harm done, but a good scolding took care of the issue for the rest of the day), i had a hard time keeping a straight face. apparently, he was pretty shocked that he would do such a thing! :)

as if the dirt and "motorcycle" weren't enough, we had a total "boy" moment when he spied a caterpillar. he's never seen a real one... he knows "the hungry, hungry caterpillar" by heart, but a REAL LIVE one was new to him.

here's the creepy-crawly himself.

larger than life.

(shudder)

captain underpants??

potty training has taken a turn for the better... he kept these dry all day (he saw one of his new pairs and HAD to wear them- not trainers, REAL underwear. this photo was taken shortly before the changing of the britches...)