Oliver

 "My turn" He says, ripping the shirt out of my hands

Yep, you missed your arm kiddo!

He can almost do it

to get a good one

The progression (or digression) of how to get a good picture of Clara...

Chickens

 Just call him the Chicken Whisperer

 Landon took this next picture. Great timing!

 I have a great video of this moment also,

Landon was talking for the chickens,

"Hi best friend" one chicken said to the other...

 Ollie's look in this next one! 

"Don't hurt my chicken Landon"

 Clearly the chicken is ok with it.

She just sat on his lap

in a lawn chair.

 Then Grandma was trusted chickensitter 

so he could climb a ladder

 Little boys foreground

Big boys background!

Moral of the story:

We love our chickens!

Spring Break

 Craig's parents came down for Spring Break

 We rented a minivan and drove to Biloxi.

We went on a air boat tour to see some gators.

Minus Clara and I (fan too loud for Clara)

The tour guide said he gave neck massages to this alligator.

He gave her treats of marshmallows that 

she would come close to the boat to chomp.

 Shrimping is a big industry in the bayou

so we went on a shrimp boat tour.

 Still early in the tourist season so the boat was not crowded

 The boys loved the boat!

 It was windy

 Landon and Grandma Ellen watching the net

 They caught some shrimp (the water temp was too cold to have a large catch), 

a puffer fish (our tour guide blew the fish up for us, mouth to mouth), an eel and some other fish.

 Holding a real live gulf shrimp!

 Then we took Don to touch the Gulf of Mexico.

Landon was in heaven!

 Proof I was there!

 Ollie fell asleep during our shrimp lunch and

stayed asleep for about 10 minutes on the beach. 

Almost missed out on the coolest part of the day!

 Clara didn't mind the sand and getting dirty.

Sensory heaven for a 5 month old!

 He was having too much fun!

Good thing I had a plastic bag for wet clothes.

 Ollie wasn't sure about the water getting him.

He ran away screaming when the waves washed on the beach.

Like the ocean was playing a game with him.

And of course no trip would be complete without some manual labor and a mess, so Craig and his Dad ripped out 3 windows in the house and replaced 2 of them. The third had to ordered and was replaced this weekend. It looks sooooo much better in our bedroom now AND the windows open AND have screens! 

Ironically the primary wallpaper under the paint in our room has the same base color that we painted the room when we moved in. Wierd?!

We had a blast with Craig's parents and 

we are so grateful they help us out with our house projects!

Vertbatim

We were eating dinner, 

Landon told Craig

"We're best friends!"

Ollie climbs in my lap

squeezes my neck and says 

"Best you"

My heart melted

Early Morning Picnic

A donut picnic that is.

Just being helpful

I walk into the kitchen for literally one minute and back to the living room and this is what I find.

Oliver got the box of changing supplies from the book shelf and had her onsie up and old diaper off.

At least he was wiping front to back

Ollie

Rodeo

We took my parents to their first rodeo the day after Ollie's party. The boys got to go for a horse ride and pet some animals before the show started.

There's just something about a man with a baby doll in his pocket.

His son's baby doll that is.

The boys enjoyed the bull riders the most.

Ollie was upset by the calf roping. He yelled at them, "No, cows!"

Finger shaking and all. 

I don't like that part either.

We all had fun and went home and crashed.

My parents left he next day to drive back to Ohio.