Catch Up

What a month!  We've had lots going on, hence the lack of posts.  Soooo, I'll do my best to remember.  The big family event was a trip to Branson, MO with Grandma and Grandpa. We left on a Friday after school and planned to just drive until we wanted to stop.  The crazy Hubby kept driving all the way to Harrison, Arkansas which is only 45 minutes from Branson.  So we rolled into the Holiday Inn Express about midnight.  But the good thing about that was that we got to do some fun things on Saturday instead of spending it driving.  We went to Mystic Caverns.  There are two beautiful caverns that we toured- we saw some cave salamanders and a bat.  We also learned about natural cave lighting... which means they turn out all the lights and you see the blackest black ever.  You can't see your hand in front of your face.  Kinda cool. 

We meet Grandma and Grandpa in Branson that afternoon.  We stayed in a nice house outside of town that was 2 minutes from the lake.  The house was great- lots of room for kids and the Grandparent's dogs. A house makes vacation sooo much easier- separate bedrooms, washer and dryer (helpful for when a kid/dog throws up in the middle of the night), a kitchen.  Grandpa took Bubba fishing and he caught his first fish!  They fished every day while we were there and Bubba really enjoyed it- enough to get up at 6:30 in the morning our last day to get in one more fishing trip.  Dutch had a couple of boat rides and much preferred to go slow.  We also went to a fish hatchery, the damn and shopping in downtown Branson.  We had one yummy lunch on the lake.  We also had a little problem with ticks.  I found the first one in Dutch's armpit.  She stayed remarkably calm considering.  The Hubby ended up with 3 during the trip and Huck had one.  Bubba and I remained tick free, thank goodness.  You can bet your life I was very quickly Googling Lyme's disease and learned that it is very rare in Missouri, whew!  While we were gone there were some big changes to our house, but I'll do house catch up later.

As for the rest of the month, I'll go person by person.
Bubba- We returned from Branson on a Wednesday and on Friday Bubba went on a Cub Scout camp out.  Because the Hubby missed work the weekend before we asked Uncle Mike if he could take Bubba.  It was his first overnight camp out and it went well.  Uncle Mike called it Family Camping because it was pretty tame.  They went to a state park about an hour east of Dallas.  They did fishing, hiking, worked on some belt loops (the Cub Scout equivalent of badges), had campfires, and slept in a tent.  They had a good time and we are thankful to Uncle Mike!  Bubba has just 3 days left of school.  We are all very ready for the summer!

Dutchess-  She is no longer a Preschooler!  Our girl is ready for Kindergarten!  Dutch had her end-of-year sing-a-long and "graduation."  She did a great job singing and signing.  She kept her chin down on her chest much of the time and when asked about it she said she needed to keep her eyes on her music teacher because sometimes she forgot her hand motions if she looked around the room.  They got a certificate of completion but no big "graduation" for which I am glad.  I don't quite get the cap and gown for 4 year-olds.  Cute, but a bit much.  She also had her ballet recital and did wonderfully.  Mom Mom was in town and the whole family made it in time- without flowers (for anyone who remembers the debacle from last year when the Hubby missed the show because he was buying flowers.)  She has had several playdates with one of my friend's niece and can't stop talking about her friend Gracie.  She has a birthday party tomorrow at a nail salon and can't wait.

Huckelberry-  Is so fun these days!  Well, not this morning when he was up at 6:30 but as a general rule.  He is practically running and is constantly in motion.  He is saying MaMa, DaDa and BuBu (Bubba.)  He "talks" a lot, points to what he wants and fusses when you don't understand him.  On more than one occasion he has come to get me from another room to tell me something.  The other day he came into the kitchen calling me and wanting me to follow him.  He led me to right outside his room to show me he had spit up on the floor.  I got a towel to wipe it up but he kept pointing to a paint spot on the floor wanting me to clean that up as well.  When I didn't, he went into his room, got a cloth diaper insert (which looks like a rag) and tried to wipe up the paint spot.  Cutey!  He likes to sweep, use the electric floor sweeper and wipe up water spills in the kitchen.  He is eating mostly table food and seems to favor chicken, bread and pasta over fruits and veggies.  He likes yogurt, mac and cheese, pancakes, waffles, goldfish and "O's".  He drinks from a cup.  He doesn't take bottles anymore while I am at work but is still nursing 4-5 times a day/night.  He is sleeping in his very own bed in his very own room!  He starts out there and ends up coming into our bed sometime during the night but we are working on that.  He loves to dance and he bobs his head and bounces up and down.  His new move is to stomp his foot to the beat.  He is starting to climb and gets up onto things by himself and then can't get back down again.  He HATES to take a bath.  HATES.   He is very friendly these days.  He is being very sweet to Mom Mom and is generous with hugs and smiles.  He is a pretty happy guy most of the times.  His face just lights up when he sees his family and it melts my heart every time.

Enough for now.  I'll do another post on the house progrss soon.