Army construction- June.

After she forgot to dress anyone in green for St. Patrick's Day, mama thought she ought to do something to make up for it. After all, St. Patrick himself sneaked into Henry's classroom, messed everything up, but did leave gold chocolate coins behind. Maybe it was leprechauns. This is a new tradition mama has never herd of, but seems to be quite popular in elementary schools this year.

So for supper, she made a Shepard's pie, completely from scratch, including homemade gravy, which for the first time, turned out delicious and not lumpy. Finally, something from the south worked! Mama started to worry that maybe Shepard's pie is English and not Irish, so she continued her false Irish pretenses and dyed everyone's drinks green. Though she thought the Shepard's pie was delicious, no one else seemed to like it. I ate the corn and peas. Henry was mad because he likes apple pie and this was nothing like apple pie.

Last night, mama brought the camera upstairs because, while Henry was dressed in his jammers, I was wearing this...

We found this in the box of clothes Sadie sent down. It was clearly too small, but mama can't resist the urge to dress up small defenseless children in ridiculous outfits.

In her defense, I felt quite pretty in my Snow white ice skating costume, even if it was mere millimeters from flashing too much chest and winding me up on a celebrity fashion blog.

Here's a pretty unsuccessful video of mama trying to get me to say some of my words. She did get me to say "Sadie" and "nuk." Mama loves it when I wake up crying at night and ask "nuk, nuk, nuk" in a very pitiful voice.

We also don't want to seem too boastful, but we're almost certain I will beat Henry's potty training age of 3 and a half. Yesterday, I was playing in the toy room when I ran into the kitchen, pointed at my diaper and said "I pooped." Mama was very proud.

In our nightly effort to stall bedtime, Henry and i set up a dance party which included spinning and making Curious George jump.


A while back, I asked PawPaw to send me pictures of the construction equipment he uses in Iraq. He came through with around 20 really action shots that were so good mama printed them out to put in his album. Henry liked them so much he refused to take a video speaking anything but gibberish. Mama said he could take the pictures to school to show his friends. But Henry was adamant that he didn't want them at school because he didn't want to lose them and he liked them too much to lose. Thanks for sending the awesome pictures Pawps!

You look like a starfish- June.

We had a great weekend. Although it rained most of the time, we spent all last week looking forward to our next guest- Mister Paul! Henry seriously loves Mister Paul and couldn't wait for him to get here. Unfortunately, he didn't come until late Friday night and Henry insisted that Mister Paul come in and wake him up to tell him he got there.

We spent most of Saturday showing off and garnering attention. We went to see a Clemson baseball game and during the game we noticed that Henry was starting to act funny. Sure enough, he had a low fever, so we went home and put him straight down for a nap with some medicine. The medicine did the job and he felt good that evening, but after we went to bed, the fever went back up again and he had a restless night. He woke up multiple times and every time insisted that Mister Paul come tuck him back in his bed.

Luckily, by Sunday Henry was feeling better. Plus, spending an entire day in your jammies would make anyone feel good. We spent the whole day bumming around the house and trying to get some things clean. Mama got everything swept except the toy room, which was a complete disaster. She said in passing to Henry that they'd need to start cleaning it up soon. 20 minutes later, she was so surprised to walk in a find that everything had been put away. Quite an accomplishment for the boy who generally argues that someone needs to help him because one room is too much to clean by himself. Mama was so pleased that we got macaroni and cheese for supper (we'd been begging for weeks), and Henry even got a bowl of ice cream.

Today was a beautiful 65 degree sunny day. We ate lunch and supper outside and mama was even in such a good mood that she asked our friends James and Andy to come down and play with us for a half hour while their mom made their supper. She was going to take pictures of everyone running around the house, but Matt and Mason came over and 6 kids was too many to leave outside to go get a camera.

After supper, everyone got the bug to do a little yard work. Mama pulled weeds between the bricks on the patio and blew leaves out of the backyard. She mentioned that she wanted to plant something in the rock beds and for the first time, Henry took her up on the offer of performing chores for money. He got a good portion of rocks out of the bed and earned one dollar. She told him he could earn another dollar if he kept working on it tomorrow. He had fun because he used his shovel to load up the cart.

While they worked on the low part of the back yard, papa and I were working on the high part. Papa was digging up the new garden plot and working in all the compost that mama was been accumulating all winter.

It was my job to pick up all the rocks and put them in a coffee can.

Needless to say, I got a bath after we went inside. Mama would also like to point out that I was wearing a sweatshirt, but took it off when I was collecting sticks and wouldn't put it back on. I didn't seem to mind only wearing a tank top.

People have started requesting a picture of mama's belly. At 19 weeks, she's finally popped. After 17 weeks of no appetite and an upset stomach every time she ate something, she's finally got her hunger back, and in a big way. She lost 7 pounds in the first trimester and a few people even told her that she was really looking thin (they didn't know she was pregnant). But in the last two weeks, she gone from thinner to what papa referred to tonight and "round all over." Then he said she was shaped like a starfish- round in the middle and pointy on the ends. Thanks, papa. And now that she's starting to gain weight, mama says she should probably start eating a little healthier. Before, she ate pretty much anything that sounded good because hardly anything ever did sound good. Hardly anything besides hamburgers and french fries. Especially late at night. Good for her that today the spring must have awoken in her a hunger for fresh summer veggies because we did eat big salads for supper instead of the Long John Silver's that she had last night (which was delicious).

Henry's Observation- Mama.

I don't have any pictures to upload today, but I am trying to start writing down the funny things the kids do before I forget them.

Henry was playing with some of his planes the other day when I heard him say, "We can land here. I know it's America because there are all those flags flying on the roofs of the buildings."

I asked him about it later and he went into a detailed explanation. (Everything with Henry is detailed these days. You can't watch TV with him anymore without explaining EVERYTHING to you.) He says you know you're in America because there is one flag with red stripes and blue stars.

Then under it is the blue flag with the tree and the moon (South Carolina's state flag).

And finally, the last flag is the tiger paw flag (Clemson).

And he's totally right. Most businesses, every building at the university and even many houses fly all three flags. That's pride.

This week was International Week at Henry's school. And the biggest impression it made on him was that apparently everyone is born in China. His best buddy at school, Kefu, is from China and barely speaks any English (not that either has ever noticed that there's a language barrier). Miss Christina is from China and has taught Henry a few chinese words when she comes to visit. And I guess most of the parents that came in to talk for International Week were from China. Henry was intrigued by the story that when it's night here, it's day there.

So after class on Friday, I asked him if he knew anyone who was born in a different country. He immediately talked about Kefu, then told me that Michaela just moved here from China too. Then he said that he was born in China, but he moved to Wisconsin first, then to North Carolin a before he moved to South Carolina. We're very lucky.

Our very well-behaved week- Henry.

We've had a great week. First, Miss Susan called to ask if she could spend two nights with us as she travels around the country for med school interviews. We were so excited to see her! In anticipation, mama tidied up the house a bit. (No work is getting done now with her condition- constant napping, I mean.) She also managed to marinade and cook up 5 pounds of sticky chicken to add to her freezer stock. The only problem with mama's mass cooking is that after cooking multiple batches of something in a short period, she can't bear the thought of having to eat it. It's going to be a while before she can stomach beef burgandy, even though we have 6 bags waiting to be eaten.

While mama was cooking, we kept ourselves busy. Mama has been busy scanning in my artwork from the past 6 months and decided I should hang up all my letters from the year. Except there were a few we were missing. So we've started recreating the missing letter. The first was C. I got out all the supplies and went to work at my little desk, gluing candy to the letter. Mama was nervous handing me a bottle of glue, but I quickly showed her that I knew just what to do. "Squeeze, drop, stop." We love you, preschool.

June played in the toy room with her Little People while mama and I made banana bread for my class. I am pleased to say I can now perfectly crack an egg without smashing it in my fingers. I think I might be better than mama. While the muffins were cooking, June pulled out her markers, which she is prone to do about 4 times a day. This kid loves to color. And she knows which drawer everything is in. She even picks out different coloring books every time. Mama usually pulls a page out and lets her go at it. Yesterday, she picked out the Thomas coloring book, but gave mama an earful when she saw the page she ripped out. She yelled at mama for 2 minutes before grabbing the book from her, turned to the front cover, pointed at Thomas, and shouted "Woo, woo!" Mama eventually figured out that June not only wanted a picture of Thomas, but it had to be one with steam coming out of his funnel. Girls are so demanding.

On Tuesday, Miss Susan had to go to Atlanta for another interview, but it wasn't until 5pm. Papa very generously offered to take the day off to watch us kids so mama and Miss Susan could spend the day in Atlanta. They went to this hip place called Atlantic Station, ate lunch outside, and went to see Bodies: the Exhibition. You've got to check out the link. It was so cool. They also visited the Ikea, Trader Joe's, and Starbucks.

While they were gone, we played with papa. Juner practiced putting her baby doll to sleep.

And I built a huge marble run.

While I'm at school, June and mama go to the gym. Mama is getting big enough that people are starting to notice she's pregnant, and now they are starting to freak out about her working out. (The doctor says it's fine as long as she's feeling good. They're just jealous that she's still kicking their butts in spinning.) When they get home from the gym, June gets to watch an episode of Dora while mama takes her shower.

She has quite the ritual now. She finds her GG bear and puts it in the chair, then covers both of them up with a blanket. This girl loves Dora.

Today, mama was busy cleaning the upstairs. While mama put away all our winter clothes, June piled her books in mama's bed and read and cuddled under the covers until mama was finished. Then she played with her new Easter People while mama made some apple chips in the dehydrator and granola in the crock pot.

Then June sampled some marshmallows from her campfire set. What a goofball.

After they picked me up from school, we went to the elementary school to visit our neighbor Matt's classroom. They were having a fundraiser, and were reading books to raise money. We tried our best to sit still while Matt read to us.

But June got to wiggly and gave up sitting nicely. She immediately made friends with a friendly man. Luckily, he also lives in our neighborhood (we've met his wife before) and didn't mind a two-year-old demanding hugs.

Papa's pictures- June.

We got home form the zoo so late on Sunday, there was no time to take naps. So we zoned out in front of some Dora for a half hour, then headed back outside.

Here I am on my new scooter. I love riding it! And I never fail to impress mama and papa because i already have more coordination than Henry.

Henry stuck to his too small tricycle. He also rides his bike a lot but the trike is easier to climb on and off of, plus he can really get it going fast around the corners.

Papa got the fancy lens out that always takes awesome pictures. And he got some great ones of us playing.

Mama thinks Henry's face is starting to get a little chunky, but he's still super skinny everywhere else. He's been growing up quickly, and she's had to put away some of his 3T pants. Even some 4Ts are starting to get snug on him. This is a miracle because you might remember that Henry didn't retire some 18 month pants until well after his 3rd birthday.

To show how big he was getting, Henry carried many large rocks over his head, exclaiming all the while: "Look how strong I am!"

I have become quite theatrical about everything lately. Everything is very pleasing or EXTREMELY upsetting.

We really need to get caught up- Henry.

We are falling so far behind on our blog that mama has heroically chosen to give up her daily nap in order to try and catch up. Good for you, but it might turn bad for us, because she gets pretty grumpy without a snooze.

On Sunday, the weather was perfect and we decided to head to Greenville to the zoo. We posed for the obligatory bear picture.

Papa, you're such a goof!

Mama packed us lunch and after we ate all the healthy stuff, she surprised us with Fun Dip!

June dip a good job licking the stick without chomping it.

I chose the rather unorthodox method of licking both sides of the stick and covering it completely with the cool powder that turns from blue to green. Then I ate the whole stick and just licked up the powder. Mama tried her first corn dog and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. But she still prefers normal hot dogs.

We took a gander at the tortoises. You can sort of see mama burgeoning belly in this shot. At 18 weeks, she's finally admitted defeat and packed up all of her normal clothes and is now wearing only maternity clothes, which she now has a ton of, thanks to her friend Tammy. All mama had in her stock was black work turtlenecks from her previous winter pregnancies. Now she's better prepared for the summer.

We love the Greenville Zoo, but there is one thing thank drives mama crazy (there's always something that annoys mama). It is very well-designed, impeccably clean, and very well-maintained, but EVERYONE feeds the animals. Papa pointed out that it appears the gift shop sells special crackers to throw the zebras, but it doesn't justify to mama that at any time you can spot cookies and cheese crackers in all of the animal pens. Even though there are signs EVERYWHERE that say "Please don't feed the animals." It really drives her crazy. And there are never any zoo employees around to tell people that your oreos probably aren't part of a balanced diet for an orangutan. You're encouraging your kids to disobey rules, and who gives up oreos, anyway? They are the gold standard of cookie in our house, which is why we only get them about once every two years.

That's enough ranting for now. We got a shot sitting on the lions.

June wasn't too happy when I slid down the lion's head right on top of her.

After we left the zoo, we visited the huge playground right outside. We debating whether or not we're going to come here anymore. It's a great playground, but when the weather is nice, there are never less than 300 people there. And the playground is massive and it's very easy to lose track of each other. We got a good example of this when we saw a crying little girl almost run right into the parking lot. Mama caught her before she got in front of any cars. We found her mama all the way on the other end of the playground, almost 200 yards away, searching all over for her.

After the park, we decided to walk around downtown for a while. We visited the waterfall, which was also overrun with people enjoying the beautiful day and even got to visit the general store that sells bins of assorted candy by the pound. We all got a special treat.

More presents?- June.

All week, my birthday kept coming. I got a new doctor set from the Columbus Turners. It's hilarious to see Henry use it, but I still throw a hissy fit at the mention of a doctor's office.

Mama made the mistake of scheduling both of our yearly check-ups at the same time. She did make the wise choice of scheduling them when Grams was in town and could go with us. I was better at this appointment, meaning I only cried about 50 percent of the time. I'm 33 inches tall and weigh 27 pounds- placing me solidly in the 25th percentile for both groups.

Henry was great for his check-up. He was very cooperative standing on the scale and getting his height measured. (37 pounds and 40 inches- 50th percentile-who knew he wasn't a shrimp?) The problems started when it was his turn to get 4 shots. He's read plenty of books about getting shots and talked about it 100 times. And though he's never enjoyed getting shots, he's at least put on a brave face. Not this time. He threw the biggest fit and it took mama and two nurses to hold him down to give him the shots. The nurse actually told mama his legs would be sore because his muscles were so tense that it was heard to get the needle in. Sure enough, his entire right thigh had a light bruise from the trauma. He even told mama later that evening that it probably wouldn't have hurt if he hadn't wiggled so much. Maybe next time.

Back to presents. I got this awesome package from Aunt Molly and Uncle Michael. The presents even came gift-wrapped. How fancy.

I was so excited to find new Little People! Mama wishes that she had taken pictures when she was extracting the toys from the packaging (for 20 minutes). I would run to the package, clasp my hands to my giant cheeks and exclaim "Oh!" I could barely contain my excitement. Thanks, Neiders!

In the past, mama has heard people talk about the art of rotating toys. After Christmas, she finally couldn't handle the sheer volume of our stuff (but refuses to get rid of anything because the new baby might like it one day). So she bought 4 huge bins and started packing up toys. Henry was very intrigued by the idea and helped her pack away things. Last week, he started asking her to get the toys out again. So they hauled out the 4 bins (we love our walk-in attic- no ladders!) and reveled in the "new toys." Seriously, it's like Christmas all over again. I've played with this gear toy for at least 45 minutes every morning. Mama loves that it keeps us occupied and can't wait for next month when we can can do it all again.

After a freak snow storm last week (it was almost cold enough to stick to the grass), it looks like spring has really sprung. The temperatures has been in the 60s and the weather has been beautiful. Inspired by the early spring (though late by South Carolina standards), mama has been busy going through the boxes and boxes of hand-me-downs. We seriously have so much that all my spring and summer clothes don't fit in my dresser. In this picture I'm modeling a Sadie original and pretending to be asleep. And please know, that it is warm down here, but not quite warm enough for this. I had to change to go play outside.

Mama has a few good stories to tell about Henry these days. One day he told her that he really likes dinosaurs, but doesn't look at pictures of meat-eaters before he goes to sleep. They give him bad dreams. Mama told him that's why she doesn't think about gas-powered furnaces or tax returns before bed.

And yesterday, we were getting out of the car when Henry suddenly had many questions to ask about the new baby.

Henry: When the baby comes out of you, are you going to die?

Mama: No, I'll go to the hospital and they will take care of me. I will be sick for a few days, but people don't die having babies.

(She then started worrying about Henry laying awake at night fearing for her safety. But Henry must not have a firm grip on the concept of death yet.)

Henry: Did you die when I came out of you?

Mama: No, I survived.

Henry: Did you die when June came out?

Mama: Do I look dead?

Henry: No, I guess not. Does it hurt the baby to be covered in your blood?

I guess we need to have a talk with Henry about the business of growing a baby and explain to him that it will not pop out Alien-style. He also thinks that all of the babies mama has had are all in there at the same time. He often talks about how he used to play with me in her belly before he came out. I wish he would have gotten a good look at the new baby so he could tell me if its a boy or girl.

Visitors- Henry.

We didn't really mention it previously, but we had two wonderful guests staying with us recently. Grams Cracker spent 8 days with us and Great Grandma Wagner spent 3 days with us on her tour of the south.

Grandma Wagner hitched a ride down to North Carolina with Uncle Larry and Aunt Linda. Then Mister Andy and Miss Christina brought her to us when they came down for June's party. We had the best time because Great Grandma was incredibly attentive to me. She played anything game I wanted, got down on the floor to throw balloons, visited my school, read me books, and even brought a new present for me to open every day, including this new bulldozer puzzle.

Add on that we had Grams with us too, and it was heaven for two kids. Constant attention! Infinite patience! While I was at school in the morning, she and mama had fun shopping, visiting local bakeries (and Mexican restaurants) and even snuck out one night to see that Percy Jackson movie. Once Grandma came, they also got to visit Vice President Calhoun's house and a really old cemetary just outside of town that featured a church built in the mid-1700s that was fortified to withstand Indian attacks. Mama enjoyed the cemetery especially because it had many colorful people buried there, such as a lady who fell from her social standing in New Orleans. Her brother found her there, shot her and her lover and brought her back to Pendleton to bury her. Only the parish wouldn't let her in the cemetery unless he built a stone wall around her grave. There are also many Revolutionary War, Civil War, and both World War veterans there.

On Wednesday, we were said to have to say goodbye to Grandma and Grams. I was so upset by it all that I threw up my breakfast about 2 seconds after this picture was taken. I had been complaining that my tummy hurt, but no one took me seriously. Mama thinks it my have been some kind of reaction to the 4 shots I had at the doctor's office on Tuesday. After I threw up, I felt great and acted completely normal, especially now that I didn't have to go to school.

This threw a wrench in mama's plans because she was supposed to take Grandma back to Charlotte and more importantly, she had a trip to Trader Joe's and Ikea planned. Luckily, papa was able to spend the day at home with me and ultimately Juner as well. Mama got a mile down the road with her and realized what she was doing and brought her right back home to stay with us. Needless to say, she had a great time in Charlotte without any kids.

We've had a rough transition back into life without 4 adults bestowing constant attention. June spent a day looking around the house, asking "Gamma?" Grams and Grandma, please come back whenever you want! You're always welcome!