Climber and a new haircut!

Cody got his summer haircut! Boy does he look like a different boy!

Enjoying the 80s!!

Despite having to go to the dr today and being diagnosed with an infected swimmer's ear, Carleigh was feeling a little better this evening and was playing with her playhouse and water table (minus the water). She and I played ball and played house while Matt and Cody got haircuts.

A boy and a puppy

My niece Brittany got a new puppy last night and she brough the little collie down for the kids to play with this afternoon. Her name is April and she is 5 weeks old. Cody got as close as he could to April and Carleigh was saying "Woof!" and "doggie."

Cody's Dedication

Last night, our church had child/baby dedication. There were about 10 babies and children who were dedicated to the Lord. It has been many years that I have waited to dedicate a child to the Lord. It was a very special moment for Matt, Cody and I. The only negative part was that the service was long and Cody had to sit through it. He has never sat through a service since he was a small baby so it was very hard for him, Matt and I. At one point Cody was going from one church member to the next in hopes that someone could entertain aka distract him.

Lollipop and Dedication thoughts

We went to my school's carnival tonight and Cody and Carleigh had fun playing the Sucker Pull. I have never given them suckers before due to choking hazzards. However, I was talking to someone and Carleigh pulled the wrapper off and popped it into my mouth before I could stop her! Of course I didn't want to cause a scene by taking it away from her, but I was worried that she might try to bite it off and choke. However, she really surprised me by licking it and keeping it in her mouth without trying to bite it off! Way to go big girl! She also didn't get any juice or stickyness on her face or clothes!!

Also, Cody gets dedicated to the Lord during Sunday evening service. This is a very special time for us. We have been waiting 3 years to dedicate and give him back to the Lord as our gift from Him. There will be a short slideshow of pictures of him from birth to 3 years. I had to limit myself to 4 pictures. This was hard as I have probably over 400 pictures of him from birth to 3 years!! (And probably more if truth be told!) He is my ray of sunshine. He has the sweetest and most tender personality. One of my co-workers put it perfectly when she said that Cody has the face of God.

Scrapes and burns

Last week, Cody tripped and fell into the corner of a wall and scraped his face from the edge of his eye to the middle of his left cheek. Last night, he decided to kiss a lighbulb that was on! So now he looks like he has been through a battle! I feel really bad about the burn. He was in my bedroom because I thought he needed a change of scenery. I turned my back for just a second and I heard a wailing! At first, I thought he burned his hands but I looked them over carefully and nothing was red. Then, about 20 minutes later, I noticed the skin on his lip had peeled and the skin was bright red underneath. He can zip from one area to the next in a matter of a split second. I guess I need to get in better shape and grow eyes in the back of my head. I really worry about him and his safety since he has special needs and has poor spatial awareness. We have safeguarded the house the best that we can possibly with our circumstances of the house's dimensions. If we ever build a house, I have a LOT of ideas on how to prevent further accidents like these. The school nurse called because his teachers thought that he might have falled on the sidewalk at school. Matt explained what happened. So this evening, we went to get some topical ointment that has antiobiotics. It looks like it might be a second degree burn. Thank goodness it is only on the tip of his lip and covers a half-inch area. My poor boy!

This is easy!

Cornhole anyone?

Matt's parents bought us a junior-sized corn hole set for our backyard. We played the game without interruptions while Cody and Carleigh had their nap. Once, they were awake, we never got to play a real game again. Carleigh loved putting the bags into the holes. She will be an expert player in a couple of years! Cody also got the idea after awhile!

More farm photos!

Fun on the farm!

After a short excursion to Harbin Park yesterday, we went to my sister's family's farm. My sister's in-laws own an 88 acre farm in Liberty, Indiana. They have horses, cows, ducks and cats. They also have a large pond and the kids have a blast running around and looking at the animals. Their cows were especially noisy yesterday and were mooing constantly. Of course, cows are Carleigh's favorite animal right now so everytime they mooed, Carleigh would moo back at them! We also got a chance to pet a brown and white horse and Carleigh got to pet a horse for the very first time! It was a sweet and gentle horse. The biggest hit were the rocks! They were dirty, dirty, dirty afterwards but a bath cleaned them up afterwards! It was a beautiful spring day in the 70's. It gave me a hint of what is to come this summer! Is it June yet??

Lawnmower girl!

For an Easter present, Carleigh received a bubble lawnmower. Boy was it a hit! She went through an entire container of bubble solution in one hour! She practiced on our screen porch and she loves doing what Daddy does each week! (Or sometimes more than that!) Her little personality is shining! She is talking up a storm and loves to help me clean up.

ABCs

Cody and Carleigh are now officially addicted to "Sesame Street." We have a DVD that is all about the alphabet. Now that we have watched it a gazillion times, they can now identify several letters. Carleigh knows A,B,C, D, H and I. Cody can identify A, B, and Y. I was wearing a shirt that said "OHIO" on it and Carleigh got into my lap touched the letter H and said "H!" And then she said "I"! I was shocked as I really haven't worked on the alphabet with either of them. This has motivated me to do some extra activities in the summer with the alphabet, letters and shapes. I have also seen Cody advance in certain areas. He is getting an interest in coloring, loves books, points to objects, grunts when he wants something and now he can say "more" and "car." I think it is real beneficial that Cody has his little sister who is talking which motivates him to say more words. His new latest thing is to sleep with Mickey Mouse and Elmo. He loves hugging them and carrying them around the house. Carleigh's newest word is "No!" and loves telling me no all the time! Typical toddler right?!!

She was upset and didn't want to pose, but here is a clear shot of the front of her dress.

Easter Fashion

Happy Easter 2007!

We had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday as we celebrated our Lord and Savior's resurrection! He is alive indeed! Sunday morning began with the excitement of Easter baskets. The kiddos were so excited that they hardly had any milk or breakfast! We then attended Matt's parents' church for Easter morning services. Afterwards, we went out for lunch with Matt's family. After a nap, Aunt Connie brought more Easter baskets (not including 2 other baskets given by my parents and my friend the day before) and Papaw Schmidt brought a HUGE basket filled with treats right before we left for our church's Lord Supper Service. We didn't have an egg hunt due to the freezing temps, but they went to an egg hunt yesterday and collected eggs in the snow!! Wacky Ohio weather!! Carleigh wore her "princess" dress and Cody was sporting his suit!

Walking in her stroller!

Park Candids

Fun day at the park!

We took our two to Winton Woods again to play and boy did they have fun! Today is the last day before the storms and cold weather comes back for awhile, so we decided to have a last fling at the park. Cody and Carleigh just love to visit the park!

Egg Hunt Expert

Last year, the kids were not successful or truly understood the concept of an egg hunt. This year was very different! We "practiced" at home a few hours before the event began. Cody and Carleigh thought it was a fun game. Of course, they liked dumping out the eggs more than putting them in! Last night, our church had a Easter egg hunt and boy were my kiddos excited! Carleigh started picking them up before Aunt Connie said go! Let's just say, we were very successful! Carleigh had a bucket full and yes it was to the top! We had a combine total of 84 eggs! I think Carleigh found 55 or 60 of those. I would hold the bucket and Carleigh would lean down and grab it and put it in the bucket. She was so motivated to pick them up! She was an egg hunter expert!! It was so cute to see them really get into the hunt!