Just another day in May

Hi everyone.

Hope you enjoy all the pictures. No major exciting events lately. Let's see. We had a great Mother's Day weekend. My parents were in town so we spent some time with them, and Chris' parents got back from their trip to the Grand Canyon, so so caught up with them too. Saturday Chris helped me plant flowers I'd picked out at Lowe's. He cooked lunch for me and my parents. Some delicious fried fish, fries, and hush puppies. He also tried a new recipe on some grilled trout and that was excellent too. We hung out in the back yard the rest of the day enjoying every moment. The weather was perfect. Preston played hard. I got all my plants in the dirt. Mom and Dad got me a squirrel proof bird feeder, its pretty cool and it actually works. So Preston helped fill those and we hung that up. It was a nice day. Then Mom and Dad treated us to dinner at Olive Garden (my choice). It was a great day. Then Sunday we had baby/parent dedication day. Clint and 4 others participated. Oh, and we still have 4 others to do in a couple of weeks. (Lots of kiddos in our church). Unfortunately, we have no pictures from that. After church, Chris and I cooked lunch for our parents. We had stuffed pork chops, jambalaya, corn on the cob, and fresh bread. We didn't bother cooking any dessert after that meal! My parents hung around and visited for a bit, and then headed home. Chris' parents stayed and visited for a while telling us all about their trip. A terrific weekend.

Oh, Chris has exciting news: NO MORE SCHOOL! Well, until July. He survived the semester, and hopefully passed all his classes. He's taking a mini-mester in July and then starts back in September. Yesterday was our first Sunday afternoon together in forever it seems like. Usually Chris does homework until the wee hours of the morning, and the boys and I stick to the usual routine of the rest of the day: play, dinner, bath, books, bed.

Chris is currently doing a little remodeling in our camper. We decided to pull out the shower since we have never used it, but keep the toilet. So he's been working on that. He's happy with the progress so far. He's also got on his wood working to do list: build another swing and a rock box for Preston. I'm not a fan of sand, so we're doing rocks. I think he's gonna build a ladder with rope and hang that from our tree too. That'll give Preston a little challenge to climb.

I've been going over nursery equipment/toys/furniture for the church. We've reached our goal of raising full financial support to completely furnish the nursery and preschool rooms. Yay! So I've been going over the details of that and preparing to purchase items in the coming months. I'm also researching/shopping for a stroller for 2. Haven't found exactly what I want yet.

And now for an update on the boys:

We've begun our adventures in potty training. So far we've had lots of successes. Rewards with M&M's helps. I don't want to lead you to believe we're almost out of diapers, but I'm definitely proud of him so far. He's started saying lots of new phrases. Some of my favorite are, "Hooray, I did it!" "I wike it" (He says this for everything) "I help him" (This just means he wants to help, or that he needs some help). Watching him learn language is quite entertaining. Oh, I got a new compliment about Preston. Usually people say things like "He's so busy" or "Wow, he's really active" but someone informed me that he's also entertaining. This is true all around for most kids, but Preston does some pretty crazy stuff. He's still not afraid of the oven. If its on he just grabs his oven mitts and opens the door. He is determined to climb our trees in the back yard. He does a pretty good job. His latest adventure involved coffee grounds. I guess he wanted to see what happened when you dump daddy's new bag of coffee on the kitchen floor....Daddy gets pretty upset. Preston was wowed at the experience of spreading them around on the floor. Have I mentioned that I love my Dyson? He's also discovered what fun it is to hide in the washing machine...usually with the door closed.

Clint went for his 4 month check up today and weighs in at 14 lb 4 oz and is 25 1/4 inches long. He's less chunky monkey now and is becoming more lean like Preston was as a baby. I agree with the doc that its just because he's burning all his calories by being so active. I'm gonna be in trouble when he gets mobile. He's trying to make sucking his fingers a habit, but we picked up on it quickly and have been keeping a sock on his hand. He wasn't happy about it for the first couple of days, but it has helped. He's laughing now which is pretty sweet. Everyone loves a happy baby. Clint's really into watching Preston, and he seems to be a people person too. He loves flirting with the ladies when we're in public.

Has anyone seen the show The Verminators on Discovery? Its pretty gross, but we've caught some vermins ourselves lately. We caught 2 rats. Don't worry, they were outside not inside. A new library is being built behind our neighborhood, and since the construction began we've had some mice issues.

Other news: We lost half of our smaller tree in the back yard from the storms that blew through last week. It didn't fall on anything other than the fence, and didn't damage anything. Chris and I slept through it but realized it must have been bad when family called to check on us and we saw the tree down in the back. Also, some train cars derailed in Lafayette over the weekend spilling hydrochloric acid. Lots of people had to evacuate, including some of our friends but they are home now. I think we made national news twice this past week.

Ok I think that's enough for now.

Love Chris Shell Preston and Clint