More Pictures from Gojo's!

I mentioned in the last post about going to Gojo's Saturday night to celebrate Cynthia's graduation...here are some great pictures Cynthia took!

Sean, Shannon and I, waiting (not-so-patiently) for dinner to start!

Is this maximum cute-ness or what? They almost look like twins!

Roan always wants the chef to flip the shrimp to him...he tries hard to catch it! This is Libby and Roan watching the shrimp fly by!

Libby actually eating a SHRIMP! Can you see the excitement on mom's face??

Can we just take a picture without acting like goof balls? Apparently not!

Baby time!

My best friend, Michelle became a grandma ... er...Mimi ... last week! Her daughter, Mariah, had baby Isaiah last Saturday morning! Luckily, we were in town when he was born, so we stopped by to meet sweet baby Isaiah...

Roan holding Isaiah. He wasn't too sure about how to hold him, but he did fine!

Roan with Isaiah and Aunt Lala. She and I aren't "Great" aunts... we're too young for all that. We'll stick to being just plain "Aunt LaLa" and "Aunt WeeWee"!

Gojo's...Again! OR Shrimp Time!

My dear friend, Cynthia, graduated from Chiropractic College on Friday. To celebrate, we joined her and some other friends for dinner at Gojo's Saturday night. I've written before about what picky eaters Libby and Roan can be... well, they do love Gojo's, primarily for the rice and the soup. Roan always wants the chef to flip the shrimp in his mouth...but doesn't want to EAT the shrimp. I've never minded that they don't eat the shrimp appetizer, because that just means MORE for ME!!

Well, Saturday night both kids decided it was time to try shrimp. We stared at it, licked it, we took a tiny bite... then Roan took the plunge! and he LIKED it!!

Libby tried it too! It took her a minute to talk herself into taking a bite, then she chased it with a chopstick full of rice... she liked it too!

Oh, and Libby decided to take our picture. She caught Shannon mid-chew...but we still look kinda cute!

We had a great time with Cynthia, her mom Lou, Leslie and Linda. Great job on a huge academic accomplishment, Cynthia!

Roan's Kindergarten Registration

Last week, Roan and I took a little road trip to Jefferson City for his Kindergarten Registration! This was a VERY exciting day for him. On our way, we stopped in Columbia and saw Aunt 'Chelle and some friends from Judevine where I used to work. After that, we stopped at Central Dairy, the mecca of all ice cream shops, then on to Shannon's. After changing clothes and combing his hair, we headed around the corner to Pioneer Trail Elementary! Isn't he too cute? Standing at the entrance of his new school. We had to have a long talk about the difference between 'registration' and 'attendance'. He thought that registration meant he could start going to kindergarten NOW!

Touring one of the classrooms. He was enchanted by the magnetic dry erase board!

Looking out the window onto the playground.

This is the classroom he hopes he gets. He walked around in awe... "I'll be such a lucky boy to go to school here!" He's VERY excited! ...and he met his first friend. Ironically, his new friend, Drew, his the son of an old friend of mine. Mamie and I took some classes together in Cape Girardeau back in 1995! Now they live in Jeff City and the boys are friends. What a small world! I'll take Libby on August 2 for her registration. Wow...life is changing FAST!!

Easter Dinner at the Barn

The McGowins have the coolest "barn" ever! It's the site of most family celebrations. We had Easter dinner there last weekend...
Roan and his new best buddy. He loves anything with four legs and fur. Cute pooch...Roan loved the grey hair on his beard.

Shannon slicing the ham. By the way, I love the grey in his beard, too.

Shannon's daughter, Mallory, prepping the buffet. That's niece, Jennie, in the background.

My BFF, Sharla and Shannon. Otherwise known as the twins...born 9 years apart!

It was the windiest day EVER! Libby IS about to blow away! I think Buster and Momo's qualifies as "Magic Land, version 2". When it was time to leave, Libby and Roan cried... "we don't want to leave...we LOVE it at Momo's!!!"

John Deere Green...

We spent Easter Sunday at Shannon's family's home in Ulman MO. The kids were in Heaven... lots of animals, a trampoline, lots of room to run...and the John Deere. Sheldon, Shannon's brother took the kids for a ride, and even let them drive. He's now the king of Roan's double-wide trailer.

Roan driving ... along with Sheldon, Sean and my BFF, Sharla's son Jarel.

Libby got in on the action, but didn't get to drive. She's still a little peeved about that. And please know that her hair was beautiful at some point that day. She had a hairbob that matched her dress, but after about 30 minutes on the trampoline, it was all over. For the rest of the day, she looked like Medusa.

How many kids can fit on a John Deere? They had a great time, but Libby vows next time, she's the first to drive!

Easter Egg Hunt at Church

Sunday morning, we headed to Ulman for church and dinner at Buster & Momo's. After the service, the kids got to participate in an Easter egg hunt.

Libby in hot pursuit of Easter eggs!

Roan showing off his favorite egg.

How cute are they? You can see that Libby's bucket is FULL! There were lots of eggs to gather!

Roan and Shannon...and my new lily! Each family got to take an Easter lily from the church. Happy me!

Easter Bunny Time

The Easter Bunny came bright and early Easter morning. The kids had so much fun!

Discovering what the Easter Bunny left for them...

Inspecting everything a little closer...and trying to keep Silas out of the candy!

Sean ... he doesn't look too sure about the chocolate bunny!

They had a great time hunting Easter eggs and eating too much candy!

Easter: The Coloring of the Eggs

Coloring Easter Eggs is exciting stuff! The kids waited patiently all day until after dinner when it was FINALLY time to color the eggs. 3 dozen!

Despite my best efforts, Libby did not want to put her hair up. As you can imagine, she had some beautifully colored spots in her hair!

36 eggs, 6 colors, and 3 kids... it worked out just right!

Admiring the finished product!

The kids did a great job! We loaded up the eggs and took them to the Egg Hunt at church the next day...

How Could We Mess Up a Trip to the Park?

On Saturday, the kids campaigned to go to the park. I needed to make a cake and get dinner started, but it became the "please, PUHLEEEEZ" thing. They were so badly wanting to go to the park, Sean agreed to give up having the BEST chocolate sheet cake ever. Well, we all piled in the van and headed out. We started out at Binder Park, but "it was boring!"...and Roan fell in the mud and got covered in slime. So we went across town to Memorial Park. You would have though we would have had fun! Wrong! The park was crowded, muddy...a breeding ground for disaster.

Roan deeply contemplating the meaning of life, I guess...

This is where part of our trouble began... the stick. Maybe more aptly called THE LIMB. He carried the limb around, put it in puddles, pretended it was a person, etc. All was well until he started toting the limb amongst crowds of people. He eventually poked a girl in the back...so he had to sit in time out. This made him VERY unhappy.

Libby loves to swing, but there was a huge puddle of standing water under every swing. It made life wet and difficult. She had fun until she kicked Sean while she was swinging. It made him cry and made her feel very guilty...

Well, we tried. As you can see, no one looks very happy. We got hurt, wet, muddy and in trouble. And the dog was mad that he had to stay in the car. Maybe it'll be more fun next time! Oh, and the pictures are a little hazy because "someone" spilled water and got my camera wet. hhmmm...wonder who? We may never know!

Planting Flowers...

We decided to clean out one of Shannon's flower beds last weekend. It was a family affair...

We had to take a little break in the middle of cleaning. You can't tell, but that's a worm Roan is so saucily posing with.

Busy helping clean out dead leaves...

This was the flower bed before we started on it... somehow, I forgot to take a picture after we finished and planted new flowers. Sometimes I'm a little forgetful!

Magic Land, Part 2

We grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner last Saturday night. We also had mac & cheese and my "magical" potato salad. Yum-O.

Magic in motion...

In the past, if a hot dog was grilled, and had any hint of a grill mark on it, Libby and Roan would refuse to eat it because it was "burnt". So, when Shannon headed to the deck to grill the hot dogs, I told him about the "hot dog rule". Well, you pretty much can't avoid grill marks; I thought to myself "they will NEVER eat those!"

Guess what? In Magic Land, we eat hot dogs with grill marks.

And they ate them without even a single comment on grill marks. What? We play with worms, eat at the table, eat what everybody else eats... wow. I'm convinced Magic Land is real!

Magic Land...Part 1

Shannon and I have started calling his house "Magic Land". For some reason, the kids will do things there that they won't seem to do anywhere else...

Case in point:

I've described the "Old Roan" in previous posts. You remember, dresses, high heels, feather boas, etc... Here's a reminder:

He's slowly come around, thank God! Well, when we were in Magic Land last weekend, Libby, Shannon and I were cleaning out a flower bed. As I was tearing out some weeds, Roan saw a worm. He said "Mommy! A worm!!" Honestly, I braced myself for the screaming and running away. Much to my amazement, that didn't happen! He said "Can I touch it? Can I pick it up?" I said "Sure, buddy!" while attempting to conceal my complete flabbergasted-ness!

He found several worms, held them, let them crawl all over his hands...and then he named each one!

Yes, this is MY SON, holding a worm and loving it! The next day, Roan bounced upstairs and said "Mom, I'm bored. Can I go outside and dig for worms?" Yes, Shannon and I both nearly fainted. He spent over 30 minutes outside, on his own, digging in the dirt. Yes, I do believe Magic Land is real!