Cousins!

Over Spring Break we got to get many of the cousins together.  Here are a few pictures of them playing and having fun.  Above and below Whitman and Remy are admiring the flamingos.  Whitman loves super heroes and legos and he knows not to let his little cousins have small toys.

Remy loved watching him and started mimicking his behavior.  They stayed up late one night and had a somersault contest!

 Amelie, Ben and Remy are watching Barney WAY past their bedtime!  Amelie brought Remy and Ben little stuffed, fuzzy sheep and new spring outfits!  They had fun playing with magnetic letters.

 Kiellye was very hungry that night.  She watched and eyed all the other cousins.

 Braedon visited bearing TRAINS!  He even shared his trains with Remy and Ben.  Remy and Braedon sat on opposite ends of the hall and rolled (or flung) the train back and forth!

 He even thought up a game for Remy that involved hiding an object under the stacking blocks and had her find it.  She really liked playing that game.  Every morning since then the first words out of her mouth, even before her feet hit the ground, are "Choo-choo trains all gone, Mama."  Either the train really left an impression or she has been having dreams about trains every night.  I'm so glad the kids have cousins to play with.  It's so fun to watch.

Ben's Haircut/ Red Chair

12 Mos In Red Chair
Originally uploaded by dollye_plagge

Here's my silly Ben showing off his 'do'.

Spring Break (so far)

Have I raved about the teacher work schedule yet? Not so much the work schedule as the TIME OFF schedule?! We're half way through enjoying our spring break together. We started off the week amazed that this much of the school year has flown by and again amazed that we didn't really feel like we needed a break. But hey, if we're given a week off with pay I'm certainly not one to argue about that.

We had no idea what we were going to do on our Spring Break. We knew we didn't want to sit around the house staring at the walls and twiddling our thumbs while eating burnt toast. We also knew we wanted to have fun family times. We got right to celebrating our Spring Break and woke up early Saturday morning to hit the Northeast Texas Children's Museum in Commerce, TX.  Below the kids and I were talking to mission control about to launch a space shuttle.

This is only about 20 minutes from where we live and it was recommended to us from a fellow teacher who has small ones. We were there when it opened and spent several hours playing and learning.

They had approximately 30-40 different 'stations' or exhibits. Below is the 'Daddy's Boot Camp'.

Ben fell in love with the instruments, more specifically the drums. He cried when we left them. I think he wanted to take them home with us.

Remy especially liked the put yourself in a bubble exhibit.

We headed home at ten til noon and within 5 minutes both kids were asleep in the back seat.

Sunday we got up and visited a church for the third time. Our kids do not take to their nursery so we decided Remy could come and sit with us during the service. I'll just say that this was a bad idea and leave it at that. This church is considering Walker for a youth minister position. He is one of three candidates and will have an interview soon.

After church we came home and I went to do laundry at the laundry mat. Have I mentioned how much I love doing laundry at the laundry mat? I'm not joking. It's fabulous. You get it all done at once, have it all folded and ready to put in drawers. I'm thinking this might be the solution to our chronic laundry issue.

Then we decided to go camping in Clarksville for a night so we loaded up the car and took the 2 hour road trip to camp.   Ben is sleeping in the bundle below and Walker is enjoying some reading.

 There are fish in there, Mama.

The next day Daddy made us a campfire breakfast and we relaxed a bit outside before loading up and heading to Idabel, Oklahoma.

The purpose of this was to make Ben an out-of-state traveler. We intended to hunt down a burger joint and eat there but apparently they don't eat. Walker suggested they must still hunt buffalo for dinner. We searched for an hour with no luck(no buffalo or burgers).

Tuesday I met Annie for lunch at Manny's Uptown and then all of us went to the Plagge farm for Kendra's birthday. Kendra and Whit came in town for spring break and brought along some friends. We stayed the night and the group of us went to the Fort Worth Zoo on Wednesday.

The Fort Worth Zoo had half price Wednesday during Spring Break.  The news reported a record 25,000 plus people visited the zoo that day.  Kendra is below taking pictures and her friend Hannah and her three girls are there too.

Above Whitman and Remy are watching the Flamingos up close.  I learned that the Fort Worth Zoo is the only place in the world that actively breeds flamingos.

Today we scheduled the kids' first haircuts at a place called Groovy Cuts for Kids in Rockwall. I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend this place.

My daughter let someone unfamiliar touch her hair and did not whine. Enough said. They had an airplane for Ben to sit on and Remy sat in a purple jeep. They got to choose what DVD they wanted to watch (Elmo and Thomas respectively). They could color. There were balloons. And free mani/ pedi with a girl's haircut. There were bracelets. And best of all there were Certificates of first haircut with a lock of hair attached in a small bag. They are mailing us pictures. That package deal was $24.95.  Isn't that the best?   The mani/ pedi's come free with any haircut.  Wish I could get that combo deal for myself for $25.

I took a picture of Remy afterward. Instead of looking like she was attacked by a wild weed whacker it seems to have been tamed by the simple addition of layers. Ben opted for the 'skater boy haircut', as the stylist put it. Walker made sure she was not to cut his side burns!! He was sleeping during the 'after' pictures but I'll be sure to get one of him tomorrow.

Still on the agenda:  JP and Tracy came in town today with Amelie and Kiellye and we're hoping to get everyone together tomorrow for a visit/ playtime and we'll all be attending a birthday party ho down on Saturday complete with bbq and hay ride.

Here's to an adventure filled rest of the week regardless of whether or not you get a 'spring break'.

Ben's First Year

Greeting card made with Smilebox

A Gloomy Monday ends with This...

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
~Genesis 9:13