Our First Camp of the Season...

was VERY successful and loads of fun!  We decided a couple of weekends ago to head out to Frenchmen's Lake this weekend on our first camping adventure of the year.  In the past couple of years, our desire to camp, camp, camp (well, my desire, at least) has been a little deflated by the challenges that come along with camping with babies.  Frankly, it's exhausting, and lets face it, when they're that little it's more for us than them. 

But, I'm relieved to report that it seems we may have reached the turning point.  I think our kiddos  have finally gotten old enough that these types of things will just start getting easier....and as I write that I'm silently hoping that that isn't just wishful thinking on my part.

But, I digress.  Frenchmen's Lake is not far from us so the drive was short and setting up our camp was quick and painless.  We were able to arrive earlier than we had originally planned so we got a great campsite right next to the creek.  We camped at the creek instead of the lake because it was a little more densly wooded  area and the sound of the running water is always nice.

The kids loved playing in the trees and the bushes.  We went often on little mini adventures along the creekside, where Logan was allowed to pick which path we were going to take each time we came to a crossroads.  He liked that, and named himself the "leader."  They learned quite quickly how to maneuver  themselves through the bushes by pushing them out of the way and stepping over them and this simple thing provided much entertainment and, unfortunately, some scrapes and falls too.  But that didn't seem to stop them and they enjoyed it tremendously.

We also spent a fair share of our time throwing  a LOT of rocks and twigs in the creek.  I think this was Laura's favorite part .  And, of course, we had all the normal traditions of good food, marshmallow roasting, afternoon naps, and late nights.  Logan summed it up by saying over and over, "this is the best day ever!"  All in all, it was good trip and hopefully we will be going again very soon.

Camping @ Frenchmen's - making a free slideshow

Easter Sunday

What a busy week, but, oh my gosh, what a fantastic Easter we had! In addition to attending all the Holy Week Masses at our church, our Easter at home started Saturday night with the dying of the eggs, which along with most things I'm finding out, gets more and more fun as the the kids get older. Logan really enjoyed it and Laura loved dropping the eggs in to make big splash (much to our dismay) and then putting her hands in the dye to remove the egg. Once we started coming to the last of our eggs, Logan just started taking the ones we had already dyed and putting them in different colors. I was afraid some of them would come out pretty ugly but I'm glad to report we had very pretty Easter eggs regardless of his color mixing. Then, while I was at the Easter Vigil Mass that night, Matt apparently had quite a difficult time getting Logan to stay in bed and go to sleep. The excitement was apparently too much for him and he just would not go to sleep at his normal bedtime of only 8:00 pm.

 On Sunday morning, he came and dragged me out of the shower at a bright and early 6:00 am, with such joy that the Easter Bunny had been to our house. According to him the eggs were all over our living room and a basket of "prizes" were left for him and Laura! Then the egg hunting began which was loads of fun! (Note to The Easter Bunny...you will need to hide them a little better next year though, Logan's already pretty good at this egg hunting thing)

Following that was a panicked frenzy of breakfast, getting everyone in their Easter best, and out the door to snap some quick photos and get off to Easter Sunday Mass.

Then home for a quick change into play clothes, lunch, and out the door again and on our way to a picnic at Davis Creek where it was very windy, a little rainy and quite cold. Despite the bad weather, everyone was in high spirits and we had a great lunch, fed the geese (no ducks around), and then cleaned up and went to my parents house for some dessert which was a fantastic tirimisu that Becca made from scratch...YUM YUM! All in all it was a very busy, but a very FUN, family-filled Easter holiday.

Baseball Season!

This will be Logan's second year playing.....Mini T-Ball, that is.  His first season was last year when he was three.  I know, that seems silly, even to me as I write it.  Before I was a parent, I would have at least laughed maybe even scoffed at starting a child in sports when they're three.  But what I learned as a parent now is how important it is to expose him socially however I can and it also gives him a fun activity to do a couple times a week.  Not to mention it was also wonderful entertainment for us.

Here's how it went last year.  The little ones went up to bat, hit the ball, and everyone cheered.  Meanwhile they just stood there wondering what the heck they were supposed to do next.  Then, everyone would yell, "RUN!" so they would....to second base...or third...or...what the heck?...to the playground.  Completely hilarious fun for us parents!  But let's face it, trying to get three year olds to focus at practice and learn something was pretty challenging and hats off to the coaches for their efforts.  The whole concept of T-E-A-M was completely foreign to them since they actually competed against each other to get the ball, sometimes ending up in a complete melt down by whichever one didn't get to it first.

This year I was actually expecting much of the same and must say that I am pleasantly surprised that it is not.  Logan now looks forward to his practices and his games. For the most part, he knows the sequence of the bases.  And, already, he sometimes hits the ball without the tee (in other words, being pitched to). 

But I think what suprises me the most, and continues to surprise me even though it is happening right in front of me all the time, is how quickly he changes and learns.  He's only four and already I feel so proud of what he's capable of....even if it is only Mini T-ball.

So, we're two games into it with another one coming up this weekend. Here's some photos of he and Laura at his last game...

Logan and his baseball buddies, Gary (left) and Brandon (right)

Waiting to bat

Batting without the Tee

Superstar!

Down and ready...

Action!  Batter headed to first, but wait...
gotta make sure his fans are watching...

Okay, about 20 minutes in and he's getting bored already

Okay, ready again!

Second at-bat

Woo-hoo!!

And this is what Laura's doing...

Equipment manager

Helping coach Rob with the balls

Practicing her pitching

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Traditionally, one of our favorite holidays.  Every year, Matt insists that our office should be closed today since we are Irish AND Catholic (well, I'm only newly Irish as of six years ago when I married a Cunningham, but still...).  Unfortunately, though, this is one of the few holidays that "Jacksons" Insurance doesn't take off.  But, we do celebrate in everyway we know how.  We all wear the traditional green, which is primarily thanks to my mom who always plans ahead and buys us our St Patty's Day clothing.  And instead of the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage, we have Reuben Sandwiches and green Ginger Ale.  Now, I don't typically eat beef if I can help it, but I do love Corned Beef!  So once a year I eat it and eat way too much of it which inevitably makes me feel awful.  But I don't care, because right at the moment of consumption I thoroughly enjoy it. 

I am sorry to say that this year will be a little less exciting and a bit delayed.  Today is Grammy's day with the kids so they didn't go anywhere in their cute outfits but Gram's house.  I also did not plan well at all, which means I was at the store today buying the beef brisket and all the fixings to go with it.  And, to top it all off, we are all sick again, so we'll be lucky to even have chicken noodle soup tonight if I can muster up enough energy to cook THAT for everyone.  Needless to say, we'll be celebrating our St Patrick's day on Saturday...March 19th instead.

The Never-ending Cold

Well, Logan's sick....again.  You'd think by now we'd see it coming, WELL in advance.  The excessive whininess, total lack of appetite, getting out of bed at least 128 times between 8:00-9:00pm with EVERY excuse in the book (my favorite excuse?  "my bed is not conschturbull"), and here's the one that finally gives it up that maybe he's not just trying to torture his parents....the 3:00AM awakening (though, some might argue that that in itself is enough to put a parent over the edge and definately feels like some form of torture). 

After we got him "conschturbull" again and back to snoozing, I vowed that this time I was going to will it to not be that bad and FOR SURE he was going to school and we were going to work and NOBODY was going to get it from him.  So, wouldn't you know it, the powers that be were laughing at my willfullness, and this morning Logan stumbled out with the dreaded "goopy eye."  Of course, like any other parents, we went into complete panic mode, because as we all know, for some reason, just the mere thought of Pink Eye is completely terrifying!  In addition, this threw my stubborn plan completely out the window, because it became evident very quickly that Logan WAS NOT going to school today, and one of us WAS NOT going to work today, and we were ALL going to get it.

So, we called the pre-school, called my parents, called the doctor and finally just gave up and made an appointment to take him in, only to come to the conclusion later in the morning that all that panic was probably for nothing and he only has yet another viral infection (yes, leaking through his eyes, yuck) that he will undoubtedly pass on to all of us like all good pre-schoolers do.  Fabulous!

Everyone says this is totally normal when you have a 4-year-old in pre-school, but I can't believe that to be true.  It's too cruel for one family to be sick for this many months straight.  I'm going with the thought that it is all just one big conspiracy against the Cunninghams.