Let the Birthdays Begin!

June is filled with birthday fun. Not just at our home, but for lots of Kathryn and Walker's friends too! This Saturday, Spice kicked off the birthday season with a party at Little Gym.

Kathryn helping with the parachute.

I wish we had one of these big jumping pads at our house! I love anything that wears a child out:) And this works like magic!

Everyone dined on these yummy Mickey and Minnie Mouse cupcakes (I didn't get any pictures of Minnie, but how cute are these!).

Kathryn was thrilled that she got a Minnie cupcake, but as soon as she ate the Minnie Mouse off the top, she was headed back for more.

Walker wanted the entire cupcake, Mickey and all! He was also enjoying sittng by his good friend, Eli. They haven't seen each other since school let out two weeks ago.

Happy Birthday, Spice! Thank you for letting us celebrate with you!!

Berry Pickin'

We went berry picking with our friends Kerry and Grace today! Here's Farmer Walker with his bucket of berries.

Kathryn was pretty intense in her berry picking. She promptly went to work and had a bucket full of the yummy strawberries.

A real flower lover, Kathryn couldn't help but pick the white flowers too!

Yum, I see lots of strawberry pies, cakes and (at Daddy's request) milkshakes in our future!

Walker and Grace enjoying a job well done!

This particular grower also has peach orchards. So we are looking forward to picking peaches next!!

Does anyone have a yummy strawberry recipe they would like to share??? I've sure got a lot of strawberries to cook up!!!

June

WOW! I can't believe it's June. I am excited about all this month has for the Busbee household--birthday, anniversary, graduation--just to name a few! Oh, and hopefully selling a house in the midst of all of it. And hatching some baby birds who are nesting in a planter on our patio table. The mother is a bit feisty, in fact, she all but attacked me trying to take this picture (and this was from a distance). Don't mess with this momma's babies!

We had another animal visitor over the weekend. A little bunny! He was hopping along the backyard Friday and Saturday morning. Blending into the grass almost too well (great for survival, not great for picture taking) and eating our weeds, I mean grass!

It looks like all the makings of a fun, memory-filled month!

I Scream, You Scream

We all scream for ice cream!

We had a house showing at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon. Yep, right in the middle of naptime, but I'm not complaining!

The kids and I headed to McDonald's for some ice cream and the indoor playground. Walker was so excited that as soon as we got into the McDonald's he ran up to one of the workers cleaning the tables and told her that he was having ice cream today! Did I mention that he's alot like his mother:) Always ready for something sweet!!



Of course his daddy has a huge sweet tooth too! Want proof??? I made a cinnamon pound cake Sunday evening for breakfast and snacking on Memorial Day, and Matt single handedly ate 3/4 of the cake:)

Here's the yummy and EASY recipe, if you are interested...

1 (18 1/2 ) ounce box butter cake mix
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs

Cinnamon Sugar Mix:
3 T sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

Combine cake mix, oil, sour cream, sugar, and eggs. Pour half of batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cinnamon sugar mixture on top. Add remaining batter and cover wtih remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees.

This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Land of Cotton.

A Memorable Weekend

This orangutan perfectly captures our weekend as we have spent everyday since Saturday dodging the rain. Just when we would think about pulling the grill out to cook, it would start raining. Or just when I would get the kids all excited to swim in the kiddy pool, a thunder storm would come.


We did manage a trip to Dunkin Donuts Saturday morning, and even though it started sprinkling as we were walking out with our donuts and coffee, we trekked on to the zoo. Fortunately, we only had a short rain shower while there, and we actually enjoyed looking at some of the indoor animals (like all the snakes, turtles, alligators and lizards at the herpetarium) that we normally do not take the time to see.

We even stopped off at the playground...

And then it was on to the new Birds & Bees exhibit. Look at my two buzzing bees:)

The kiddos had fun watching the birds land on their feeding sticks.

I think the birds enjoyed it too!

Sunday afternoon, we avoided the rain showers by visiting the indoor pool at the gym. Sorry, no pictures of this. It's all hands, eyes, bodies on deck when you have two toddlers around a pool. Walker and Kathryn loved it. Matt and I loved that it wore the children out (On a side note, I thought two was hard, but three years old just may wear us out! It seems like our kids have just all of a sudden reached this point where they have to be ran, swam, or walked to get out all of their energy. Playing inside the house just doesn't cut it! Oh, my, are we in for a fun, energy-packed summer!), but we didn't love the fact that we both woke up sore from lifting kids in and out of the pool for almost an hour!

After the swim, we came home, ate some watermelon, pulled out the hamburger meat and grill, and watched a huge thunder shower break forth. That didn't stop us, though. Determined to do some Memorial Day grilling, Matt backed the car out of the garage and fired up the grill! The hamburgers were delicious!

As I type, it's Monday morning and believe it or not, the whole house slept in to 8:00 a.m.!!! I really cannot remember the last time this happened! Three cheers for the rainy weather. It keeps the house dark and keeps toddlers sleeping soundly well past their normal wake up time! The sun keeps peeking around the clouds, so who knows what today will hold! Perhaps a trip to the park or, if the rain clouds persist, lunch at Chik fil A or McDonalds (or anywhere with indoor play facilities)!

Happy Memorial Day!

Hello, Summer!

Today was Kathryn and Walker's last day of school. Mommy is usually sad when this day rolls around because it means no more free days for shopping or lunch with friends. But I have to admit, I'm a bit more sad today because it means saying a final farewell to the sweet little boys and girls that have been such a special part of our lives the last two years. It also means saying good bye to some awesome teachers who have not only taught my growing boy and girl so many practical things, but who have also faithfully taught then about Jesus.

I feel especially blessed that the Lord has used their school is such a special way the last two years. I pray, as we move to a new school and a different city this year and the following, that we will be equally blessed!

On a bit more cheerful note:), here are a few of the things Walker and Kathryn learned this school year...

• How to use the potty! PTL!!!
• How to drink out of a "big" cup
• Lots of fabulous songs (hand motions included)
• How to play/share with friends (still working on this one, but the classroom gave them lots of practice)
• Numbers, letters and shapes

And according to the measurements taken at the beginning of the year, Walker has grown 2 inches and Kathryn has grown an inch!

Now Mommy just needs to keep the learning ball rolling this summer! Any ideas for fun learning activities or just activities in general would be appreciated!!

Here are some pictures from this past year....

First day of school

Fun with classmates

Naptime

Look how much I've grown

A final picture with their teacher, Ms. Darla

Backyard Picnic

It was a beautiful day for a picnic!

And some watermelon (our first of the season)!

Just a little messy!