Our Little Mermaid

Katie had a delightful time splashing in the water and collecting treasures. She's already planning our next trip to the beach. Now that the little ones are getting older, we plan to go more often this summer. Wonder if we'll ever get Katie out of that swimsuit?

Surf's up!

Saturday was absolutely beautiful, so we put the kids on the bikes and rode to the beach. This is the first time we've been since last summer (aside from just to have pics taken at Christmas) and Ben was initially delighted that he was allowed to splash in the surf. After a while, he started to be a little frightened by the waves, and decided it was more fun to just throw rocks and shells into the water.

Girl's weekend

Aunt Peg and cousin Pam flew in for a long "girl's weekend" with Krista and Susan in late March/early April. We headed up to Savannah for the first day/night. Here's Susan and Pam sitting at the City Market listening to some great music and enjoying a cold drink.

The lot of us with my friend of many years, Bucky. He's a local musician in Savannah and my mom and I have known him for years. From left, Peg, Bucky, Pam, Krista and Susan. He got us a stellar advance reservation at "The Lady and Sons", a Savannah landmark where you typically have to stand in line each day to get a dining time.

Peg, Pam and Suz clown around in the hotel room.

Pam, Krista and Susan on the ferry boat back to the hotel. It had been a beautiful day, but chilly weather set in and stuck around the rest of the weekend.

Easter

Just the five of us. We did all the other group pictures first, so by the time we got to our family, the kids had pretty much had enough. Katie was doing her best gangster impression and Ben was more interested in the dirt (which is his favorite word right now, by the way). Since Michelle and Jason had just welcomed Samantha the weekend before Easter, Harry and Barb were in town to help out. We hosted Easter dinner with Jason and family, Harry and Barb, and our crew. We literally had close to 200 pictures from Easter weekend alone, so I could only post a few. Suffice it to say, fun (and much chocolate) was had by all.

Trouble x 2

Typically, we try to keep these two separated. They both have a knack for getting into trouble, and when they combine efforts, they are a force to be reckoned with. I suppose as long as they are back to back, their powers might cancel eachother out.

Group photos from Easter

Jason and Family from left: Zach, Jason, Matthew (in arms), Michelle, new addition Samantha (in arms, with bow over eyes), Cody

G&G Beutel with the Beutel Grands: Grama Barb, Samantha (in arms), Grampa Harry, Ben (in arms), Katie (bottom row), Matthew (ditto)

All the grandkids: Tyler (towering over them all) Barb, Samantha, Harry, Ben, Cody, Zach, Katie (front) and Matthew (front)

Our clan: Chris, Barb, Katie, Ty, Krista, Ben and Harry.

The hunt is on

Ben immediately knew to pick up the eggs and place them in his basket. He did not, however, know that some of the eggs were plastic and others real, and he got so excited finding them that he would put one in each hand and smash them together. He only did this with the real ones. Figures.

The Easter bunny left the eggs out where they would be easy enough to find, as sometimes the adults have a hard time finding them if they are too hidden.

Katie was clearly pleased with her collection of eggs and candy. You can see Ben in the background, frantically searching for another egg to bang the green one against.

The dyeing of the eggs

We dyed eggs on Easter eve--this was the first year that Ben really got to participate and was such fun. He kept trying to drink the vinegar/dye mix, so we had our challenges, but the end result was a rainbow assortment of eggs for the Easter bunny to hide the next day.

Our little Princess

Katie enjoys a beautiful day at the park with Daddy. She just emanates sunshine.

Katie was given a box of "princess goodies" from Grama & Grampa Beutel. Her brother has since broken the tiara and she wore the high heels into the ground, but she still adores wearing as many pieces of it as she can lay her hands on. Again, sadly, so does Ben.

Giving her best beauty queen smile. We're actually quite pleased that she's embraced the princess within. For a while there, so was so interested ONLY in bugs and dirt, that we were starting to think she'd grow up a tomboy. Mind you, she still LOVES the bugs and dirt, but now she wears a tiara while digging, and it seems to make it more acceptable. =)

Good relations

Ben and Katie let me dress them up a little for the Easter egg hunt held at a local park the week prior to Easter. I tell you what, with their fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes, they look more like twins. Katie is giving her best impression of Katie Couric (seriously, do you see it, or is it just me??)

Many thanks!

We took Mom and Marvin to dinner at Capital Grille in early March to thank Marvin for all his help with our home addition. It was also a rare opportunity for us to dress up a little and also have our photos taken. So often, we seem to just take them of the kids. This should hold up as sufficient evidence that we are both, in fact, still alive and kicking. Of course, it's not like one of the kids would have the patience to update this blog every so often, so that should have been the first clue.

Tony Hawk rides again??

Ty gave up skateboarding after a rough week at the skate park the summer of '05. He has taken it back up in the last few months and is progressing well, considering he's probably a good 10 inches taller now than he was then. He's learning the hard way that it's much more painful to fall from his current height and has decided it's not so bad wearing pads after all.

Our helpers

I was attempting to catch a 15-minute cat-nap before going to dinner one night, but the kids were having none of it. Guess this is why adults don't generally get to nap during the day.

Ben and Katie delight in helping Daddy fix his morning to-go coffee. Katie is generally still asleep when this takes place (such a sleepy head!), but Ben was happy to share the duty with her.

The Many Faces of Ben

A typical morning starts around 6:30 or 7 and involves a bottle and some quality time with his best friend, the vacuum. (This was taken in March...he's now officially off the bottle as of three days ago...)

Shoes are a particular favorite of his. He MUST put them on a trudge around the house. He's less likely to want to do this if they actually belong to him, and sadly, his preferred pairs tend to belong to his sister. That's all good and well now, but we're really hoping he outgrows this little habit.

Mr. Fix-it. He regularly measures, screws, hammers and saws whatever he can get ahold of. This includes the cat. He's broken at least one plastic hammer, and we're pretty sure he should get a job as a "toy tester", since he seems to have a knack for discovering their limits.