On the last day of May, let's talk about April! How have I let a whole month go by without blogging? That's what happens when you're living abundantly, I guess. No time for sitting at a computer!

April brought warmer weather so we spent an afternoon at the playground. This adventure taught me two things - one, that Katie Wynn is scared of heights. She absolutely hates walking across the bridge you can see through (pictured below) and keeps a death grip on the rail.

And two - that my adventurous little boy from last summer is suddenly timid about going down slides. I think he'll warm up to them as the summer goes on, but on this particular day, he would not go down them!

And, as long as there are NO other kids on the playground, my shy little girl will slide all day long now!

Monkey see, monkey do.

We spent some time on Mimi and Poppy's playset too. You can tell from all of these pictures that Thomas spent most of April in his sister's old rain boots. He has his own but prefers these, thank goodness they were unisex! (And no, he didn't not go down the slide below willingly, I had to pull him down.)

During the month, Matt, Wyatt, and I - along with our Sunday School class - cooked and served a meal to around 160 homeless men at the Memphis Union Mission. I hesitate to say it was a fun night since we were serving those in less than ideal circumstances, but we really did have an enjoyable evening with our friends and working to help others.

In April I got to spend a day of one on one time with each of my kiddos. For Katie Wynn, our date started at the dentist's office. This was her second visit and we talked it up ALL week long before her Friday morning appointment. She was going to be SO good and then, as a treat for good behavior, we were going to get our nails done! She was perfect that morning - did such a good job scrubbing her teeth - and was even somewhat smiley in the waiting room.

Everything went downhill when they called her name to go back. I'm recounting this story not to embarrass her but for my own memory. She crawled up my chest and started crying immediately. I could not peel her off me so I sat on the chair with her. Without going into all the horrible details, let me just say there was lots of screaming, two tightly sealed lips, me and four helpers holding her down, lots of sweating from me, and sticky fluoride all over both of us. I was mortified at her behavior.

But - and this is the part I really want to remember - she was so upset when we left because I told her she'd have to go back to school instead of getting her nails done since she did not behave well. She had been looking forward to getting polish on her nails for SO long and just couldn't stand the thought of not getting them done. I told her the only way we could still go would be if she apologized to the dentist for the way she acted. Her first question was if she could do it over the phone, to which I replied no. But she said she would do it. I drove her back to the dentist office and we told the receptionist - who was terrified when she saw us come back in! - we'd like to see the dentist again and we sat and waited. When the dentist came out, Katie Wynn did such a a good job! She audibly said she was sorry for the way she acted during her appointment - this is HUGE for her (not so much the apology as the speaking-loud-enough-for-a-stranger-to-hear part). I was a proud and happy Mama and so...we got our nails done! We also went out for pizza afterwards and when she woke up from her nap, she got to drink "coffee like Poppy" (juice in a coffee cup).

My day date with Thomas was less dramatic. I took him to get a haircut - small drama over the cape but once we ditched that, he was golden - and then we had lunch (he paid!) (but with my credit card!) and went shopping at Old Navy. He was such a perfect angel and sweet shopper that I didn't even notice when I left my purse in the dressing room. Thank goodness the employee that found it turned it in with nothing missing!

Like his Daddy, he can only shop for so long before being worn out!

My parents got new neighbors! A mama fox found shelter under the porch of a house down the street and had her babies there. It's pretty odd since they live in the middle of town. How did the fox get there? We became obsessed about "going the long way" to Mimi's house so we could look to see if the babies were out. We got to see them on several occasions!

We had a big Mint Tulip trunk show during April and have been busy working on orders ever since. My sweeties wanted to pose with one of my signs after the party. Who am I to say no??

I had to teach Katie Wynn about the "front tuck" when her t-shirt was longer than her shorts!

Two things about Katie Wynn that are so grown up to me - she is starting to color more in the lines now and she and her Daddy read their first "chapter book" together. I don't know that it really had chapters, but it took them several nights to read it all!

We went to our friend Henry's birthday party and Thomas thought the big balloons were hilarious!

After the party, we went out for tacos and chips and dip.

To wrap this up, here are some of my favorite pictures of the kids together during the month.

I'll leave you with these two pictures. This is what I found in my entry hall one day when I rounded the corner. She does love being a good helper. :) Now I just need to teach her that the last step is throwing the old diaper away instead of just slinging it across the floor!