Buzz

I mentioned to Adam that I wanted to take Gage to get a short hair cut for summer and he dug out his old clippers to do the job himself!  He is looking like a handsome little dude!

Hercules

The other day the kids were playing with the Barbie jeep and Gage started pushing Savannah up the hill in the driveway. Now mind you...the jeep is hard to push when it's not "running" because it's motorized, and Savannah weights 32lbs.  My neighbor Judy was visiting at the time and commented that she could  not believe he could push her up hill. Gage is a little Hercules!

Issaqueena Trails

We had a little early morning adventure exploring the lake and dam at Issaqueena Trails just around the corner from our house. The best surprise was having two duckies come visit us. They ate all of the snacks we had in our car -- puffs, granola bars, strawberry bars, and a few organic fruit strips! As you can see, Gage is a boy in every sense...he carries a golf club everywhere now...or balls...or hammers...or all of the above!

Split Creek Farm

On the way back home from strawberry picking, we stopped by Split Creek Farm - a local goal dairy. We were greeted by Sophie the Newfoundland dog, who begged for a belly rub and then knocked Savannah over just by standing up. Gage figured out how to make rooster sounds after chasing a few around. Savannah found an egg that a chicken had just laid...on a tractor seat! She brought it to one of the farmers but he told her to keep it -- it lasted about 10 minutes in her pocket before breaking. We visited the new baby goats (2 days old and so cute), pet Caroline the piggy - who is old and blind, but happily oinks when you pet her, chased some chickens, and had a lot of fun. Lunch was a spinach & goat cheese omlette..-yummmm...

Strawberry Fields Forever

We got an early start today and headed to Hardy Berry Farm to pick strawberries. Mommy got lost along the way (surprise!!) but we made it and picked a big basket of beautiful strawberries.  Savannah was a great picker, and Gage, well....he just ate...a lot. I see strawberry shortcake in our future!

overalls and tractors....

pettiskirts and pink cowgirl boots....

cat naps

After a nice walk where we started collecting "nature things" like acorns and star-shaped seedpods so we can make a "fairy house" ( birdhouse decorated with things from nature that fairies can live in, if they so choose), and some fun with chalk outside, Savannah nibbled on a few oreo cookies and zonked out on the ottoman with her kitties for a snooze. I love to tire her out during the day, but don't love it when she's up past MY bedtime at night!  And...Gage fell asleep with his hand in the snack-trapper bowl the other day while eating bunny rabbit graham crackers. Little piggy!

spring flowers

The cherry trees and daffodils have come and gone, but tulips are out, azaleas and loropetalum are just starting, and the verbinum (snowball bush) is gorgeous!  Our neighbor Lisa has a new camera and came over to test it out. Gage had a booger face and was uncooperative (to say the least) because daddy was mowing the lawn on the tractor and he wanted to go for a ride, which he did...while Lisa took pictures of Savannah.

 

a windy spring day

What a perfect spring day. Brisk, windy, sunny - certainly felt like spring. We spent the afternoon on Kite Hill on the Clemson campus, made a giant princess castles in chalk on the driveway, putted around on big wheels and cozy coupes, and had frozen yogurt at the new Three Spoons in Clemson - where they have a chalkboard to color on and where the kids scored giant balloons!

A visit to Connecticut

We left beautiful springtime weather in SC to visit chilly winter in CT.  We had fun with some of the kids' cousins, picked pussy willows, sat on tractors, visited Grammy's moo cows, and got a little dusting of snow. Savannah and Elizabeth (we call her Baby Elizabeth even though she's almost 3!) marched around Grandma Rooney's house to the same "marching song" about 20 times, and they even got me, Kristine, Gram Rooney and "Aunt Yinda" to join in the marching. Gage loved sitting on Grandpa's tractor but could not figure out how Grandpa got those cool orange blinking lights to turn on (he tried and tried all the buttons), and yes, we did have a few boo-boo toes thanks to the ever-popular rocking horse at Grammy's.