framing our artwork.

we had three empty frames hanging on the wall.

solution = each of us draw an animal, color it, sign your artwork, and frame that baby.

it felt as if cheez-its were necessary for our art time...gray agreed.

my parents gifted us this awesome fold-up blanket that we use all of the time - beach, picnics, living room art sessions, etc.

and grandma millie gave gray that cool, crayon concoction - who wouldn't love to have that many color options?!

pretty sure i enjoy the color options the most out of the three of us.

gray is all,

 'i need red, not razzmatazz' 

'kassie, could you please give me a blue crayon?'

i hand him a blue crayon.

 'well, it's not blue, it's wild blue yonder. can you find me the one that says just blue?'

can we briefly talk about how beautiful this next picture of gray is?

i mean, look at those eyelashes. 

love.

t-ball practice in the yard.

first off - gray's new thing is legos and look who received an awesome pair of lego crocs in the mail from grandma millie :)

he was thrilled.

he put them on right away and rocked those babies for the rest of the day.

 t-ball has begun.

remember this post where gray tried on his super cool uniform?

i may have said it last year too, but i can't believe the uniforms they get.

we wore our own shorts and then got cheap t-shirts to wear with our sponsors business on the front.

apparently now they are supposed to look just like the major leaguers.

 

anyway, t-ball has been on the mind of this little one.

he requested we all go outside and practice, so we did.

and practice is needed.

you can see the improvements from last year, but we still have a ways to go.

we really need to work on his throwing form :)

 of course, the daddy needs to step in and show everyone how it's done.



 i also stepped in to show off my skills, but i chose to not have my picture taken.

let me tell you though, i hit it the farthest.

 

abby singer has major separation anxiety and i mean major.

she can't stand being alone.

so, of course, she was a part of t-ball practice in the yard.



arts and crafts + picnic + waterfront park = fun times

well, the park was calling our name on saturday.

so, we put on our swimsuits, packed a load of arts and crafts that we received from millie for easter, a couple of towels, picked up fast food, and headed to the waterfront park.

 

and boy, did we have fun.

gray kept saying things like:

'aren't picnics fun?!'

 'can we do this more often?'

'drawing and coloring is so fun during a picnic!'

'maybe we could do this everyday?'

 dusty and i may have even had as much fun as gray.

 

 after completing many pieces of art, we headed to the water.

i photographed while the boys had fun :)

well, i suppose i had fun while i photographed and how cool is it that we will have these pictures to cherish forever?

 cameras rock.

 and then gray spotted a friend.

his name was carter and he sure was sweet.

they played together for a while and the grown-ups visited - fun for everyone!

when we got home, we bathed and then set up for a bed party.

bed parties consist of the air mattress in the living room, every single pillow and blanket we have in the house, cuddle time, popcorn, and a movie.

gray loves bed parties.

if it were up to him, we would have one every night.

we've compromised and have them every weekend.

 

also, side note, gray has a new interest in watching baseball on tv.

this is huge.

up until now, he has shown zero interest in sports (besides playing t-ball).

he has plenty of questions during the games and dusty is eating it up :)

 

have a great weekend!



walk, the gulf, movie, the wharf

we have goals for january.

one of them is to incorporate at least 30 minutes of exercise into each day.

and guess what?

so far, we have been successful and boy, does it feel good.

 

the weather has been nice, which makes exercising outdoors a whole lot easier.

the other day, we drove to the beach, and then walked two miles to our lunch destination.

a new restaurant, the gulf, has opened in orange beach.

it is made out of shipping containers...it's laid back, has fun decorating, yummy burgers and fries, great service, and the view/atmosphere is perfect.

 

 

fresh flowers are on each table.

chairs and couches are available for seating in the sand.

the decorating makes you feel happy...

 

the food is great...the fries were my favorite.

 and the view...

you can't beat it.

after lunch, we walked the two miles back to our car.

and because it's impossible not to, we took our shoes off and headed down to the water.

 

a beach restoration project is happening, where they replace the sand lost during hurricanes in the past five years.

it seems like quite the process...

 and this bad boy is involved in it.

 

we decided to conclude our outdoor fun and go see a movie.

or should i say dusty decided that.

i have never seen so many movies in my entire life.

and movies i would never normally see, which is good i suppose - i'm being pushed outside of my comfort zone.

i believe we are on a mission to see every movie that is nominated for any type of academy award.

this day at the theatre: zero dark thirty.

we both really liked it.

it definitely kept my attention throughout and the acting was superb...especially by jessica chastain.

and also jason clarke.

 

a nice stroll around the wharf was needed after sitting for three hours.

 the weather has been just perfect - 70's and sunny.

although, i hope this warm winter does not indicate a hot (more than usual) summer will be following.



the trifecta.

we managed to do a couple of things on our 'things to do over the long weekend' list.

one of them being miniature golfing at the track.

the track has more to offer than just miniature golf...it's kind of like a mini mini amusement park?

 

we arrive at the track and i'm under the impression that we will only be golfing...

until dusty announces that he's going for the trifecta.

apparently, he had it all planned out in his head - he was ready to take me on in skee ball, go kart racing, and miniature golf.

well, bring it on, mr. bias.

 

1. skee ball

dusty takes his competitions seriously.

very seriously.

now, in my opinion, dusty had a little advantage on this event.
i asked him how many times he thinks he has played it in his life. answer: 40.
my answer: 5

results: scratch
we had faulty machines.
dusty was given 6 balls, i was given 10.
dusty's machine did not keep score, mine did.
we chose to not put more money into the machines and moved on to the next event.

 2. go karts

this is neither here nor there, but dusty estimated he has driven a go kart about 30 times in his life.
i had maybe once before this day. my memory does not serve me well, so it's possible that i have more and don't remember.

i wasn't sure on the rules of making contact with other cars, so, i just went for it.
if dusty got near me, he got a little push into the wall.
needless to say, i took the lead...and i kept it.
i ran the best line i could (according to dusty) and never looked back.

he let me know after the race that if he had been leading, he would have slowed down, let me catch up, and then start racing again.
that thought never crossed my mind.
i was in it to win it.

results: kassie +1
         dusty 0

3. miniature golf

dusty did better on the front nine.
i did better on the back nine.

the unfortunate results: kassie 61
                                    dusty 60

3 event results: 1-1
it appears that a re-match is in our future.
no one wants to end in a tie...not these competitive souls.