Unk!

Dan and Cora
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Uncle Dan was in town for the weekend from California, and he was treated as visiting royalty. Cora ate him up, and Oliver acted like Dan was an old pal.

Both kids seem to have an intuitive feeling for family members, even ones they haven't seen in a long time. Oliver was only a couple months old the last time Dan was here, so it was reasonable to assume it might take a little while for Ollie to warm up to Dan. Dan came right in the door and snatched Ollie up, and Oliver never missed a beat. He was ready to see Unk as if Dan hadn't been in California all this time. Both kids loved having him here, and we did too.

Lizard attack

A friend of mine posted this clip on her website. A local anchorman at a news station is doing an animal segment when a lizard decides to jump him. His reaction is priceless. Best viewed with the volume up and friends to share the laughter with.

The Parade

The parade that Kate is helping organize is picking up steam. See the webpage here. Kate's organizing partner is Ms. Booty Homemaker. Stay tuned...

On another note, Sarah got some good press in a Nashville weekly--a review of her new EP and plug for this weekend's show. Go girl!

These days

mom and 'em
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

A snapshot of the kids these days:

Cora has been on a growing jag lately. We have a growth chart of pencil marks on the kitchen wall, and she has been excited to see her progress. Her legs look like skinny girl legs now with no remnants of baby fat.

Oliver, on the other hand, waddles around like a Hobbit. His growth spurt hasn't come yet evidently. He has six teeth and we've been waiting on the next round for several weeks.

Cora has really been enjoying books on tape in the car. On our way to school and basically any time she's in the car we've been listening to the Little House on the Prairie books. We're listening to "On the Banks of Plum Creek" right now. The books have sucked us all in, and Kate and I often sneak in extra listening time when Cora's not in the car and then rewind when she is ready to listen again.

Cora's imagination has also been very active. I imagine it's related to the stories but it's impossible to say for sure. She's afraid of the dark and we check her closet several times before bedtime. Normal kid stuff. I remember thinking that someone was coming up behind me on the stairs at our house. And I was probably thirteen at the time.

Cora painted a beautiful flower with watercolors last week. I had never seen her draw a flower and then she cranks out a beautiful picture. It's amazing how fast things develop sometimes.

Our neighbors have a new puppy named Abigail--a golden labrador mix. She's only a few months old, and Cora loves her. Abigail is still learning not to bite, so Cora hasn't been over the fence to play with her much. But she stands at the fence and watches Abigail play. Cora also talks to our neighbors and yard hops in the afternoon when they're outside.

The garden is looking great and we've already harvested green onions and radishes and enjoyed some mustard greens that we thinned out. G'ma Sally is the primary gardener but Kate has been out there a lot too with the great weather.

Oliver loves being outside--he explores all over the place, swinging his arms, exclaiming merrily, pointing at airplanes and birds.

Big weekend

yellow flag
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

We had a big time Easter weekend, with lots of family time and sugar consumption. We went to Cheekwood for their annual Easter egg hunt. It was our first time there for the hunt and didn't really know what to expect. It turns out they have "hunts" in several places throughout the day. They have truckloads of easter eggs. A Cheekwood employee threw out the eggs on the ground in an open field with cut grass. So there was no "hunt"--the eggs just sat there. The kids were held at the starting line and then set loose to swarm over the grass and snatch up the eggs. It was wild. Cora had a blast.
We closed out the weekend with a nice dinner at the grandparent's house, enjoying the breeze on the deck and the absence of mosquitoes. They'll be here soon I'm sure.

This weekend should be fun as Uncle Dan (Mark's brother)is visiting from California and Sarah plays a show in town.

Love to everyone!

Easter Bunny Humor

Easter and spring are here

swinging
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

It's Easter weekend, which means Daddy doesn't have to work on Saturday, among other things. We haven't cranked up too many Easter traditions yet, but I think we'll dye some eggs this year.

It was in the upper 80s today and the trees are pushing out leaves as fast as they can to soak up the sun. Just two weeks ago there was frost on the deck in the mornings.

I took my bike in to get tuned up at the shop today. With gas at $3/gallon this summer (and maybe for the foreseeable future) it is time to explore alternative means of travel. It's only seven miles from our door to my work, but there are some treacherous stretches along the way. Tennessee drivers are not really used to sharing the road--even with other cars--so I will be taking some back ways or using the bus. Or driving, after I get home once with my skin intact and swear I'll never do that again.

Ollie's new motto

Ollie's new motto
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Anne and Grandma Carol were in town this weekend for Anne's bridal shower.

Grandma brought Oliver a great new shirt. He seems relieved that we finally understand his needs.

We're Okay!

Kate here. We've had a bit of nasty weather in these parts, as you may have heard on the news. Tornadoes passed quite near Nashville and did a fair amount of damage in some outlying suburbs, but thankfully, we didn't find ourselves in their path of destruction. Anne, Grandma Carol, Cora, Ollie and I were actually at the mall, of all places, completely oblivious of the tornado warning. We were on the upper level, en route to a store, when I happened to look down and see a man with a walkie-talkie motioning to us. He was some kind of mall security person, and was busily herding all the shoppers into an enclave of sorts under a large stairway and away from the massive skylit ceiling nearby. So there we went and there we sat, for about ten minutes or so, crammed in with a bunch of strangers on cell phones. Cora was pretty freaked out (I was too, but I had to pretend that I wasn't), but seemed to understand that we were in a safe place. Then, the walkie-talkie man said everything was clear and let us go. So what did we do? We kept shopping!

On a side note, I took Cora to an art class today at a local botanical garden and overheard a woman talking with the art teacher about the tornadoes. She actually said, "I mean, I keep thinking they'll find a way to control the weather," as if it's unbelievable that they haven't already. That's the last thing we need -- George Bush deciding, God-like, who gets the tornadoes, the wild fires, the hurricanes. Hmmm...Katrina...maybe they've already figured it out...