The Combs Krewe

Today our homeschool group went on a field trip to Posh Paint Pub where we all got a little artsy. Jathan and I chose to each paint a fleur de lis and Keeleigh chose a ring holder. We all had a ton of fun! Here Jathan is getting started painting... Here's a shot of one of the rooms in the pub. I would have loved to have tried my hand at painting one of each of the items there! But I chose to decorate my fleur de lis with sunflowers, my favorite flower. I think it came out pretty cute! Keeleigh worked meticulously on her ring holder, painting zebra stripes in just the right colors. Here's a shot of Jathan's finished piece. He painted a stinging caterpillar on it! Tis the season, you know. = ) And here's Keeleigh's finished masterpiece! We had to leave our pieces there so that they could be fired in the kiln. Can't wait to pick them up and have them in our house! This is definitely something we'd love to go back and do again.

I am the proud new owner of a chest freezer! It fit just perfectly into our laundry room and I think I can't wait to see what all we can stuff into it. But as excited as I am about the freezer, the kids were even more excited about....THE BOX! Yep, you know when your mom and dad buy large appliances it's really all so that the kids can have a fun new clubhouse. Ryland thought it was SO COOL! The kids are in the process of decorating the wall and ceiling of the clubhouse right now. I have a feeling this is going to keep them entertained for a while!

Ryland is finally to the stage where he can PLAY! Occasionally he and Jathan get together and drag out all the toys, exploring each corner of the toy box. He also LOVED to pull all the pots, pans, and plastic bowls and lids out of the cabinet until we installed child locks! Lately his favorite activity is throwing random things into the garbage. I'm pretty sure that's where two of his missing cups disappeared to. All this in the name of curiosity and fun! Jathan is totally into dinosaurs lately and has taught Ryland to do a little roar. One day recently we were playing dinosaurs on my bed when Ryland thought the dino box would make a great game in itself. Now that the weather is warming up, Ryland has really begun to enjoy playing outside. When he's not eating dirt or racing towards the street, he loves sliding all by himself! Yes, Ryland is becoming quite a fun little guy--a little ball of energy who is always smiling!

The nights have been so pleasant lately that we've taken an evening stroll the last couple of nights. There have been a few mosquitoes but that's to be expected. It's about that time of year when all the critters start creeping and crawling. Tonight we spotted a frog (technically it's a TOAD, I know) and Jathan hopped around and squealed until he finally got the courage to grab it! It was his first catch! Yes, my little boy is growing up. = ) Now the poor little froggy is hanging out in a bug cage at our house. Here's hoping my "be gentle" speech worked!

Today was a happy day for the kids (and me!) because a package came in the mail full of goodies from Nana and Pappy! The kids opened it anxiously.... Even Ryland couldn't wait to see what was inside! I think Jathan was the happiest of all because Nana told him last week that a package was on its way if he'd be a good boy. = ) Keeleigh got a cute little car with candy inside. "I want a Mini Cooper if I decide to get a smaller car," she said. You know, if she decided not to go with a Ford Flex when she turns 16, ha ha! "Hey, look! You can open it and there's really seats!" There was even a bag just for me! Inside was an array of good things including a cute fleur de lis cookie cutter, a cake pan, a whole bunch of jewelry and a birthday card! Bling-bling! Love my new owl jewelry! There was something for the baby, too. Nana refers to Ryland as That Baby so she gets to be That Baby #2! Can't wait to see how these cute headbands look on her! Hooray for pac

And Spring arose on the garden fair, Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere; And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast rose from the dreams of its wintry rest. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Sensitive Plant" It's springtime in New Orleans! You can tell because the thermometer is creeping into the 80s (helloooo, flip flops!), the sunlight last until 8 o'clock, and the azaleas at the front of campus have burst into loud displays of color. The other day DeAnna made the kids' yearbook photos behind the Frost Building and I was so enthralled with the blossoms that I went home to get my camera and capture some moments with the kids wandering through the little garden. If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Terri Guillemets The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. ~Bern Williams Someone saw me for the first time in a while the other

Keeleigh has outgrown doing all but the most sophisticated crafts with me but thank goodness Jathan is as into them (usually) as I am. We spent all of Saint Patrick's Day having fun with crayons, glue, and construction paper--yea! This rainbow and shamrock mobile was our first craft. You can find a template and instructions by clicking here. Ryland saw that I had my camera and grunted at me until I pointed it at him. This is what I got when I did: The second activity we did was making rainbow ice cubes. We used food coloring to experiment making different colors and shades of colors. When we were satisfied, we covered the tray with plastic wrap then inserted popsicle sticks into each cube and waited for them to freeze. While we were waiting for the water to freeze, we made a color chart with the colors of the rainbow on it. Finally the ice cubes were ready! *My* idea was to use them to paint a rainbow but Jathan got super creative and decided to paint a leprechaun instead! "He

We were blessed with the opportunity to see our baby via ultrasound today! I will be 28 weeks pregnant tomorrow and because I've experienced pre-eclampsia in each of my previous pregnancies resulting in premature, induced births they are monitoring the baby for signs of growth restriction. Everything looked good today, though. The baby weighed 2 pounds, 13 ounces ( slightly more than the 2 1/4 pounds Baby Center says most babies weigh at this stage--a good thing!). Unfortunately she was facing my back laying on her tummy so we didn't get to see her face but the ultrasound technician did point out her kidneys and her small, round stomach which is just amazing to me because I feel like we kind of think about "fetuses" as abstract little creatures. But that was a reminder that God doesn't think of us that way...He knows us even before we're born and that His Hand is involved in the formation of not only the sweet, soft, cuddly parts but also the microscopic and u