And the fun begins ... UGGGHHHH!

Cory has been trying to prepare Rafe and me for the possibility of seeing snakes around our house this summer since we have a pool and woods all around us. Well we had our first round of excitement this afternoon. Rafe, Gram and I were playing outside after school today when Rafe decided he needed to go inside for something. He walked into our garage (that we had pulled into only 10 minutes before) and calmly came out saying, "There's a snake in there. There's a snake on the steps." I just knew he was joking because he loves to play tricks on me, especially about critters. Unfortunately he wasn't. This he what he saw:


Needless to say Gram and I freaked out. There are no two people on earth more scared of snakes than us. What are we supposed to do? There were no men around, Cory works too far away and Pop was too busy to leave his job. We watched it make its way up the stairs that lead into my back door and then it disappeared. I knew there was no way it had gone under the door, but I was beginning to worry when it didn't surface after a while. Well, thank goodness for Gram. We got the LONG net from our pool and one by one she moved everything around until we found it. This is how Rafe helped:

This is Gram, crippled foot and all. She is such a trooper! After we found it she pushed it with the pole and moved it out of the garage.

Once it was finally outside we didn't want it going back in. Luckily some Charter workers were across the street. I asked them if they were scared of black snakes and they assured me they weren't. So our "hero" came to take care of the snake for us. I'm so glad they were working in my neighborhood today. He picked the snake up by the head and carried it to the woods across the street.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I will remain a Charter customer for life!! Now I am going to take a nap. I am exhausted after all of that excitement.

How much is that doggy in the window?

Look what Rafe has to love on now! (thanks Pop) He ADORES them, but we will see how much this affection lasts once they start biting at his ankles!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPERMAN!!!

Swimming Lessons

Rafe started his first of many swimming lessons yesterday. You can say I am just a LITTLE bit paranoid since we have a pool in our backyard now! He had a lot of fun until he had to get out of the water. He was shivering all over!

A Wonderful Easter!

We had a FABULOUS Easter. It was so nice to be HOME for Easter and not have to travel back to Charleston with a tired bunny! We had so many activities over the weekend. Thursday Rafe decided he wanted to make an egg tree so the Easter bunny would find our house. He had a great time playing baseball with the eggs once they were hung. I hope our poor tree survives!

Friday morning Rafe went to Gram's house to dye eggs and make a bunny cake. He had a good time for the first 30 minutes. Gram said he got so bored that he actually sat down at the kitchen table and colored! (something he NEVER does) The end result was delicious. The cake turned out great and we enjoyed eating it all weekend. GREAT JOB!!

Saturday was our Easter egg hunt at church. I have never seen so many eggs. There were hundreds and the kids managed to pick them all up in no time. Rafe came away with a TON of candy. Just what he needed!

Saturday night we left a carrot out for the Easter bunny. It looks like Rafe had been digging in the garden for the perfect one. You can tell he played outside all day!

Easter morning brought, what else, more candy! All Rafe wanted the Easter bunny to bring him was a BIG chocolate bunny. Well he found the perfect one and Rafe loves it. (now he is complaining of a belly ache. I wonder why??) The Easter bunny also brought Rafe a Superman costume. He was so excited to have those BIG muscles.

Next we headed to church. Rafe has really been looking forward to wearing his new Easter clothes. He was so proud of his hat and kept it on all morning at church. He calls it his "tam"!

After church we ate at Pop and Gram's. Rafe enjoyed playing with the dogs, hitting baseballs, playing with his new Leapster (thank you Pop and Gram) and, of course, hunting MORE eggs. Some of these were even filled with money!

Last night we ate at Nana and Papa's. Rafe had a ball hunting eggs and playing with his cousins. He was able to find more eggs with money. Wonder how long he will save all of his money??

We could not have asked for a better Easter. Needless to say Rafe was extremely tired last night. He even slept until 8:00 this morning which is REALLY late for him.

Sunday Fun!

What a fun Sunday. Rafe's buddies, Gray and Riley, came to take him for a ride on their Kubota. Rafe loves to ride in the back. When they returned from their ride Riley wanted Buck to join them. I think he got a little more than he planned for!!


After supper we decorated our Easter eggs. Rafe did it all by himself except for putting the vinegar in the water. Vinegar and Rafe just don't mix. That is the ONE thing he is afraid of!! We decorated our eggs with, what else, Superhero stickers. Of course Rafe's favorite was the green egg with the Incredible Hulk.

This was an unexpected surprise. When Rafe and I returned home from the dog show yesterday Cory was working at the pool. A couple of weeks ago, when we finally ventured up to the pool to do some work, we discovered THOUSANDS of tadpoles on the pool cover. Rafe insisted on catching some, putting them in our minnow cooler and waiting on them to turn into frogs. We have even fed them some of our fish food to make sure they survived. Well, when we got home Cory told Rafe to go check on his tadpoles and this is what he found:

Can you imagine how loud Rafe screamed with excitement? He started yelling, "I have a frog. The tadpoles turned into a frog!!" Wow, how quickly it happened! Rafe was so proud of himself. (actually, Cory scooped the frog off of our pool cover and put it in Rafe's tadpole bucket for him to find!! Rafe doesn't need to know this, though!)

Easter Egg Hunt at Kid's Planet

Saturday morning Rafe and I went to an Easter egg hunt at Kid's Planet. It was so much fun. Of course Cory had to work and I was there by myself chasing after a very wild 4 year old with ALL OF GREER in attendance. Luckily I met up with my friend, Ashley, her mom and her precious little girl, Maggie. There was so much to do for the children prior to the egg hunt. They had jump castles, duck pond for candy, face painting, magicians, balloons, and various games set up on the baseball field. Rafe was taken in by the field of eggs and wanted to know how he could get all of them. There were thousands of eggs to find! I am so glad we were able to go. We had a blast!!

Rafe and the Easter Bunny

The field of eggs!

Rafe and his teammate, Michael, before the hunt

GO RAFE!!

Rafe and Maggie looking at their eggs

Rafe enjoyed the bubble maker