From school, we headed out to the strawberry patch. The boys were so excited. We had a picnic under the tent beforehand to get some energy for the big pick.
This is what I get for asking them to make funny faces. Check out the pouty lips. I think they're practicing out to be models.
And, never to be left out of any big boy fun, this is what I get when Bennett realizes what's going on.We headed out with our buckets. I must say, this year it was so much more pleasant because Bennett could walk.
It was also much dirtier, but I quickly learned there was no way to keep them clean, so I let them go to town. R and H were great strawberry pickers. There were very few that they shouldn't have picked, and once they learned that they could cross rows without destroying the plants, a whole new world opened up to them. 
They got to the point where they could spot the good ones from a couple of rows away. I do need to apologize to all the pickers who have come in the days after us, because, as good as the big boys were at crossing rows, Bennett was equally terrible at it. There were a few destroyed plants left in his wake, but I'm just trying to convince myself that they were already past their prime and he was merely putting them out of their misery.
Reeves doesn't quite grasp the concept of "showing off" his prize strawberry, but at least he was amenable to having his picture taken, which on some days is a rare treat for me. After rest time, we met Bryant over at David and Jenny's for dinner. The boys enjoyed their hotdogs and then headed out back to play. 
(And yes, that is Benny sitting in a big chair all by himself and staying in it throughout the meal. I love second children. Reeves NEVER would have done that!) I have to admit here that as good a baseball player as I bragged about Reeves being on Easter, Henry blows him out of the water. He hit two over the fence - way over the fence. He is REALLY good. Unfortunately, I was pitching, so I didn't get any pictures of it. David cooked our burgers on his Big Green Egg. I have never thought that the cooking device really made that much difference, but these were the best burgers we have ever had - EVER! Even better than any we've had in a restaurant. It might be time to seriously look into investing in one of these things. And if you happen to have one, feel free to invite us over for dinner any time.
Oh yeah, and it's super sweet to see The Daddy cuddling with and reading to The Boys. But mostly it's just The Me, sitting silently and watching, and if I feel up to it, snapping a couple of pictures.
The whole scene made Benny's hair stand on end. 
The older children, the ones who are supposed to protect our growing brood, they were content to make dinosaur nests and toss the youngsters to the maddening crowd. 
You just can't get good help anymore. I suppose we have to continue keeping our eyes out for them still.
We didn't hide the dyed eggs this year because I was afraid that Bennett would pick them up and squish them in his hands. But next year, the tradition continues - first find your basket, then find your eggs, then you can go through the loot.
This was the only halfway decent picture I could get of the boys together all day. Good thing I took it early as both outfits ended up with various bodily stains on them. Thank heavens for OxiClean!
After church we headed to Gammy and Pops' for a little down time before the big family feast at Big Laura's. Reeves pulled out the carrot bat and ball that the Easter Bunny had given him. 
We were all pretty impressed. He hit it way better than I could, but like his momma, he tended to pull it right down the third base line.
It wasn't long before he was going all Babe Ruth on us and calling his shots. We may have to skip T-ball altogether and go straight to coach's pitch!
I can't believe these two can even stand up now as they were hunched over these things all day, pushing them not only around the yard but even through the whole neighborhood. Thanks so much, G and P, for the awesome gifts!! 
Benny discovered his could also double as a self propelled stroller given any slight decline in terrain.
Leeze and Reeves both found silver eggs this year, and they were super excited to open them up and find a dollar bill inside.
(You might be a redneck if the Super Special Silver Egg at your family Easter egg hunt is actually just a big plastic egg covered in aluminum foil.)
After the children hunted their eggs, we all gathered around Laura's wonderfully decorated tables and enjoyed a delightful meal of ham, mac and cheese, squash casserole, asparagus, red rice, and corn pie. 
Miller was, as usual, a dream. He played with Reeves pretty much the whole day. I hope his girlfriend didn’t mind, but he certainly made our day easier.
Again, following in last year's footsteps, it took a while for Reeves to warm up to the whole idea of being social and friendly. He worked through those issues this year by "vogueing" with his Easter basket. 
Luckily, like all children, mine soon warmed up when they realized they would be let loose in a field full of little candy treasures. 
Reeves was a super egg hunter this year. Bennett quickly realized that the things inside the eggs were sugary and yummy, so he would open his each time he found one.
We put out about 2500 eggs, and after about 57 seconds the hunt was over.... and the begotiations began. 
I found this group already trading goodies. "I have two jelly beans. I give them to you for your one malt ball." Look out, Wall Street, these ones are growing up really fast!
This party was a wonderful success and I love that my family is a part of it with all of your's.
Not wanting to do anything too involved before I had to leave to handle my part of hostess duties for the big hunt, Bryant and I decided to take the boys down to the park on the Old Navy Base. The boys absolutely adore this place, and unfortunately, Bryant hasn't had too many opportunities to join us there, so this was a special day. 
Of course, R and B were ecstatic to have their daddy joining us on an "adventure", and we made the most of our limited time there. First we visited The Big Blue Playground. (I capitalize it because it is THAT important around our house.) The boys showed Daddy all the wonderful things about one of their favorite playgrounds. 
Bennett even took a twirl in the spinning seat, and Reeves climbed higher than he ever has on the rope structure. 
I think they were both showing off.
Before we knew it, Bennett was soaked too. Once he's halfway there, why not let him go all the way. He would be warmer running around in it than with me holding him.
Oh well. At least we had brought a blanket so we could wrap them up. They loved it! And stayed in it, running back and forth, batting at the streams of water, and covering up the jets with their crocs much longer than Bryant or I would have guessed. 
Reeves did eventually admit that he was getting cold, so we headed back to the golf cart, stripped them both down and wrapped them up in the blanket - and Daddy's undershirt which he removed to at least partially clothe a naked Benny Boy. It was a pretty classy scene.
I can't wait till the weather warms up for good (although I definitely will miss a few cool days here and there). In this coastal town, it opens up a whole new wealth of fun possibilities when your plans for the day can include, "Bring bathing suit."
Then we parked and the mask came off. Reeves started screaming that he didn't want me to take his seatbelt off!! He wanted to go home!! He wanted to stay in the car!! Fine. I got Bennett and our lunch out, locked the doors, and headed to the playground. After depositing lunch and the younger child with friends and waiting what would be a more than sufficient time for the older one to calm down, I went back to get him. I swear to you, at this point I was thinking that Rosemary had a better baby than I did. I could hear him as I was approaching the car. Seriously. Who did he think was listening? So I got him out, threw him over my shoulder and carried him inside the fence. I promptly laid him down in his unmitigated wailing state to join more pleasant people. I figured he would get over it soon enough. Well, "soon enough" ended up being a good 15 or 20 minutes. I had no idea he could possibly hold out so long. But, once he decided he was over it, he proceeded to have a wonderful time playing with all his friends, and blessedly wearing himself out in the process. Although there was one point where something happened to make him mad and he told me that he just wanted to go home and be a baby. Whatever, dude.
For the rest of the day, he returned to his old congenial self. On Wednesdays, he has choir and then he spends that night with the Bairs. Benny and I usually eat dinner out there and head home around 7:00. And here's where this precious angel totally (almost) made up for his horrendous behavior earlier in the day. Benny has his blue blankets that he adores. He must have at least one to go to sleep. (We have four identical ones.) Anyway, Judy called me around 8:30 to tell me that Reeves had told her she had to call Mommy because he had found Bennett's blue blanket and he needed it to go to sleep. She said he was very worried about it. He got on the phone and told me, "Mommy, you bogot Bennett's boo bwanket." I assured him that it was ok because I had an extra one at home, and he was already asleep with it. 
"But Reeves, Bennett is very lucky to have a big brother like you who looks out for him like that."
Of course, there is also the obsession he has with other people's shoes. He loves, loves, loves to walk around the house in Daddy's shoes. Occasionally he'll put on mine, but he usually goes only for Daddy's. 
Maybe he likes that they're roomier. Then there are the ties. 
When Bryant walks in the door, that is the first thing to go, thanks to Bennett's Tie Removal Service. This used to be Reeves' job, but I guess by the time you're three, you're way too old for silly things like that.
Of course, we worked our way through the ball room to the water room, still my least favorite room in the place, but other than Bennett and Pinckney dumping a couple of boatfuls of water on themselves, the boys and their clothes all remained happily unsoaked. 
In natural progression, we moved on to the shrimp boat, my favorite room. It is incredibly fun for the children and requires the least amount of parental supervision. Love it! 
B and P gave it the old college try and then decided they would rather grocery shop. So CFS stayed with the older ones, and I followed the littles into the Publix. And herein lies the key to having a truly enjoyable experience at the CML. You MUST go with another adult if you are bringing a number of children who fall into different age ranges. 
Inevitably, your four year old is not going to want to do the same things your 18 month old is, and unless you have the freedom to leave one or the other with someone else, you are certainly going to make at least one, if not both, of your children extremely unhappy.
Although, you could have a day like Bennett where you pretty much just wanted to sample each room for six minutes before either moving on or going back. Needless to say, while P was shopping, I was playing Pong with B and his shopping carts. At one point, being now fully discouraged that he could not simply bowl me over with his miniature cart laden with plastic fruit and loaves of bread, my brilliant child decided to crawl under my legs and try to drag his cart through. One of these days, Alice! Anyway, the Toddler Room thankfully solved pretty much all his problems. Caroline shortly arrived to tend to Soup, while the oldest two continued to man the shrimp ship. This is where I am so proud of the way we have all raised and trained our children thus far in their short little lives. 
At this point, Bennett was DUN. When I went to check on R and F, I could hear him crying. They still wanted to play on the boat (I think the wellies they put on really drew them in), and they had done so well all day and have proved themselves worthy of relatively unsupervised play in the past, that I left them to play while I dealt with Bennett. I was so proud of both of them. There was not one scuffle, not one cross word. 
They were blissfully lost in their world of make believe adventures on the high seas, catching shrimp and taking care of sick turtles. Even when Caroline and I came out and gave them the five minute warning, they happily obliged and made the most of those last moments of play, a marked improvement to falling on the floor and crying that it is almost time to go home, wasting what little time they had left. 
And as the final cap to a great playdate, when I returned to my car, there was not a ticket on it, even though my meter had expired. Thank you, Jodie, for convincing me to get this membership, and thank you, Caroline, for joining me and mine today.