More Back Yard Friends

Not pictured: squirrels, rabbits, rat snakes, water moccasins, copperheads, tree frogs, toads, skinks, lizards, and about 10,000 different bugs. Gotta love North Carolina!

Finally 4!

After counting down the days for the past week, Addie's birthday finally arrived!

She was thrilled with her "party" (she had her friend, Emma over to play - that's as close to a party as you get when your mom is 8 months pregnant). They broke in her new slip 'n slide (more like a slip 'n land), made their own jewelry, and enjoyed their fair share of strawberry cupcakes.

A Quick Trip to Raleigh

The girls loved the Natural History Museum - except for the dinosaur room. I think it gave Addie nightmares. (Luckily the snow cone made up for it.)

Hill Ridge farms was just outside of Raleigh. We rode the train, fed the animals and giant catfish (disgusting), mined for gems, and slid down the giant slide.

We also found time to take turns going to the temple, hit an outlet mall, and most importantly, have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory - YUM!

Fort Fisher Aquarium

I was going to wrestle this guy and make some nice boots, but it turns out the aquarium staff frowns on man vs gator wrestling matches...sissies.

My four ladies.

Addie and Maverick...I mean Aric, go boating.

Megan's first day of nursery

She cried a bit, played some, and then in fine Peterson tradition, ate three times her body weight in snacks! Success! (This success story made possible by today's nursery workers Elizabeth and Jessica. Thank you.)

Our pet fox

She comes around every night at sunset. We found out that she really likes Cheetos. Who doesn't?

On an unrelated note, I added a new link to IBD editorials. Worth taking a look at.

The Knack

This goes out to all those with "the Knack". You know who you are.

The Best Moms in the Whole World

. . . In no particular order. (That should win me some brownie points.)

A Great Idea

Addie is infatuated with her friend Emma's princess car (Megan, not so much). Last night she had a great idea:

Addie: "Hey Dad, I have an idea. Well, Mom has a car and you have two cars (a truck and a motorcycle). How about you sell your motorcycle, and then you'll have a lot of money to buy me a princess car? Do you think that would be great?"

Needless to say, Dad didn't think that would be too great.

Pictures for Grandma

If you've got it...

...FLAUNT IT!

Megan loves dogs

Happy Earth Day!

I celebrated by burning 30,000 lbs of jet fuel on my way back from Yuma Arizona!

Pyro

After using the scythe to cut down our weeds, I decided to burn the small piles. I almost burned down Onslow County in the process.
Lessons learned:

#1. When the little voice in your head says, "put out the fire now", you probably should.

#2. Make sure your hose will reach your intended burn area.

#3. Life is hard; life is harder when you're stupid.

Sunday ride

Aric's scythe

I'm pretty happy with this new tool. You can see the area I'm working on with the scythe, and how our grass came in. It went from almost completely dead to pretty green in about a week.

Tragedy in the Peterson driveway!

WARNING, EXPLICIT PHOTO NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN !

Looks like we're down to just frog...oops.

It's a...

Girl!

Monday Night

Don't you just love it when Dad cooks dinner? Best part, no dishes (drinking mustard is a close second).

Happy Easter

A Sunday Drive

I'm not sure how she got in there, and I'm not sure how she got out. When they're both content I try not to ask too many questions.

Megan Update

Megan's latest and greatest include:
wearing mom's shoes
growling at Addie
talking on the phone "hi, hi, hi, hi, . . . "
hiding in the shower
running away at church
and refusing to eat peanut butter (that's pretty significant around here).