Oldies but goodies

Toddler Jared with his cheeseball grin, his little cowlick, and his "handsome boy" clothes just MELTS MY HEART!

Yes, Drill Sergeant!

You WILL get in that sprinkler, do you hear me?


If you don't get in that sprinkler RIGHT NOW, I'm gonna give you a HI-YA!


Don't make me have to push you in!


Watch me, and see how it's done

Wall art

Thank goodness this was a washable marker!


Connor claims to have had interest in writing his name. With the marker Emily left out. Which she left out despite being specifically asked to clean it up to avoid this situation.

I guess he has "O" down!

Baseballs and Band-Aids

Connor was OBSESSED with playing some baseball the other day!








While Connor was playing baseball over and over and OVER AGAIN, Jared was sitting around, pouting, about his scraped knee.


Not that I don't have sympathy for wounds (and that one was pretty deep and BLOODY), but martyr Jared carried on and on AND ON about how he's "never playing ever EVER again!" and how he "will just have to sit here forever!" and how he'll "never get to do anything fun EVER AGAIN!" and how he doesn't "deserve to get to play and have fun" because he'll "just fall down and get hurt again" and on and on AND ON!!

BIG news times 2!!

Emily Grace can now ride a two-wheeler bike!! She's fought us for YEARS and it was to the point that she's ridiculously big for her current bike, but her daddy wouldn't buy her a new one until she'd learned to ride the current one, and had shown she'd be willing to use the new one. SO, we dragged her LOUDLY reluctant self outside yesterday and got her on the bike and told her she had two choices: pedal, or fall off. She chose pedal, and she picked it up rather quickly! Within an hour she was riding circles in the driveway. She still needs some work getting started herself, and going for longer distances, but she's got the basic idea and the rest will come quickly from this point, I'm sure. She's nothing but GIDDY that she can actually ride her bike now. Dan and I went out yesterday afternoon while she was off with a friend and bought her a new bike that's an appropriate size for her and she's doing great!

This is a picture from when she was getting the hang of it on her old, tiny bike:


And for the other big news? Jared lost his first tooth! It's unfortunate that it's due to traumatic injury a few months ago, and the new one won't be ready for AT LEAST a year, but he still got to experience the tooth being wiggly and then pulling it out. One bite to his sandwich yesterday had the tooth dangling by practically NOTHING and it just fell right into my hand went I touched it. He's got this darling little lisp now and suddenly looks much more grown up...


He was pretty happy to show it off to friends and family and neighbors who came to dinner at my IL's with us.

D is for DIRT

The rest of his body didn't look much better.

Neither did Connor!


ha!

Letter from Emily

Recent budget cuts in our school district have resulted in one of the most amazing teachers EVER TO WALK THE PLANET being "riffed" (reduction in forces) at Emily's Elementary School. She was Em's Kinder teacher last year, and was all lined up to be Jared's Kinder teacher for next year, and now we're devastated to hear the news she probably won't be around. Some teachers within the district WILL get their positions back, but it's all based on seniority (and also Kinder enrollment in this teacher's case), and it's not currently looking very good for her. I decided to write to the Elementary School, stating what this teacher has meant to my family (etc etc etc), and I typed for a full page with narrow margins to get it all to fit (*grin*). Emily asked if she could write a letter as well, and I thought it was a great idea. This is the letter she wrote (with spelling corrected):

May 15, 2009

Dear (principal's name here),
I really really love (beloved teacher's name here). If she does not come back I will not be happy. If she does come back then I will be really really really happy! I will have to be happy while I have her here. I love her a lot. She was really funny. She made learning fun. She is my first favorite teacher.

From,

Emily (last name here) (age 7)

-----------------------------

They HAVE to bring her back after reading a letter like that, right???

The sweetness of little kids

Somehow Jared and Katin were under the impression at the end of class (their last day of preschool) that they were never going to see each other again:


Does that not totally break your heart?

Then I think we made them understand they WILL, MOST DEFINATELY, get to see each other again (if anyone thinks we're letting that family out of our lives, they're nuts!):

This about sums it up

Looky-loo for Connor...


See him? The one totally not paying attention or participating with the rest of his class? Yeah, that about sums up how he was the entire last day of preschool in the 2's class.

male or female

For beach day at the boys' preschool, we had a beach naturalist in attendance, who helped hunt out little creatures, and spent time teaching the kids different things about each one. When we came across some little crabs, she showed them the difference between a male crab and a female crab.

male: (the marking on the male looks like a lighthouse)


female:


I never really knew how to tell the difference myself and the kids were really getting into finding crabs and figuring out if they were male or female. We discovered that there were A LOT more males on the beach that day (either that, or the females were better at hiding?). We even saw a few females filled with eggs, which was pretty interesting!

Tea for 9!

Emily requested a tea party to celebrate her 7th birthday, so I created some invitations in Photoshop Elements:



I spent weeks trying to find a light pink table cloth to purchase, with ZERO luck (who knew!), so ended up at JoAnn Fabrics the day before the party, purchasing pretty patterned pink material in order to MAKE table cloths. Silk flowers were 50% off and glass vases were CHEAP, so I bought enough to make two pretty flower arrangements (which we can use again for other things, for cheaper than REAL flowers would have been!). I also borrowed a pretty silver tea set from a friend, which I used as a centerpiece. I bought pretty tea cups and saucers, which each girl got to take home as a party prize. And I made PLENTY of food!

The table (notice the tulle tied around all the chairs?)


One of the flower arrangements


Tea cups and little candy bags


I know, the paper plates don't match the tea cups, but I didn't have enough pretty glassware for all 9 girls at the party, so we made do with pretty paper plates instead... As the girls were arriving, I sat them down with stickers and crayons and let them decorate their white paper place mats, then we moved on to painting everyone's fingernails!


Place cards in the holders I borrowed from a friend


centerpiece


all the food!


All the girls. Hard to get all 9 in! I thought I'd done a better job, but cut off half of our friend/neighbor at the end. And the real bummer of the whole event is that we ran out of time to pose for a nice group picture outside!


Emily, very appreciative of a nice card from a friend

Signs of Summer

We got a taste of summer yesterday and it was FABULOUS!!

check out his little buns!! *grin*

Quote of the Week

Strength in Numbers

If you think that you alone cannot do much to improve your school, you are probably right. But if you collaborate with other parents and organizations, you can make a difference. There is strength and power in numbers.

• 1 parent: A fruitcake

• 2 parents: A fruitcake and a friend

• 3 parents: Troublemakers

• 5 parents: “Let’s have a meeting”

• 10 parents: “We’d better listen”

• 25 parents: “Our dear friends”

• 50 parents: A powerful organization


Reprinted from “Collaboration Counts,” part of a package of tips for parents from the organization Parent Leadership Associates.

Karate Kid, or Mini Me?

Connor climbed on top of his bucket the other day at the beach (preschool event we'd hoped would have nicer weather!), and Jared quickly copied. I thought it was so funny, and the picture quickly brought two movie scenes to mind...

Quote of the Week

I yelled back to Connor yesterday afternoon (who was supposed to be taking a nap) that he'd better lay quietly and go to bed or he wasn't going to get the fruit snacks he wanted later. A long pause and then he suddenly yells back in reply, "Are you KIDDING me? It's BEDTIME???"

Mother's Day Dinner

My brother and his fiance invited their families over Sunday night for a dinner in celebration of Mother's Day. I thought it was a very nice idea and it turned out really well. They had three long tables set up, with white cloth tablecloths on them, each table had a little vase with Rhododendron flowers in them, and they had some need paper lantern style lights hanging. Alisa and I rolled up all the "silver"ware (plastic!) in paper napkins and tied them with ribbon as a little added touch. We ate outdoors under the carport where there was room for everyone, and it went really well! The kids got to run around outside and play Badminton, blow bubbles, kick a soccer ball, etc. The adults got to sit around and visit... The meal was fabulous. We had ham, some pasta, seasoned potatoes, rolls, salad, and dessert. My favorite part was that the mother's in attendance got to dish up first, which left Dan in charge of dishing up our three kids instead of me! *grin*

Not everyone was sitting down yet when I took this picture, but you can see Emily and my mom and dad on the right, then my BIL and FIL on the left (my MIL had a work trip she had to leave for that afternoon, so I'd invited my BIL and FIL to come with us since we're usually at their house for Sunday dinner)

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

My sweet little Emily Grace celebrates her 7th birthday today. I just don't know where the time goes! Can 7 years truly have passed already since we welcomed her into the world on Mother's Day of 2002?

Emily continues to amaze me every single day, and while I'd like to think of her as my "little girl", I'm seeing more and more every single day that she's really my "young lady." Her daddy and I are so proud of her accomplishments, and what a caring, loving, sweet, and funny (the list goes on and on!) little thing she is. She's got spunk and sass, but a sweet soul through and through, and she's just a joy to be around.

I'll be taking cupcakes into her class around 1:30pm today, and then she has dance right after school (she told me last night that it's pretty lucky she gets to have dance class on her birthday, and it's kind of like getting an extra present. How stinkin' adorable is that???). We'll be having tacos (her favorite!) for dinner, then a small cake and presents afterwards.

She's having a tea-party themed birthday party this weekend, which should be pretty darn fun. I have no doubt there will be pictures to share at some point next week!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl! May you have many more fabulous years ahead of you, and may your day be full of fun and wonderful surprises. You are very loved! XOXO

New Crime-fighting Duo Takes World by Surprise

BREAKING NEWS: One of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been spotted around the town with Superman!! Criminals everywhere are in a panic. We'll keep you updated as this story unfolds...

UPDATE: We're finding out now that Superman and the Ninja Turtle may have attended preschool together for two years when they were younger. It seems they formed a close friendship, and this may be what led to their decision to join forces. One can only imagine what this crime-fighting pair will be able to accomplish. The world is definitely in safe hands.

We're being told that as early as last Tuesday, the pair was seen accompanying a woman and small child to the chiropractor. We're unclear what the threat was at this time, but we're privileged to have exclusive documentation of the sighting.



It's being rumored that the pair is actually Jared and his dear friend, Katin (Kay-tin), masquerading as a Ninja Turtle and Superman, but the rumor is unconfirmed at this time.

This is Leah, reporting from Laughing Leah Loves Lilies. We'll be sure to update you if there are further breaks in this story.

My most recently completed project

Emily got this bedding shortly before turning 3 years old. (those aren't the sheets that came with it, but we haven't quite gotten back into our warmer weather yet to be able to ditch the flannel sheets!)



Since that time, I've had every intention of making her a new window valance that would coordinate with it. The valance she's had up for YEARS (7) was the one from her crib bedding set. It just ended up being something easy to put off, but while at JoAnn Fabrics awhile ago, I came across some "hot pink" material with big white polka dot and knew the time had come to finally follow through.





The polka dots are bigger the ones on her bed, and the pink is a shade or two off, but I think it works rather well. I used the white eyelet material to coordinate with her bed skirt and shams, and I used some green rick rack to coordinate with green rick rack on her comforter.

It took me twice as long to complete as I'd assumed it would, but Emily is THRILLED.

What Not to Wear

Ahhh, what you can get away with wearing when you're only 4 (almost 5)...

Sorry!

Sorry for my mid-week blogging slump... Usually I'll let the weekends slide, but I'm generally pretty on top of things during the week. HOWEVER, we've been so extremely busy lately, that I was getting behind in EVERYTHING. I had to take a break from blogging to get caught up on a few things.

Besides getting Emily to the bus stop this morning, I've flat-out refused to leave the house in order to get caught up chores and to finally get busy with some projects I've been promising people for ages. I even found transportation to and from preschool for Jared today to save myself the stress of hauling out of the house, dragging my own kids, plus Grace (who I babysit on Thursdays), and being away from the house and chores. It's been fantastic. I vacuumed every single room, mopped 90% of the hard floors, scrubbed the main bathroom, did four loads of laundry (we'll ignore the fact that it's still waiting to be folded and put away), did dishes, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and got halfway finished with Emily's new valance for her bedroom window. And I still have all afternoon and evening to finish up the last few things on my to do list. I finally feel like I'm on top of things again, and I can't tell you the good that does the mind, body, and soul... What a WEIGHT that's been lifted off my shoulders! THANK GOD!

My cousin stopped by for a visit, which made the day that much better.

I feel like a new woman, and hopefully I will have time to whip up a blog post for tomorrow (Friday), but if not, know that it's all part of saving my sanity and that I'm being productive in other areas. *grin*

XOXO

Oldies but goodies

At Emily's 3rd birthday party, my brother showed up with his new girlfriend (long since out of the picture now), whom we'd not previously had a chance to meet. He introduced Emily to AMBER, who promptly introduced Amber to everyone else as HAMBURGER.

*grin*

The green-footed bandit

While we were watching a movie as a family yesterday morning, I belatedly noticed that Connor had wandered off and was no longer watching the movie with us. I got up to go looking for him and found THIS in my kitchen:


Clearly not a good sign, and there was a faint trail of footprints clear through the house (footprints you could see if the light caught the greasy residue just right, not so much that you could see plain as day).

So I stepped up the pace of my search and found him in the bathroom, up on the counter, cleaning himself up:




When I asked him what in the world he was doing, he responded:

"I stepped-ed in your-uh cake and I twying to cwean my feets-es and my weg."

And here I'd assumed he'd gotten frosting on his HANDS, which then got smeared onto the floor and stepped in. Guess we're not eating that last bit of cake!

A cute birthday message

The topic of my birthday came up during the week and Connor started singing something he'd heard Emily singing a few days prior. It was pretty cute!

I saved the video to share until today, since TODAY is my actual birthday.

**(I'm 29 for the 3rd time, in case you're interested!!)**

Quote of the Week

Inside every older person is a younger person - wondering what the hell happened.
~Cora Harvey Armstrong~

Just how is it that I'm actually IN my 30's now (tomorrow)??? I think I'll follow in my neighbor's footsteps and just be 29 year after year... *grin*

I give up

I didn't even ask WHY, because I knew the thought-process of the combined forces of Connor and Jared were going to be beyond my ability to understand anyway. I might add that I neglected to think of taking a picture until the rather large pile of firewood had been removed from atop the dirt and returned to it's original stack (maybe the firewood was meant to hide the dirt??)...