Memorial Day

Our plans for Memorial Day were: mow grass, work on fence, pull weeds, play outside. The final result? Plans: 0 Rain: 1

It rained off and on pretty much all day. The kids were going stir crazy (and driving us crazy) by 9 am! So we decided to go bowling. (Remember last summers kidsbowlfree.com?) The bowling alley didn't open until noon. We still bowled 2 games. We had such a good time! The kids loved it. Actually I think we all had a good time.

Daddy won the first game and C actually beat me! I won (stomped, killed, slaughtered) every one the second game. I think that was the best game I've ever had (besides on the Wii). I actually have the proof (see picture below).

After bowling, we went to lunch and then home. It was very late for K's nap but she still took one. C watched a movie, Daddy watched NASCAR, and I made Friendship bread. Yum! Since we ate lunch so late, we just had cereal for dinner. Then it was an early night for the kids. I was very ready for their bedtime.

The kids and I tried to take a picture of ourselves. Obviously it didn't turn out exactly like we wanted. Poor K; we cut her head off. But otherwise, I thought it was a cute picture of C and I.

By the way: for those of you who care and who watch PBA (Professional Bowling), the PBA tour was actually at this bowling alley about a month ago. We watched it on ESPN. We could have gotten tickets to go, but had something going on.

The Indy 500

The Indy 500 race was this past Sunday. It is a huge deal around here. There is something going on at the track almost every day during May. This past Friday was Carb day. There was a IndyLites race, practice, and a pit crew competition. Daddy's department went to the track for the day and called it "team building." It was a nice way for Daddy to start his long weekend.
Here are a few pictures from his day.

By the way: for those of you who care, Helio Castroneves won.

Play dough; play YUCK

I'll just start by saying: I HATE play dough! I don't like the smell and I definately don't like the clean up. There are always little pieces everywhere! Therefore, my kids don't play with it much. (I couldn't be a preschool teacher: I hate play dough, bubbles or sidewalk chalk).

So anyway. While I was working on the fence on Wednesday, I got out all the play dough and let the kids play with it outside under the gazebo. That way they could make a mess and who cares? We were outside. They had a blast! They played so good together, made a mess, made animals, and stayed out of my way. They were occupied for a few hours! Clean up was so easy too. For one thing, alot of the play dough had dried out so we were just able to pitch it. I'll never do play dough inside again.

By the way: is it play dough or play doh?

The letter of the day is "P"

Saturday we took the kids to the Park in the morning and then came home and filled up the Pool. While we were outside playing, K Peed on the Patio. Later, C Played PlayStation, Daddy and K took a naP and I blogged (sorry, no P there). And that is our Saturday in a nutshell (or in a PeaPod as Daddy suggested).

That K girl is not scared of much! I think Mommy was scardier (Is that a word?)Those kids love to swing! But so do I. C is starting to get the hang of it. K's little bottom was lifting up off the swing every time she went up. Too fun!

We all got in a water fight and C tried to hide from Daddy. This is how K got everyone in the water fight. She filled up her little boat and tried to throw the water on you. She was too funny!What a stud! Look at those guns! Look at how much weight he has lost--I think about 40 pounds. I'm very proud of him. And he is very mad at me for putting this picture on.

Blogging is slow

My mother-in-law actually commented that I haven't blogged lately. It must be pretty bad when people start noticing. We have been so busy lately! I haven't had time to think let alone blog. So here is a catch up and hopefully I can schedule some posts for the next few days.

Last week was kind of a hard week with my K girl. But I had a chance to get away a few times last week. Boy did I need that!

Thursday night I had a Dei Gratia meeting. Friday night we had a Ladies Fellowship at church. The speaker was Miss Suzie (C's AWANA leader). She is a blind lady that lives on her own. She is an amazing lady. She loves C! She actually mentioned him during her devotional. She will miss him next year. And Last Saturday I had a bridal shower for a friend (M). Actually C will be in that wedding on July 4th. We had such a good time! They had good food, fun games (blush!), and she got lots of stuff.

C had a game on Saturday too; he lost but did a very good job. He had another game Monday that he lost too. His game started at 6pm and Daddy's game started at 6:30. So Daddy was late to his game and didn't really get to play. His team lost too. We stayed at the ball park to watch some of the next games and eat dinner at the ball park.

Tuesday I watched 2 kids for a long day. Tuesday after they left, we worked outside. Daddy mowed grass and I cleaned another section of fence. We are trying to clean and stain/seal our fence this year. Wednesday we spent almost the entire day outside. The kids played (play dough-see future post) and I stained the fence. I worked on one section until 5:30 and still have a few touch ups to do. I was burnt, hot, tired, sore, etc. So instead of church we went to Olive Garden.

Thursday the kids and I went to the library. I registered C in a reading contest through one of our local libraries. So I checked out some books that he can read for that. We also did a few errands and met Daddy for lunch.

Friday Daddy got to go to the Indy track for Carb day for the Indy 500 race, which is Sunday. His department called it a "team building" day. It was a nice way for him to start his long weekend. The kids and I did some cleaning and I had C do some "thinking papers" and practice his combinations. After dinner, we went to DQ for some ice cream.

Now we are caught up to today. We went to the park this morning and then came home and set up the pool. We had such a good time! We have decided that today is just a play day. We'll finish cleaning, mow grass, work on the fence, etc. on Monday. So far we have had a very good day!

On a side note, we have been working really hard on potty training. K did so good on Thursday and Friday. She has actually made it to the potty a few times with no mistakes or accidents. But then she's also had a few accidents too. But I'm seeing improvement. It will happen, right?

I Won!

Not too long ago, a blogger friend (momma) had a give-away on her blog. It was in celebration of her 2 years of blogging. I was so excited to find out that I won! I usually don't win anything, but when I do, I usually win big (maybe I should try the lottery). This was a big win; bigger than I had expected. I got the box in the mail on Friday and had so much fun looking through everything. I think there was just as much stuff in there for my kids as there was for me! But momma is a 1st grade teacher and so I think she had a soft spot for my new 1st grader.

Here is a picture of what was in the box-and she said something more is coming later!

I'll try to list everything: 8 books (mostly kids books-which I love as much as the kids do), a necklace, Bath and Body lotion, bookmarks, new pencils for the kids, a stuffed kitty for K (which she loves; and BTW momma, you spelled her name right), a whole bunch of zoo animals for like a bulletin board, and some other "punch outs" with the kiddies names on them. K immediately claimed the pink and purple pencils cuz "boys don't like pink." I'm sure I'm forgetting something too.

It was so nice of momma to do this! Thanks much! You made our day!

PS: The box that everything came in was a big hit too. It became a robot, a plane, and a car.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Here is a baseball update: the last game C played was last Saturday morning. It was an early game (9 am). We stopped at Hardee's for breakfast first. Then on to the game. It was sooooooo cold! I'm glad I dressed the way I did, but my toes were so cold cuz I had sandals on. Poor K's toes were cold too, for the same reason. C just had his short sleeved uniform on; I should have put a long sleeved shirt on underneath. Oh well. His team did really well. They won again! They've won every game so far. I was actually able to get some pictures of him playing this time. And I finally got one of him in his sports glasses.Here is C on 1st base getting ready to run to 2nd. He is the blue #8. For some reason, C decided to do a dance while playing 2nd base. Not sure about this.
Here he is all business, playing 2nd base.

Mother's Day

I know, I know. I"m a little behind. We've been so busy lately and I haven't had time to play catch up. So I thought in this post, I'd give an overview of my Mother's Day weekend.

We actually went out to eat Friday night for Mother's Day. The lines are always so long to get into a restaurant on Mother's Day! We went to Red Lobster. We have not been there in a long time. It was so yummy! I could live on shrimp! But fresh shrimp from Pensacola is so much better than Red Lobster's shrimp. Anyway. We got an appetizer of lobster pizza. So good. Next time we go, I'm going to get just that for my meal. It was actually pretty healthy (lobster, spinach, tomatoes, cheese) if you don't count the butter that just dripped off! But so yummy! And then I had stuffed flounder and deep fried shrimp. Did I tell you, I could live on shrimp?!

After we ate (gasp! in regards to the bill), we did a few errands. It was a very nice evening. Daddy cooked Sunday lunch: chicken chipotle sandwiches (grilled chicken, bacon bits, cheese, mushrooms and onions on mine and chipotle Ranch then topped with more cheese and toasted--YUM). The kids got me some cute cards and a movie (Made of Honor-a cute chik-flik) and I get to go get a pedicure. Yeah! Now to find the time.

So that was my Mother's Day weekend. I love being Mommy to my kiddies. Yes they can frustrate me sometimes but I love them anyway. On the flip side, they can be such a hoot too. Oh the joys of motherhood!

School's Out!

C is done with school! He just finished his last paper. I can't believe he is done with Kindergarten. That means he will be in 1st grade next year. Oh dear! I am very proud of him though. He has learned so much this year: reading (he's at a 4th grade level), addition, simple subtraction, simple story problems, money, counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s, many poems, many Bible verses (one for each letter of the alphabet plus others), simple science, hymns, about different countries, community helpers. It's so exciting to see where he started and now see where he is.

It will be nice to have time off, but he gets bored so easy (easier than most kids I think). I do have plans to keep his mind somewhat busy this summer. I'm still going to have him practice reading and his combinations (he struggles with some) and do a few papers here and there. Plus we plan on bowling once a week and going to see some free movies. Plus he still has baseball and I'd like for him to do swim lessons again. Whew! Now that I look at all that, I think we will be very busy!

AWANA awards

Last night was our last night of AWANA for this year. We had our awards ceremony during church. I work in Cubbies which is kids that have 2 years before they go to kindergarten. Usually they are 3 or 4, but being in Cubbies depends on when their birthday is. K girl will be in Cubbies next year.

Here is a picture of my Cubbies that got awards this year. We had 8 that finished their books and many that got participation awards because they were so faithful. We averaged 27 Cubbies each AWANA night. Our high was 31 I think. Our AWANA commander said that when she first started in AWANA at this church there were 12 kids--total. Shows how we have grown.

C worked so hard this year. He is in Sparks, which is K-2 grade. He finished his book, reviewed his book, and finished a workbook. I am so proud of him. He is one smart cookie.

Baseball/Softball games

I know I haven't blogged in a few days, but honestly I haven't had much to blog about. We had revival last week, so we were very busy every night last week. This week is not much better. Tonight is our only free night. Last night Daddy had a softball game. We went early to watch some of the other teams play. Daddy's game didn't start until 8:45; so needless to say, it was a late night. We had a good time, even though Daddy lost. It was a good game.

To back up a little, C was supposed to have a game last Saturday morning. We had rain almost every day last week, so the fields were very muddy. So they cancelled his game, even though it ended up being a nice day. We did a little shopping in the morning (new sneaks for Daddy and I, a Yoga mat for me, a new golf club for Daddy, new baseball pants for C (which I have to take back cuz he is too skinny!)). Daddy mowed the grass in the afternoon. It was pretty pathetic. So despite a cancelled game, it was a good day.

Now C has a game Thursday night this week and another Saturday morning. As of right now, it's supposed to rain again. I'm really praying he can still get his games in.

To fill in the other nights this week, Wednesday night is our last night of AWANA! YEAH! It's awards night, which is a very busy night for me. Then we are going out to eat Friday night for Mother's day. We never go out the day of. The lines are crazy! Last year, we got take out from Olive Garden. That was a great idea! This year we are going to Red Lobster Friday night and Daddy is going to cook Sunday. It seems like Mother's day came up quick this year .

On a side note, C only has 5 more days of school. He and I are both ready to be done. The quality of his work is going down hill and my "caring" is quickly following. Oh well; there's always next year. I'm hoping to keep him (and his sister) busy with other stuff this summer so I don't hear much of "I'm bored" I don't think I'll succeed.