Locks of Love and heading out...

Flashback: to May 17-19/09. :) This cute little guy wanted to come say hi to me! His mama wasn't too sure about that idea, but we got along just fine. He was only a couple days old.

May 18: The bathroom is finally 100% done! Yay!
May 19. This is all I've got. I have no explanation.
So, apparently my camera date and/or time is a little off. And the days have kind of run together for me - so I don't know exactly what days these are taken, but here's a guess....
Monday, 6/15 - Angel and Latte at my dad's

Later that night, D went fishing, and decided to bring his catch home to eat it!Tues., 6/16 - finally cooked the fish. Apparently it was rather tasty! I'll take their word for it!

6/18 We attended a fun arts activity at the library. This guy is painting a picture based on what the kids ask him to paint. D sat there the whole time! Maybe I have a budding artist (or two) on my hands here.
6/19 The best toy ever! A giant box. Is there anything more fun? Where should we ship these guys off to? Fri. 6/19 Angel, cleaning the grout. She's been such a great helper at the new house!
Sat., 6/20, Angel and I both got our hair cut to donate to Locks of Love. :)

Then we attended a joint birthday party for my niece,
and my youngest sis.
Mon, 6/22 Damian learned how to drive Grandpa's new tractor!
Tues., 6/23 - finally got to give Dad his Father's Day present! The only pics I have from the 23rd are of our old kitchen cabinets that we're trying to sell. I didn't post them here. So....moving right along - Angel got out her paint set she got for Christmas, and started working on a painting, while I painted the room around her. (6/24)

6/25 - this has become the kids' fave spot at the new house. This is their "climbing tree". All kids should have one, I think. :) I love how they like to climb up there to think or read.
They really love it!
6/26 - Angel's room is one of my faves at the new house. It's every little girl's dream come true w/ flowers, butterflies, ladybugs and even a unicorn!6/27 - I made this LO about the new house and the progress we've made over the past 4 years.

I used my wonderfully talented friend, Julie's new kit. We're going camping tomorrow - so I should have plenty to catch up on when we get back. :)

It's Summer!

How does summer always end up so different than what I expect? Last summer - we wasted our days away. No schedule, few activities, not too much sports, just a lazy summer. This year, I thought a little structure would be nice. I set up a schedule, invited friends to join us, expected to stay busy...BUT - things change. This past week has been fun, but completely off schedule! My bro. has been slow at work, and has been home w/ his kids most of the time, so I haven't needed to watch them - which greatly reduces my need to get up early, much less off to story time. Secondly, my Grandad is in town - visiting from San Diego. Since we rarely see him, he has become our priority this week. We've spent more time at Dad's this past week than we have this whole year so far! It's been nice, especially since I've gotten to spend time w/ 2 of my sisters, who have also made spending time w/ Grandad a priority. :) So....my previously planned schedule was ruthlessly shoved aside - but we may bring it back this week. So, here's how last week went:
Sunday, June 7 was Angel's dance recital. It went very well. :) Here she is back stage. Isn't that a beautiful costume?Monday, June 8 the kids had tennis. Here's D (in orange) playing a game before lessons started.

Tues., June 9, Grandad came to visit. He and Angel have quite the bond. They both think the other is just wonderful. Of course they're both right!
Wed., Frank chaperoned (helped out w/) D's cub scout day camp. Here they are w/ their backpacks ready to head out.
Thurs., my sis came to visit from KC, and brought 3 of her boys w/ her. They were enthralled w/ all the motorcycles we have around here. She allowed Frank to give them a ride on Sean's street bike.
Friday, Angel recieved her first piano lesson from Grandad. He taught her to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Here, he's playing it w/ both hands an octave above and below where she's playing it. Saturday, D rode in the Race for Life to benefit the Leukemia, Lymphoma Society.
And today, Sunday, June 14, D went "cat fishing"!
Here's a few photos from May (to get me caught up). May 13 was a field trip w/ the kindergarteners to Fantastic Caverns. This is one of the best photos I got from inside the cave. This formation is called "Angel Wings".
May 14: Here the kids are at a friend's house watching "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3-D. I love taking pics of people wearing 3-D glasses. And I like to laugh at how silly they look. :) Of course, I fully expect to be laughed at too, if I wear them!
May 15, I took the little ones to story time at Barnes & Noble.
May 16 was my sister, Alyssa's graduation. We're proud of you, Wuz!

Last Day of School!

Well, I actually started typing this on the last day of school (June 3), but never finished or posted. Now it's (extremely) early morning of the 7th, and due to the nice nap I took today, I'm still up, and ready to post. :) So, June 3rd was the last day of school. The kids got out 2 hours early, too. They may think they get to sleep in this summer - but, NO! I have plans. Last summer, we did nothing. Really, nothing! And when school started, I felt like we had wasted the whole summer doing nothing - but maybe that's what we needed. This summer, though, I not only have my 2 school-aged kids, but I have my brother's 2 pre-school aged kids every day while he's at work - so we're getting out of the house. I really don't want to see my house at the end of a day w/ 4 kids cooped up inside. I have planned an activity for almost every weekday of June, and some of July, too. I'm sure we'll have days we stay home, but at least we'll have something to do if we want to. I just love my town, and how many great, fun things there are to do for kids and families. Thank you Springfield! :) (and each individual business that offers these activities).
Speaking of wasted time - I can not believe I let May slide by without posting my Project 365. I don't always take a pic a day - but I surely take at least 7 a week, or 30 a month, so it's kind of the same. So I've decided to work forward and backward. I'll post my photos for this week, and some from May until I'm caught up. How's that? You'll all love being bombarded w/ all my photos, I'm sure. :) Here we go: June 2 - 6
June 2: The kids noticed this snake skin hanging out from the eaves of our house. I don't know what to think of this. I'm hoping that if this is proof of a snake living up there, that he's at least making himself useful, and keeping our home free of other pests. On the other hand, we have noticed birds trying to get in there, and perhaps one of those birds grabbed this snake skin to add to its nest. Would a bird do that? I don't know. I'm refusing to let myself imagine that this is a venomous snake or that it will come into our home and bite anyone. NO - I am NOT thinking that!
Also June 2: Angel came w/ me to YW (young women's activity night). We played mini-golf. Angel has a few new teen-age friends, and actually played very well. She even got a hole-in-one!
June 3: LAST DAY of SCHOOL!! Here is D w/ some of his classmates at the end of the day. Hello summer break!
June 4: BMX night. I stood in the tower w/ Frank as he announced all night and took pics w/ my new camera. I haven't touched them up at all, and I'm pretty happy w/ them. Much better than my last camera. :)June 5: Friday night, we went to see the Mystery Hour
Afterwards, we went out w/ some friends. They partied a little more than we did! :)
June 6: Dress rehearsal. I took a ton of pics. :) This is the dance that will have me in tears tomorrow (today). My little Angel is a beautiful ballerina, and this duet she does w/ one of the older girls is so pretty and touching.
Now - skipping back to May. May 10 - Mother's Day. I had a very happy Mother's Day. I am so blessed to have 2 wonderful, fun, loving, sweet kids. I love them so much!
I don't love that my poor sis had to take about 10 shots to get this one - and this is the best one! Maybe they're not so sweet after all! :)
May 11: Poor D got glass embedded in his hand while playing outside. We weren't able to get it out until the next morning. It took quite a bit of effort by Frank, me, the school nurse, and an unsuspecting PE intern at the school to finally get it out.
May 12: Fine Arts Night at the kids' school. There was artwork displayed all over the school from every grade. I love our art teacher. She has the kids do wonderful projects. The choir and orchestra also performed, along w/ some older students from other schools who were asked to come perform also. The 2nd grade had been working for quite a while on a project that included researching an animal, writing and illustrating a book, making a habitat, and putting together a photo story on the computer that was burned onto a CD for each class. Damian's animal was the Rhea. Earlier this year, Angel (and several other students) had artwork displayed at the Springfield Art Museum. This is the piece that was on display.