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.

What happened to May????

I have no idea what happened to the month of May. I'm glad it's over - and summer's here - and school's (almost) out. So - I'll try to go through kind of quickly, but get my Project 365 posted up here. So - here's my May 1 photo: this is part of our backyard, and if you look closely, there's a turkey back there headed back into the woods.

May 2nd was my friends' Kevin and Emily's wedding. It was held in this beautiful home.
May 4 (2 pics) - we went to visit our friend in the hospital. This little boy had surgery, and once he was well enough to play games, we'd go visit and D would play video games and walk and toss balls back and forth w/ him.
May 5 - here's the back of a building in town, painted w/ a beautiful mural of horses.
May 8 (2 pics) We had a pretty strong storm, tornado sirens, etc. We didn't take the kids in to school until 10 am due to tornado watches and strong straightline winds. I took a pic of the water from the neighbor's downspout being blown almost completely sideways.
These are some treats I made for the teacher appreciation banquet. YUMMY! I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman (link to her site is on my sidebar)
May 9 was a very busy day! I attended a friend's baby shower in the morning,
The kids went to visit their friend in the hospital again,
we attended a friend's birthday,
then the SATO 48 award ceremony. Here's a pic of the kids w/ Frank in the slideshow they were showing. Whew!

Let's finish off April!

I am so far behind! It's crazy! First of all - How was your Mother's Day? Mine was wonderful. My family made me feel so good, and loved. It was the happiest Mother's Day I've had, I think - aside from maybe my very first Mother's Day - when I was expecting my first baby. That one was pretty special, too. :)
Now I'd like to try to catch up on my Project 365. I don't know who else is still going w/ this - but I take so many pics, anyway, it's not very hard for me. I'm just bad about posting them up. I really want to get caught up, though - and I'm taking advantage of this burst of motivation I've got going right now - so this may be a long one.
April 21 (I think that's where we left off - I'm just too lazy to go check my last post) - Well, I had a cute pic of a friend standing on a chair to massage my shoulders, but Blogger is not letting my load any more photos - I'll add it to the next post. :)
April 22 was a beautiful spring day. There are so many wonderful blooming trees and bushes, that I just snapped photo after photo as Hubby drove through town. Here's one of my favorites. I love the mushroom shape of the tree and the way the sunlight is streaming through the branches and down to the bushes below. I love to see actual rays of sunshine on photos. It makes me happy. :)
April 23 was a BMX race night. Here's D on the final stretch to the finish line. He's been finishing 2nd consistently so far this season.
April 24 - The Grandparents came to visit before Grandpa leaves for a couple months for his job. Grandpa brought his inline skates and wanted to go skating w/ D. Angel decided to take her bike and go along. I had pity on Granpa trying to keep up w/ both of them, and followed along w/ my camera. Now that it was a family outing - Grandma and Frank joined the crowd, and we had a lovely walk.
April 25 - was my friends, Kevin and Emily's bachelor/bachelorette party. Here's me w/ Em.
April 26 - I took the kids to a friend's birthday party. They had a lot of fun. :)
April 27 - out enjoying the weather again. D loves to get out his Pocket Rocket and ride around the cul-de-sac.
April 28 - riding the rocket again. This time, he crashed into this bush!
April 29 - This is crazy! We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was kid's night, and they have lots of fun activities. Here, D and two friends are having an applesauce eating contest. Tyler won!
April 30 - I went to school to have lunch w/ the kids. Here's Angel w/ 3 of her friends.
and a few of D's friends sitting across from us.
WHEW!!! I'm ready to start on May now!

Easter, Birthdays and Beyond...

April 11 was our April Birthday Bash at my mom's. We always have a big party around Easter for all the April birthdays in the family. There are 6 just on my mom's side of the family - 3 siblings, my daughter, hubby, and nephew). We have included March birthdays for the last several years as we've added several March birthdays to our family. Angel wanted a "hula girl" birthday. Here she is w/ her lei and wearing the top of her pinata on her head. :) We also colored eggs on the 11th. I don't know why- but I have no pics of that. :(
4/12 Easter - now there's a funny story. This beautiful pic of my kids in their Easter outfits was not taken early Easter morning as they excitedly got up and went to hunt Easter eggs. No - this was taken in the late afternoon because that was when I finally had both of my kids together for a photo! Due to an interesting misunderstanding, I gave my son permission to go home w/ his cousins after the birthday party Sat. (they live an hour away) I *thought* I was giving him permission to ride home w/ my in-laws (where we were staying the night). Imagine my surprise when my bro. told me he saw D in my sis' car and was pretty sure he had gone w/ them. And then imagine my feelings of anxiety when I realized that meant he would not be spending Easter morn w/ us...which meant no Easter morn pics in his nice, new suit!... Which made me wonder how my sis felt about him being at her house, in her family's Easter pics w/out a nice, new suit (of course she didn't care at all - even let him dye more eggs to have the Easter Bunny hide at her house!) Sooooooo - by the time my sis arrived at Mom's for Easter dinner, I had D change into his suit for a few pics and to go hunt his Easter eggs the the Easter Bunny had hidden at Grandma's. Angel had been so patient waiting for her bro so they could hunt eggs together. :)

4/13 Happy Birthday, Angel!!!! Angel chose to have several small celebrations for her birthday rather than one big party. So, I took stuff for root beer floats to Angel's class to celebrate her birthday w/ her friends from school. She got to wear a crown and birthday vest all day. :)
after school, we took Birthday Girl decorated sugar cookies to dance class to celebrate w/ her friends there. After dance class, we met another friend (and her family) at Chuck E. Cheese to further celebrate. It was a loooooooooooong, but fun, day!
4/14 - The kindergarten's Spring Performance at school. They sang many songs about spring weather. This one was about a rainbow, and they all held up pieces of construction paper to make a rainbow. :)

4/15 - I don't have a pic from Wed - so, let's skip ahead to Thurs, the 16th, and I'll give you a few bonus pics. ;) Angel sang the National Anthem at the BMX track for the first time this season. This is her 3rd season singing for them. She gets paid in Gatorade and a snack from the snack bar. :)
Here's D and a friend on the track. D's in 2nd place here. So far, he's doing very well this season, and continues to improve his lap times. Go, D!!!!4/17 Frank's birthday - and 2nd grade trip to the zoo. I had a great time w/ the kids, and got a nice heart-shaped sunburn on my chest. :)

4/18 Poor Frank - his b-day got kind of over looked, so he got his presents Sat. morn.
4/19 - Happy Birthday Chelle! I didn't take a pic on this day, either...can I interest you in one from 4/18? Frank and D videotaped their entries for the SATO 48 film contest on Sat, then edited Sun., 4/19.
4/20 - my birthday - and this is the pic. I got. :) D looks so cute in his digi-cammo outfit.Well - that's enough for this post, I think. I'll be back w/ more - promise! :)

I haven't been here since April 6!!!!!!

What's wrong with me? Nothing - that's what. It's just April. Busy, busy, busy. But now I feel bad, because I'm just sure that you're all dying to know what I've done everyday of my life since April 6th. To start with, I got over my mysterious illness. So did D. The short story is... school, laundry, day care, dishes, eating, sleeping, Easter and birthdays. That's what I've been up to. Here are some pics to give you a little more detail (which is what you're dying to see, I'm sure!)
April 7th, I got another early b-day present: iLife 09 - fun, fun, fun. Thank you Frank!

April 8th I was still not well. I remember this - I couldn't move! Somehow the soreness of my throat projected to the outside of my neck, and nothing felt better than a hot pad pressed against it. It was a good excuse to read more of the Twilight series, and play on the computer, though. I just couldn't handle housework - no way!
Apparently I wasn't around on the 9th. Maybe I slept all day, or couldn't move my neck. I don't know. I don't remember - and there are no photos to document that I did nothing that day. But, by April 10, I was up and around and heading out of town for Easter. I love Easter. I also love 2 hour car rides where children under the age of 9 sleep. :)
I'll be back to update you on the exciting adventures of Easter weekend. (but don't hold your breath - Hubby needs the computer now, and I still need to finish reading Breaking Dawn).

I've been scrapping!

Still not feeling well - neither is D, but hopefully we're on the upswing. I'm just stopping in to post some digi-scrapping LOs I've done this past week.
I scrapped my son, D, riding in the St. Pat's parade w/ my friend, Dani's Irelynn kit. It's a beautiful kit, perfect for St. Patricks day pics, and outdoor pics. Do you see that grass and clover border? I love it! I have a second page in the works with this one. :)
My next 3 LOs were made using Julie's Boy at Play kit. It's a great kit with masculine colors. I know I'll be using it over and over.




You can find the Irelynn kit by Dani's Delusions at Sunshine Studio Scraps. Keep an eye out - she's got a new store opening up at Plain Digital Wrapper, too!
Boy at Play by Julie.ItIs. can be found at Plain Digital Wrapper...here.

What a sorry sight I am

I'm sick! Sick, sick, sick. I feel absolutely horrible. I've been in PJs all day, drank 2 glasses of juice (the second served to me on a Dora the Explorer tray by my wonderful daughter), ate a few crackers and a pancake - made for me and brought over by my brother, Sean. D is also sick, and spent most of the day sleeping - either in my bed w/ me, or on the couch. Poor kid. "A" played at Sean's most of the day, so hopefully she was able to avoid all the nasty germs at home. Thanks, Sean, for buying my juice, taking care of A, and making dinner for us. :)
Yesterday, we spent some time at the park. It was really windy. The kids had fun with another family that had brought a kite. I took a few self-portraits of my windblown self. This is one of the better ones.
Friday, we went to see the Skinny Improv - a local comedy group. Their main stage show is like "Who's Line is it Anyway?", then the Mystery Hour is a late-night improv talk show. One of the guests this week was Jennifer Rothschild - a very inspiring lady. We always love going to their shows. It feels good to laugh out loud. We took the kids to the main stage show - they had a great time. The shows are always family friendly - which is very nice. Frank tapes the Mystery Hour for them. Here he is, hard at work.
I don't have a pic from Thurs., so I'll give you 2 from Wed. Hubby rented Twilight for me, which I've been re-reading, too. He even watched it with me! :)This is how he felt about it. Not his fave movie. :p

Tues. is cub scout day/YW day. The scouts get out earlier than the young women, so the boys have to wait for the parents who have to stay later. Here they are after scouts, wheeling and dealing Pokemon cards.
Hopefully the next time I post we'll all be feeling better.