The weather is finally good for golfing here - and Master S is in heaven!

 It is also good for camping.  The traditional Father's and Son's camp out for church was a few weekends ago - so fun for the boys and so fun for the girls :)  Miss Lilly and I had out first Girl's Night together.  When asked about the food that he ate, Big D responded "I had marshmallows for dinner and breakfast!  I ate a whole bag!"  There are reasons moms are not invited to those camp outs ...

 This happened several weeks ago after tons of rain.  The grass really needed to be cut and the kids were playing in the big piles of clippings created as J.D. mowed the lawn --- they were green from head to toe.  And after taking a bath to clean up, so was the water!  eew!!!

 Miss Lilly and I for Girl's night went to Avon gardens - a beautiful place close by that have a lot of weddings and receptions - we also went to the park, had dinner together at Red Robin, where she got a balloon and we shared a piece of mud pie.  Spent a gift certificate from her birthday at Barnes and Noble, bought some flowers for the garden and stayed up really late painting nails and watching a really old movie from the 60's called 'Misty'.  It was a horse movie ... she loved every minute of it!

This is Big D -- still amazed at how big he is getting!  Thank heavens he still loves to snuggle with me :)

T-Storms

We get a lot of thunderstorms here - especially in the spring and fall.  I used to think we got storms in UT a lot with the clouds hitting up on the mountains, perspective is everything!  Almost every time it rains there is thunder here - it is actually unusual for it to rain and not have lighting and thunder.  Along with that comes tornadoes.  It is just a part of life in the Midwest and I am so grateful for a basement every time the sirens in town go off from the weather service to warm of possible tornado activity.  It also creates a little drama around here.  With children old enough to hear/read about on the news/paper and hear crazy stories on the bus from peers about storms & tornadoes, every time the sirens go off I have petrified children and if it is at night it makes for a very LONG one.  So, when I saw the forecast for the evening the other night I decided to approach it differently.  We set up camp.  I got out the air mattresses and blankets, brought down the duplos, played some games, read stories for bedtime, all in the basement and then put the kids to bed down there.  No getting up in the middle of the night wondering if I should wake my children.  No children waking up and sitting with wide eyes and scary visions for hours on end and guess what?  I slept through them too!  It was lovely.  I have a new game plan and maybe some good family memories at the same time!

Rolly Polly

Big D was helping me weed and plant some flowers a few days ago ... in between the enormous amounts of rain and thunderstorms we've had lately ... I was pointed out various bugs for him and he found a rolly polly (potato bug) on the sidewalk.  He was so excited and was giving me the play by play as it maneuvered across the cement.  The conversation went like this:
D:  "Mom!  It's going to the grass"
D:  "It loves grass, rolly pollies eat grass"
D:  "Rolly Pollies think grass is yummy for their tummies, but I don't think it is yummy for my tummy."
D:  "Oh, no - it is going to our house"
D:  "Mommy!  It wants to eat my macaroni and cheese!"
D:  "Don't let it get my macaroni and cheese!"
after reassuring him that the rolly polly couldn't get to the basement where the boxes of mac and cheese are,
D:  "I love macaroni and cheese ... it is in the basement.  It is not good for rolly polly tummies"

Graduation and Sunburn

 We officially have another kindergarten grad at our house!  Yeah!  Miss Lilly's class had a luau on Wednesday and all the kids were recognized for their great achievements this year.  After they got to rotate  through 'hawiian themed' stations for the afternoon (grass skirts out of paper bags, fishing game, paper flower leis, face painting ... )

 Can you see the freckles on her face?  I promise they are there -- just little specks ... Big D is convinced that by the end of the summer he will have some bigger than Master S'.

 Waiting for the fun part ...

  This is Miss Lilly with her teacher - she had an awesome year!  I helped out in the face painting for the luau ... found out it helps to know what power rangers, and various sport team's logos look like when painting kindergartner's faces.  I also found out that I really need to wear sunscreen ... again.  You'd think after getting sunburned almost every year of my life I would learn, but no - my arms are an incredible shade of red, still.  This has made it difficult to hold Big D and after a day of warning him not to get too close to my arms, he said, "You have had a sunburn too long mommy.  It's time for you to give your sunburn to someone else's arms!"  If only it were that easy :)

Indiana Sunset ... out the back door ... big sky gorgeous!

Happenings ...

Not enough time.

That describes my life right now.

There is always something I'm not doing,

in order to do whatever I'm doing right now.

It could be laundry,

work,

dishes,

cleaning,

writing a mother's day talk for church,

planning a birthday party,

bathing my children,

sleeping,

paying bills,

planning meals,

drinking water

(since I'm on that crazy diet that makes you drink 3 Liters a day again),

but, there is always something I could be doing ...

So, right now I'm blogging.

Enjoy!

Miss Lilly is 6.

She is all about ponies,

 horses,

 bunnies,

 hamsters,

 dogs,

 cats,

 anything in the animal kingdom.

Had a delightful party with lots of little sweetness' running around :)

We decorated stick ponies, made from brown paper bags & dowel rods.

Cheap.  Fun. Cute.

Perfect for a pony party.

I think the girls enjoyed themselves!

Master S had his second pinewood derby experience.

I threatened to put it a week earlier on the family calendar,

than the actual date,

next year ...

let's just say I don't enjoy painting,

weighing,

drilling,

running around the house crazy like,

the day of the race!

 But, he did have a cool looking car ...

can you see the battery we used?

yep - happened to no weigh enough,

after all the wood was cut away for the design -

it was a last minute inspired idea ...

from the mom.

Not in the top three for speed,

but all around lots of fun!

Even when we got to sit in the hall

for 20 minutes with all the other people in the church building

because of a tornado warning.

 Miss Lilly sang last week.

The Kindergarten put on quite the show.

It was darling.

She was darling.

Don't you just love her hair?!?

Amazing what can happen

when she lets me at it ...

Came home to get into pjs and discovered a rash

all. over. her. body.

turns out she is allergic to penicillin ...

yea!?!?