first and last

Last day of 2nd grade!

1st day of 2nd grade!

small town fun

We are very blessed to have a locally owned Bookstore / Coffee Shop on our quaint mainstreet. Elliott and I frequently attend their Friday afternoon story time, arriving early to enjoy a treat, of course!

Elliott showing off his 'Cup of Fun' prepared by Bobbi, complete with song!

pretty.pretty.princess

As I was getting things ready for a garage sale, I sorted through the game cabinets (yes, there are 2!) trying to find somethings we no longer played. I thought the girls had likely outgrown the game Pretty Pretty Princess, so it went into the stack of items to be priced. Silly me -- what was I thinking??? Elliott discovered this treasure and immediately set it up to play. So play it we did - day after day of games of spinning to find out what piece of jewelry we would put on next. Such is the life of the little brother of two sisters.

the neighborhood

When we first moved to our neighborhood, it was fairly desserted. Now, there is no shortage of friends and it seems like they all end up in our backyard. I've always said that I want to be the hangout house -- that way I always know where my kids are and what they are up to! This is a challenge for Ryan and me because our family is rather calm and laid-back (and we like things neat and tidy). So an extra six kids makes it a bit crazy, but also extremely fun for our kids. The photo above shows the scene from our backyard yesterday afternoon. Now, if you've been to our house you know that our playset is meant for kids about 5 years old and younger. But this group of 8 kids found plenty of things to do with buckets of water, sand, a very small playhouse (in which they fit 4 children), and short slides and small swings. Although I think children are like stray cats and if you feed them, they'll keep coming back . . . I did bring out the ice cream to loud cheers! Brody is the little boy next to Elliott - he lives right next door. But don't ask me the names of all the other kids, because I can't remember them all! And btw, that is only half of the family - their are 10 kids!

We also managed to play a late round of golf - 9 holes at Wild Marsh on their busiest day ever in the history of the course. Ryan played from the black tees and the kids played from the 150's. I served as caddy and tried to make sure no one got hit with a club or a ball. Pancakes at Perkins at 8 o'clock and the kids were asleep before they hit their pillows.

a funny thing happened. . .

. . . at Dairy Queen - Jillian pulled out her front tooth! She's a brave one, our girl. This is only the third tooth that she's 'lost' and is the second one that she pulled out herself. I'm certain I let each of my baby teeth dangle until they simply couldn't hold on anymore and dropped out on their own!

Grandparents' Day

Jillian lit up when she saw all of her Grandparents in the audience for her program. She proudly showed them her clean desk and many, many art and writing projects. Grandpa Dan and Grandma Sandi even enjoyed a delicious school lunch. Luckily for them, it was turkey dinner - the lunch even the teachers eat! ;) Delaney got to miss a bit of 2nd grade to watch the show, too. And Elliott has been singing those catchy tunes ever since -- "I like candy, it's so dandy, I like (insert your favorite), YUM YUM YUM!" He did not like getting lost in the crowd, but luckily Grandpa Fred came to his rescue and perhaps it was a good lesson learned.

Happy Easter!

Easter morning began at 5 am, when Elliott woke me up with 'I'm hungry mommy!' So he had an early breakfast and I thought might go back to sleep, but no such luck. At 6:15, I passed him off to daddy and curled up for an hour of sleep before the hubbub began! The kids raced downstairs to find all those hidden eggs filled with goodies. Two eggs were all Elliott needed and he promplty sat down, opened them up and devoured their contents while his sisters giggled and searched for the rest and their baskets. As you can see, they were more than pleased with all their Easter treats.

Delaney celebrated her First Communion on Easter morning and here she is pictured with Pastor Josh and her brand new bible case. He is Risen Indeed!!!

3 must be the age where each kid decides to be completely uncooperative when having his picture taken. Here's the lastest proof!