Memorial Day 2012...

What a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!

It started with John beginning his long time-off (it’s so rare and weird – he will be off work for over a week, which is so unusual for him!).  I got out of work early and when over and watched Ry-Ry and Zora in the waterslide and hung out with the neighbors.  John had been smoking some sausages in the smoker all day, so we had an impromptu cookout with the neighbors.  Kylie had been planning a big sleepover, so she had four little girls over at the house for the night too.

Saturday morning I got up and made a big breakfast of French toast and bacon.  After all the girls got picked up, we headed over to Joshie’s baseball game.  It was so hot out, even at 11:00 AM!  After the game, we went home and had lunch and then just hung out around the house while Ryan and Colton napped.  Kylie actually fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours!  John and Josh went on a bike ride (Josh actually likes riding his bike now, which is so nice!), and I got to read a little while lying under the sprinkler because it was so hot!

When the boys and Kylie woke up, we headed to the pool for the first time.  We went ahead and got a membership this summer, and the kids were super excited about going.  Since it was around 5:00, it wasn’t too crowded, and we saw quickly that Colton is not afraid of the water!  We only stayed 45 minutes since it was dinnertime.  We went home and had a little cookout of our own and then everyone crashed into bed.

Sunday we went to church and then came home and ate lunch.  After lunch, Ryan and Colton took a nap, and Kylie, Josh and I headed to the pool while John mowed the grass.  Our neighbors were there, so it was fun to swim and hang out with them.  Again, it was 93 degrees, so the pool felt amazing!  I worked with Josh a lot because he is horrible in the water – I can’t wait for swim lessons to start!  After the boys woke up, John brought them over to the pool and we swam for a little while longer.

That night for dinner, we decided to go through a drive-through for the kids, go to Giant Eagle for salads for John and me (although Josh and Kylie ended up getting salads too), and then headed down by the river for a picnic.  It was still so hot, but the kids had fun and Colton kept pointing out the “boats” and “waer” (water).  When it was time to go, he kept saying “bye-bye boats,” “bye-bye waer.”  At home, we finished the night off with some ice cream cones and sitting on the porch.  Again, everyone crashed into bed from the busy day.

Monday morning we woke up and went to our local Memorial Day parade.  Josh got to walk in it with Little League, so he was excited.  It was another scorcher, and it was hard to sit there at times, but Colton actually did really well staying in his stroller the whole time and we got through the heat!  It was a nice parade, and afterwards, we headed over to the military ceremony and then had some hot dogs for lunch.

Once we got home, John, Ryan and Colton all took a nap and Josh, Kylie and I headed to the pool.  When the boys woke up, they met us over there again, and again, we had a blast.  After the pool, we came home and had another family dinner.  Ryan had a hockey game, so after dinner, we all headed downstairs to watch him.  The evening was finished off with ice cream cones on the front porch again.

I was off work Tuesday for Kylie’s “Pioneer Day,” so we had a nice morning of getting the kids ready for school and then John, Ryan, Colton and I went down to the playroom because the cleaners were there.  We got the playroom cleaned up and organized, and after that was done, we headed out on a little walk.  After that, it was time for me to head out to Kylie’s school thing.

Pioneer Day was awesome!  Almost every single kid dressed up like a pioneer, and they got to do things like square dancing, candle making, leather stamping and biscuit making.  They learned how they used to have to carry water and wash clothes.  Even the lunch was very “pioneery,” which is where I helped out with, having fried chicken, noodles, corn, green beans and fruit.  It was so awesome!

After I helped out with that, I can home and helped John trim the bushes while the boys napped.  Then I went and picked the kids up from school (they normally walk themselves, but Kylie wanted me to come and get her), and then they all played for a while.  Kylie’s friend Rachel came over, and we headed out for Tuesday night park night.  We went through McDonald’s (for the kids) and then Wendy’s (for John and I) and then headed to the park.  The weather was gorgeous and the kids had a blast playing!  After that it was back home to baths and bed.

John is still off work and doing work/fun things with the littlest ones.  I am back at work for two days and then off on Friday for our annual day at the Memorial Tournament!

"The Good Father" by Diane Chamberlain...

I was given an awesome opportunity to read "The Good Father" by Diane Chamberlain.  This has been my "outside" book (I have a book going on my Nook, and book I listen to on the way to work, and a book outside in the garage just waiting for me when I get a few second to actually sit and watch the kids play, instead of following little Colton around).  This book is so good that I look forward to any time that I get to sit and read it.  Even if it's just for a few minutes, I go right to this book because I'm dying to see how all of the little histories fit together and what's going to happen next.

Here is a little excerpt from the book:

"No, my friend came through." I tapped my sweaty fingers on my thighs. "I hope this one works out."

"Oh, me, too, Travis. I guess it's in construction? Is it for a business? Or residential? Or—"

            "I've got the info in my van," I said, getting to my feet.


Trust me, so far, this book is a must-read!

To get more information and read more excerpts and reviews, go here to see the rest of the participants in the blog tour! There is also a live chat with Diane on Thursday, May 31st at 3 pm EST.

**I was not compensated for this endorsement in any way, however, I did receiv a free copy of this book

What a fabulous birthday/baseball/football weekend!

The weekend started off with Kylie’s birthday on Friday.  She decided that she wanted to go to Cinco De Mayo for dinner, so my parents and us all headed over there.  We had a wonderful Mexican dinner!  After that, we took Kylie to pick out her birthday present – a new bike!  She rode a couple at the first bike store that we went to and loved the second one.  We loaded it up and headed home where she, Josh and another neighbor all rode their bikes in the court.  After that, we went inside for Cake and she opened the present from my parents – piano lessons this summer!  Then it was time for bed…for everyone :)

The next morning, Kylie and I got up early and got ready for Race for the Cure.  A friend and her daughter met us at our house and we all headed downtown.  I had never gone to it (but have lots of shirts from each year :) ) – it was awesome!  We got some great free stuff at the booths and then had fun walking in the 1 mile family fun walk.  The weather was gorgeous!  After we were done, the four of us headed out for a great breakfast.

When we got home, John had started cleaning out the garage, so I helped him finish that while the kids played outside.  Then you could tell the heat had gotten to everyone, so we went inside and the kids watched Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked for the 1,000^th time and rested on the couch.

That evening, we got everyone ready and headed out for Joshie’s first baseball game of the season.  What I got to watch of the game (Colton was being a little pistol) was so much more entertaining that his t-ball games were!  They still had a lot of errors, but they actually made outs, and hit the ball really well.  He’s playing in Little League this year and tried out to play up in the next group, so he’s one of the youngest players on the team (he’s playing with some kids that are exactly two years older than him).  After the game, we all went home, ate dinner, and crashed.

The next morning we got up and went to church and then came home to start another crazy day.  My mom had made lunch for us, so it was waiting when we got home, which was a big help.  I ran to the grocery store while everyone else ate, and then came home and started packing up for football.  John and Josh left early because he had pictures.  The other kids and I left an hour after that.

Because the games were cancelled the week before, Josh had two back-to-back games.  Our nanny, Miss G and Joshie’s teacher both came to the game, which was so nice for him and made him so happy!  I loved having Miss G there because even though I kept telling her to enjoy herself and watch the game, her natural instinct was to take care of Colton.  So as soon as he said “more” or “waer,” she was getting him more crackers and his water.  It let me take pictures and be able to watch Josh play!  They won the first game and lost the second (which was the game they desperately wanted to win and played their hearts out trying).  Again, we were beat!

But being a parent doesn’t mean that you get to go home and take a nap when you’re tired…no way.  As soon as we got home, Ryan was outside wanting us to play baseball with him!  Josh was asleep in on the couch, and Ryan and Colton were outside playing.  So John, Ryan, Colton and I played baseball in the front yard and played on the swingset.  After a little bit, I went in and made hot dogs for dinner, and after dinner, I got Ryan and Colton in bed, and the older kids, John and I had ice cream cones on the front porch.  It was a great way to end a very busy, tiring, fun weekend.

My dear sweet Princess,

Today you are nine years old.  NINE!!!  Where have the years gone?  You are turning into such a little lady and it’s both exciting and terrifying at the same time.  One minute I’m enjoying your older interests, attitudes and personality, and the next I’m missing my little girl that I took to Olive Garden and sang songs from The Enchanted to me :)

This last year has been such a growing year for you…I feel like you have grown so much both physically and in your personality.  You are so much taller (but not so big that I can’t still pick you up and carry you around!) and the amount of muscle mass you have is crazy!  You can do real push-ups and put most boys to shame in any physical competition.  As for your personality, you are into music and Youtube so much more and are so much more boy-crazy.  The times of playing with Monster High dolls and American Girl dolls are fewer and far between :(

You have been excelling in school.  You were in gifted math and reading, and will be considered gifted in science next year.  I hardly ever have to worry about your homework – you always come right home from school and get it done, unless you need help.  You are such a responsible little girl!  You still stress about being late for things – you leave for school at 8:40, even though the doors don’t open until 8:55 and it’s only a five minute walk, if that!

You have done an awesome job in gymnastics this past year – you work so hard and your scores really show it!  You’re trying to decide if you want to take on the extra work of joining the competitive team or to stay where you are and still work hard but be more relaxed.

You are an amazing sister!  Just this morning, I asked you to please make Joshie take an extra set of clothes for supergames today, and you popped up from the couch and said “why don’t I just pack him an extra set and put it in his bag so there is no argument?” and you ran upstairs to do just that.  You are amazing with Colton!  He loves you, and there are many mornings that I find you in the crib with Colton – laying there and telling him a story or just playing with him.  You will be such a great babysitter!  You love Ryan too, but he’s at such an awkward age and doesn’t want much to do with you…unless he’s tired, or in a great mood, then he takes full advantage of your wonderfulness :)

I can’t wait to see what this year of nine will bring for you!  You will only have two more years left in your school, you will have the opportunity, if you want to, to try some other sports (you have mentioned wanting to try volleyball), and I’m sure you will get even more independent over the year.

Thank you for being you.  I love you so much, words can’t describe it.  You were my first baby and my only girl – you have such a special place in my heart! 

Happy Birthday Ky-Bear!!!

Love,
Mommy

So Proud of My Princess!!!

I’m so proud of my little girl!

This past March, like last year, she took the Terra Nova tests.  Starting in second grade, these tests, among other things I’m sure, identify the students eligible for the gifted program.  Based on the results from second grade, Kylie began gifted math, so every day, she and some other kids from her class, went to the gifted teacher’s classroom for math.  She has been thriving ever since!  Some of the math problems she has been doing absolutely amaze me!  Geometry in second grade?  Then, in March she moved into gifted reading, so on Fridays, she and some other kids from her class, go to the gifted teacher’s classroom for reading.  Again, so absolutely loves this!

We just got the results back from her third grade Terra Nova tests, and yet again, this little girl amazes me!  Not only how great she does, but the expectation she has in herself and the disappointment in her math score (she’s in the 98^th percentile – she wanted to be higher!).  I love that my girl has high expectations of herself…it pushes her and makes her work so hard!

I read the Gifted ID report that was given to her, and basically, once you’re classified as “gifted,” you will always be gifted, even if you don’t do well on the test one year.  So the letter stated that not only is she gifted in the areas that she had already been classified as gift in, a new one was added: Science.  She improved her score so much in this area!
Her scores were as follows:

Reading: 99

Math: 98

Language: 95

Social Studies: 91

Science: 98

Cognitive: 124

 I’m so proud of my little girl…and it’s so nice for her to see how hard work really pays off!

Busy, Busy!!!

Last night was pretty much the epitome of craziness…but what’s new???

As soon as I got home from work last night, John and Josh were heading out to baseball practice.  Ryan had already left with John’s mom and sister for her birthday shopping trip.  Colton was down for a nap, so I went out to play with Ryan and Zora, and also Miss Laura who had just had her first day nannying for Noah and Zora (she’s a fabulous girl from church that we use to babysit our kids).  It was beautiful outside and we had a lot of fun!  Ryan spent the whole time swinging – what’s new?

After Laura and Zora left, Ryan, Aedan and I picked a whole bowl of strawberries from Pappaw’s strawberry patch.  We didn’t even get half-way through and the bowl was filled!  Then Ryan and I watered the gardens and headed inside to make dinner.  Just as dinner was finishing up, Colton woke up.

John and Josh got back and we all ate dinner.  Just as we were finishing up, Kylie came home and Grandma helped us start to hem Ky’s pioneer day dress.  After they left we started into the crazy part of the night!  Colton and Ryan got baths and went to bed.  John started working with Josh on his Koala presentation that he has to give on Wednesday.  Now here is the difference between Josh and Kylie:  When Kylie had this assignment, she did all the work and just practiced in front of us.  Not Josh – we have to remind him to work on this!  Thankfully, Josh is very smart and intelligent, so we really don’t have to help him, he just isn’t as self-motivated as Kylie is/was :)

While John was helping Josh, I was cleaning the house up because the cleaners were coming the next day, and  Ky was designing her birthday cake so that I could give that to the cake lady since her birthday is this week!  After she was done with that, I helped her with her math homework.  Normally Kylie doesn’t need any help with homework, but these were hard for her, so we worked through them and she started getting the hang of them.

Finally, at 9:45, the kids were done with their homework and went to bed.  John and I finished up cleaning and got to go sit on the porch at 10:00 for an abbreviated Front Porch Monday.  On top of all the craziness, I had a cold that had started coming in while at work, so the whole time I felt pretty crappy :(

What a fantastic Mother’s Day weekend!

Friday evening started with a dinner at our pastor’s house.  He invited the leadership team and the wives over for a wonderful dinner and games.  It was so fun hanging out with friends and laughing so hard that I was crying :)

Saturday morning Colton woke me up nice and early :(  But he’s so stinking adorable that I couldn’t be upset :)  He ate breakfast, then I got ready and John and Josh headed off to football practice, Ryan went over to Pappaw’s, and Kimmie, Colton, Kylie and I loaded up to head out.  I dropped Kylie off at Rachel’s and Kim, Colton and I went to Yutzy’s and Dings and Dents.  This week starts the first time they will have a summer nanny, so she needed to stock up on food for the kiddos during the day.

After that, we came home and ate lunch and then played outside while John mowed.  After he was done, he and Josh headed off to baseball practice and I laid Ryan and Colton down for a nap.  Once they were asleep and Kylie was home to babysit, I headed over to Kimmy’s where she was having Zora’s birthday party…ALONE!  Since her husband is Josh’s head coach, he had to run off to practice and left her there with lots of little 5 year-old girls by herself!  So I went over and gave her a hand (along with our other neighbor) and then after all the kids had left, we sat outside and I drank a peach daiquiri and just enjoyed the beautiful weather!

When the boys got back from practice, we were going to head out to get the plants for my garden, when all of a sudden the kids came running from the backyard saying Ryan threw up.  Sure enough he did and didn’t look so good :(  So we took him inside and John sat with him on the couch.  I took Josh and Kylie to the garden store to get my plants while John stayed back with Colton and Ryan.
At the garden store, Josh and Kylie had fun picking out a few plants that were going to be theirs!  Josh picked lemon boy tomatoes (because they were “boys”) and a chocolate pepper plant.  I’ve never had either of those so we’ll see what they taste like :)  Kylie picked out some green and red peppers and some cucumbers.  I got a TON of plants!  I’m glad my dad’s garden is huge!

When we got home we were faced with a dilemma…we were supposed to go out to dinner for Dad’s birthday, but poor Ryan was still sick, so Dad and I went out and grabbed White Castle and brought it back.  We thought Ryan was better, but just minutes after drinking some Sprite, it all came back up again :(  So I took him up and gave him a bath and hung out with him while everyone else ate dinner.  Colton had fun playing with the napkins and White Castle boxes :)

Then we played the game that Kylie had made me for Mother’s Day.  Her class all made games and she decided to give hers to me for Mother’s Day.  It involved money, continents, airports and answering hard questions!  It was a lot of fun to play, even though there were some bugs that needed worked out :)

Sunday morning I got woken up pretty early (like before 7 AM!) by the little booger (Happy Mother’s Day to me!).  But again, he was so cute and in such a great mood that I didn’t mind too much.  We all got ready for church and just as we were heading out (the car was all packed up with church stuff and football stuff), the phone rang and the recording told us that Joshie’s football game was cancelled :(  They were calling from storms later that day, so they were being proactive and cancelling early, but we were all bummed because I love watching Joshie play and he LOVES playing in the rain!

After church we came home and the two little boys went down for a nap.  Josh wanted me to open his special present and I was so excited to do so!  First graders make an awesome book about their mother’s, and knowing this I had been so looking forward to my special book.  I loved seeing what Josh’s favorite food that I cooked was (brownies) and the he thought my favorite thing to do in my free time was “play with her kids.”  Such an adorable little boy that Joshua!  After I was done reading the book, John, my dad, Kylie, Josh and I all went out and worked on the garden!  It was sprinkling a little bit, but we didn’t care, we had fun!  Dad helped Josh plant, John helped Kylie plant, and I planted all of my plants.  We had tons of plants!  It feels so good having that done!

After we were done, we got cleaned up, loaded up the car, and headed out to Piada for and early dinner.  I had been there once before and loved it, and they were giving moms a free entrée, so it was perfect!  Even more perfect was that we were the only ones in there, which was great since it was the rest of the family’s first time and normally the place is a madhouse!  The workers there were so nice – they gave us a free dessert, which were the little cannolis and they were amazing!  It was a great meal!

When we got home, I opened up my presents from the kiddos.  They got to shop at Giant Eagle the previous Sunday and picked out the presents all by themselves and wrapped them up for me.  Ryan got me an oil burner, Josh got me a candle, and Kylie got me a fleece blanket.  Josh also gave me a great note and some homemade coupons!  Then John said that I had to figure out his present and gave me two clues:  The first was something that was in the middle of the road a couple of streets over, and the second work rhymed with “ox.”

So the kids and I headed out on a little walk and saw that there was a glove in the middle of the road.  So I knew the clue was “glove box.”  I first looked in my car and didn’t see anything, and then looked in John’s car and saw an envelope in his glove box.  I opened it up and saw that it was for three massages with a lady that I had just gotten a massage from and loved!  He is such a sweetie!!!

After that, we all went down in the playroom where we watched Ryan’s hockey game, all danced and sung to Party Rockers, and watched Joshie practice his Koala presentation that he has to give this week.  It was so much fun!  After that, we all headed upstairs for some cupcakes and then bedtime.

It was a wonderful weekend!  Thankfully Ryan was only sick for ½ a day and it didn’t storm on Sunday.  I just know that I am so blessed to have four amazing little kids and a fabulous husband!  God has truly blessed me!

Last night was Tuesday night park night!

This is a ritual that we started last summer, and it all started with the fact that McDonald’s has $1.99 Happy Meals on Tuesday nights, so we would grab dinner and head to a special park that not many people know about.

So of course we started that back up again as soon as the weather got warm enough. It was something that the kids have been asking about since the beginning of March! And we thought we were cursed for a while…the first time we tried to go but Kylie was way too sick to be outside when it was still a little chilly, and then the next time it started raining shortly after we got there.

But last night was good! The only problem we have run into is that both Kylie and Josh eat more than a Happy Meal, and I prefer Wendy’s to McDonald’s since their addition of the awesome pop machines (my pick: Diet Vanilla Coke with a splash of Diet Cherry Coke :) ). So last night John went through the drive through at McDonald’s, then we headed over to Wendy’s where he went through the drive through and I went inside (we had two coupons but you could only use one per order). Then we finally headed off to the park.

The other downside to the evening? Ryan had attempted to choke Josh before we left, so John told him he was not allowed to play on the playground – he would have to sit and watch while the other kids played. The other issue we had was when I called Kylie out for being super unkind and selfish to her brother, she ran off in a temper tantrum, and John gave her 5 seconds to come back, which she didn’t do, so she had to sit on the bench as well while Josh and Colton played.

Other than that, the night was fun! Colton walks and explores everything and wants to climb everything, and Josh threw a baseball with John and then went and climbed the rock wall.

Kylie was mean again on the car ride home, so I told her that she had to go inside right away, take her shower, and read Bible stories until bedtime. I told her I hoped she would see how Jesus wants us to act.

After Ky had been in her room for a while reading, I went in and talked to her. I told her that she is the sweetest, most loving and helpful girl most of the time. But that sometimes, she can be the meanest girl to her brothers, and she can’t do that. I know she really understood where I was coming from – I could see the understanding cross over her face while I talked. It is so hard to be a parent! I love that girl more than anything, and I can see how easy it would be to not worry about teaching her and disciplining her, but then I know I would end up with a monster!

Hopefully next Tuesday night park night will have all the kids playing on the playground :)

Yesterday was Colton’s first official haircut.

I have once already trimmed around his ears when that got too long, but this was the first time that he went to Aunt Sarah’s, sat in the chair and had a real haircut. And he hated every minute of it :)

Normally for the first haircut, the baby sits on John’s lap. But Sarah wanted him to get used to the chair, so he sat up there. He kept putting his hands up to his hair as she was trying to cut, so she gave him some clips to help occupy him. John was desperately trying to distract him as she trimmed away.

Then I held him so she could even out the line in the back. By this time he was letting us know that he was not liking this one bit! Thankfully, it was over in about five minutes :)

What an amazing weekend!

It started off with Ryan going down to Athens on Thursday because the annual golf outing was Friday that my dad always takes the kids to. They had a banquet Thursday night, so John’s parents babysat him and they had a blast! They went to the OU football field and ran and ran :) Ryan was in Heaven! And then when we talked to him Thursday night, he and Jody were laying out on the back deck counting stars and looking at the moon. Mark held the phone out there and we just listened to him…eleven stars! :) And then John talked to him and told him that he was looking at the moon too, and Ryan’s response was priceless “But I’m looking at the moon at Grandma’s…are you kidding me?”

John and I took off work Friday because we were going away for the night. So I got the kids off to school Friday morning, and then I took Colton over to my office so that people could see him (they hadn’t seen him since he was a newborn!). After that, we headed home and finished packing up until the babysitter arrived. The girl we had babysitting was a girl from church who had just finished up her first year in college and who is AMAZING! She is actually going to nanny for our neighbors this summer :) So when she got there, I walked her through everything and got ready to head out. The plan was great – Josh and Kylie were going with John’s parents that night to a hotel nearby, Ryan was already down in Athens with my dad, so Laura pretty much only had Colton!

John and I then headed up to Canton to a winery there (Gervassi). We were hesitant as we got closer (we were driving through the ghetto!), but then all of a sudden, we passed by some beautiful houses and boom! there it was! Let me tell you, it was gorgeous! They had villas to stay in, and in each villa, there were four bedrooms and a common area, and a patio out back with furniture. The villas surrounded a pond, so there were beautiful views when you sat outside! The room itself was gorgeous! Stone everywhere, a fireplace and a gorgeous stone-filled bathroom. The common area was stocked with wine glasses, bottle openers and corkscrews, and complimentary pop, water, juice and yogurt. After unloading the car, we headed down to the marketplace to grab a couple bottles of wine and went back to the patio. We sat outside for two hours drinking wine and just enjoying the gorgeous weather and view. At 5:30 we went to the Bistro for dinner and had split a wonderful garlic-white pizza and prosciutto/mozzarella salad. Unfortunately, it started storming while we were in there and we had walked to the restaurant :( But luckily, it was only sprinkling when it was time to leave! The rest of the evening was spent relaxing. We got to watch TV in bed and not have to take care of any kids!

We slept until about 7:45 the next morning, and again, just hung out in bed for a while! They served a complimentary breakfast that was delivered to the common area in a box with our room number. John went out and brought it in and it was amazing! A huge cinnamon roll, blueberry muffins, a mini egg dish (not quite sure what was in it), fresh fruit and some homemade granola-type bars. Fabulous!

After breakfast, we checked out and went over to the Hartville Kitchen, which was a place that I used to go to all the time growing up when I lived up there. Home cooking at its finest! They have the best fried chicken and noodles ever! We ate a great lunch, shopped around the gift shop a little, and then got a little dessert and some noodles to take home! Then it was time to head home :(

The rest of the day was spent playing outside. John and Josh went to baseball practice, and then John mowed the grass. I played with Colton, and when he was napping, I played baseball with Josh, my dad and the neighborhood boys. Then Dad went and grabbed us Taco Bell for dinner and we called it a night.

Sunday was crazy, as are all Sundays during football season :) We went to church, came home and grabbed some quick lunch (Colton fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep when I put him in his crib), and packed up to leave again. I knew I had to bring something for Colton to eat, but he’s at such a hard age right now – I can’t just pack a sandwich for him. So I packed up the leftover pancakes that were in the fridge :)

We got to the game and as soon as we got in our places, Colton was ready to eat! So I fed him the pancakes, which of course, he loved. The only problem? They were chocolate chip pancakes, and it was 80 degrees outside :) But I didn’t care because he was content and I got to watch most of the game :) But he was a mess to clean up, that’s for sure! Joshie had a great game with some great flag pulls and a touchdown!

After the game we headed home and I tried to put Colton down for a nap. Just to recap…Colton had only slept 1 hour and 15 minutes so far at 3:30, and Ryan had not napped at all. But Colton was not napping, so we loaded everyone up and went to the grocery store.

The older kids went into the Eagle’s Nest (play area) and they were doing this neat thing where they could shop for and wrap a Mother’s day present! So they did that while John, Colton and I shopped. Colton was getting pretty cranky at the end of the trip but we made it out of there! The downside was that we had 10 minutes to unload and put things away and then we had to go to dinner with our friends in from PA that we only get to see once a year.

So now it’s 5:40 PM and Colton falls asleep in the car, so add about 15 minutes onto his total naptime for the day. Ugghhh! But we had to go to dinner…there was no way we could miss that! And honestly, outside of the normal entertaining we have to do with him at a restaurant, he was a great kid! And all the other kids sat at a table by themselves and we didn’t have to do anything for them…even Ryan! The older girls all took care of him! It was a great glimpse into the future :)

After dinner we all went out for ice cream and got a great picture of the kiddos afterwards. It’s always sad when it’s time to leave – these were our best friends for so many years! But I do love how every time we get together, it’s like we were never apart. After all that, we came home and gave quick baths and got everyone into bed…by 9:10. So Ryan did not have a nap, and Colton only had an hour and a half nap the whole day. Absolutely crazy! But an awesome weekend and both Ryan and Colton were in wonderful moods when I left this morning!

I'm Back!

Holy cow, where have I been for the last 3 weeks??? Honestly, working. I have been so busy at work – it was filing time for our first quarter 10-Q and then we started working on this project that should hopefully wrap up next week. Outside of work what have we been up to? Well here’s a recap: Joshie had his first grade reading breakfast. They had plays and read a poem to us and Joshie did great! Then we ate donuts and read books :) Spring sports have started, and with that we have what feels like days and days of practices. Joshie usually has two days of baseball practice (did I mention that he made it up to coach-pitch in Little League?) and then two days of football practice. And then of course Kylie still has two days of gymnastics per week. Last weekend John and I had to split up for the first time for the kids’ sports :( Joshie had his first football game while Kylie had her last Championships gymnastics meet. I hated missing Josh’s first game, and John hated missing Ky’s meet, but what can you do? So John (obviously, since he’s the coach) and my dad went to Josh’s game while my mom and I went to Kylie’s meet. We had Miss G come and watch Ryan and Colton which was awesome because I would have hated trying to entertain them during the meet! Joshie scored a touchdown, got a sac, and pulled three flags at his game! Kylie had beautiful routines and got second on floor and second all-around (and 4th on vault and 5th on bars)! After we all met up at home, we headed out to Kylie’s last restaurant pick of the season (she gets to pick where we go after meets), Asian Star. This week the weather has been gorgeous and we have spent a lot of time outside. Last night while Josh had football practice and Kylie was at gymnastics, I was outside with Ryan and Colton the whole evening! The boys swung o on the swings, jumped on the trampoline, picked lots of strawberries out of Pappaw’s garden, and then played in the court. Then I gave them a bath and loaded them up in the stroller for a nice, long evening walk. It was so gorgeous outside! So there you have it…three weeks in four paragraphs :) Hopefully I’ll be better about blogging now…I hate not capturing our lives because I know how quickly I’ll forget…