While you wait....

for the doctor you can.... hide from Mommy (or the camera), do some pull ups on the desk, play on the Ipod, or play tiny Connect Four. :)

This was the last time we will see Dr. Lewis. She has given us (all) great care for over three years now and we feel ridiculously lucky to have had her as Cooper's doctor. She is finishing up her fellowship this summer and then will be moving on to another practice. We will miss her very much! His check up was great and we'll meet our new doctor in the fall.

Random May Happenings

Grace brings me tons of artwork. Cooper brings me Lego creations! (My night stand is the "default" place to keep them after I have praised them.)

The family got to stop in and meet Li'l Miss Remi. Grace was loving it and Cooper kept "shushing" us! I didn't get it on camera but I'll never forget watching Mandi introduce her daughter to Tim. (They worked together for about 10 years.) It might seem strange, but again, one of those things I dreamed about. :) I love watching her be a mom. Just. so. cool.

Our first BRIEF swim. (71 degrees is too cold!)

I always laugh when it rains enough (which has been ENOUGH lately) to be able to see where Tim stopped with the deck sealer on the fence. I guess that stuff really does work!

And a dress up show, complete with bow! Very dramatic.

Sneakiness....

We snuck into Mandi and Michael's house to pink-a-fy Remi's nursery before they came home! It ended up being pretty much the whole house, but it was too much fun to stop with just one room!

And sneaking a picture of Grace during nap time!

Can't get enough of her!

THIS is what I have been dreaming about for 3 years:

My friend Mandi holding her baby! She's a mom! And she is already great at it! She called today and asked if I "wanted" to come visit. ?!?!?!!? So thankful she she did and I got to meet her beautiful daughter and see her family of three. :) Congratulations Rigneys!

Li'l Miss

A HUGE congratulations to my bestie Mandi and her husband Michael on the arrival of their daughter, yesterday! We couldn't be any happier for them, are so excited to meet her and see them as a family of three! Welcome Baby Girl!

New found freedom

With spring FINALLY acting like spring around here we are finding that being a year older means we have more freedom to play outside - sometimes lightly supervised! I can trust the kids to play in the drive way (behind the cones!) or on Joe's swing set next door and I can work in the kitchen and listen to them. Again, we've had to discuss yet another "real world scariness" - strangers, but they seem to understand and really that threat seems pretty low out here during the day. It has been too much fun - sometimes so much that there is no time to remove helmets for lunch!

How do you spell.....

Grace loves to write words. Armed with a pad of post-its, she has taken to labeling things around the house. She has labeled hers and Cooper's room, Tim and my sides of the bed, and the computers in the house. It makes me smile. She and I would LOVE a label maker. :)

Happy Birthday!

All church birthday party! I was in charge of the April table....aka the Kids table! Only 11 birthdays total that month and only 4 us could make it. But it was a good time - Kordell, Phil, Baby Mac, and me! Grace and Cooper did a great job sitting at their tables, and they had adults with some sense not to let them have seconds on cake and ice cream!

(Blogger won't let me space this how I want! So bare with! Grrrrrr!)

I wrote a poem for our short presentation - More than you ever wanted to know about April, and then some.

Listen up! I love to rhyme! It's listening awareness month and national poetry month - both at the same time!

But, I also could tell you all about Zoo and Aquarium month, National Humor Month, and Mathematical awareness month -I know! Get out!!

If a week at a time is how you'd rather celebrate - The golden rule week, national read a road map week or national organized your files week, for you await!

Taking it day by day is yet another way to go...Starting on the 7th with No House Work day, even though at my house that is kind of the status quo!

The 10th is the 100th day of the year and the 11th would be a great day to celebrate the barber shop quartet with a root beer!

The 13th is the birthday of Thomas Jefferson on our nickel, and the 25th is the anniversary of New York to start requiring license plates on your vehicle.

Though we can't pass by the 14th when Noah Webster published his first dictionary in 1828. And of course we think Sam Morse, who gave us SOS on the 27th is awfully great!

And last but not least we should pause on day 29 - for a moment of laughter, come rain or shine.

**What did the baby corn say to the momma corn? Where's Pop corn?**

And finally we set aside in April that fateful week each yearto remind ourselves of the message Jesus had for us, that he made so very clear. So, happy birthday April, the best month of the year!

(My Morse code inspired cake!)

Preschool is over

And we've slipped right into our summer schedule! Thinking about staying up later and sleep in longer! (I'm hoping!)

Anyway, Grace had a field trip to the fire station on the next to last day of school. It was fun to go with her and see her in action. :) Learning fire safety has been an eye opener for me. Tim and the kids practiced getting out of the house one evening when I was gone. And we'll be talking about 911 calls later this summer as well. Just more of the real, scary world I have to teach them about. :(

The picture of the little guy holding her hand... he REALLY wanted to hold her hand! I thought it was funny, assuming she would tell him to stop if she wanted him to stop, so I took pictures. His parents called him over and told him to leave her alone. Probably the better parenting move. :)

And, they had a picnic on the last day of school, so there she is -all ready for her last day with her lunch! I still can't believe it, but bring on PreK!

Faith Village

I am the director of our children's Sunday school hour at church. We are studying Doubting Thomas this month and we acted out the story in "Real or Not Real" fashion, deciding that Thomas believed only after seeing Jesus and not having been told by a Super Hero or a Fairy God Mother!

Mother's Day

Gettin' my van detailed after our summer fun! Best family EVER!

SPRING!!!!

Spring means....

Garage sale time! (Bonus Nick time this year!)

New tricks on the swing set.

And, first legs and arms!!!

Preschool is coming to an end...

We had a parent conference last week at Grace's preschool. She got all good marks! Below is her self portrait - which they told us looks almost identical to Mrs. Burton's example! She did tell me she didn't have the right color for her shirt, so she made it purple, and that she forgot to make her hands the same color as her face. :) I asked her if she would draw a picture of all of us, but she pointed out we would all have to "stand here until I'm finished." She quite possibly has some boys who call her their girlfriend, and she helps keep the teachers on their toes, by being very mindful of rules and procedures! (Turns out I have two kids with that problem!) I can't believe her first year of preschool is over! So proud of her!

Also, we took flowers to her teachers for teacher appreciation week.

And, I took a picture of her lined up with her classmates to always remember how tall she was next to them all! :)

Also, last week, I met with the teachers to talk about Cooper and his CAH. I tried not to freak them out, but information is the key! Grace has already been giving Cooper advice... "Ok, Conner is my best friend, but he plays rough. BUT! We do not run at school!. And, when the teachers ask you a question, you have to answer them." It was too cute!

Spring Time in Indiana

More indoor fun: Rock painting!

Or, if you can't beat the rain - join it!