T-Ball

Aidyn started T-ball tonight. She's been looking forward to this for awhile, partly because she likes baseball & partly because her friends Lydia, Julia & Daisy are all on her team. It rained a bit at the beginning of practice but after that everyone seemed to have a good time.

Here's our slugger in action!

Neighborhood Excitement

We had big excitement in our neighborhood over the weekend. One of the valves in the water line broke and there was water shooting out near the fire hydrant. A crew came and fixed it right away (by "right away" I mean it took several hours). But it made for good entertainment watching them dig up the road and our neighbors lawn. Everything is back to normal now.

Shrek

We took the kids to their first movie on Saturday, we saw Shrek the Third. They both sat really well through the whole show and chowed down lots of popcorn. Nolan would repeat lines after they said them and then he'd laugh and laugh. Very cute!

Preschool Graduation

Today was Aidyn's last day of preschool for the year so they had a very short, very informal "graduation" ceremony.
This is Aidyn's class waiting to get started.

Here is Aidyn receiving her certificate from one of her teachers, Miss Patti.

Afterwards Aidyn got to pick where she wanted to go for lunch. She picked Applebees & we even shared a dessert in celebration. A pretty big day for a pretty big girl!
(In case you're wondering, she does have 1 more year of preschool before Kindergarten.)

Tadpoles

Aidyn's preschool class has been raising tadpoles this spring. We finally remembered to take the camera to school yesterday. As you can see from the picture below, the one on the far left is pretty much "frogified" just a little tail left, one is still pretty much a tadpole and one is a complete frog. It has been interesting to watch them grow!

Mill City Museum

My parents came to visit last weekend and we all went to the Mill City Museum on Saturday. It was very interesting and very kid friendly. I'm not sure who had more fun...Grandpa Jerry learning about how that huge plant used to mill flour or the kids playing with all the hands-on exhibits. There were great views of the Mississippi River from the observation deck.

They have a neat Flour Tower ride you can go on. You ride in a converted freight elevator up & down through the old mill to see how it used to operate. Pretty cool!

The first sprinkler run of the season

These pictures are from last week, I know, I'm a little behind in my blogging.... Aidyn asked & asked to run through the sprinklers. It wasn't really sprinkler weather, only about 70 degrees, but I agreed and they had a blast!

This is Nolan's "cold look" as in "Holy crap I'm cold!!!!" But, not more than 10 seconds later he was back at it!

Table Fort

The kids made a fort under the table the other day. They made a bed inside and they layed in there and read books. Very cute! Remember doing that as a kid? That was always so fun!

Hummus Craze: Part 2

The love of hummus continues at our house. Aidyn actually agreed to try it this time and low and behold, she liked it! I actually had to take it away from them because I thought they were going to eat the entire tub and well...I bought it for me. There's a limit to my sharing.

Sneaky Parent Tip of the Day

Shredded carrots...an easy, sneaky way to get veggies in your kids' belly. I made homemade pizza for dinner tonight and all you have to do it shred some carrots really small (I have a shredder, a food processor would work great too) and mix the carrots with the pizza sauce and spread on the crust. Voila! Once you cover it with cheese and toppings the kiddos don't even know they are there. This sneaky process also works well with ground beef. You can sneak carrots (or veggie of your choice) into hamburgers, meatballs, meatloaf...let your imagination guide you! Good luck!

Crazy Cowboys

Tear Jerker

I'm sure some of you have seen this commercial JCPenney had out for Mothers Day. It makes me cry every time I see it. I found it on YouTube so I had to share. Mothers with daughters, get out your tissues...

Happy Mothers Day!

I had a wonderful Mothers Day today! After church, Jeff & the kids took me out to lunch at Buca di Beppo...YUM!!! And then came my gift for the day...they dropped me off at the mall, BY MYSELF, with cash in hand, to go shopping for the afternoon. The only stipulation was that I could only spend money on myself. Well OK, if you insist. So I shopped all afternoon until they picked me up. We grabbed dinner on the way home and now I'm plopped down on the couch. What a treat! PLUS, while I was shopping, Jeff picked up toys, cleaned up the kitchen and did laundry. I love Mothers Day!
Here I am with my 2 little sweeties. Being a mom is the best job in the world!

Apparently, the celebration was too much for Aidyn to handle. She fell asleep in the car at 6:00pm. We transferred her into this chair until about 7:00 when Jeff just took her upstairs and put her in bed. What a tired little girl.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mothers Day! God bless all of you moms out there, thanks for all you do. To my mom, I love you - Thanks for being the best mom I could have ever asked for.

Thinker Girl

Today Aidyn was telling me one of her grand plans involving drawing all the houses in our neighborhood on our driveway in sidewalk chalk. Then decorating them all with butterflies and hearts. I said to her "Aidyn, you sure have some big plans. How do you come up with all these ideas?" Her response, "Well, I am just a thinker girl. And I'm really good at it too."
Skilled in her craft AND modest. A great combo.

Bruiser

Nolan has another black eye. That's 2 in 6 months. He fell into Aidyn's rocking chair yesterday while they were playing. This picture is right after it happened. It's more purple today, but a little less swollen. As for the scratches all over his nose, he did that to himself. My gentle little boy...

Cinco de Mayo

We had our Cinco de Mayo party on Saturday night and I had plans to take lots of great pictures to put on my blog. Well, I forgot. So here are the pictures I managed to get.
A bunch of guys doing shots....

Jeff & Shawn playing baseball on the Wii...

Corey sleeping...

Wow, I am quite the capturer of memories! Oh well, I think everyone had a good time. I know I did!

Party Princess

We had our annual Cinco de Mayo party on Saturday night. Aidyn had to be fully decked out for the party...new dress, hair curled, necklace, nail polish...anything girly! She did look pretty cute.

Like father, like daughter

Jeff vacuumed the steps the other day and Aidyn wanted to help. He always wears headphones while he vacuums so he can listen to music. So of course Aidyn wanted to wear headphones too. Well, they didn't fit her very well and kept falling off so she had to come up with an alternative....
Earmuffs.

Cruisin'

Here's Aidyn taking Nolan for a ride on her Harley. We've tried to let him drive it himself, but we will all be better served by making him wait another year.

Have you ever...

Have you ever...
Place an X by all the things you've done, and remove the X from the ones you have not done. This is for your entire life!

Have you ever:
(X) Smoked a cigarette? I finally gave into the peer pressure in college & tried one. I thought I was actually going to die on the spot...if not from the coughing, then from dehydration as I kept spitting, trying to get the wretched taste out of my mouth.
( )Crashed a friend's car?
( ) Stolen a car?
(X) Been in love?
(X) Been dumped?
(X)Been laid off/fired? This one still pisses me off...
(X) Quit your job?
( ) Been in a fist fight?
( ) Snuck out of your parent's house? Thought about it though! :)
(X) Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back?
(X) Been arrested? I don't think I was actually arrested because they didn't put me in handcuffs or haul me away. It was just one of those dumb underage drinking things...this also involved the same friend who gave me that cigarette...Hmmmmm.
( )Gone on a blind date?
(X) Skipped school? College classes.
( ) Seen someone die?
(X) Been to Canada?
(X) Been to Mexico?
(X) Been on a plane?
(X) Been lost physically and/or mentally? Physically, maybe a couple times. Mentally, quite often.
(X) Been on the opposite side of the country?
(X) Gone to Washington, DC? Been there 2 times, loved it both times. So interesting!
(X) Swam in the ocean? Fun, but boy I hate the taste of that salt water.
(X) Felt like dying?
(X) Cried yourself to sleep?
(X) Played cops and robbers/Cowboys & Indians?
(X) Recently colored with crayons? This happens on a regular basis at our house. I like to color though, so I don't mind.
(X) Sang karaoke? One time only. I sang Man! I Feel Like A Woman! with my brother in law. I don't think it was too pretty as the DJ guy kept turning our volume down.
( ) Paid for a meal with only coins?
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't do?
(X) Made prank phone calls?
( ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose?
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
(X) Danced in the rain? I did with the kids last summer. We all had a blast!!
(X) Written a letter to Santa?
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe?
(X) Watched a sunrise or sunset with someone you care about or love? Sunsets only, I'm not much of a sunrise person...too early.
(X) Blown bubbles? Just the other day. We buy bubbles by the gallon.
( ) Made a bonfire on the beach?
(X) Crashed a Party?
(X) Gone roller-skating? It was a long time ago, and I'm pretty sure I was terrible at it.
(X) Gone ice-skating? It was a long time ago, and I'm pretty sure I was terrible at it.