to grandmother's house we go....

larry was on a much earned vacation last week. as a representation of larry's character and drive he spent the first part of the week painting our neighbors house. it can never be said that larry is afraid of good, honest hard work. he worked so hard in fact that he got the house done in 2 days, half the time we were expecting. so what to do with the rest of the time?? that was the question. the answer - a trip to grandma and grandpa's house!! we packed up the car and headed to nw missouri where my folks live. living so far away from our parents we don't see them as much as we would like and as they get older, sometimes we are shocked at how much they have aged since the last time we saw them. i was so nervous when we pulled into their house late weds night. last year they seemed to have aged alot since the last visit and not feeling so chipper. but we were delighted to find exactly the opposite scenario this time.
they were anxiously awaiting our arrival and ready to play!!

we frolicked in a park where a large missouri spider fell from the tree and landed in my lap. did you know i am slightly arachnophobic?? and an angry swing grabbed onto brendan's shirt and ripped it to shreds.

it was really warm and muggy there and the kids were dying to get wet. but none of the pools were open so they had some backyard fun of bubbles and sprinklers. can you see the HUGE bubble on it's way up the stairs??

pictures from this cool park that has bison, long horned steers and tons of ducks and geese. some of the geese were as big or bigger than brooke. she could not however be coerced into a photo opp with them.

we went to a wildlife refugee that has all kinds of birds. however most of them seem to have flown the coup for the summer so the big sightings of the day were herons, turtles, muskrats and lots of water snakes. glad we didn't get out of the car at all.....

my brother and his family had already made plans to be camping all weekend with her folks not too far away. so we headed up there one afternoon for fishing and bbq. brendan caught his first fish ever!! it was not the fish pictured above but one like it and on a much smaller scale. that has to be the ugliest fish i have ever seen.

my sis in law is going to kill me for posting this picture of her after she had been camping for 3 days but it's the only picture i had. this is my brother bruce, his wife jami and their 2 kiddos morgan and aaron.

we had a great, but short little vacation. we forget how beautiful that part of the country can be. how hot, how humid and how buggy. the mosquito's were so big they reminded me of small dragon flies. but the culture there is so different from here. everyone is so friendly. i am not kidding you. everyone had a smile on their face whether they knew you or not. my mom and i had many conversations with total strangers in the stores or restaurants. it's such a nice place to live. if you don't mind bugs and creepy crawly things of course. i know it sounds like i'm harping on the bugs, and i am, but they are everywhere! they were even in our car. we were driving somewhere and brendan says in all sincerity "mom, what is the deal with all the ants. two have crawled over me in the 5 minutes we've been in the car." it was unreal. and i know that i grew up with bugs and snakes and all that marvelous nature but living away for 10 years i have forgotten. the only part of nature we didn't get to see were fire flies. apparently they aren't out yet and my kids were really disappointed. next time we well have to go a little later in the summer. then it will be REALLY hot and buggy. but spending time with my folks makes it worth while. thanks for a great visit. you spoiled us well as always!

rockies game and camping

awesome time enjoying the game together.

last week brendan and larry were able to get in a lot of "manly" time. first brendan's 5th grade class went on a field trip to the rockies game and larry went along and chaperoned. they had an awesome time enjoying the game together.

the field trip started with watching bating practice which brendan said was "way cool mom". larry even caught a ball as a memento of the day.

i'm not really sure what this pose is all about but it's cute - i mean it's very tough looking so i wanted to post it. (cute is for babies and girls according to my son)

some of the kids from his class with their teacher. sadly larry didn't get any pictures of him and brendan together.

to finish off the week they went to the father\son campout together and had yet another great time. brendan looks forward to the campout every year and always comes home with some wild stories. i'm glad that he and larry share a love of camping and the outdoors.

as for me and the girls, never fear we kept ourselves entertained. i worked on some projects that i've been wanting to do for awhile. and friday night we had some girl friends over for dessert and movie time. the girls are always begging for sleepovers so their friends wore pajamas over and watched movies in their room. all the stuff you do at a sleepover, except at bedtime their friends went home. they had a great time and the "big" girls (big as in age not as in weight ;) ) had fun too! all in all it was a great weekend.

for your viewing pleasure...

our new table and refurbished chairs!!

yes, these are our old chairs painted black and reupholstered. don't they look fabulous?? (you do have to see them in person to fully appreciate the look. once again my camera skills are lacking)

the original plan was to refinish the table as well. but shortly into the project larry discovered that it just wasn't going to work. so we set off with a really small budget to see what we could find. i didn't think we would be able to find anything for the amount of money we were willing to spend but then surprise! someone was having a sale and there was our beautiful table for the exact amount we had agreed on.

i absolutely love it! and it's already broken in. two days after we got it, the boys had their rifles out. larry walked away to grab something, brendan picked his up scratching the table in the process. at first i was very sad. but then remembered the time i scratched the middle c ivory on the piano because i didn't want to practice. now everytime i play i see that scratch. it's become part of the piano's character. so now my table has character courtesy of my son ;)

mother's day 09

i have to confess, that in the past i have not been a big fan of mothers day as it pertains to me. i'm all about giving thanks to my mom and mother in law for all the hard work and love that they have put into me over the years. but when it came to mother's day being about me, i sorta checked out of the situation. mostly because it seemed like i had too high of expectations. the kids were going to be perfect and i wouldn't have to do anything but sit back and relax all day. well in the real world that's just not how life is sometimes. BUT i found out today that the answer to the mother's day problem is that my kids just weren't old enough. this year has been perfect. when brooke woke up and realized it was mother's day she went and woke everyone else up and they got started on breakfast. they wanted to wake me up but larry informed them that mother's day is not like christmas and you let mom sleep as long as she wants. then at breakfast they all gave me the presents they had made. so sweet!! and now larry is making one of my all time favorite meals; chicken kabobs with grilled pineapple. YUM! and for dessert a big ice cream bar with all kinds of goodies. as for my present from larry, he made me drawers yesterday for my bathroom vanity instead of those fake little drawer fronts. why do they take the time to make the drawer fronts but not an actual drawer??

so thanks to my family for making this the best mother's day. and honestly most of the thanks goes to my kids because they have wanted nothing but the best for me today and it has really been touching and sweet. even lily has been a good little girl all day. we only had to take her out of church once today instead of the usual 5 times. yes, i do believe this is the best mother's day ever......

mother's day project

this year for mother's day i wanted to do something a little extra special for my daycare mom's. i've been doing this long enough to appreciate good mom's when i have them. they make my job so much easier. after some thought, i decided these might put a little smile on their face. the pictures don't really do them justice. in real life they are tons cuter. especially this first one because the green heart (made with hands of course) shows up a lot better and you can also see the green poking out here and there through the black. and of course if i were a little bit of a better photographer that wouldn't hurt either. without the flash too dark, with the flash there's a glare. maybe someday i'll figure out how to take better pictures ;)

and these are just about the cutest kids i know.

the java club

for the last 6 years, brendan has been fortunate enough to work with the g/t teacher at his school. i have a deep admiration and enormous gratitude for all the teachers that have worked with my kids. well except for bella's 1st grade teacher that was completely worthless but that's a different story. Anyway the g/t teacher is completely amazing. she is one of those teachers that i know brendan will look back later in life and remember her as a teacher that greatly influenced his academic career. she has taught him so many things over the years. and she is the teacher that he wants to please. her opinion means so much to him because he has so much respect for her. one of the things she does with her 5th grade students is "java club". she started it a few years ago. the kids work on a poetry unit and then she binds all the poems neatly in a cool binder and then the kids perform their work infront of their peers and parents. she transforms one of the corners of the library into a little coffee shop, complete with mood lighting, bongo drums and a coffee barista. it makes for a delightful morning (thanks to jami for watching lil's so that i could attend) each student reads a total of 4 poems. below i am posting my favorite and the brendan's favorite. he did such a good job!

MAP OF MAPS

maps

directions

places to be

it's something to point the way

an adventure behind every page

it's the space between spaces

relaxing but intimidating

always seen but yet unseen

nothing hides better

it's an unsolvable puzzle

no way in, no way out

always in, but never out

two exceptions pre-born and dead is someplace else

out where you wait for a portal

completely unveiled

you do or you don't

it never comes back

so be certain of your choice

to follow the path of all things

a map

CRAB

i am a crab

fear me!

my shield defends

fear me!

i grow to the size of a volleyball

fear me!

i pinch with my claws

fear me!

a guy in a hawaiian shirt comes

fear me!

AHH! no leave me alone

don't put me in there

fear me!

NOOOO