summer has arrived

It seems our summers are shorter and shorter every year.
And I don't just mean time flies by faster...
our actual break from school summer physically gets shorter and shorter.  We now get just two short months of summer.  (Down from three when we were kids.  Even down from three when SJ started her school career in St. Louis.)

So I really want to make the most of these summers.

Hence our brainstorm summer to-do list:

And a little extra special celebration today as they got off the bus for the last time, to welcome official SUMMER:

Savannah tried to break thru the banner carefully... she wanted to save it.

Sawyer got the job done though.

I feel like the past couple of months have been so chock-full of busyness, I wanted to do something special for the kids.  To celebrate getting through these last handful of chaotic weeks full of extra school winding down stuff along with baseball and/or softball pretty much every night and weekends.
Cuz we are done.  And I'm celebrating.  And indulging. :)

With a little bag of summer goodies for the kids (wrapped up in a new pool bag for me!). Digging through it they found some new pool toys, new goggles, a new summer outfit for each of them, some fun popsicle molds, a slingshot, some fun pens and stationery, kooky flyswatters, water balloons and silly string.

We are ready.
Bring on summer. :)

last days

Sawyer loved 1st grade.  A ton of it had to do with this fabulous lady here...

Last day of 1st grade! We love you Mrs. Ward!!

We're kind of sad to see this year end.  I mean, I'm ready to be done getting up early and packing lunches and checking homework and all that.  But the kids had a really great year in both of their classes with their friends and their teachers and it's a little bittersweet wrapping it up this year.  Especially for SJ who is now done with elementary school!!

They had an extra 4th grade send off of sorts, complete with a "diploma" that was a beautiful certificate for the completion of elementary school. 

Coen trying to stay awake for the celebration...

We are definitely ready for summer, but I still can't believe we're to the end of the school year already!!

mayday

Here is a picture of my calendar:

Here is a picture of the location of said calendar:

Which may or may not be entirely appropriate as we maneuver thru this month of Busy.

This cupboard may very well be empty come the end of May.  I'm thinking, more often than not, an evening drink to unwind will be very welcome at the end of the day. :)

Cannot wait for that magical date of 5/25... and an empty(er) calendar.

hello monday

Hello to another rainy morning (after two straight weekends of rain, rain, rain)
Hello to switching the furnace back on.
Hello to another ball game rained out tonight (that makes six out of the last seven.)(plus practices.)(I don't mind the rain, but I really do not want this season dragging on forever!!)
Hello playroom closed for cleaning (??).

Hello to crafting for sweet women today.

Hello banana bread and muffins smelling up my kitchen.
Hello dad working late so we might just have banana bread for dinner...  ;)
Hello teacher appreciation week.
And three field trips and a middle school tour.
And last piano lesson of the school year. 

And so begins the month of crazy May...

three, three, three

Coen's three months old today.  It's hard to believe he's been around here as long as he has been and how much he's changed in these almost three months.  He's a rockstar sleeper, he's a champion smiler, he's happy-go-lucky like I've never seen (and I've had pretty laid-back kids!), and we are just loving him up.

This guy is a scooter already.  When we go to get him up in the morning, he's a good foot or two north of where he started out in the crib the night before.  And that's while he's swaddled and in a sleep positioner all night!  When he's on the floor playing now, if I leave him alone for any amount of time, when I look back I find him in a completely different spot.  Under the playgym he just leaves the toys behind... he's outta there! 

He's got himself a little girlfriend over today... I'm helping out a fellow foster mommy who has a new baby that's too young to go to daycare, so baby's hanging out with us for a few days the next couple of weeks.  She's just three weeks old and is just too precious!  So far our day has been way better than I anticipated... I made Ryan hang around a bit this morning (he usually leaves before any of us even get up) so I didn't have to juggle two babies and try to get two kids off to school bright and early, but the two tiny ones have even been super kind to me the rest of the day... even coordinating naps so that I've had a couple hours of two sleeping babes today.  Sweet!

seriously, how can april already be over???

Here we are again, another month gone by. 
Really, wasn't it just the New Year???

A dozen things looking back at April...

1) What I was reading:
brushing up on my Babywise and BabyWhisperer books...
2) Top three songs I was drawn to:
P!nk's Just Give Me a Reason,
trying out some of the new Justin Timberlake,
and love when I stumble on Macklemore's Thrift Shop (love that song, makes me want to roll down the windows and turn it up, great fun summer song, love the lyrics, right up my alley -thrift shopping!!-... just wish it was minus the, ahem, more colorful language... it'd be a great song to listen to with the kiddos. ;)
3) Movies I saw:
Django Unchained
4) Favorite TV moments of the month:
hooked on the new Bates Motel
5) Something I made:
does planting a flowerbed count?
6) Restaurants where I ate:
Chick-fil-A (what's new?), Red Robin
7) Something I am thankful for:
a baby who sleeps all through the night :) (guess my abovementioned reading payed off!)
8) A goal I had for this month:
lose some weight
9) I started the month looking forward to:
birthday celebrations
10) A disappointment this month:
not winning the lottery
11)Something that really made me smile:
baby smiles
12) Something I really want to remember about this month:
Sawyer's winning runs in baseball, with his teacher there to watch, and really, both kids' having such fun playing ball this year. :)

teamwork

I just have to say that we have been blessed with the absolute best teachers I could have wished for in our three (three?!) school years here so far.  Each of the teachers we have known personally have been strong Christians whom I have known pray diligently for our kids and their classrooms.
The teachers in our school as a whole are a great community and make a fabulous team; they strike such a wonderful balance with really, truly partnering with involved parents to educate these kids and prompt them to flourish in life, while also doing their best (and an impressive) job of filling in the gaps where there might not be so much parent involvement.
Our teachers have very much been our kids' friends; not in a peer-friends type way, but in being that adult, leader, respected authority figure while also getting down on their level and getting to know and care about them personally to come along side these kids to truly reach them and teach them.  I honestly feel like our teachers know our kids and care about not only their education, but about so many little details that make up their little lives.  I consider most of them real friends of ours and I'm am beyond thankful that we ended up in this school and that we have been blessed with the opportunity to have these influences in our children's lives.
I consider it a privilege to have them on "our team".
(this also includes SJ's awesome piano teacher who was formerly the music teacher at our school) :)


With all that being said, it may come as no surprise that Sawyer's teacher came to his baseball game last night to cheer him on. He was beyond thrilled.

Sawyer made an awesome out that he was super proud of, and the best part was that he had the last and winning hit of the night; a double to bring in the two final runs to come from behind and win the game!! 
To top it off, he was presented with the Game Ball in the after-game huddle...

Love this little baseball guy and I'm thankful for the team surrounding him...
both on and off the baseball field. :)

earth day

Brought home a little Earth Day cheer from the grocery store...

Our elementary school decorates paper bags for our local Kroger in celebration of Earth Day each year... so fun to see their interpretations of Earth Day "slogans" and messages. ;)  You have the typical, "give a hoot, don't pollute" and recycle and take care of the earth type stuff... one of them has a picture of the earth in a hospital bed... and one is preaching "cut down on using boats!" (?)

I luckily happened into the register line that must have had a group of Sawyer's class's bags because I took home two of his good friends' artwork and also one of Sawyer's himself!  That was a nice surprise. :)
Don't be a Trash Monster....

and this girl's party

One of Savannah's very favorite things about any trip or vacation are always the accommodations...
whether it's a vacation home or a condo or a hotel room or even a tent, she gets a kick out of staying somewhere new, somewhere out of the ordinary, somewhere special. Loves. It.

So while we were coming up blank on a birthday party "theme" that caught her fancy her the past few months, she quietly suggested just getting a hotel room with a few friends and calling it good.  Remembering how thrilled she was with our just-for-fun Mom/Daughter night at a hotel a couple of months back, I obliged.  After all, you only turn TEN once. ;)

I have to admit I was a little disappointed... I have kind of decided my days of throwing themed and detailed parties for the kids ends when they turn ten.  After that I figure we can do something fun with a friend or two (movie out or sleepover, etc.) to celebrate simply each year, with maybe a bigger shindig at some milestones like 15 or 16 or something.  We'll see.  I may not be able to resist.  If you know me, you know I find party planning a little addicting.
But so I was gearing up for this one to be one of the last for Savannah... and I was kind of bummed when she didn't like any of my ideas and there wasn't much for me to plan or execute here with a hotel stay.  I played around with a hotel or spa theme for awhile, but gave up.  I'm no good at putting together hotel scavenger hunts or pulling off spa treatments in our bathroom.  So simple hotel party it was! And it was fun...
With a Kit-Kat candy cake...
This girl loves her some Kit-Kats... so I "frosted" her cake with Kit-Kats and m&m's.  And lollipops for a topper to make a 10! :)

Savannah invited three of her closest girl friends...
(and Ryan, Sawyer and Coen briefly stopped in, since they were almost literally across the street at another birthday party that evening)
(Savannah was not thrilled to have the boys crash her party, even if it was only for 10 minutes!)

And after the boys left, we had a perfectly girly night at a local hotel.
We decorated flip-flops to wear down to the pool...

They did lots of swimming...

And spent about three hours painting nails and applying press-on tattoos, while snacking on candy and popcorn...

Before I made them go to bed at midnight...

 And then they were up bright and early (at 6:30am!) for more giggling girlie fun...

in our room

 

 and at the breakfast buffet

and of course riding up and down the elevators. :)

It was a really fun night. Even if we were way low on sleep. ;)
It was fun to hang out with Savannah's friends, really fun to be "fancy" in a hotel, and super fun to celebrate this awesome ten year old!

this girl

Ten Years Old.

Ten Years Old.

Ten Years Old.
Ten Years Old.
Ten Years Old.
Ten Years Old.

Ten Years Old.
That's all I have to say about that.