Memorial Day

Well Eric had to work today so we didn't do much. It turns out swim team starts tomorrow. It's a good thing I called. I made 15 pints of Strawberry jam today. The kids just puttered around. Tootie fell asleep sitting up and her head just fell in her lap. She didn't wake up even when Sophi was harrassing her.

Tonight I went for my run. I'm up to 5 miles 3-4 times a week. And tonight I had to run thru blood running down my feet from my blisters. But I made it!

I spent 3 hours watering all my flowers since the noon news said NO rain today. Just as I finished within 15 minutes the sky grew dark and it poured rain for 2 hours. No kidding!

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, Eric and the kids and I went to Mom and Dad's for the weekend. We left Saturday morning and stopped for burgers and shakes in Bellmore at the local dive...YUMMO. Then we swam, swam, and played Badmitton. It was a blast. Tootie was hard to get out of the pool. She just floated, floated and floated until we pulled her out at 9pm Indiana time. She fell asleep once or twice in her floaty.

Dad had out both the 706 tractor and the mowing tractor with the bush hog. So both kids had to ride the tractors multiple times, even in their suits and floaties

Then we had Monical Pizza (the best pizza in the world, so says me, Nic, Mom, and Mamma). It wasss so good, especially with the red dipping sauce.

J got addicted to Badmitton and even convinced Prego Aunt Nichole to play. I think we wore her out, too. She was passed out on the couch. Then, the boys got up this morning and went down to Craig's and laid hard wood floor with no AC....oooooh 90 degree weather. LOL! Mom, and the kids and I swam then went to Gig's for awhile and went to the cemetary and came back and looked at her gorgeous yard.

Then we swam some more and J and I went to pick strawberries at the local patch. I love small towns. Pam was out of town so I called her and she said just pick until your heart is content and drop the money at the newspaper office. Her patch is a total honor system. I love it!

J says to me "Mom, you said picking strawberries is fun, this is so NOT fun". So he finished watching a movie in the truck while I picked them. So I told him, no strawberry jam. Ha Ha!

Then we stopped by Mamma's and visited this evening. And headed home. (But not without stopping for our shakes, though):)

The Infamous bead

So the kids were in bed tonight and J starts screaming and crying that Tootie stuck a bead up his nose. Her bracelet broke yesterday and so he said she stuck a bead up there and he could feel it way up by his eye. So we had him blow his nose while we closed one side off and couldn't get it. I have seen MANY cases like this where scar tissue grows over it in the sinus area and it causes problems later. So Eric and I were deciding who was going to take him to the emergency room to remove it. Luckily he was crying even harder because he thought the doctor was going to cut his nose off and sew it back on. He leaned over and it fell out. So they both got a couple of spankings and then J tells us that it wasn't really Tootie that he did it himself and blamed her. So Eric had to apologize to Toots for the wrongful spankings :(

Hayden and Tootie chasing a butterfly

Fun at Brandi's

We had a playdate over at Brandi's today. And got to see baby Ella who is now 7 weeks old. J and Soph had a blast in the Jeep and Tootie and Hayden had fun on the swings and slide and definately the trampoline. If I didn't hear "I wish we had that about a 1000 times" and 3 crying kids who didn't want to go home.

Banana Split Party

I had a custom banana split party for J for celebration afterward.

J's Grand Graduation Entrance

J gets his diploma

McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut

This Is The Day

This is my favorite

This one made me cry.

My baby graduates from preschool

J graduated from preschool tonight. MY BABY!! It seriously seems just like yesterday, I had him. The only time I teared up tonight was when he sang the "I am Special, God made me" song. It was pure chaos when we got there. All the kids just ran in circles while the parents sat on the bleachers. Even Tootie joined in the fun.

And yes, you will notice that Tootie had her plastic purple dress up shoes on. This was a battle I was not willing to fight for.

Jackson was all tucked in and after the rambuxiousness, he was untucked. You will notice in the video that I am trying to motion him to tuck in from the bleachers and he does and "Erkle" and hikes his pants to his chest. I never will forget it.

These are the days that I am so thankful that I have the time that I do with my kids. I knew his favorite song tonight because we practiced, I knew the song he didn't want to sing, and I practiced all his prayers. Tonight while standing there, he looked up at me and winked and when his favorite song came on, he looked at me to help him with his pants, and he gave me the "boo" face when "This is the Day" was being sang. I knew what he was thinking and he looked for my reaction. It was priceless and I will never forget these times and will always be thankful at how close I am to all 3 of my kids.

P.S. Eric did the photography and videotaping since Sophi won't let anyone hold her but me.

Jackson's Shark Slip N Slide

Eric brought home a graduation present for J last night. It was a slip n slide with a shark in the middle. J thought this was the most awesome thing he had ever seen. Tootie said she wasn't going to ride on it because it would eat her. LOL!!! She changed her mind once it was set up.

So they couldn't hardly wait to get that baby up today. I told them they had to wait until I got all my groceries put away. You would have thought they were dying. Then I had to blow that whole thing up, thanks Eric. Ha! J did help a little. It took me quite some time and then I couldn't get water to come out of the thing. J swore it was broken. Then I flipped it over and it worked fine. Stupid directions.

Popsicle Day

Well, today we had a group of realtors come and look at the house for feedback so I took the kids to the park in the morning. We took a picnic and then I let the kids play for a couple of hours and boy was it hot. The girls wouldn't keep their shoes on and Tootie wore a long sleeve shirt and pants (which was probably good since she burns so bad). I did hear other mom's telling kids to put their shoes on since they were in mulch. Oh well, my kids were dirty BUT happy! So after a hot day, we stopped for popsicles at the DQ. Sophi had a red star and the red totally dripped down and stained her carseat straps. Thank goodness she's the last baby! LOL! We'll just pitch it when we're done in a couple of months.

We came home and headed to swim lessons.

J graduates from preschool tomorrow so we have graduation practice at 8:30, which is SUPER early for us!

Eric's little washers

It was so hot. I even put my suit on and J, C, and I had a water gun war. It was SO much fun. Poor Eric was cleaning out the gutters LOL! He wasn't into the whole wet thing anyway. I refuse to turn on the air until it's close to bedtime so the kids sleep well. So it was 85-86 in the house all day. When it was time to cool off and take a bath, Eric offered to watch the kids while I cleaned up first. This is what he had them do!

I cleaned all day today. We have a walk thru of the house for a bunch of realtors tomorrow.

I wish you all could see Soph dance. I have to get that on video. She starts by shaking her head side to side while she is crawling, then she stops gets up on her knees and does the "raising the house" with her hands while squealing. It is such a riot.

J and Soph bolting through the sprinkler

Soph climbed into the dump truck, which tells J she wants a ride and she directed it towards the sprinkler. So J pushed her through the sprinkler and they had a BLAST