My favorite quote

"I just wanted to tell you that your kids are the ONLY reason I will have kids when I'm older..."
Helen. 7/24/09

Words to live by

If it is to be, it is up to me.

Field Day


The kids were divided up into teams. Each team was made of a few members of each class so every team would have a fair and fighting chance to win in some race or other. There were balloon tosses, relay races, team building dance competitions, and use a sponge to soak up water then pass it down the line and wring it out into a 2nd bucket to fill that bucket with water races...
Abby said I didn't want to know what was -in- the water...
And 3 legged races!


Jack was pretty upset after the balloon toss. His balloon burst on the first toss and he was out of the game. His spirits were pretty down until it came time for the 3 legged race. It's hard to stay in a bad mood when you are laughing.


Fighting for it.

I had picked up the boys from school and we were heading home to get ready for soccer practice when Jack told me he didn't want to go to practice. He was tired of playing defense. (He doesn't always play defense. He just plays defense more than he plays other positions.) "Defense is the worst position." I asked if he had talked to Coach about playing another position. Jack said that he told Coach he wants to play goalie. I pointed out to Jack that as far as I was aware, he had only said that to Coach one time and it was during a game. Jack got pretty upset about that. I told him that we would get to practice a little early so he could talk to Coach. Jack wasn't interested in talking to Coach. We talked a bit and I finally told him that Coach couldn't know that Jack wanted to do something else unless JACK spoke up. I said "If you want it Buddy, then go fight for it." I didn't think it would amount to anything and he didn't talk to Coach but Jack worked harder than I have ever seen him work at a practice. He ran and ran. He paid attention to when he was getting too close to his teammates and he pulled back to open himself up for a pass. He tried to stay either ahead of or behind the ball to help with passing and when he could he got right in the middle of a kick-the-ball-to-get-it-out-of-the-middle-of-these-guys fest when needed. It was pretty amazing to watch. He might not have said anything, but he was out there fighting for it.

I talked to Coach and let him know Jack's feelings and that I told him that if he wanted to play a different position that he would have to talk to Coach. Coach let me know that he would make sure to mix it up a bit more for Jack but that the reason Jack was on defense was because he listens to and follows instructions.

So here is young man fighting for it the game that weekend.


and here he is getting to play goalie in the 2nd half of the game.
He didn't let in a single goal!
(I know there isn't any action here, but I get to excited to take pictures when the pressure is on down there by the goal.)

A patch-work post

-How- have I not noticed this entire spring that my boys are the SAME NUMBER! The funny thing is that on Wyatt's team there are two #14s and two #11s. And for some odd reason they have named themselves the Super Spiders. (Like the boots?)
The 8 year old "Come over here, you. I want to cuddle you up and never let you go, little brother."
I LOVE these guys!


Wy has been working with a speech therapist this spring on his thrust. I do think it is not as pronounced as it was before he began. We are going to have him continue sessions over the summer. His therapist says he has made quite a lot of improvement.

The boys will be taking swim lessons this summer. Neither one of them is excited about this.
We are also going to see what we can participate in at the library so we can keep up our good reading skills over the summer. Jack has been tearing through the Wimpy Kid series and one of his classmates is going to lend him the first book in the Big Nate series. She said "He will like it. It's all about boys." Of course the word "boys" was said with as much exasperation as she could muster. That made me laugh.

The Big Fun Mother's Day Joke and Talent Show

The kids decided to put together a talent show on Mother's Day.
Jack and Devlyn thought they might try to write a song for the guitar.

Wyatt decided he would add a Joke section.
Here he is reviewing his set list.


Jack was the MC and introduced all the acts.

Devlyn opened the show with an originally composed piano piece. It was quite nice.
Connie was going to give us an original piece on the guitar but she succumbed to shyness.
SO, on we moved to the jokes. Wyatt called individuals up to tell them their personalized joke.

The jokes went something like this:
Wyatt: Do you know how many pets there are in the WORLD?
Gammie: 5,467,234?
Wyatt: CORRECT!
(I'm not sure where the joke was in there, but OK.)


You can't tell it in this picture but Wyatt is wearing Jack's boots. Wy says his are too tight. Jack's boots however are WAY too big.




We LOVE reading!

This little feller has finally come over to the dark side and looks forward to cuddling and reading at bedtime. This night he didn't even mind that we didn't head in with the boys. He and I hopped up on my bed for some quiet Stephen/Amy time. I think we read 3 books when I asked if he was ready to go to sleep. He just slid right off the bed and ran for his room.

Altar girl

We were waiting for Mass to start this past Sunday when one of the Altar servers came up and whispered to Abby. Before we know what was happening she was gone. The next time we saw her she was suited up and heading down the aisle. I had no idea she could do this! Way to pitch in in a pinch, young lady!

We sit in the back few rows at Church. This did not allow me to get a very good picture of our young lady so I slipped up front for a few quick shots. I am not sure if it irritated Fr. or not but he didn't call me out on it. Thank you, Father!

Bear Cub

JTO and his classmates have graduated to Bear Cubs! John says all this means is that JTO can now say "RAR" instead of "OW-OOO!" He also says the difference in being a Bear and a Wolf is that bears sleep a lot and they prefer fishing. (He is very helpful that husband of mine.)
Aren't my Scouts handsome.

A school musical

This year's musical was Guys and Dolls. Miss Abby was one of the dolls. Look at the smile on that face!



Learning to mix paint

We have been repainting a few of the rooms in the house. This has meant a lot of trips to the Depot to look at paint colors, pick samples, try them out, pick up more sample colors...
We took the entire gaggle of kids with us one Saturday morning. The nice paint mixing man asked the girlies to join him behind the counter to observe how the computers work to mix the paint. He was very kind and interactive letting the girls make the selections on the computer and get everything set up.


Reading

Little man has really started to enjoy reading: so much so that I often find him 'reading' to his own self - though he prefers a cozy lap and a cuddle. This is a Mickey Mouse book in his hands. His favorite book (Spiderman) is oddly the one discarded on the floor.

Communion and the school family

Because our school is made of 2 parishes the kids make their Communion with their parish and not specifically as a class. This is disappointing and confusing to some of the kids and so the school has taken to turning May Crowning into two celebrations. The 8th graders crown Mary and the 2nd graders celebrate their First Communion as a class - suits, dresses and all.
The 2nd graders form a reception line and greet everyone as they enter church.

John told me that nearly all of his Scouts gave him the Boy Scout handshake as he made his way down the aisle. He was pretty pleased by and proud of his boys.
They 2nd grade was responsible for the readings and petitions. Here is JTO reading the closing reflection.

And the whole class singing a song in honor of their First Communion.

Swinging and pushin

So I picked up the boys from school the other day and they asked if they could play on the playground.
I chatted with a few moms and then strolled over to the playground to check on these guys and here they were laughing and talking, swinging and pushing. What a beautiful day.



Birthday Girl

This one just turned 10. Look at that smile! My sister made the most delicious cake with strawberries in the center. I think this was my most favoritest cake she has ever made.

Problem Solving

Problem the First.
The descent.

The arrival.

Problem the Second.

Problem solving.

Problem Solved.