End of School

Marcella's school had a bunch of fun activities during the last week of school. One activity was to decorate a wagon and be in a book parade. Marcella was super excited about it and so here is Marcella and her float.

Can you guess which book? We sure had a lot of help making this. Ashley, Cyndi and Heather thanks for the fun late nights. You gals are awesome! 

You had to pick a book you have read and to be honest I wondered what Marcella would remember about the Hobbit since Jon had read it to her last year and I wasn't quite sure if she even knew what was going on.  In the end she surprised me a couple times, by reminding me to add certain details about the book that I had even forgotten about. 

The best part? Eating it when we were done. I was amazed at how easy marshmallow fondant is to make. Yummy!

Marcella on the last day of school.  They put on a little program.  I am not sure which was more fun to watch, Marcella or Claire, because Marcella had taught Claire all the songs and actions so she was in heaven while sitting in the audience singing right along with them. 

Marcella and Mrs. Wright. We sure loved Marcella's kindergarten teacher this year. Marcella had so much fun and LOVES school. In fact if you ask what she is most excited about this summer... "Well when school starts again!"  She is excited to go to school all day and eat lunch at school! I just can't believe she is going into 1st grade!

Mother's Day

 
Over the past few years I have come to learn that if you want something to be amazing and a certain way then you just have to tell the one who is in charge of making it happen. Since I have started spelling everything out and maybe even "planning" my own special days, they have been exactly what I wanted them to be and more. So on to Mother's Day 2012. 

 (Well after you enjoy this incredibly cute picture of little Claire.)

Let me back up just a little and show you this picture of how lovely our garden looked the end of April.  

 Yea, I know. Lovely isn't it?

So lovely I just had to show you another.

and last, but not least, one other spot in our yard.

This lucky fella happened to have a ONE week break before I lost him to Purdue again for a grueling summer filled with lots of studying and exams.  I saw my window of opportunity and I grabbed it. My Mother's day gift consisted of turning our "lovely" garden into a "wow I really like that garden", garden. (not to be confused with the "wow I wish I had that back yard and that garden" kind of garden, of which I plan on trying to accomplish next year. Ha, if only we were no longer students!)

 

So with a little bit of help from these hard workers and...

this fabulous working station. (added this picture just for you Caroline. I knew you would love the "folding chair" I mean cutting table on the right)

and he changed this lovely garden into this...

Then jumping ahead to today, since really we just didn't take any more pictures after all the boxes were in, here is what it looks like today.

Small disclaimer: Indiana is in a drought. It is kind of crazy, but no one here waters their lawn. So as you can see when we got back from Utah we had dormant grass. Crossing our fingers that it rains a lot in July.

Thanks for all the hard work. This present just keeps on giving...umm anyone want zucchini? I am seriously amazed at how big our carrots have gotten. They are so yummy! Our cherry tomatoes have grown out of control and I can't wait for all the green fruit to turn red. Remember last year yep the bunny is back and driving us crazy. Dang bunny!

Ten

I will start with the typical saying...10 years! Seriously where has the time gone. It doesn't seem like 10 years ago, it seems like yesterday that we took the plunge. Boy has it been one crazy ride. Here is to 10 more! Love you!

May

Has brought many wonderful things so far. Warm weather, when one day we are setting up the pool and the next we are putting on jackets, but it has been perfect. The most amazing thing, it cools down at night. Last night when I actually started to freeze because the windows were open I thought in a couple months I am going to be dreaming for this weather to come back!

 The first week of May I finished a quilt for some friends that were getting married and since I had a deadline, the whole house was left unattended and this is what happened while I finished this:

Marcella got put on dinner duty. Since both parents were missing in action...(Jon upstairs working on his Finals and I on the couch quilting) She makes some killer popcorn, Yum!

Claire had something else in mind... any guesses? 

This would have to be one of the times in my life I just rolled with the punches.

I walked into the other room and saw this, and right before I FREAKED Out, I thought well, it isn't that big of a deal is it? I am worried the amazingly wet wet sand will ruin the carpet, so how about we just get a table cloth and let her go at it. At least I will know what she is doing.

When asked, "Claire, what are you doing?"

She replied, "Sand inside, YAY!! FUN!" as she is clapping and cheering.

And...I did it, I ran another half marathon. I did a trail run this time and fell once so I got a little muddy and my brand new shoes... not so pretty any more, but it felt good to finish. Thank yous to my little support team, running with me and cheering me along the way. You guys are the best!

Wow!

2 months since my last post. I bet you all were wondering if I had fallen off the planet. Well, nope I haven't. We have just been a little busy around here. So let me recap everything that has been going on to see if I can pick up where I left off. From the last picture you would expect that Claire would be potty trained. Yea, nope no cigar. She loves to go in her diaper and then go sit on the potty. My only hope is that at least she realizes she has gone... slow progress and I am counting the small miracles. So without further ado here is March in a nut shell.

Grandpa came to visit! Everyone was so excited to have him come. Marcella taught him how to play Castle Crashers and my favorite part was listening to this dialogue. 

Marcella: Grandpa you don't have to keep pushing those buttons.

Grandpa: Well I am trying to get back up. which buttons do I press?

Marcella: no, Grandpa, you are dead! 

We had loads of fun playing at the park, eating yummy food and talking family history. 

This guy was on Spring break so it was fabulous to have him home to spend time with us and Grandpa. 

I on the other hand left half way through and wen to meet my new soon to be sister in-law and hang out with this handsome fella. (oh I wish I could hug you right now!)

Funny that these are the only pictures I have. I really need to take more pictures!

 I flew home with my parents and the next day Jon and I left for the 4C's conference in St. Louis, MO. Can I just say that was the coolest city I have been to in a while. Seriously everything was free or practically free.  We stayed in this sweet Bed and Breakfast which was right next to this sweet quaint park that I could go running at. We also had some amazing ice cream, fabulous pizza (which later we found out it is because they use provolone cheese instead of mozzarella, so it is super creamy when it is melted. It was yummy.) had a fabulous dinner at a fancy restaurant, and just enjoyed not having kids for 4 days. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

Yes enjoyed it so much that we even went to the zoo without kids. So random, but super fun and Free! I think our next vacation with the kids will be back to St. Louis. 

(a few more pictures for your enjoyment.)

We ended the month hanging out with my parents for a few days after we got back from St. Louis and yes this was the ONLY picture I took. Marcella was so excited to give grandma a pedicure and manicure. She had a blast.  Thank you so much for coming and please come again soon!

The love of a sister

is doing small things to help accomplish the big things.
                                                                    <3 you! 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Last year, I remember being reminded that it was Dr. Seuss' birthday and quickly planned a fun dinner menu of Green eggs and Ham. (which seriously was hard for me to even eat green eggs and I was the one who dyed them. I knew they were safe....still.) Well now that Marcella is in kindergarten I had fair warning about his birthday and went back and forth on if we were going to do any kind of celebrating. On Wed. Heather kindly informed me that Marcella told her that "We give presents on Dr. Seuss' birthday!" Say what?! seriously? I think she was just trying to pull a fast one over me. So at dinner that night I said Marcella why did you tell Heather we give presents on Dr. Seuss' birthday? Jon kindly piped in "well we did last year." Wow, I must have been out in left field picking daisy's when all of this gift giving took place, because I have NO recollection of any gift giving. Well I felt the need to step it up just a tad and actually come up with a plan, because I was not eating dyed eggs again this year. So I give you our day of Celebrating Dr Seuss.

First up Breakfast:

Seussical Pancakes (or add food coloring to your batter and magic!)

 

 Lunch: 

 Cat in the Hat Skewers (bananas and strawberries)

 Grinich Spinach: Kale Chips (which were a bit hit with Marcella. whonu!)

 Fish: Gold fish Crackers (to go with one fish two fish et.)

 Cubed Ham and Cheese

 For Dessert: Cat in the hat Oreo hats and green eggs and ham (sorry no pictures, but you can see what they looked like here.) 

Guests: Wilson's and Hartwell's. I watched the boys while Heather went on Lori's field trip that day. They had a lot of fun helping me get the treats ready for Lunch.  I wish I would have taken pictures. Dang.

Girlies on one side and

 Boys on the other.

After lunch we made Oobleck. So so fun. I am not sure if the kids had more fun playing with it or if I did. It is just one of those things that your brain can't figure out. Why is it hard one minute and then dripping off your fingers the next? Loved it.

Yes Claire even loved tasting it. Good thing it is just corn starch and water.

Next up reading by Deidra while we cleaned up our kitchen. I also spaced that we made these cookies. side note: they did not turn out anything like that, but they were delicious!

 By the time dinner rolled around I was tired! So some of the things I had planned on doing got crossed out.  All in all here is the menu I was planning:

Dinner: 

Poodles of Noodles: pasta salad

Thing 1 and Thing 2 BBQ: pulled pork sandwiches

Diffendoor Salad: Fruit Salad

Yot in a Pot: Baked Beans

Schlotts Knotts: rolls

Green Eggs: deviled eggs (these not so bad)

Pink Ink: Raspberry Lemonade

Next up: Presents! 

Documented so next year I will remember they:

Each got a Dr. Seuss book. I Highly recommend the MY Book about Me. Marcella has loved it and it asks so many questions that I never would have thought to document. for example: My house has ____ windows and there are ____ forks in my house. Marcella filled out most of it that night and I have had a few laughs reading what she has written. Did you know she can stand on her hands for 1 sec. Her longest walk was 10 miles? She has swam 5 miles and 10 feet? Her longest hair is no inches! WOW, I am learning new things everyday.   They also got a Dr. Seuss memory game.

No Birthday would be complete without some cake! 

Question: What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

Mine: What was I scared of?