This Memorial Weekend

This Memorial Weekend 2011 not only did we think about those that have fought for our freedom but we also

enjoyed the opening of the country club pool! My kids loved it so much last year that we were excited for it to open up again this year. They have a ton of friends out there (Mommy too) and it is so convenient to our house.

We made a quick trip to Target to buy Miss Independent a puddle jumper. She wants to swim solo, but she is not quite ready yet. So, we bought this for her and it is wonderful!

We enjoyed a wonderful evening at our friends' house with some other friends. The kids played while the adults chatted and it was relaxing and wonderful! Their Barbie jeep was a hit with Dave!! Their home and land are so pretty and it was a great evening!

We giggled at our girl who is obsessed with her sunglasses!

We enjoyed time with friends in their playhouse.

We fell in love with a sweet pooch named Honey at our friends house. They recently got a new dog and EVERYONE (but Mike) fell in love with this sweet dog. Kyle (who is usually timid around dogs) fell in love and is now asking for a poodle!

We enjoyed watching our girl play with other sweet girls her age.

played a little golf. Mike surprised Kyle with an outing to play golf one morning. Kyle was so excited that he got up at 6 a.m. ready to go with his Daddy. He even asked me to take their picture before they left.

We dressed up to go sing about Jesus. While the big boys played golf, I took our two youngest to early church. These two together melt my heart.

We even dressed up in our red, white, and blue and headed downtown to watch our awesome Memorial day parade. Hope and David loved the parade. Kyle was not excited to go when he found out that they do not give out candy at this one. Sigh-he is getting too big too quickly for me!

We wore matching Red Sox shirts!! We took a family trip to Salem to watch the Salem Red Sox play. The kids had a blast and Hope especially enjoyed the face painting!! The boys love going to watch those games, but this was my first time.

We got a cute and random group picture in the yard.

We perfected our piggy tails. Hope's hair has really gotten long lately and we have been experimenting with different hair styles to keep it out of her face for the summer. My Mom did these piggy tails-I love it!

We pulled out the life jackets and put them on! We left town right after school Friday to head to Claytor Lake to be with my family for the evening. It was a little chilly but Kyle was determined to tube!

We enjoyed watching this little girl ride the boat! She rode last year a few times but was not super thrilled with it . What a difference a year makes because this year she loved it! Here she is helping me spot Kyle on the tube.

We rode Pops' boat and no one enjoys it more than this one! He loves to co-pilot with Pops.

Kyle was the only brave tube rider, but he was sooooo happy to be back on that tube again. Pure joy on this boys' face!

We played ball with cousins and had a blast with them at the lake.

We rode golf carts with cousins!

After the intensity of the last two weeks, we really enjoyed this holiday weekend to blow off some steam and HAVE FUN! We crammed almost every moment full of fun, family, and friends and it was truly a wonderful holiday weekend. The weather was perfect, we enjoyed time with friends, snuck in a family cookout, and just enjoyed the time with family.

My Girl

Today was our last real day of preschool. We polled each child regarding their favorite thing from preschool and we worked it all in in one day! Whew-it was fun but busy:)

Several of the children enjoyed pajama day so we got to wear pajamas and here is Miss Hope in her Minnie mouse jammies:)

This picture reminds me that I no longer have a baby-here is my girl coloring with the other girls at the art table.
Pure joy on my girl's face. One of their favorite things to do is to pull out the instruments and sing and dance with them. Here is my girl shaking her sillies out with her instrument.

Today we even pulled out the puppet theatre and let them enjoy that. This is really a precious group of kids. I will miss them so much:)

Pudding painting was super popular so we did that one last time too! I goofed and bought cook and serve pudding and thankfully a wonderful Mom rescued me and brought us instant pudding to paint with.

This one definitely does not mind getting messy! My ten weeks with these babes has flown by so fast. I am so happy to be teaching again but I am even more thrilled to see how the preschool environment has helped Hope come out of her shell some. She loves being there with her friends. It is almost time to pack away and crayons and scissors and pull out the sunscreen and water toys-SUMMER is almost here!!!

Stuff Full

This weekend was stuffed full with fun. The weather was beautiful and picture perfect and we just had fun with family and of course ball games. Both boys had home games this weekend so it worked out great for my parents to come catch both boys in action on the same field.

In between games we went to a playground and my Mom brought a picnic lunch. It was super good and way better than a hot dog at the field. Hope obviously was enjoying her lunch:)

These two playmates have such fun together and here is David encouraging Hope down this big slide.

At the playground she got so dirty that we actually had to have a quick bath at home before Kyle's game. She picked out her Hokie dress:)

Here is my big boy batting. He got to pitch Saturday and did great!! He got 10 strike outs and had two good hits. He says that his Pops is his lucky charm because the last two games that Pops has made it to he has done well:)

Waiting to steal a base:)

Should I stay or should I go???

Earlier in the day I had quickly visited my friend Tracey's yard sale. She sold me this roller coaster for Hope but as you can see, the boys LOVED it! Kyle way exceeds the weight limit but he just had to give it a go a few times.

Look at those long legs dangling:) This was one of those weekends that we spent way more time outside then in. I love it! Bring it on summer-we are ready.

This picture cracks me up because David too loved the roller coaster and moved it to the steepest hill in our yard.

Sunday morning we miraculously got ready for church a few minutes early so I pulled out my camera to start clicking! Here is handsome Dave in his shirt and tie:)

These two love each other so much!

My sweet girl is growing up so fast but here is a closeup of her sweet face and all her curls. We have to pulled it back out of her face because her curls are getting wilder by the day. Praise God for detangler!

Somehow I got a group shot with them all looking forward and actually smiling!! This is so rare:) This is pretty much how they go to church each Sunday. Kyle in a sports golf shirt and shorts, Dave all decked out "like Daddy" and Hope in one of her many sweet dresses.

After church it was so hot and sunny that we pulled out the sprinkler and moon bounce. The kids loving doing water stuff and the moon bounce is always a big hit.

I love this angel face with all his missing teeth and freckles.

Sweet girl does not mind in the least mixing it up with her brothers. We do have a new rule that Kyle and Hope cannot jump together in the moon bounce. He is so big and she is still so tiny that he bounced her out today. Whew-that one scared me! All is well and she hopped up giggling.

This week is crazy for us. Kyle has two more SOL tests, I am finishing up preschool this week with out program Thursday night and picnic Friday and Mike has to go out of town one day this week. We will survive it I know but we will all be ready for a holiday weekend next weekend.

The Little Engine That Could

We are counting down the days until the last day of school. The pressure is on and this Momma is feeling it. Kyle starts his state SOL tests tomorrow-he has reading tomorrow morning, Science on Friday, and History and Math next week. We have prepped, studied, laid out his comfy clothes, and all we can do now is pray. This entire school district has worked so hard to prepare these children to succeed.

This time of year is always so crazy. I know every other Momma feels it to-every calendar night is full of ball games and other school activities. The pace is frantic and crazy but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are working on David's science fair project tonight which is due Thursday. Thankfully it has rained this week so some of the ball games have been canceled.

I am so shocked how sad I am about preschool ending next week. Hope and I will miss these kiddos so much. I feel like I have just gotten to know each of their little unique personalities but I must send them on. It will all work out because the roster for next year is full and I have all summer to prepare for a new crop of preschoolers. I love my job.

Mike is busy as a bee too attending a bazillion school events around the county. Add a few of the boys ball games to the mix and it is crazy around here. His summer is just as busy as the school year but there are some exciting things going on in our county. He hates when I talk about him on here, but he really is good at what he does and he cares about all the kids in our county.

Next week Hope and I will be done at preschool. It is going to be so weird when I shed a tear over a group of kids I have barely had 10 weeks, but they really are a special group of kids and families. They have accepted me and my little curly-haired sidekick and we have all had a lot of fun. I keep meaning to take pictures of my preschool room to post on the blog because it truly is the best classroom ever. It is huge with lots of windows and more supplies than I could ever use.

So for now we are holding on for dear life to make it through the next four weeks. I feel like the Little Engine that Could saying "I think I can..I think I can..I think I can." To help this maxed out Momma stay sane, I just keep picturing our fun days at the pool with our friends. It is really going to be a fun summer. Hope is at a PRECIOUS and funny age. We have big and small plans for fun this summer and this Momma is READY!!!

Week in Review

I have truly not been a lazy blogger, but when I have tried to blog this week blogger (the service that I use for this blog) was having major issues, so I decided to wait until the weekend and do one huge post.

My girl is loving preschool. When I tell her and David to come brush their teeth she wants to be the "wine weader" (line leader) and tells him to "wine up!" I love it so much! So on an "off preschool" day we met some friends at the lake to play. This little one had a ball!

There is not a playground she does not love:) I remember being soooo worried about how she would do at preschool-what a joke!! She loves every minute of being there and for that I am thankful. I am a blessed woman that has a job I LOVE where I can take my girl and she LOVES it too. It just breaks my heart how well she fits in because that is a reminder to me that we no longer have a little baby. Her second birthday is fast approaching and the princess party stuff is taking over!

Speaking of princesses, my sweet relative made Hope these pillowcase dresses. I got to pick out the fabric and she made them for us. Hope's favorite is the Tinkerbell one but she has already worn them all. I could do a whole blog post on how awesome pillowcase dresses are. Thank you Mary Jane for sharing your talents with us!

Straight from the bathtub posing in her Hokie dress!!

"Cheese mommy!"

Saturday morning David had a Tball game and then Kyle had a soccer game. Mike went with Dave and I took Kyle.

My eldest loves soccer for sure!

This scares me to death but he loves to hit that ball with his head?!

After the soccer fun we then squeezed in his 4:00 baseball game-whew it was certainly a full day! I love sports for many reasons, but one of the big reasons we love sports is the family atmosphere at the game. Here are Hope and David playing with other siblings under Bridget's tent that she so graciously let us use! Kyle and his team lost in a heartbreaker, but in the losses there are good lessons to learn too.

This afternoon I got to leave my babes behind with Miss Ashley (God bless you Ashley) and I went to church to help my women's circle prepare for a baby shower that we were hosting for a girl in our circle. Here is the gift we got them as a circle and I just loved this new and improved pack & play! Too cute!

As we were decorating Suzanne felt the tables looked blah so ten minutes before the shower started she clipped these from the church's garden and dug these candles out of the bathroom-Viola! Watch out Martha Stewart!!!

The happy couple anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Isaiah. This was the first baby shower that I have been to in a while and it brought back so many wonderful memories. I remember being this couple almost ten years ago just on the cusp on parenthood with Kyle and then remembering that just two years ago I was the one opening the baby presents. Time certainly marches on and though I LOVED and ADORED the infant years, I am so thankful we are past that. God gives you good wisdom like that:)

After all the fun of the weekend we even added to the craziness by hosting a 3rd grade SOL review party! Kyle and his classmates take their big state tests over the next two weeks so we thought it would be fun to call some friends over to study together. We played games to review and then had root beer and ice cream sundaes.

Here are a few of the sweet girls making their sundaes. I love having my kids friends over-I love the energy, the noise, and I certainly learn fun facts!! Ha! I love it when our house is the gathering house. Earlier in the day I was kind of stressing about how to get lunch cooked after church, my taco dip made for the shower, and cleaning for tonight when it hit me that in ten years Kyle will remember the fun he had and not if all the laundry was put away when his friends came over. I must have pulled it of okay because several Moms commented how neat my house was!!:)

This is one of those weekends where I loved every minute of our crazy life. I am worn out already, but I really had fun cheering my kiddos on in their games and just enjoying the great friends that God has put into all of our lives. I am a sleepy by happy Momma.