Ellie's Preschool Graduation

Okay, so when Michelle, Ellie's teacher handed me a little invite to her preschool graduation, I said, "Oh, corny!" I mean, really? Is this necessary? And another mom was standing next me, and she starts oooing and gooing about it. We just all had a good laugh at how non-gooey I am. Some of the mom's are talking about how sad it is that their child will be starting Kindergarten in the and I'm like, "Praise God! Get this girl out of my hair!" All thought with love, of course! Ellie is one of those children that as soon as she started crawling at 9 months, she's had me on my toes ever since! I even gave Michelle a "thank you for putting up with Ellie" gift before we left the last day.

But I have to admit - I was pleasantly surprised at how cute the graduation was. Tony and Jana came up - and Ellie was excited to have us all there to watch the event. They sang some of their favorite songs, that had actions, of course. Funny stuff. And they also read their favorite book - Bark, George - which was very fun. The best part was when Michelle called each child up to get their diploma and had them answer the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Some good ones were: tooth fairy, mail deliverer, a mom. Maybe I'll think of some others.

The video below shows Ellie saying she wants to be a ballerina. Too bad I don't have her enrolled in any dance classes. Hmmmm.... I think I'm killing that dream.

Amelia's First Birthday

Lil' Miss had the big #1 birthday right before Memorial Day weekend. We had a party for her, Billy & my sister who also celebrated birthdays the 19th and 20th. It was a pretty low-key party, since many family and friends were out of town for the holiday weekend. But we enjoyed cake in the face and some presents to open. The video is what her cake ended up looking like. She was pretty delicate with it. And you can hear my sister tickling her feet.

She isn't walking yet. Taking steps here and there, but not brave or steady enough for a full walking excursion. I hope it comes soon, as it'll be better for backyard time this summer.

For the most part she's a pretty good kid. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and tends to be e bit of a wimp. A stern "No!" from Billy or I will get a very big reaction - like her world has ended. Also, if she takes a little tumble, you'd think her arm was taken off! We are working on transitioning to one big nap in the afternoon - which she is doing okay. She needs about 3 hrs of sleep during the day - and is struggling to do that. Hopefully we'll get it worked out this summer.

A Wet Goose

Billy took this photo of Goose just out of the bath - three more days until the birthday....

T-Ball

Ellie is old enough to play T-ball this year. Her first couple of games had to be rescheduled because of rain, but we finally had a nice day on May 10th. I think they only had one practice prior to it. And oh, boy, did it show!

Here is her first at-bat - and she hit the ball the first time. Wahoo! What you won't see on the video is her playing in the dirt during her turn playing short-stop. And then her wandering aimlessly around first base when the ball was being thrown to her during anther inning. 5 & 6 years old girls playing ball is pretty funny.

Dandelions

Squatting, Crawling, Picking, Exploring, Tasting, Tossing!

Amelia loves exploring all the textures around the yard. It's a new discovery every move she makes. Here is a little dandelion exploration series.

Spring Photos

Kissy Face


My Ellie


Hey, this is exciting!

We got some nice shots the past few days. You can't beat the great light you get from the sun and how their faces look. I'm so glad we got a better camera to catch these priceless moments in time!

Sunshine, anyone?

I just love it when dogs do this - totally relaxed, enjoying the warmth ... it just makes you want to go "ahhhhh....."

First Pony Tail

I managed to get a cute little pony tail in Amelia's hair today. It certainly isn't something that is necessary - as her hair isn't long enough to be in her eyes. But it is pretty cute!

Tulip Time

No, we didn't go to Pella - but Jack decided that the beautiful color along my front sidewalk was a distraction. He picked off ALL of my tulips. I could have killed him!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, I have to share this cute story. The other day I was cleaning out bins of stuff for a garage sale and found an old doll of mine that had seen better days. Roger is very old - I think he was actually my mom's doll. And his head is no longer attached to his body.

So Jack saw the doll laying on the counter and asked, "Mom, what happened to that?" I said, "Oh, I found him while I was cleaning up stuff. He's just old." "Like you?!" "No, not like me!" Then Ellie chimed in, "Bubba, no - that's enough. Mama's not old. Don't say that."

It was too funny.