Tonight we had our first t-ball game. Jeff, Ryan and Allison practiced and prepared for their big game by hitting water balloons this afternoon. They had a blast. Next time I will have to break out my camera and get a few shots of them playing water balloon baseball.

Ryan was very excited about his first game and did so well! We are very proud of how he played and what a great teammate he was. I didn't get to snap too many photos of the game in action. This assistant coaching business requires my full attention and focus. I have to yell at kids, keep the from jumping and climbing on the dug out fence AND make sure they get up to bat in the correct order! I tell ya what, I am asking for a larger pay check next season Last year my duties as assistant coach were to run the camera, camcorder and keep lil' sis from making a mess with the water jug in the dugout. This year my duties are MUCH more challenging. Ryan's biggest fan, Allie, was also in attendance tonight wearing her lil' sis t-shirt with Ryan's number on it, but she was much more interested in the sand pile than she was in the baseball game. After the game we went and got ice cream to celebrate. In the car, we were discussing the game when Allie spoke up to tell us that she thought "the sand pile was the most funnest part of the game".

Fishing with Grandma & Grandpa

Our visit last week with Grandma & Grandpa went way to fast! As always, Ryan was trying to bargain with grandma to have her leave his buddy grandpa behind with us. Allie would then get mad and say she wanted grandma to stay and send grandpa back to water the garden instead of sending grandma. In the end, both grandma and grandpa had to go home together!

Before grandma and grandpa left, they got to go fishing with Allie, Ryan, Jeff and I. There is a pond just across from our house. It is perfect, because our neighbor has been very nice and lets us go fish anytime we want. The pond is far enough away from our house we don't have to worry so much about the water snakes and thing on our property (although we have seen a few once in a while) and there is a fence that separates us from the pond so I don't worry as much about the kids wondering over there without us. So we all loaded up our barbie and nemo fishing poles (we are fishing experts around here you know!) and took the golf cart over to the pond. Allie, Ryan, grandpa and Jeff all caught fish! Allie had more fun directing grandpa on how to cast her barbie pole however! Before grandpa could cast a pole for her, she would issue a countdown like this: "1, 2, 3, FISHIES", in her loudest voice possible! I am thinking it may have been a warning to the fish to get outta the way!

Allie also became an official worm carrier/bait fetcher. At first she was afraid to touch the worms (can't say I blame her, they are gross), but after a while, she got over her fear and touched one. After that, you couldn't keep her from picking up and carrying around those worms!

Don't worry...

Ryan had kind of a rough afternoon yesterday and got in trouble for being so sassy. Later that evening after his sister had gone to bed, Ryan and I were hanging out a few minutes. I told him that I loved him and was glad he was my kid and didn't belong to someone else. I then told him that even when I got mad at him I still loved him and that I was going to miss him when he grew up and moved away. He took a moment to digest this then looked at me and said "Don't worry mom, I am going to live here until I am 53!".

We took a nice trip to the Tulsa Zoo to celebrate the start of summer and the end of Ryan's preschool. Grandma and Grandpa were able to join Jeff, the kids and I for a great little trip! It was the first time Grandma and Grandpa had visited the Tulsa zoo and the kids loved having them come along with us :) Here are some of the "wild animals" caught on camera!

Preschool Promotion

Ryan's class had their preschool promotion this morning. Grandma and Grandpa joined Jeff, Allie and I to attend the ceremony.

Everyone in Ryan's class was given an award and a medal promoting them to Kindergarten. Ryan was given the Good Friend award.

There was also two special awards presented per grade in the school. The special award was for citizenship. The citizenship award was given to a student who showed respect for God, country, friends and went above and beyond to be an overall good person in class, church and the community.

Ryan was one of the two preschool students from his class selected for this award. Jeff, Grandma, Grandpa and I were so proud of him! Jeff and I have always hoped and prayed he would be a good person. As Jeff said, you do what you can at home and then you hope that when you drop them off at school they are good little people. :)

We know Ryan wants to be a good athlete and I am not sure he really understood how neat it was that he was given this award. I told him it was like hitting a good person home run. :)

There were many wonderful little people in his class and I am sure the decision was a tough one for the teachers, but we are so proud of Ryan and just hope he continues to be a positive and helpful young individual who respects, people and God as he grows in life.

In this post is a collage showing his first day day of school in August 2007 (he is wearing the red stripe shirt in those photos and is on our porch and then walking into the school for the first time EVER) and photos from his promotion today (in the blue Jayhawk shirt).

I can't believe my baby is going to go to kindergarten next year and be at school all day, everyday! I will miss him and don't know where the time has gone. Allie will be in preschool 2 days a week next year in the morning and I know it will be tough to pick her up at lunch time and know that we have to wait a few more hours to go pick up Ryan from school. Time is going tooooo fast!

Grammie I know you feel the same way, so feel free to start crying now about your little grandbaby boy growing up! :)

Sick Little Girl

Allie got sick last week with a head cold. It stopped bothering her when she passed it on to the rest of us. Then, Sunday after church she was VERY fussy and tired and feverish. She slept a lot and spent most of the afternoon in my arms resting. Monday she did the same thing until about 4 pm. when her fever crept up to 105 and she was crying that her neck hurt. Knowing it was too late in the day to get a doctors appointment, the boys dropped Allie and I off at the ER while they went to t-ball practice.

The ER staff at CRMC did such a wonderful job with our little princess! They worked very hard to make her feel less nervous and to bring her fever down quickly. Our nurse was so excellent :) We appreciated all her hard work to find ice chips, soda, jello, coloring books, toys, etc for Miss Allie! At first Allie was super nervous and unsure, but after our nurse took so much time to make her feel comfortable, she really settled in. It was amazing and wonderful to see Allie come back to her normal, healthy self!

My couple of hours in the ER made me sooo thankful for my normally healthy children. I can't even imagine how awful and difficult it would be to have a sick child who had to deal with hospitals and treatment on a regular basis! My heart goes out to those brave children and their families battling treatments in hospitals.

Preschool class video

Here is a video I made of Ryan's preschool class. The video is better when you turn off the music player on the bottom right of my site so you can hear the music that matches the pictures.

Ryan's field day

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Slip N Slide Fun!

Yesterday the kids tried the Slip N Slide for the first time!

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Flash back

Flash back - Allie is wearing my old dress!

Allie just threw a fit because I was sweeping the floor and she wanted to clean it. I guess I should enjoy that while it lasts!

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Clouds

Clouds

Making the most of the rainy days

We have had about 18 days of rain around here. Today was a sunny afternoon and the kids made the most of their time outside by finding leftover rain puddles to play in. The puddle pictured here was found in their workbench toy. They spent quite a while getting messy and pretending to cook in the water puddles that had formed on the work bench.

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Busy Day!

Jeff had graduation to attend this morning. This afternoon he began to work on taking out the old toilet in the kid's bathroom. He began by shutting off the water and draining the water from the tank and bowl of the toilet. He then left the bathroom for a few moments to get his tools. Apparently while he was gone, Allie used the facilities and left a "present" for him. He had to start over from the beginning by turning on the water and flushing the waste before he could fully remove the toilet!

After the toilet was removed, I painted the bathroom before we installed the new toilet. I placed the empty paint can on the front porch because it was raining and I didn't want to go out in the sprinkles to take the can to the garage. The rain stopped while I was painting and the kids and Jeff went outside. While I was painting, I heard the front door slam. I hollered down from upstairs and asked who was in the house. The response from downstairs was "me!" Allie was inside in the downstairs bathroom and I heard the faucet running. I hollered down to ask little miss "ME!" what she was doing. She responded that she was washing off her paint. At that point I got a little nervous and wondered what paint Allie could be washing off. When I got downstairs I recognized the color that I was using on the kids bathroom walls. The paint was on her hands, her outfit and her hair. I stepped outside and then saw her hard work. She had found a brush in the garage and spent a great deal of time painting our concrete front porch, the wooden porch railing and our cedar siding a lovely oatmeal brown color. I actually liked how the siding looked in oatmeal brown (instead of the stained dark cedar color). Jeff wasn't so happy with the look! He sprayed the house off as best he could, however there are still some lovely oatmeal hues in the creases of the wood and on the steps and porch rails!

Jeff put the trampoline together for the kids this afternoon while Allie painted the porch and I painted the bathroom. The instructions said 3 people were required to complete the trampoline assembly, but my man stepped up and finished most of it by himself. I only had to come outside 3 times: once to consult on the best location for the trampoline, once to help figure out which screws were supposed to be used on the legs of the trampoline and once to help him flip the whole thing over! Ryan was brave enough to be the first one on the trampoline. I think that Jeff should have gone first just to make sure he had it all put together right :)

This evening while the boys were mowing our jungle, I mean lawn, Allie and I walked up the driveway to get the mail. As we were walking she asked me if I thought she was a big lady or a little lady. I said I didn't know and asked what she thought she was. She responded by telling me that she was a big lady. She then went on to tell me that big ladies paint and do dishes so she thought she was a big lady! :)

Ryan's Mother's day present

Jeff brought home some Roses for my mother's day present from him. He also brought some outdoor flowers for the kids to give me. The card he picked out from the kids was a card that contained "credit" cards good for certain items such as help clearing the table, a nap (for me not them), etc. As I read the card from the kids out loud, Ryan started scrunching up his face to express his dislike for the items on the credit cards! Ryan also had a present for me that he had made in preschool. It is an adorable towel with his footprints and a picture drawn on it! They made his footprints look like people and the two people are holding hands! He said the people on the towel and the "Ryan and mom". Also enclosed in the gift from preschool was a paper with the following questions and Ryan's answers to the questions:

1.) What's your mom's name - Jennifer
2.) What does she do - Takes pictures
3.) How old is she - 36 (not quite right on this one!)
4.) What does daddy call mom - Honey
5.) What is her favorite color - Pink
6.) What is her favorite food - El Charro
7.) What is her favorite movie - The Bee movie (this was a "date" movie for Ryan and I last year).
8.) How many brothers and sisters does she have - One
9.) Where does she like to take you for fun - Park
10.) What message do you want to send her for Mother's Day - I love you!

Swimming + Sunshine + T-ball = Summer??!!??

The sun shined today all day for the first time in about 12 days! After almost 2 solid weeks of rain, the kids begged me to let them swim the first time they saw the sun today. We started to get their old pool out, but the 3 air caps are missing. The last time I saw these, Buster had one in his mouth and I had to chase him down to get it back. So, I assumed trying to find the air caps was going to be a lost cause! After more begging from the kids, we loaded up and took a trip the store to get a new pool. The kids decided they needed to dress for the occasion. Already in their swimming suits, they pulled on t-shirts and cover ups and then added some unique accessories!
Once we got home, the kiddos spent the afternoon going down their little tykes slide and into the pool, while I spent the afternoon trying to stay dry and away from their splashing!

To finish off our nice day outside we headed to our t-ball practice!

Dirty Boy

This is my floor
Notice the dirt?

This is where the dirt came from:
When I asked what he was doing, he told me he was digging for treasure!

Hello Pizza Hut. May I take your order?

Ryan has now learned how to dial Grandma and Grandpa on my cell phone! Beginning to read has helped him with this task and he can now find their name in my phone address book and place a call to them. This new skill was tested out MANY times yesterday and each time Grandpa would answer and ask to take Ryan's Pizza order! These are some photos of the kids on one of their MANY calls to Grandma and Grandpa yesterday.

Ready for Preschool

I had to go to Ryan's school today to help the 6th grade class get do a project to prepare for their promotion at the end of the month. Allie went with me and spent the morning in Preschool with Ryan. We have been talking to Allie about starting preschool next year and each time we talk about it she has a different reaction. Sometimes she wants to go and sometimes she absolutely refuses to even consider it! Well today she went into the preschool room to visit and clung to my hand for the first few minutes. After we took a brief potty break, she was ready to get going and stay in the preschool class with her big brother while I went elsewhere in the building to work on the project! When I returned, the teachers said she had a great time and even participated in show and tell and snack time. She didn't want to leave!

The cutest part of the morning was Allison's outfit. We were in a hurry to get to the school on time today so I allowed her to just put her cinderella princess dress on over her green princess PJ bottoms and top. She then added her purple faux fur wrap around her shoulders, her purple princess dress up shoes and a big red bow in her messy hair! Needless to say, we got many comments on her outfit.