THE WATERPARK IS OPEN

The waterpark opened on Friday. Allie and I ran out and gave it a try. The water was really cold, but Allie was a trooper and had fun. We went out again yesterday after school. Jake was thrilled to be there. He went down the big yellow slide with his buddies...alone...not one mom was in the raft with them and they were really excited! The boys also got to float down the lazy river alone (we kept a close eye on them). Jake tried the volcano slide for the first time too. He's always been nervous about going down slides that drop off into the water where you go under. He loved it though!!
If the rain stays away today, we'll be heading out again.

SCHOOL IS OUT....


I've tried really hard all day to be as excited as Jacob is about school being out for the summer. I am excited for the t-ball games, trips to visit family, our summer vacation, Jake's day camps, the 4th of July and of course our long, hot days at the waterpark. What I'm having a hard time with is the fact that Jake is growing up...Kindergarten just flew by. It truly seems like I just dropped him off for his first day of school. I'm afraid that if I blink too long, I'll be watching him walk across the stage at his high school graduation. I want to stop time for just a little while...he's growing too quickly!

I'm proud to say that while I was very teary this afternoon, I didn't cry! Of course, I didn't stay too long in Miss Pins' room after the party. I just thanked her for an awesome year & went on my way. She is such a great teacher & person...I'll miss seeing her this summer.

This morning Jake's class & the other 2 Kindergarten classes went to Holmes Park for bomb pops and playing. The kids ran like crazy.

This afternoon we had a party with snacks and games. The first game we played had the kids in a relay race...the catch was that they had to put on a pool floatie, a baseball glove, a baseball cap & sunglasses. They then had to kick a ball around a cone and remove their items so the next person could go. It was a stinkin' riot.

Tomorrow we are heading out to the waterpark. We went for a couple of hours after school. Jake has gotten much braver this year. Brock, Carter & Jake went down the big yellow slide alone (we were at the bottom) and they went around the lazy river alone too. I'm taking baby steps in allowing him some independence....Allie however is stuck with me at her side all summer.

Enjoy the pictures...tomorrow I'll post waterpark shots!

MORE CABIN PICS

Here are a few more of my favorite cabin pics....

WEEKEND AT THE CABIN






Scott found out mid week that he had this weekend off. The kids have been begging to go to Papa Walt & Grandma Beth's cabin to fish and boat. So, we left after Jake got out of school on Friday and spent the weekend there. We went boating and fishing Friday night, Saturday and again this morning. Although the kids didn't catch anything worth keeping, they still had a lot of fun!! Jake really liked holding craw dads (did I spell that right?) and Allie finally held one by the end of Saturday night. My girly girl gave into the pressure of Jake & Scott. The kids are already planning our next trip there!!

Tomorrow is Jake's last day of school. I can't believe Kindergarten is over!! He has 2 parties tomorrow that I'll be helping with. Right after school, we are heading out to the waterpark for a couple of hours. Allie and I went on Friday for a couple of hours while Jake was at school. We both agreed we are ready to spend a lot of time there this summer!

I've been trying to post some more cabin pictures, but for some reason it won't let me...will try again later under a new post....

ALLIE'S LAST DAY OF SCHOOL & SNOW CONES!

Allie's last day of preschool was this morning. We celebrated the day with a school picnic and a "concert". The kids chose their favorite songs from the school year and sang them for the parents at the picnic. My favorite one to watch was the chicken dance. Seeing 4 year olds attempting to the dance was a riot! Allie will start the 3 morning per week program in late August.








Today and tomorrow are Snow Cone Days at Hansen. For 50 cents the kids can buy snow cones during their recesses, lunch hour, after school & anytime their teacher allows them to go buy a cone. The proceeds are going to the Student Council. Jake bought one at recess and I let both kids have one after school. Tomorrow from 10-11:30, Allie and I are running the snow cone operations...I'm sure that I'll buying a few to keep Allie happy!! Fortunately Sophie & Abbie are helping out too!!





OH...the waterpark opens tomorrow...summer is really right around the corner!! Jake is done with school on Monday!!

THE TALENT SHOW IS OVER...

OK...I hate to admit it...BUT...I had a lot of fun the past 2 days co-chairing the Talent Show. Everything went remarkably well. Very few "technical" difficulties. There were some adorable acts including a group doing the chicken dance, a group singing Secret Agent Man, a group doing Jailhouse Rock, one doing Build Me Up Buttercup and of course a ROCK BAND, which was Jake's favorite!! He now wants to be the lead singer of his band (which consists of his friend Adam on guitar & his friend Ben on drums).

ALLIE'S B-DAY PARTY AT SCHOOL

Yesterday Allie's class made ice cream sundaes for all of the summer birthdays. At first she was sad that she had to share her birthday at school with 5 other kids. Then she found out that they were making sundaes and got to pick a book out of the birthday book bin. After that, everything was just fine!! So typical of Miss Allie. Tomorrow is her last day of school. She is having a picnic (she gets to take brownies) and they are doing a mini concert.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND




Well, it was a LONG weekend here. Scott & I both came down with nasty colds and haven't been feeling great all weekend. Neither of us have slept much and we haven't been much fun to be around :) We did however take the kids to see the movie "Over the Hedge" and we also took them mini-golfing. That was about the extent of our fun!! Maybe next year will be more exciting.

Tomorrow is day one of the Hansen Talent Show...I will post more after that is over....

LONG WEEK

It has been an unusually long week...not sure why!! Yesterday, Jake went to his friend Ben's house for about an hour. He rode his scooter over by himself and home by himself. They live behind us, so he had to go around the block. I was nervous, but I guess it is time that I allow him to do these things. I watched him until he was out of my sight, then Ben's mom took over and made sure he got there o.k. Jake had no clue that as soon as he took off for home that Ben's mom called me so that I could be on the lookout for him! I guess we'll just let him think that he's doing it all alone :)

I had my cousin Brooke come over last night and watch the kids so that I could go to a meeting. I joined a committee that is fundraising for new playground equipment at Hansen. The current equipment is very old and it is time for a change. We are doing 2 phases in this large project to the tune of well over $100,000!! We'd really like to NOT have our kids going door to door to fund this project, so we are going to hopefully rely on grants, businesses and private donations to take care of it. We've come up with several activities for the kids to participate in as well...we'll see how this goes!

I had my final dentist appointment yesterday and only had to endure 2 shots this time. It was a breeze. I go back in 8 weeks and we'll see what comes next!

Jake is pretty pumped up for school today. They have Field Days this afternoon. He told me it is like having gym ALL afternoon. He can hardly wait! After school today we are heading to the gym to set up the stage for next week's Talent Show.

We don't have any big plans for the weekend. I wanted to go somewhere and enjoy the sun...Scott wasn't up for traveling. So, I guess I'll enlist in his help to wash the windows...maybe next time he'll want to travel ha, ha!!!

DANCE PICTURE

Allie's dance pictures came in yesterday. They turned out cute. There was a great close up black and white on the photographer's website. I'm ordering that one too. This is Allie's last year in the little girl's movement class. Next year she's tackling pre-ballet!

NEW CAMERA

I love my new camera! I played with it all afternoon and learned about all of the cool features that it has (that my old one didn't have). The zoom on this baby is awesome! I can't believe how much better it is than my old zoom. This camera also has a close up feature that my old camera didn't have (note the pic of the purple pansy...Allie's idea). The other really cool feature that it has is a quick shot that allows me to take like 1 picture per second...note the pics of Allie turning on the swing. That feature will be great during t-ball season. Well, I didn't get much cleaning done today, but I learned all about this cool new camera...I know, I'm a geek!

THE WEEKEND

We went out and enjoyed the 75 degree day yesterday at the park. The kids played and played on the merry go round.
You don't see too many merry go rounds anymore. Allie is soooo clumsy, she managed to fall down everytime she made an attempt to give it a push. Her legs are full of bruises today.

The tree guy finally came yesterday and ground the stumps in our back yard. I may have grass in that area by the end of the summer! Jake thought that the grinder that he used was really cool!

We went to CR today to celebrate Scott's niece Lindsay's birthday. The kids both slept in the car on the way home. They were up late last night having a "sleepover" on Allie's floor. They thought sleeping in their sleeping bags was really cool!

My camera broke last weekend while visiting my family. The part that holds the battery in the camera won't stay closed. I've had it duct taped all week. I have been researching new cameras online and had it narrowed down to 2 different Kodak cameras. On our way home from CR today, we stopped and picked a new one out. Happy early 10 year anniversary to me!! Scott will be going to buy himself a new golf club sometime soon...Happy 10 year anniversary to him!! We both got what we wanted and couldn't be happier :) I'm going to take some pics tomorrow and post them.

We have another busy ahead...the usual weekly kid's activities and a fundraising meeting for playground equipment at Jake's school, a couple of Talent Show things to handle and yet another dentist appointment for me. I've had 18 shots (no joke) in my mouth over the course of the past 2 weeks...what is a couple more on Thursday??

PLANTING FLOWERS



It is a beautiful day out today so Allie and I made a quick trip to Hy Vee to get annuals for our pots. Allie chose all of the colors of the various flowers we picked. She also planted and watered most of them. She thought she was pretty hot stuff using her gardening supplies that Aunt Kim bought her!

It has been a really LONG week...we have NOTHING on the calendar for tomorrow so I'm anxious to sleep in (yeah right) and hang out with the kids. The next 3 weeks look to be a little nutty too, then the kids are out of school and our days get easy hanging out at the pool!!

PLAYSTATION

Jake got out of school at noon yesterday so that the teachers had the afternoon to write their end of the year evaluations. We had planned to go to the park for a picnic lunch. That idea was literally blown away with the 30 MPH winds here. So, we went for Plan B. We (Sophie & I) decided to go to CR to Playstation and let the kids RUN & CLIMB. They had a great time. I made them lay in the ball pit for a picture because I was not about to climb/crawl through the tubes to get pictures of them!!

SOOOO TIRED

Have you ever been THIS tired?? Last night before Scott & I went to bed, we went to check on the kids. We found Allie sleeping like this! Of course, I made Scott wait to put her into bed until I got my camera!! In the middle of the night, Allie snuck into my bed. I woke up with Scott telling me to move over & I realized that the reason that I was on "his side" was because Allie was on my side. She says she had a bad dream!! You'd think I would remember her sneaking into my bed!!

I also took a picture of Jake sleeping, but he looked much more comfortable!!

WEEKEND

It was an eventful weekend...

We went to Michael & Kim's this weekend. Despite the weather, we had a nice time.
We grilled out Friday night and Kim had a birthday dessert for Scott. One of his favorites, Heath Bar Dessert. The kids thought is was cool that she bought him candles that were in the shape of the number 34.The kids had a lot of fun playing pool on Michael's pool table too.


Saturday, Allie & I went wedding dress shopping with Kim. She found 2 dresses that she loved and looks gorgeous in. Now she just has to decide which one! We went out with the Green girls and their spouses on Saturday night. It was great to catch up with them.

Sunday, we had a pastry brunch with my family and then went to Mandy's new house and helped her get moved in. The house is really nice.

The kids both made me great things at school for Mother's Day. Scott (with the help of Kim), had the kids get me the Mother & Child Isabel Bloom. I love it!! The kids also got me a Willow Tree Angel (with the help of Sophie). All in all a wonderful Mother's Day. I got to spend it with my kids, husband, parents & siblings.


On a sad note, my brother Will's roommate committed suicide on Friday night in Will's house. Will has been staying with my parents and is planning to sell his house. I feel terrible for Will and am praying that he feels better soon. He has a tight knit group of friends and of course his family that will help him get through this. What a tragedy.