Memorial Day

Wayne and Cole love a holiday. Even Memorial Day. This morning they came bounding downstairs, excited about going to the cemeteries and having a barbecue with Aunt Martha, Uncle Chris, and Alex. Everyone worked fast and furious to get the flowers planted at Westlook before the rain.

Meanwhile, Heather became friends with Grampie's neighbor.

Here's the group, minus Chris who was taking the photo.

When the rain and thunder started, the work crew came back to our house, Where Martha and Chris treated us all to hamburgers and hotdogs. Joanie made a delicious cream of broccoli soup, and there were rice crispy treats for dessert. And of course, Memorial Day would not be complete if we did not remember the poor souls lost in the sinking of the Titanic. Cole did his traditional performance and then forced Alex to play Titanic, as seen below. They look pretty happy for people who are supposed to be fighting for their lives in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

Now everyone has gone to the cemeteries in Barton to plant flowers.

Hope you all have fond memories of your loved ones today.

Heather Eats a Cupcake

I made cupcakes yesterday afternoon. Heather was not quite sure how to take a bite out of this one.

I did finally put a bib on her.



She tried it. She likes it!


And more work on Grammie's raspberries. Wayne didn't have school yesterday (Fri) so he was able to help. He's a good worker. Cole - not so much.

Now we're off to T-ball. Have a great weekend everyone!

Child Labor

One nice thing about having kids is getting them to do the work I'm supposed to be doing. They even think it's fun.

Wayne and Cole get the garden ready for planting.

Cole examines the fertilizer.



Wayne puts seeds in the soil.

Heather helps me clean out the raspberry bushes at Grammie's.



And here she is, not doing any work, but looking really cute, sitting in the hay field.

Rachel's Graduation Party

All the weather forecasters predicted rain, but Rachel must have some influential connections somewhere in the universe, because a beautiful day prevailed for her graduation party.

Here's the graduate with Lisa and Chelsea. As usual, there was plenty of great food - hamburgers and hot dogs from the grill, pasta salads, fruit salads, chips, dips...you name it.

Martha (Mom, Grammie) with Wes.

Cole enjoys his hotdog and some baked beans, but can't stop asking about the cake.

Joanie helps keep Heather busy so I can eat.

Elijah, at almost 6 months, is turning into a little body builder.

All the kids had a great time on the trampoline.

Here's Wes on the trampoline. I thought it would be the end of both him and the trampoline. And possibly Cole.

Danny rounded everyone up for a game of softball. I never knew Jesse was such a good ball player. Here he is pitching. It was good to see him. It's been a while.

And finally, luckily for Cole, it's time for CAKE.

Proud Mama and her daughter.

Congratulations to Rachel and her family. What an important milestone in her life. And so much lies ahead.

Technical Difficulties

Yesterday I was trying to customize my blog layout. I was trying to slide one of my own photos behind the title, but instead it just covered the title with a big huge picture. Then I couldn't change it for a while because either my internet froze up, or Blogger was having technical difficulties. So, sorry for any confusion that big weird picture might have cause for anyone visiting my blog yesterday. I've got it under control now.

T-ball this morning then we're off to Rachel's graduation party, so check in tomorrow for pictures of all the fun.

Preschool Party

Just some cute photos today.

Here we are at Cole's end of the year preschool party. It's a pot luck party. We made mac and cheese. Families come and just have a nice lunch with all the kids and teachers. Heather and Cole enjoyed the cake.

Cole actually has two more weeks of preschool. I think they're making up snow days. This is Cole with Cheryl, the classroom aide. She told me he brought tears to her eyes the other day when he told her, "I like you more than I can show you," and gave her a big hug. Heather is doing some work on the computer.

After the lunch, we went out on the playground. Cole loves this little playhouse. He always pretends it's on fire. Where did he come up with this love of tragedy and disaster?

In the view from the preschool playground, you can see St. Paul's church, where Wes and I got married, Julie and Thomas got (re?) married, and W,C,H were all baptized.

And last but not least, nothing to do with the party, here's the men-folk out mowing the lawn last evening.

A Titanic Appointment

Cole had his annual well-child check-up today. He was really nervous about it because he knew he was going to get vaccinations for chicken pox and measles. Well, all he knew was that he was going to get some shots and he was not looking forward to it. So I tried to take his mind off that part of the day by making the rest of the day fun. I picked him up from preschool and we went to the park for a picnic. Then he and Heather played on the playground for about an hour before his doctor visit.

We went to his appointment and he showed the receptionist his Titanic that he had insisted on bringing. I didn't mind him bringing it. I figured anything that makes him feel better and gets his mind off the shots. He and the receptionist had a nice little conversation about the Titanic and ships in general. She said she'd like to take a cruise across the ocean. As we were turning away from her to go sit in the waiting area he told her, "Well Juwie wivs way, way acwoss the ocean where the Titanic sunk."

He showed the nurses the Titanic while they weighed and measured him. He's tall for his age (90th percentile) and thin (10th percentile). They checked him all out. Good eyes, good ears, good blood, good heart. Everything looked great. He's very healthy.

When the doctor came in she sat him up on the exam table. While she listened to his heart and poked him with her little flashlight, she asked him all kind of questions about what he likes to eat, does he like to ride a bike, does he wear a helmet, does he brush his teeth, does he go to preschool? Then she asked him if he had any ideas about what he wanted to be when he grew up.

He said, "I want to be a singer."

She walked right into his net by blindly asking, "Oh. You like to sing? Can you sing me a song?"

I could see that he was immensely pleased, but he tried to hide his smile. He sighed, acting nonchalant, "Well...I'll need my Titanic." He held his hand out to me where I was turning red on the bench. I dutifully handed over the little ship (see photo previous post) so he could charm her with his sweet little voice softly lilting out the haunting melody of "My Heart Will Go On." Luckily he sang an abridged version and stopped before it collided with the ice berg. Maybe he didn't think she could handle the sadness. When he stopped he asked "Is that enough?" She said he did a wonderful job and thought that she had never had a little boy sing a song to her during an appointment before.

After she was done examining him, she brought him into the office to pick out a book to have. I stayed in the exam room with Heather. When she and Cole came back, she said, chuckling, "He asked if we had any books about the Titanic, but we don't so he had to take his second best choice." It was a book about a cow who eats too many pears.

When I went out to check-out with the receptionist, all the office lady workers crowded around the receptionist's window and wanted to know how long he had been interested in the Titanic, and thought it was so cute and unusual that he had asked for a Titanic book. One of them said she thinks she has some National Geographics with Titanic stuff in it and she's going to bring it in for him next time.

And yes, in the middle of all this, he did get two shots. He did cry dramatically. He got over it quickly. Here he is at home after a chocolate ice cream cone which helped cheer him up.

This is What My Family Did For Me on Mother's Day

Here is a little photo essay of what we did on Mother's Day.

First of all, Wes and Wayne made pancakes and bacon. Wayne had told me on the previous evening that he wanted me to sleep late, so he could bring me breakfast in bed. Here he is, ready to bring it up. What a treat for me to sleep in and have my breakfast and coffee brought to me.

Then when I came down, I was serenaded by my entire family. Heather and Wes played the keyboard. Heather also sang. Wayne played the guitar. Cole sang - and I'm sure you can guess the song they were all doing. Yes, you're right - "My Heart Will Go On" complete with visual effects of the sinking ship.

Wayne made me several cards, a starfish decoration with glitter and tiny little seashells glued onto it, a homemade photo album (he staples many pieces of computer paper together and then pasted in lots of pictures), and he mopped the floor for me.

Cole spent the whole day asking me, "What nice things are you going to do for me?"

Hope you all had a day as nice as mine.

Mothers

Isn't it a shame that we don't appreciate our mothers until after the fact?

I don't think I will ever let my kids drive a car, or go to college far away from me. After all the work I've done to keep them safe and healthy, watch over them vigilantly when their sick, feed them, teach them, worry about them. I will never be brave enough to let them go.

That is what I admire about our mothers. As much as they loved us and took painstaking care of us as children, only to be unappreciated for it, they somehow mustered the courage to let us go. I can't imagine how they did it.




It wasn't until I became a parent, that I realized how strong and brave our mothers really are.

T Ball

Wes is coaching Wayne's T ball team again this year. They had their first game this morning at Wayne's school. Nobody wins or loses. No score is kept. They play their little hearts out just the same.

Wayne's at bat:

He rounds all the bases and gets tagged at home plate.



It may be just T ball, but the coach means business.

Heather and Cole have very little interest in Wayne's game, but they have a lot of interest in the playground.




I don't know who this girl is playing with Cole.

I was very proud, watching Wayne play today. He's grown so much since last summer. He's gotten so much better and more confident. So funny how they change.