School Fun Day

Today was FUN DAY at Wesley's school. Each class rotated through the different stations. They had about 20 minutes at each station. I kept thinking, "What here could we do at the MOPS Harvest Festival in the fall?"

I volunteered to help and was assigned to the "ball crawl". The first couple of groups were wild! They were so excited but after that everyone was calmer. The last couple of groups were rather mellow; I think they were getting tired.

It looked like a regular moonbounce on the outside but inside there were a lot of balls.

There was also a regular moonbounce with a slide.

Here is Wesley zipping down the slide.


There was a little train.
And a little carousel.
One station had sand tables, sidewalk paint, bubbles, and badminton.
Wesley briefly tried each of the three sidwalk paint colors, but he prefered the sand tables.
For snack, the kids had a small bag of popcorn and watered down lemonade. Wesley and I loved the popcorn and the lemonade.

This is the assistant teacher in Wesley's class.
One station had tricycles, Frisbee toss, and bean bag toss.
On the way home Wesley said, "I didn't like the crispy." He had to tell me, "the thing I threw in the goal" before I realized he meant Frisbee.
Here is Wesley and his very tired classmates heading in after playing outside for two and a half hours.
They had pizza for lunch which I loved because that meant one less lunch that had to be packed this week.

One station was sidewalk chalk and tattoos. Wesley got a dinosaur tattoo. Today was great! We both had fun and I got some good insight from the director about whether Wesley should go three days or four days next year. (The days are four hours long.)

Upside Down Sunglasses

Lydia likes to wear her sunglasses upside down.

Wesley often tries to tell her that she needs to turn them right side up.

I found this photo to show him how he wore his sunglasses when he was two years old.

Bible Study Reunion

In the fall of 1999 Chris and I started attending a Nearly/Newly Wed Sunday School Class. We look back on that class with the fondest of memories. We gained so much great marriage advice from the teachers, learned and laughed from the stories our classmates tolds, and met life-long friends in the class.

One of the girls in the class, Jenny, invited me to join Nancy's Tuesday Night Bible Study. Nancy had been leading the group for several years when I joined. A few months later I invited Marlene to the Bible study. Nancy moved to Texas in the fall of 2005. Even though we stopped meeting on a regular basis after Nancy moved, those of still in Virginia continue to see each other as often as possible. We all continue to be close friends.

On Thursday, Marlene, Michele, and I flew to Texas. (Jenny had taken an earlier flight. Unfortunately Sally couldn't join us this weekend.) Here is a quick video of our group. I accidently left the camera in video mode when I asked a stranger to take a picture of us.



Thursday night we went to La Hacienda Ranch. Marlene had to try out the saddle bar stools.
Nancy and Michele posed under a fake dear.
Since the owner of the restaurant invented the first frozen margarita machine, we had to sample some. Isn't this way you are supposed to stir up a lime margarita and sangria?

We enjoyed a delicious Tex-Mex dinner with Table Side Guacamole - yum!!! As I sat at dinner that night I felt so completely happy. We had not all been together since last May and I was just so happy to spend time with them. We share a history and a very deep bond. We don't have to explain where we are coming from and there is a lot of grace and love between us.

On Saturday we had fancy smancy pedicures and manicures. Nancy picked a great place.

Michele found this cute hat at a boutique and had to buy it since it looked like it was made for her. We also went shopping at a consignment store and we all bought something. I found two pairs of pants, a pair of Joes Jeans, a skirt, three pairs of earrings, and a necklace for $115. The jeans were $40 which is a great deal! I think they are brand new and I love Joes Jeans!

We saw this interesting sign at another store.

Friday night we went out for a girls night with other friends in the Dallas area. I got to meet Christie. She is just as wonderful in person as she is on her blog. It was fun to learn more about her. Marlene blamed the water for her gorgeous Texas-sized hair all weekend. Here she is with Nancy's SIL, Allison, who was also in the Nearly/Newly class with us for a while. I missed getting a picture of Nancy's sister Margret and Marlene's SIL Jenny.

Michele, Me, Nancy, Jenny, and Marlene.

We were able to celebrate with Rebekah who is another member of our group who moved to Texas. She is expecting a baby in July. Unfortunately for us she went on a retreat this weekend and we only got to see her for one night.

Alisha drove from Galveston early on Saturday morning and it was so wonderful to get to hang out with her. We went shopping again and had more Tex-Mex. We all love it! After church that night we had more Mexican food for dinner at Nancy's house. Michele makes great enchiladas!

After dinner, we saw the Sons of Lwala documentary (wow, you should all watch it) and then we shared Bible verses and prayer requests and laughter and tears.

On Thursday we briefly saw Mark and Ainsley before they left for his brother's house. Friday was Mark's birthday and he was kind enough to let us have Nancy (and his house) all to ourselves this weekend! Thanks Mark!

We did see them again Sunday morning before they took Jenny to the airport and then we had lunch with them and Marlene's BIL, SIL, and niece.

All too soon, we were back at the airport saying a tearful goodbye to Nancy. We will see her again in June here in Virginia and we already talking about another weekend together next year.

When I got home I told Chris, "Thank you so much for letting me go. I loved it and it meant so very much to me."

My Hair Cut

Last night I got my hair cut and colored. It seems a lot shorter to me, but I like it.

This morning I didn't get it to look the exact same but I still like it. I didn't get the heavy bang look today. It took the guy about five minutes or less to style it so I should be able to do it, right?

Lydia is my biggest fan. She said, "You look beautiful" when I got home last night.
The back.

Trash, Tricks, and Soccer

For Earth Day, Wesley's class made art out trash. Well, they had a lot of fun gluing stuff together. When I asked Wesley what he did today he said, "I played with trash."

After school, we went to Wesley's first UK Petite Soccer class. Amazingly, Lydia sat in her stroller the entire time. She did have a snack and a lot of water but she was very good. Here is one of her tricks.

Wesley took a different soccer class last summer. He didn't like the stand-in-line-for-a-turn-to-kick-the-ball that took place at the beginning of each class.

The UK soccer class was very different. The coach said, "We are going to play silly games to teach the kids soccer skills." And that is what they did. So for most of the class, each kid had his or her own ball while they practiced different things.

I loved that there were two coaches there today but next week if there are 12 of fewer kids, there will only be one coach. I hope a few more kids sign up.

Here Wesley is practicing a "round about" as the English coach called it. At first Wesley said he couldn't do it; that is why you hear him yelling, "I am doing it" during the video. He did use his hands a lot to position the ball. Hopefully in a couple of months, he won't be using his hands for soccer!

The kids were told to "keep the ball close to you." Apparently Wesley heard, "Kick hard and run fast."

Well, we can practice with him. At the end he said, "I had fun!"

Not a Girls' Weekend But Still Great

This weekend, one of my very best friends from high school stayed with us. In January I visited her in North Carolina for a girls' weekend. This past weekend we had a very kid-intensive weekend. It started with a trip to the playground and then to Mango Mike's with Chris and the kids. On the way home we needed to get a few groceries. Chris went into the store while Janet and I waited in the car with the kids. Or at least that was the plan. Chris parked beside the cart return and Lydia immediately spotted the car cart and started begging to "drive the car". So, I let the kids get in the car cart and took them into the store; they weren't content to just sit in it in the parking lot. Look how happy they are!

Chris had to work Saturday morning, a rarity for him. Janet and I took the kids to swim lessons at 8:30. Wesley had a substitute teacher who wouldn't let the kids use water wings. They used noodles when she had all three of them in the water at the same time. When she worked with them one on one she just lightly helped them. At the end, Wesley was really trying to swim but I had to lightly put my hand under his chest.

Right after swim lessons we went out to breakfast. While Lydia was eating her muffin, she suddenly said, "These pants are wet!" She had already filled her diaper to over flowing because she drank so much pool water.

We went to Burke Lake and walked around the lake (about 4.5 miles) with the kids in the double jogger. It was much harder for me to push the stroller than it was last October because I only did it once or twice over the winter.

We let the kids play on the big playground by the volleyball courts as a reward for being so good in the stroller. Lydia wanted to eat her "lunch" (Wesley's left over muffin). Here she is sharing with him by giving him the tiniest piece possible.

The kids enjoyed playing before getting back in the stroller and heading to ride the train.

After riding the train we all needed a snack. Janet and I really wanted hotdogs but they were sold out as were the pretzels. She had chips and the kids and I had ice cream. This was Lydia's second time having an ice cream cone. She was much more interested in eating the cone than the ice cream. Amazingly no great mess was made.

They shared the last of Lydia's treat.

That is one happy little girl.

While we waited for the train, I called Chris and I asked him to go get steaks for dinner. On the way home I called him and asked him to start dinner. When we got home, he had an appetizer ready for us (friend green beans that he bought frozen). We had a delicious dinner of grilled steak, garlic bread, roasted asparagus, grilled corn, and salad. Thanks sweetie!

We all enjoyed being with Janet this weekend. Wesley asked her, "When are you coming back?" We all hope soon.

First Field Trip

Today was Wesley’s first field trip (and our third trip to Frying Pan). He seems so little to be riding a bus to a fieldtrip so I volunteered to be a chaperone. His teacher said to me this morning, “Due to your pediatric background, I assigned three kids to you. The other chaperones will just have two kids.” I should have said to her, “You know, I usually work with one kid at a time.” It turned out fine. I had Wesley, a very compliant girl, and another boy whose mom met us at the farm. Wesley’s teacher split up some of the girls because she said otherwise they would talk so much they wouldn’t even notice the animals. (smile)
There was a lot of excitement about riding the bus. The kids are so little; they were often sitting three to a seat. There were plenty of seats, the kids just liked sitting all together.

We were on the bus during the class' usual snack time and all the kids kept telling the teacher they were hungry. So, we ate lunch as soon as we got off the bus, at 10:30.

We saw lots of farm animals. Here are the new baby pigs.

Here is the big mommy pig. See how wet the other boy's pants are in this photo? Wesley's pants were just as wet. It rained a lot this week and the little boys enjoyed jumping in the mud puddles. This sweet (and smart) little girl walked around them! Wesley asked me later when his shoes would dry out.

The kids were very curious about the outhouse. "Where do you wash your hands?" they wanted to know.

Only one of the three guessed what this big white thing was.

I think the highlight of the trip wasn't seeing horses, chickens, rabbits, pigs, sheep, cows, and goats. The highlight for a lot of the kids was the playground (it is a very nice one).

All of the kids in Wesley's class were very tired on the way back to school, but only one of them fell asleep.

I am glad I had the opportunity to be a chaperone for the fied trip. I got to know some of the kids and their moms a little better and I got to talk some with his teacher (Wesley and I both love her).

My Cool Friend

The other week Wesley said to me, "I wish you were Hunter's mommy and Michelle was my mommy."


"Why?" I asked and held my breath. I thought he would say, "because she is more fun" or "because she is a good singer" or "she never yells at me."


Instead of saying those things he said, "I want a bigger mommy!" I felt so much relief. Michelle is at least six inches taller than me and there is nothing I can do about that!


Last Friday I realized that he will probably tell me at some point that Michelle is much cooler, more hip, or whatever the latest term is.
Michelle took snowboarding lessons over this winter and in an effort to improve her snowboarding skills she bought a Ripstick.


She is learning how to ride it by holding onto a stroller or someone's shoulder.