Wednesday, June 18, 2008

week in review

last tuesday (june 10th) was the end of lily's gymnastics class. grace took over camera duty for part of the time and i must say i like the running "spirity" shot that she got. (obviously she doesn't have colin's talent though, annie).

here's lily with one of her teachers and medal.
little brother evan wanted in on the action too.

on thursday, playgroup was at my house and lily had the first sunburn for the summer (i had brought the sunblock out on the deck - just didn't put it on her). i also helped take one of lily's friend and her grandma to the emergency room since her parents were out of the country. the little girl broke her shoulder bone, but was a complete trooper throughout the whole ordeal.


on friday, my opa turned 90!








friday was also gracie's last day of school. we did our regular "thank you berry much" cookbook where she decorates the cover. usually we pick strawberries, but they weren't ready yet. grace had a great year and won awards for academics, dance, vocal and brass instrument (the recorder).

we went out to dinner on saturday night in honor of father's day. pat then took evan out to by some new shoes. he came back with size 8 shoes for him, and i had been cramming in his foot into size 6!!

we had a mellow father's day on sunday. the girls' made a yummy dessert, i made a yummy dinner and jake made a fabulous card that i scanned in, but can't seem to upload. i had planned a combined musical number with the teenage boys at my church as well as my primary children that turned out well. my sister-in-law became "famous" this day as one of her pics was posted on the "how about orange" blog.

tuesday, i was frustrated and spent a good part of the day debating which i hate more: seizures or seizure medication. (felt even worse for jake who has to actually experience these things.)


today, wednesday, was an absolutely beautiful day. we went strawberry picking, made a chocolate cake for friends, hung out at the barn while grace had her horseback lesson, took a walk in the afternoon rain (that started right as we were getting ready to go), bathed the kids, ran to the store and then came home to watch "so you think you can dance." now i'm getting "berry" thank yous together for jake's teacher, aid and therapists since friday is his last day

throughout the week, i've been slowly plugging away at my "to-do" list since i leave for utah two weeks from today. (our plans have changed and instead of going to wisconsin this summer, we are now driving out to utah. i'm actually looking forward to the cross-country trip and spending time with family. sorry stace and caitlin - won't be visiting you this summer. ) summer vacation, here we come!!!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

it's time


you know it's time to go on a diet when the following happens to you:

1. your son's school nurse (who knows you quite well i might add) puts her hand on your belly and asks if another one is coming.

2. the little old lady that you have been helping proclaims: "you don't wear a girdle!" after you stand up.

3. the little bench that you sit on to do some weeding completely breaks when you sit on it. (sorry i neglected to get a photo of the bench.)

#3 happened to patrick, but the first two happened to yours truly! i have gained 20 lbs since last summer, so i probably should start facing this and start dieting and exercising. wish me luck! (and yes, the girdle comment is my favorite one too! hysterical.)

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

random news

it's late and i can't sleep, so i thought i would post. i was able to take a long shower sans children tonight where i pumiced my feet, shaved my legs and even got to put lotion on afterwards. so nice to feel so clean and refreshed. ...now if only i hadn't eaten so many brownies today, i would be feeling pretty good about myself right now.



anyhoo, the excting news is that we have procured a lift van for our family!! we are buying it from a hinckley cousin who owns a dealership in utah. pat just bought tickets tonight to fly out at the end of the month and drive it back to ct with my dad. this truly has been an answer to fasting and prayer as something that seemed so unattainable to us a few months ago has now become a reality. shortly before my grandpa died, he agreed with my grandma to contribute to the purchase of a lift van for us. my grandma lovingly worked hard to contribute our fund. then amazingly, a van within our price range became available. my heart is full with thanks and remembrance of both the tender mercies of the Lord and my grandpa.



you can go here to see pics of the van. it is HUGE!! i might have to relearn how to drive. as pat said to me a couple of months ago after i transported him to work for a few days, "you are going to have to slow down if we buy a sprinter van". alas, he's right; i do love a fast ride and a little weaving, which is not a good thing when you are driving a vehicle designed to carry 2 tons. my guess is that i'm also going to need to work on avoiding curbs. luckily (insert sarcastic voice here), i have a beeper/alarm thingy for when i back up!



in other news, i forgot to report that i accidentally did a back-flip into the pool at family day. the diving board was higher up and more springy than the one at my friends' pool. so when i went to do what i thought would be a back dive, it ended up being a back-flip. we did indeed release our butterflies last night and the girls were able to eat their rock candy (see pics below - grace was disappointed earlier today that i hadn't put the picture of her rock candy on my blog yet).


Tuesday, June 3, 2008

waiting over

pat's sister, ann, had her baby sunday night. welcome to the world little baby jane!

not only did we welcome two little new cousins/niece & nephew last week, but our butterflies "hatched" last friday. we will release them tonight (if we can convince lily). our rock crystals are finally coming along as well; although, i think the whole container will be crystalized.

p.s. this site is under construction. but please don't expect anything like kaylene, and if i knew how to save these templates before posting them i would have done that. anyhoo, wish me luck.Posted by Picasa

family day 2008

family day for pat's work was this past weekend. we went with our good friends and fun was had by all. lily keeps asking: "can we go back to the place with cotton candy tomorrow?"


lily and evan loved their pony ride. grace decided she's too old and a pony ride would be too boring and slow. (she also keeps ignoring my requests to stop growing.)
the babies
(both now 2) repeated their watermelon fest from the previous year. the two of them could eat a whole watermelon on their own.


their was lots of live music and great dancing!!
the new attraction this year was this bungee jump. the kids all enjoyed it, even the four year olds were let on despite the fact they were just a couple of pounds short (yes, you had to stand on a scale before going on the ride - just one of the reasons that deterred me from going on). the guy running it was kind and kept "slinging" the little girls up in the air. they loved it!! lily is definitely fearless. i climbed the rock wall again, but didn't make the top this year. thankfully no pictures were taken (i guess husbands can be trained in some areas. i learn too; i'm not crazy enough to make a link to the pics from last year.)
our friends will be in japan on assignment for the next three years. but luckily, we saw laina's family lots too. we might be tagging along with them next year (ok with you, laina?). it's funner with friends.

Monday, June 2, 2008

welcome baby ian!

my brother and his wife, had their baby boy, ian, last thursday (yeah another may birthday for my side of the family - my parents would say this with heavy sarcasm. personally, i think he picked the perfect week to arrive.) anyhoo, i don't have any good digital files to post yet, but you can go here to see the handsome fellow. the fun thing is that his initials spell IBM which is where my dad has worked for the past 30+ years (he must be approaching 40 years now). anyhoo, ian will have lots of free monogrammed stuff. congrats tim and ash!! we look forward to meeting you, ian.

quotables

"is that lily holding baby lily?" -lily's response when i showed her a picture of gracie holding her when lily was a baby.

"drama class is actually a lot of fun." -gracie (this is only humorous in that grace seemed surprised by how much she likes drama class. this from my child who we refer to as "a drama queen" when she is not around.)

"mom, you can go with my teacher and i'll stay home with japie and evan. daddy can go to work, and i'll be the mommy" -lily, in response to learning that she would be going to preschool next year instead of this year.

"mom, if you don't get rid of that smell soon, you're going to have to buy a new car." -gracie when it took me a couple of days to clean out my car after returning from a road trip.

"mommy, they have dress-ups for you!" -lily while walking by the prom dress section at macy's.

"i said the prayer "last"-erday." -lily's replacement word for "yesterday."