Happy Mother's Day!

Shout out to all those mamas out there! I'm so blessed. Great kids and a great mom, too. I can spoil and be spoiled. :)





The kiddos and I.





On Saturday, the Worm and I went to see Beauty and the Beast at the local theatre. I thought the Pear would have little interest (but in hindsight, I think he might have enjoyed it) so he hung out with Mike for the hour or so that we were gone.




After the play, Taylor got a chance to meet the cast. She was thrilled!! There are some definite advantages to living in a small town.

The whole cast. Yes, I'm creeping on Beauty.

Beauty, the Beast and the Worm.

She literally ran up to them. They did such a good job and were soooo nice.

On the way back to the car, Taylor shocked me by talking about how cute the Beast was (for what it's worth, the actor was very handsome). She's not boy crazy at all yet (thank GOD) and still thinks boys border between being her victims in monster-type games and too loud. I was taken aback, but then she added, "yes, he was so furry and cuddly." Yes, she was talking about the actual beast, not the actor, haha.







Church Saturday night and then hung out with our neighbors. The kids had so much fun playing with Ben. I only got one picture:








The Pear was so into this drum. He'd tap the sticks together and on beat say "one, two, three, four" before he'd start playing. So cute.







The kids and I loaded up this morning and went to Panera for breakfast with my mom. She's so much fun! We're only 35 minutes away, but I was she was closer so we could do fun stuff more often. We all visited my dad afterwards, and as usual, I had to pull the kids out of there to go home. Mike and the kids surprised me with a beautiful hanging basket and some sweet cards. I love them all so much. :) We went for ice cream after dinner, which I figure is okay because I did get in about a 12-mile bike ride. The weather was perfect and I enjoyed every minute of it.







Here are a few other pictures from the week. It was hot all week so the kids convinced me to get out the sprinkler and pool.







This was on one of those nights that wasn't really warm enough for the sprinkler, but they were so excited to do it. Their lips were a lovely shade of purple afterwards.

Random cute picture of the Pear.

Have a great week!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Note - The spacing on Blogger is driving me insane tonight and this is my last attempt at making it look okay...

Funny Blog!

A coworker passed along this funny blog today. I was laughing so hard at work that I had tears streaming down my face! I'll link to my favorite post, but the whole blog is great.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Spring Cleaning & Organizing

Bet that humdinger of a title pulled you in.


It rained a ton this weekend, so we had plenty of time to get some things done around the house. Mike is organizing the basement and recently bought a bookshelf for his poker stuff. It looks so good that he went back and got another unit for the Worm and Pear's basement toys. We already have one cubby unit in the basement, but it's not wide enough and games and puzzles always fall off. It looks much better now (and the Pear can't reach all those fun little pieces anymore).

This is one of the moments when they weren't fighting today. They go at it when they are cooped up in the house all day.

I wanted to get flowers planted and mulch down this weekend, but the rain got in the way. I planted most of my flowers, but the mulch will have to wait. It was a muddy enough job planting the flowers! The Pear joined me in flower shopping (you'll notice lots of red this year), while the Worm went with Daddy to pick out the shelves.

Some of the flowers. I wish my bushes looked like this all year long!

The happy little bush got some friends.

I've been kind of wondering why my rose bush looks kind of wimpy this year. Then I saw this:



Taken through my kitchen window (screen) during heavy rain.

Headed back under the deck. I'm assuming this is the maniacal creature that hissed at me the other day. I didn't think rabbits hissed until I checked the Internets. Just look at it - it's got crazy in the eyes.

Taylor gets to celebrate her birthday tomorrow at school. Since nobody in her class has a May birthday, they use this month to celebrate the summer birthdays. Nice that she doesn't get hosed.

We made cake balls and got all crazy with the colors. I think I liked the blue ones the best.

A couple of other weekend pics:

My handsome hound.

Taylor dressed Michael on Saturday. Nice monochromatic look; very slimming. She also put an old pair of her socks on him. Yes, the Pear is wearing girl socks. It's also pretty obvious that she didn't bother to brush his hair.

Have a great week!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Kickin' It Outside

Gorgeous weather today, so I literally spent the entire day outside. Only came in to eat lunch and shower! The Pear and I planted a new bush while Taylor was at school and picked up some bubble shooters (because I can't call them guns, right?) for later. They couldn't wait to try them out after lunch!





Happy little bush. It'll get some new mulch this weekend.






Now parents, what's the worst thing that could happen after buying two cheap, $3 Made in China plastic bubble guns, er, shooters? The worst thing is that ONE works. Lots of crying and screaming involved. The poor Pear, who actually helped me pick them out and chose specific colors for himself and the Worm, got the shoddy one. Now, my kids are okay at sharing, but when they are given their own pretty new toy in their own special colors, they are not willing to part with said toy easily. I had no other choice but to take the cheap, $3 Made in China "shooter" apart and fix the wiring myself. It misfired a little, but worked, and the Worm and Pear were happy again.






Tiny bubbles.

Yay!

I also bought each kid their own small flower pot, with hopes of planting some seeds today. I got everything set up, gardening gloves, potting soil, spades and water. We were ready to go, except somewhere along the way, we lost the pack of seeds. I was convinced they fell through the cracks of the deck and tried to peek under. When I moved a brick out of the way, something - and I have to tell you I have NO IDEA what it was - hissed at me. It definitely wasn't a cat hiss, so I was creeped out. Needless to say, I stopped looking for the seeds.

The Pear was having fun digging in the dirt so I went ahead and let him fill his pot. Taylor and I found some seeds from 2007 and planted them. Do seeds go bad? I'm not hopeful.

Look at his little gloves. :)

While the Pear napped, I mowed the lawn and weed whacked. I have an obsession with weed whacking and use my Worx battery-powered edger/trimmer several times a week. I love it. Despite my best efforts, we had some nasty dandelions this year. I think I've finally gotten rid of them all and like the direction the lawn seems to be headed in. I'm such a nerd.






A few brown spots, but it's getting there! Flowers and mulch are on the slate for this weekend.

Once Mike came home and I showered, we did one of my favorite family activites - eating on the back deck! Mike grilled a steak (I don't eat steak, therefore I don't cook it!) and I made grilled shrimp and sides. Yummy!

I'm sure Champ is just there to enjoy our company.

Off to bed! Have a great night!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Prima Ballerina

I realized the other day that after almost eight months of ballet classes, I only had ONE picture of the Worm in her ballet garb. She had pictures tonight, so she got to wear her pretty recital costume (they are Cinderella), put her hair in a bun and even wear a little makeup.



(For those of you who know my tomboy ways, I had to watch a YouTube video on how to create a bun. It actually turned out really cute. Wish I had gotten a picture of the back of her head. But don't worry, I'm not going all "Toddlers and Tiaras" on ya'.)

All of the little girls were just in heaven with their pretty outfits on.

First position.

So pretty, but growing up way too fast.

Token picture of the Pear. I think Tay Tay taught him how to cheese.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Free Food + Free Game + Family = Great Day!

My work decided to have "School Outfitters Day" at the Reds game Saturday so the Worm, Pear, Mike and I loaded up for the trip to the 'Nati. We had a party tent with free food, beer, snacks and more, not to mention great seats on the first base line. The Reds lost, 5-0, but we still had a great time. Side note: I'm bad luck for the Reds. They lost 11 straight games that I attended in the early 2000s, finally won one and have now lost about five straight since.

Family picture taken by the nice little usher guy.

Taylor and Daddy checking out things at field level.

Michael's turn.

My loves. Check out Taylor's pink lefty's glove.

They were so good.

The Pear was chanting "Go Red Team". Soooo cute!

The Worm was beaming the whole game.

The playground was right behind our seats.

Have a great night!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Grade "A" Day

No school for Taylor today because of parent/teacher conferences, so the kids and I had a lot of fun hanging out. Mrs. Washburn just raved about the Worm at our meeting. I'm so proud of her. She's such a sweet soul and so much fun to be around. They don't give grades in Pre-K, but Taylor had mastered and excelled at all 43 skills on her report card. As most you know, her birthday is near the cutoff and she could have gone to kindergarten last year. She would have done just fine, but I love the confidence she's gotten in this year of Pre-K. I know we made the right decision.

To celebrate Taylor's good report, I bought her a "manager's special" bouquet of flowers and let her select a treat of her choice. She chose fruity mini marshmallows. I never let her have them, so she was thrilled and even shared with Michael (who was equally thrilled). Afterwards, we headed to the park and just enjoyed the sunny spring day.


She put the flowers in her room, on her special "no Michael access" shelf. The flowers in the rainbow vase are from our backyard.


The Pear loves to get into Taylor's bed.


Love them!

To add to her big day, Taylor also found a bright blue robin's egg in the backyard. It was pretty cold, so I'm sure there's no chance of it hatching, but we bundled it up and brought it inside just in case.

The egg matches her eyes!

Michael and Champy enjoying the nice day.

We hit up a different park last night after Mike's game. We just love the warm weather.

If a picture could describe my little girl's personality, this would be it!

He looks bored, but he was just exhausted. I give him props for joining us after 40 minutes of basketball.

Yep, this picture pretty much sums up his personality, too!

Hellooooo down there!

Duck, duck, goose, goose, Worm.

Michael, content to watch Daddy's game.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel