That's Some Good Parentin'

I sit here trying to drown out the screaming and squealing while the kids and I hang at BK. Steve is at practice, plus it's Friday Fun Night so we're living large. Ok so that isn't the best parenting food wise, but we don't come here very often, so I'll defend myself...lol.

While we're sitting here, some parent starts yelling up at the tubes telling his kid to punch another kid in the face. (The dad doing this has a broken hand, so I imagine he hit someone himself.) It wasn't my kid he wanted his kid to punch, but I just can't believe how some parents act. No wonder why so many kids are messed up!

Big sigh......

We'll Throw Those In For Free!

The other night we noticed something on the tile in the kitchen , but I figured it was a leaf, dirt or something else the kids' shoes brought in. No, there were at least a half dozen baby toads. They were maybe the size of a dime. We didn't quite have all of the trim put back on by the slider door yet and they must have just hatched and come in a tiny hole. I'm not scared of those kinds of things, but I was extremely paranoid I wouldn't see one and then would step on it. We thought we found all we could, but alas the great grey hunter found one. He was staring at something later in the family room and there was a baby toad by the Littlest Pet Shop (apparently looking for Emma's frog). He totally blended in with the carpet. Who knows how many escaped, but I can't imagine you could find much to live on in here! Oh wait...I forgot about all the food crumbs that seem to end up under the couch. They'll wait and get big and then if we decide to list our house, they'll make an appearance at an open house! 4 bedroom 3 bath house, toads included!

Taste the Meat, Not the Heat!

Bible School has come and gone. And as it does every year, it confirms that fact that I would not make a good teacher. I just don't have the patience, especially for brats and kids that are old enough to know better! Plus it was hot out..I don't like heat either. P and E were quite impressed with my puppet skills, so maybe I could be a puppeteer in a future life?

We are done with Little League and so now E is doing Parks and Rec tball and P is back doing TKD on a regular basis. He should be able to test for his green belt in a couple months. The big city appears to be back to normal after the flooding although I am sure they are still cleaning up in the couple areas that had a lot of water. Some of the other poor cities in the state, not so lucky. Times like this I'm glad we don't have a basement, although.... we are thinking about moving and getting a house with a basement...silly us! I honestly have no idea if we will move or not, but there are a couple houses that have peeked our interest that are bigger etc. The thought of having to get our house ready to show and getting rid of clutter and packing though wears me out, so laziness may prevail!

The 4th of July is sneaking up on me and there are a million things to get ready. Of course there is the Hansen Family BBQ, the parade (no float this year TG), the usual meeting up at the bars in town and also an anniversary party this year. We need haircuts, some new duds and so on. Plus I need to lose a lot of weight by then!! (Ok, that part won't happen in time).

Tonight we had a small miracle, Parker ate a cheeseburger! It was actually a double and he called it a Crabby Patty. They are very into Spongebob right now, but if that is what it takes, then go Bob go! He also ate corn! Emma ate a little, but was not happy about the grill marks. I've been letting the kids stay up to late and it's catching up to her and causing even more 'tude than usual.

Well I guess that's about it. Comments on the latest reality stuff: Top Chef happy with who one, wouldn't have minded Richard either. If Lisa would have won, I would have never watched again! The Mole - totally different vibe than the originals which I figured would happen. Everyone is so dramatic on this one. I think it's Clay the lawyer guy. I am 2 for 2 on the original seasons when picking at the very first episode. We'll see if I make it 3 for 3!

If You Feed Them They Will Come...

This week has seen a slight deviation in the Hansen schedule - in that I'm off Monday-Thursday to help with Vacation Bible School in the morning. I play a puppet named Nick and am also in charge of games and snacks. You feed them, so they love to see you! In the afternoons the kids are going to Lauri's. I wouldn't care if they were home, but they wanted to go there, so who am I to argue? Parker has been trading Pokemon and Emma is just uber excited to go since she hadn't gone much since last summer. Free afternoons to myself...sweet! Actually I only end up with a couple hours, because it's a busy week of baseball and soccer so I have to get them picked up early, fed and to the fields by 5 or so. I had time to make a few scrap things so check out the other blog if you want to see them.

Man this post is boring....

Scrap Stuff is Moving!

I've set up a new blog where I'll now post my scrap stuff. This blog will be more just about family doings and pictures, although I still may throw in the occasional card or layout!

My Scrap Creations

4 Band-aids, 3 Stickers, 8 Sticky Lizards and 4 Chicken Nuggets Later...

The Kindergarten shots are done! From what I hear there was a bit of crying for dramatic affect, but after a trip to Walmart all was well! I'm sure it hurt and she did go around for the rest of the day and say, "But Daddy, it's my special day!" (meaning I get what I want today) She was promised a small toy at WM and Parker knew he wouldn't get one. Emma insisted he get one too though because it wasn't fair to him. They both picked really cheap items, so Daddy caved. Emma picked Sticky Lizards from the party decor section. $1.88...sweet! Of course a couple sticky lizards are already missing. Nothing at our house stays with all pieces attached for long. They also went to BK for lunch and all the kids there learned all about their new toys and Emma's 4 Band-aids. Also learned that Emma was big for her age, but that came as no shock to us. 100 percentile for height and 93 percent for weight, so guess that means her junk in her trunk is gone!

As for the flooding around here, in our area it's fine. Weather has been nice the last couple of days and all the baseball and soccer has gone on as planned. They were evacuating downtown today, but alas we had to stay at work the entire time. Only part of our building and all our parking was in the evacuation zone, so therefore it was a no go on the leaving early. I guess the police/gov't were telling everyone to leave. Of course we would need those cars and open roads to get home, but I guess that would have been our own problem if the water came earlier than expected! Plus hey it's Friday, we want to leave early :-) Nothing happened though and my drive home was uneventful...whew! A number of people are getting flooded out here and across the state, so that is very sad.

On the scrappy front, I got a card picked up for Paper Crafts - Quick and Easy issue today. Here is also a link to another of their special issues that just came out that I have two items in - a headband and an altered pencil cup. Paper Crafting With Kids

Water Logged

It rains, it stops, it rains, it stops. This has caused a lot of flooding all over the state. Where we live is up higher and we don't have a basement, so we've been water free so far. I work downtown and last night the media was whipping everyone into a frenzy about downtown possibly flooding this week. (The media is so excited about this flood stuff, I swear some of them might wet their pants soon...I find media generally irritating on most stories). I work about 5 blocks from the river. During the Flood of 93 the lower part of our building was under water. Of course that got my brain thinking this morning and was trying to figure out where to park. I normally park in the garage, but if we suddenly needed to leave it would take hours to get out since we'd be leaving at once and I do NOT want to be stranded at work! If I parked on the surface lot I could get to my car, but it might under water or we could get hail. I was lazy and parked in the garage. About noon they showed pictures of Court Avenue (right next to the river) flooding. A friend and I walked down a couple hours later (trying to stay off TV, cameras were everywhere) and everything was dry as a bone. We missed the 5 minutes of flooding! I must admit the news people did a good job of playing that up! I posted some pics from the bridge and there are also some street lights under water in one of the pics. You are supposed to stay off the bridge, but I see some people are being rockstar parents and taking their kids out on it...duh! There has been a lot of flooding on my way to work, but I never think to take a picture. A lot of that is going down, but it sounds like more rain in predicted.

In other news, the kids are having a good time home with daddy this week. Tomorrow Emma goes for her Kindergarten shots...I know there will be drama!!! I know she'll end up talking him out of a treat or something. They also tried to trap dad yesterday. Instead of using tape though, they used push pins. Luckily Steve stepped on some that were point down. The kids had put their shoes on, so they were thinking. I believe this was also taken from Tom and Jerry. Mr. Mean Daddy quickly put an end to the trap!

Tomorrow is my 2nd Pilates class...I think I have a death wish!

Quick, Easy and Unloved

I went back and looked and I guess it hasn't been as long as I thought since I made my last layouts. I made these 3 back in March for a cover call. They had to be 8 1/2 x 11, simple, bright colors and spring/summery feel to them. Long story short...no love, so I'm sharing!

Parker update: He had said he was tired last night which is unlike him, then he slept till 7 which is not like him, then he took a 3 hour nap which is not like him. He mentioned his ear hurts. Unlike drama queen Emma he hardly ever says anything hurts on him, so we knew something was up. Steve had made a check up appt for him today, so the timing worked out well. He ended up have a really bad ear infection (I think from all the allergy drainage lately). I think his last ear infection was 5 or 6 years ago! In his checkup they also drew blood and had him wizz in a cup and he found both things quite fascinating. Maybe there is a doctor in my future after all????

I can hear it thundering...rains must be coming again....

Brother Can You Spare A Quarter?

I looked at the window yesterday and see Parker sitting out in the hot sun in the back yard, patiently waiting for customers for his lemonade (it was actually clear Kool-aid...lol). He had put this together all by himself, so allergies and all I headed outside to buy a cup. He only gave you about half a cup and said that if you wanted it to the top it'd be another quarter...quite the business man! I'm not sure where he thought all of his customers would come from since he was in the back yard and also the fact that we only have a couple neighbors, but I have to love him for his entreprenuer skills! Emma then gets into the sales business too. She has me make her some popcorn and gets some bowls and gets some money out of me too! I didn't tell her that the Dept of Health wouldn't go for bowls in the grass! I couldn't stop sneezing so I didn't stay long, but the neighbor girl came over sans quarters and they were nice and gave her some anyway. So they won't make it as CEO's...they are too nice!

I don't think they'd be as successful in the cat trapping business. The other day I could hear them upstairs making a lot of noise. First one would come down for tape, then scissors, then a bowl of cat food. I went to check out things and saw their "cat trap." He had taken scotch tape and put it on the carpet sticky side down. Emma had taken some bright pink yarn and made a pile and she also labeled his bowl of food so Cooper would know where it is. It reminded me of Tom and Jerry, which is probably where they got the idea! Ideally this is how it would go. Cat would see the yarn and food and walk to it, but get stuck in the tape (I didn't mention to him that it should be sticky side up) and when he was stuck they'd put a clothes basket on him. Unfortunately for them the cat did not fall for this or actually I think he was napping so he missed everything. A little while later I sat on our bed and Cooper pops out from under it wanting some petting. Parker came in with the clothes basket for the capture. In the end they were able to trap him after all!

Don't Faint...I made a page!

To be honest I don't remember the last time I did a page. I discovered a cool blog How Much Is Too Much and decided to make a page for this week's challenge : 5 patterned papers, 4 chipboard pieces, 3 rubons, 2 clear accents and 1 non scrap item. I used the tag from the shirt that Emma has on it the picture. I've already scrapped this picture before, but I had an extra copy of this one due to a WM screwup and I just love this picture of Emma. Plus my options were limited since I haven't printed anything in awhile.

The Sixth Sense

It just keeps raining. Although I guess it hasn't rained in over 24 hours so that's good, although more is predicted. There are a number of areas flooding. I went up to register Emma for dance today and the highway I take was flooded over so I had to take a more scenic route to get there. I am also seeing water where I've never seen before when I drive to work. I need to remember my camera! I guess this is one time I'm glad I don't have a basement or it'd probably be wet. Now when the tornado comes and gets us, I'll be singing a different tune.

We had baseball 4 nights this week and managed not have a one of them cancelled due to rain. It waits to hit until you try to sleep and can't see a thing outside. One night we did have a little bit of hail. Parker was able to go fishing with his Cub Scout troop Friday night. We had to stop and get some worms on the way there. The next thing I know we are pulling up to a guys house next to a cemetary who apparently sells worms out his garage. Possibly other "things" judging from the area, but I digress. Anyway we pull in and Emma points to the cemetary and says, "I see dead people." She is destined to be in movies! The weather wasn't too bad and the fish were even biting. A little windy, but the kids soon got bored and the adults did most of the fishing anyway. I was the one who kept catching them (sunfish) and so the kids got to hold them and help throw them back. Most of the dads appeared to be fishing novices.

Today was hot and sticky and we finally turned the air on. A hot mommy is a crabby mommy! Plus our upstairs always gets so hot. Steve blew up the pool and they were outside most of the afternoon. They appeared to not get a sunburn this time, whew! They also became entreprenuers, but I'll share that on the next post. We decided to treat the kids to Pizza Hut and seeing Kung Fu Panda tonight. While we were waiting at Pizza Hut, he was reading the kids coloring sheet and it says - If you were president for a day, what would you do? Real mater of factly he says, "I'd be on a quarter!" Of course they nearly blew a gasket when we said we were going to a movie. We don't go to movies generally so this was a big treat for them. Steve showered and gussied himself up a bit before we left. Emma says, "Daddy we aren't going to church. You don't have to look so handsome."

Now I Can Retire!

I'm a powerball pool with the girls in my department. 10 of us are in on it. I know we won't win, but I pay my $5 a month more as security, because with my luck they would win and I'd be left out and have to keep going to work while the rest of them didn't! We won $100 last week and so I'll live large on my cut...sweet!

Had Miss E's graduation yesterday. There were 40 kids altogether. Of course I thought she looked adorable. The associate is also a photographer so she made the neatest personalized printed digital scrapbooks of what they did this year at school. I also really liked her teacher and I know Emma had fun. Especially with having so many boys in her class :-) I know she'll be sad about not seeing them again until she gets a whole new crop of playmates in Kindergarten. She is also excited about riding the bus (believe me, the novelty wears off). They start back on July 9th, so we only have about a month left. Within that month we'll have VBS, a bunch of baseball, a very busy 4th of July and a week home with dad because of no daycare. We're not planning to take a vacation, but we're hoping to get to Adventureland sometime before school starts.

Parker also had his last day of school yesterday and he called it a party day. I didn't get a lot of info out of him about it, but he excited about being a second grader, because he hears they get homework. He also told Emma he'd help her on the bus and at school if she needed it. We had horrible rain here this morning and it sounds like more the rest of the week. We are supposed to go on a Cub Scouts fishing trip Friday night so we'll see what happens!

It was also our 13th anniversary today and I got a dozen roses at work today. I had even checked yesterday and we weren't getting each other anything. I even forgot to give him his card this morning. I was really suprised because I'm not one of those girls who require flowers on a normal basis...plus I'm a cheapskate! In this case though he's forgiven :-)

What a Zoo!

I was a little nervous, but the zoo trip went flawlessly! Each parent was put in charge of 4 kids and we had about an hour and a half to tour the zoo. They were so good that I even treated them to food for the fish. You couldn't have asked for nicer weather. No rain and no excessive heat. That probably helped the fact that I thought the trip was a success! The weather stayed nice and so Parker had his game that night.

Friday was fun night at the zoo, but we ended up having fun night at home (after I figured it'd be $6 in gas) and after pizza we kicked the soccer ball around for awhile. Then Emma got distracted looking for bugs and worms in the water in the ditch. Later she did want to play again and wanted us to try to hit her with the soccer ball. This could have gone horribly wrong, but didn't. I think her logic was that she was wearing a bike helmet.

Saturday involved a kite incident. They were both flying their kites in the yard and suddenly Emma comes into the house hysterical. Her My Little Pony Kite had flown away. Steve said it was long gone. My some Christmas miracle it dropped across the road and Steve was able to rescue it. He had also made Emma a Furby bus. (She was getting Furbies out of the prize bucket last week). He built it and Emma decorated it. He was a lot higher on the totem pole than me that day!

Today the kids were able to go swimming at a church friend's house. We screened them up, but apparently not well enough. P's back is crispy and he has red coon eyes. Emma isn't quite so bad, but is red too. I don't think either of them are in pain though (Emma would have let us know I'm sure) so hopefully there isn't any blistering or peeling. I am a sunscreen maniac because of their fair skin. Glad we didn't let them in much longer! Tomorrow is her preschool graduation so hopefully her red coon eyes don't get any worse for pics!

They also made cards for their teachers tonight to give them tomorrow since it's the last day of school for both. Emma has two teachers and luckily she had already started on one a couple of weeks ago. She takes forever! She is a product heavy scrapper and has a vision. Everything has to be just so. Parker is more of a simple scrapper. Title and one embellishment (button). They also wanted to give their teachers pez so that is also included in the card. I'm sure they'll be thrilled!

Figured I'd better get posting since I'll have grad pics to post tomorrow.

Cat Chow Fresh!

Ran to WM tonight to pick up some food for Mr. Cooper. He even more annoying when he gets down to the last few pieces. He'll follow you around and rub against you non-stop all the while looking pitiful. Tonight I got home and of course he must have smelled it the minute I walked in the door because he about knocked me over. While filling the plastic container I keep the extra in, I managed to dump a couple cups right into the washer. Genius I am - I thought maybe I could just put the cat in there and he'd eat it. (Hey, he drinks from the toilet, I thought he might want to eat out of the washer) He did NOT go for that! I got most of it out, but I have a feeling my next load will be Cat Chow fresh!

The clearance section is right by the cat food so I took a peek. Glad I did! I picked up 11 packages of black Dymo label tape for 50 cents each...sweet! They are usually around $3 a package and I go thru tape like crazy when crafting. Also picked up some metal organizer desk thingies for $1 for scrap goodies and 50 cent adapter for some of the kids' video games. Unfortunately I got stuck to a smelly person while on my treasure hunt, but that's the price you pay sometimes.

Tomorrow I'm off to the zoo for Parker's field trip. We'll see how the weather is. I need to pack us both sack lunches, delish! Also supposed to have a bball game tomorrow night, but that's probably iffy too. E's on Tuesday got postponed. 125 first graders at the zoo...this is gonna rock!

Go Fish

The "camping" at Grandma's may have been moved inside for Saturday night, but we did manage to get some fishing in. The kids even went and had a good time. Parker was the first to catch a fish...a bass even! Poor Steve didn't get much fishing done, between helping P and E and helping me. I'm not squimish about worms and fishing, so I don't mind getting my hands dirty, but I swear about everytime the darn fish would eat the hook and that I can't handle. We caught quite a few fish. Emma was in charge of the basket, but eventually it got too heavy and she even stepped in the pond once trying to get them out. In the morning Steve and a few others got up early to get a little more fishing in..so at least he did manage to get some decent fishing time in after all.

After the fishing and Smores (Mom had her very first smore) we got a game of Big Bertha in (of course I didn't win) and even played some Apples to Apples. (Of course Steph won). P and E did sleep in their sleeping bags upstairs, so it was like a mini campout. They kept rolling out of their sleeping bags and Emma ended up with her head under the bed and Parker woke up in the middle of the night because he couldn't figure out where he was.

The next day we went to Littlefield's for the usual Hansen Picnic complete with visiting the animals there. The weather was decent, hot even. All Parker wanted to do was see the pig. At the park there are buffalo, goats, turkeys and last year there was also a pig. Parker was so excited he was still there this year. He gets the biggest chuckle that the pig snorts at this leg. The turkeys weren't noisy like last year, but Parker did find a dead toad that he even picked up...eewww.

Today was Great Grandpa's 80th bday party. We went to the Memorial service in Brayton and then headed to grandpas. There are a lot of little cousins and so the kids had a good time. I had another hot dog (my 3rd for the weekend) and Steve's poke and pour cake looked to be a success. It rained a little that morning, but was nice later on so the kids were able to run around outside. Back there and here we managed to miss the wind/hail and other bad weather that has been hitting around here lately.

Excess Baggage

Well after about 452 trips up and down the stairs...the suitcases are packed and the van is ready to go. Because the weather is questionable over the next couple of days, you couldn't just pack summer stuff, you couldn't just pack warmer clothes. Plus we are planning to fish so you have to also bring stuff that can get dirty! Then we'll come back later on Monday exhausted and depending on how pooped I am stuff may sit by the door for a day or two!

Packing for a trip is very similar to packing for a crop. You bring way too much, you don't know what you'll need when you get there, you trash your room/house while packing and then you have no desire to put everything back when you get home!

Always Low Prices

I have a love/hate relationship with Walmart. Love - that bags of chips are $1 cheaper than Fareway. Hate - there are never enough check out people and when you do get up there, they must comment on everything you are getting. Or telling you how tired they are and when they are getting off of work. (The last comment could also apply to Fareway) E and I ran there while P was at TKD tonight so we were on a strict time schedule. Of course the 3 checkers had people backed up so I braved the self-checkout. I only had around 20 items, although I generally only tackle it when I have less than 5. Last time I got up there to ring up E's flip flops and no tag! This time, everytime I would scan something, the skip bag thing would come on the screen and then say you need to get assistance. Of course the assister was helping the other 3 machines that were also having problems. Then I figured out if I waited 20 seconds, the assistance thing would go away. So what felt like 20 minutes later we were done. I even braved ringing up bananas!

When we pulled into the parking lot Emma says, "Yeah...this is the place with the always low prices!" "Is everything made in China here?" Something she got at school today was made in China and she's asked us about 100 questions tonight on why things are made in China. I left out the nitty gritty crappy details and just told her that there are a lot of places to make things there. At this age, you still sugar coat things a bit.

Tomorrow both kids have field trips to the park, so I need to remember to screen them up. Who knows with the weather here. Today was cold again, yesterday bright sun and warm. The cafeteria is making them sack lunches, so at least I don't have to tackle that!

Stopped for gas today since it was "only" $3.69 here and was higher than that in DM. I'm going to need to get a Le Car at this rate! The van's engine light has been going off and on forever and so we took it in today so Steve took me to work today. All I can say is that gas can be $13.69 a gallon and I don't think we can ever car pool together. I just have to be in control and drive myself! (Plus he's a bit crazy with the brake and steering wheel sometimes, but don't tell)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Emma is a daddy's girl. She has picked up a few of my traits - moodiness, craftiness and sleeping-in-ness. She is also an outdoor girl. That, she did NOT get from me! She also loves to garden and plant stuff (not me again). This year she has her own section of the garden. She got to plant all of her favorite veggies she likes to eat - green beans, peas, cabbage, carrots, spinach. She even made herself a sign - how cute!

Sickie update - all appears to be well! After the whole ordeal with one of the medicines and the insurance company only allowing capsules, Monday night she took it in pudding and also a nasty smelly green liquid one too. She slept great that night and woke up ready for school. I really wasn't thinking she'd be ready, because Monday night she still looked awful. Last night she didn't want the pill broken up into the pudding (it must have been nasty) so instead she swallowed it with water. Gosh I think I was 10 or so before I figured out how to swallow pills. She thought she was the cat's meow after that!

Sounds like we have a full social calendar for Memorial weekend. Going back home most of the weekend - camping, fishing, picnicing and a birthday party.

Top Chef is on tonight. The only reality TV show on right now I watch. I'm having serious withdrawl. Can't wait till The Mole starts in June! (Old news, but was bummed that Skankster won Survivor)

Waiting is the hardest part......

Poor Miss E has been having some "throw up" issues. The whole thing is weird. She has been waking up in the middle of the night and throwing up (but only on the weekends). It's happened a little bit the two weekend before and now this weekend each night she's been sick. During the day then she's been perfectly fine. The poor thing was exhausted this morning and so went to the dr. Plus she is no longer wanting to eat anything. When it was first happening we thought she'd eaten too much junk and maybe upset her tummy. Luckily I was able to get in to see the doc I like this morning. Of course since he's so thorough he's always behind schedule. First we explained to the nurse, then the med student, then him. They all seemed puzzled (but didn't actually say that). She had an x-ray done of her tummy. He wants to hold off on during a bunch of blood work unless it's absolutely needed. They think it might some mucus/drainage stuff or acid reflux that's causing it (That's kind of what Steve and I were thinking). Of course after the xray we had to wait a long time in the exam room for him to come back and in the process Emma fell asleep on the table. Her medicine is to be taken before bedtime so we went ahead and headed home instead of making her wait at the pharmacy forever. She proceded to walk in the door and collapse on the couch. I carried her upstairs and she snoozed for 4 hours and just got up a bit ago. While I was typing, the dr's office called and I guess the insurance company won't give the one medicine in liquid form, only capsule (unless there is proof that she can't take a capsule...duh she's 5!). They said she can take it in pudding. Right now I still can't get her to eat much so this should be interesting. She is supposed to eat bland stuff for the next couple of days (BRAT diet) so I made her some banana chops and toast chops. So far 2 little banana chops down the pipe. She tried to drink some milk, but that did not cooperate. The xrays didn't show anything horrible (I was trying not to get upset and was worrying it'd be something horrible and Emma did so good laying still for it). In a bit we'll run in and get her meds. Yeah for drive up pharmacy! Stuff always happens when Steve is gone..although usually it involves something breaking on my van instead.



Since I haven't blogged in awhile, I'll do a quick recap of the last week's activities. This time of year is the "perfect storm" - to quote Pam from "The Office." May is always the craziest month for us kid-wise.

Sunday - Last day of Sunday School party, then had E's baton/tumbling/dance recital thing. She looked so darn adorable! I was a little nervous that she'd get sick and miss it. I about died when they came out and I didn't see her. But turned out that Cinderella's butt was in front of her at first! They were mice from Cinderalla. She did awesome and kept a smile on her face. Her skills have really improved and she knew the routine. It also helped this was her 2nd year. At the same time of the recital was P's baseball game. Emma's baton part was at the beginning of the recital so Steve raced over to see that and then he and Grandpa Blue House went to the rest of the game. Gma Blue House and I stayed for her tumbling part. E then had a game at 4. The poor thing was pretty tuckered from all the activity, plus she'd been up in the middle of the night! But she was a trooper. She konked out at 7 without an argument.

Saturday - Soccer for noodle in the morning and then P had his Cub Scout picnic where he got promoted to a Wolf Cub. He was so excited I thought he was going to explode. He is already pouring over his Wolf book and looking at all the arrows/points he can earn. Knowing him he will become obsessed with it. He's already talking about one day how he'll been an Eagle Scout. They also flew kites at the picnic (It was very windy!! But they both did great. Those $3 kites from WM rocked! Emma's didn't come down once and she informed us that she is a "Natural Born Kite Flyer." When someone else's kite string broke though and they lost their kite, they panicked and said they were done.

Friday - P had his Olympic Day (Track and Field) at school and I took off work to go. He was uber excited I was there and begged me to stay at school with him all afternoon too. I know one of these days he'll be too embarassed to have his mom around! Olympic Day was only in the morning though and I didn't want to disrupt class in the afternoon. He ran the 100 dash and Mr. Legs won his heat. He's always been a fast kid...obviously getting that from his mother! They don't get ribbons or anything, it's all just for fun. He also did a couple of field events, but when you have bright sun, hundreds of kids in matching shirts, I lost him in the crowds and totally missed them. He doesn't know that though! The thing was extremely disorganized and all the kids were thirsty from running and it was pretty hot on Friday. They had warm Gatorade for the kids but they didn't hand that out till after they ate lunch and gave that to them with their melted ice cream treat. Everyone was sticky! Luckily I had a water bottle rolling around in the van so I hurried out and got it (blocks away). That night then was Miss E's dress rehearsal. Also disorganized! She was supposed to be at 6 and it was 7:30 before we left. Thankfully I brought Gameboys and pretzels to tide them over.

When it rains it pours because also on Monday Emma had her Spring Choir Concert at school. They did Frog and Toad and doing the actions looked to be her favorite part. She was also excited Weds because that was Open House night at her school, so she got to go around see things. Seeing the art room was at the top of her list. Parker also helped with the tour. Rest of the week - the usual flurry of activity - baton, TKD and baseball. I know there are some funny anecdotes to share, but when I wait this long to blog they're gone! I'm on the laptop sitting on the couch with Emma, so later on sometime I'll post a variety of pics from this last week.

I did get some scrappy love. I'll be having some cards and tags in the winter issue of Paper Creations. It's a quarterly magazine. Haven't scrapped since the last crop I went to, but I did tidy up my room a bit while E was snoozing today so I can actually get to the table. Everytime I do that I asked myself why do I keep buying? I have more than enough stuff. I need a 12 step program.....

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa Yellow House!

Here is a big happy birthday "shout out" to Grandpa Hansen for his 80th bday today! We are having a bash for his bday over Memorial Day and that should be good times!

I should post on what happenings have been happening this week, but to be honest I'm exhausted, so you'll just have to wait until tomorrow....