A Popsicle and Some Memories: First Field Day

My boy participated in his first school field day. I think I was looking forward to it more than he was. He had been sick prior to field day so I was hoping he would be well enough to participate. His temperature was closer to normal, 98.9, and he was back to regularly picking on/teasing his sister, and therefore well enough to go to school.

I loved field day when I was in school. Playing some games, competing with/against your friends, some teamwork, working hard and trying your best. And if you did well enough you got a colorful place ribbon. Ahh, so much fun!

So imagine my mild shock when the games started and realized everything was a team/whole class effort. Wha..? 

E.V.E.R.Y game involved the whole class... 

and they only played like 7 games... (I remember so many different activities)
and took breaks... (yes, it was warm, but really?)
and got a popsicle...(I never got a popsicle on field day)
and nobody got ribbons. :(

I know, it's all for fun, and we don't want anyone to feel left out, and we don't want kids to get any hurt feelings, blah, blah, blah.
Where was the spirit of competition and sportsmanship? Of trying your best even if you don't win? Never give up, never surrender! (name that movie) We'll get 'em next year. Yeah, none of that happened.

Anyway.

We had a good time and enjoyed this new experience. It was fun to see the kids play their games. I took some photos of course.

Egg and spoon balance race: even the teachers joined in.

40 yard dash and noodle partner race:

Popsicle break. Then, the human chain race:

Hippity hop race:

Pop the balloon race:

and a fill the bucket race.  

The photos of the kids on the blue hoppers were so funny! Some kids had the funniest expressions when they would bounce. Loved it!

When I was telling my husband about field day and how different it was from when we were kids in school, he said something that shocked me. 
"Ugh, I hated field day in school." 
*gasp* 
Did I just hear him correctly? Why would anyone not like field day? I've never met anybody who hated field day. What is wrong with him? 
And then the realization of why he said that came to light. "Because it involved some (minimal) athleticism and physical activity...?", I said. And he agreed! And it was academic related. Nerd. :)  He also doesn't like sports so it makes sense...I guess.

After over 8 years of marriage and almost two decades...is that right?..two decades!...doing the math...yep...since we first met in high school, you learn something new about a person.

Are there other people out there who disliked field day?

Random Kid Moments

A couple of weeks ago I was getting the kids ready for the day...the boy off to school, and then the girls (daughter and I) got to spend the rest of the day together. My girl loves those days. Mostly because she gets to use the kid computer all by herself and watch whatever her little heart desires. I do make her get away from it and do other things, though.

But this particular morning she was excited to spend the day at home with me. She went to go brush her teeth at the other end of the house and I heard her exclaim with excitement, "The sun is awake!" I guess if she has to be awake the sun might as well join her. 

When we dropped the boy off at school and he climbed out of the car she said, "He's a good boy." I had a flashback to something akin to the tv show Dennis the Menace when she said that, like she had something to do with raising him. He is a pretty good kid. So is she.

Yesterday we got some much needed rain, and the temperatures cooled off a little. I would like to enjoy a little more spring time before summer scoots its way in if you don't mind Mother Nature. Please and thank you. 

The kids were inquiring about playing in the rain. But we had had some thunder so I explained that playing in the rain would not be safe. 

Right before it was time to get them to take a bath we had another rain shower come by. Even though I had been rejecting their requests to play in the rain the girl puts on her rain boots (on the wrong feet of course), puts on her rain jacket, and gets her umbrella. She showed up looking like this...

How could I say no to that? I couldn't. So she went outside on the deck. Then, the boy wanted to go too. His rain jacket is a few years old so he has outgrown it, but that didn't stop him from putting it on so he could join his sister.

I don't know what to do with all of this cuteness. 
Happy Friday y'all.

Oh, what a two weeks it has been

And I am exhausted. I want another break but things have got to get done. Lots of things. I don't want to talk about any of them right now. I want to hide, but I am a responsible person and need to face it all head on because it's not going to go away if I hide. It'll be waiting for me. *sigh*

One of the things I have been wanting to do since the weather warmed up was to get my studio back into some sort of working order. 

How in the world did all of this stuff fit in my studio in the first place and where am I going to put it all? This was just the stuff that was in my way and needed to find a better home.



Reorganized studio? Check that baby off the list! I did it. 

I am so thankful for the warmer weather we have been having lately, and the sunshine. Loving every minute of it! It has been great to get back in my studio now that things have a place and I can find things again, or at least have a better idea of where things are now. Woohoo! I'm even getting some projects done. Mostly projects I had started but didn't finish for reasons I no longer remember. Things are getting done now and it is awesome. I can see the floor and have my work space back.

Time to get more projects completed, especially ones that I have control over.

Happy Mother's Day everyone! And remember, Eve was a mother to all things before she had kids. Enjoy.

She Turned 4

My spunky girl turned 4 years old over the weekend. It was a busy day, but I am sure she had a good time.

The day before her birthday I took her outside for a photo shoot.

Gosh, she is getting big. Slow down.

While I was taking her picture, her brother came outside to play, and while I did know he was outside I didn't know that he was not wearing a shirt. I was surprised when I turned around and saw him like this:

Have you met my male model?

His eyes get me every time. Smoldering. Cute. He's just adorable. And so skinny. Cracks me up. He's definitely got his parents' build, when we were younger of course, but according to my mother-in-law the hubs wasn't quite that skinny at that age. He gets that from me.

Back away girls! He's got to study!

Back to the girl...

So I made her cake in her favorite colors, and decorated outside...in the dark.

The balloons didn't stay attached like I had hoped so I was glad to have this photo to show how it would have looked if the wind was calmer. Pretty neat.

The next morning my girl awoke as a new four year old.

When the candles were lit on her cake, she said her stars were glowing.

We had a big day filled with friends and family to celebrate the day she came into our lives as our baby girl.

Happy Birthday Punky!

And not to be forgotten, but today is my hubs' birthday. Poor guy, he kinda gets lost in the kids' celebrations since they are all within one month of each other. Happy Birthday Sweets! Love you.

The Things My Kids Say

Kids are funny creatures. As soon as you think you have them figured out they throw you a curve ball. And then start growing up and you start the think to yourself, "Did he/she get taller overnight?" "When did he/she learn this?" "What happened to my little child and where did this big kid come from?" 

Seriously kids, stop growing! 
Part of this may be brought on by their spring birthdays and knowing that they are turning another year older. Where did the time go? 

I've always said that the more you add to life the faster the time goes by. 

It's true. 

College went by fast with the help of 2-3 jobs, one thing ends and another begins, and then you get engaged, plan a wedding, get married, and life changes again. You find your "forever" job and time goes by all too fast. A couple years later you add one kid, then after a couple more years you add another one. Then, they really start changing and growing quickly, and before you know it you have one in Kindergarten and another who is a preschooler and no longer a toddler. And when did he/she get so tall?

Anyway, back to the things my kids say. I came home from work earlier this week and this is how my children greeted me:
Boy: Hi, Mommy!  :) (aww, hi sweetie.)
Girl: Did you shoot any bad guys at work today? :/ (uh, we need to have another conversation about what it is I do all day.)

The answer to her question is no, I didn't shoot any bad guys, or anyone for that matter, at work, in case you were curious.

Kids.

Well, this ended up being a way longer post than I had intended. Have a great rest of the week and weekend. And Happy Easter!

Not Much to Talk About

I've been working on projects and cleaning my house. Oh, and working, doing laundry, helping with homework and going to baseball games. 

My girl has a birthday at the end of the month and her invites finally arrived in the mail. I was able to send some to daycare so her friends would have a heads up. This has led me to attempt a massive cleaning of the house and I have a long way to go. The living room is looking good though, dining room is ok. The kitchen needs some organization and scouring, as well as the bathrooms. We'll get there. 

I've got some grant work coming up that needs attention. We discovered that we had some leftover money and are desperately trying to spend it. My department selected the new officer of the year this week. It's nice to be able to pass that on to someone else.

I finished a project for a friend. I am hoping she will come and get it soon. A pillowcase top, applique shirt, and ruffle pants.

My girl had been asking for a long dress, like a princess. I found this cute, summery seersucker fabric at Walmart and made her a long dress. I used a free bodice pattern from here that I had to make a little smaller across the chest for a better fit. 

I measured my girl while she was sleeping to get how long to make the skirt piece. She wanted it to go down to her feet. It's the perfect length for a maxi style dress, but I can add a ruffle on the bottom to make it longer, if only she would make up her mind if she wants one or not.

I added ties at the shoulder and a lining to the dress. Seersucker tends to be a little sheer, especially if the background fabric is white. I think she is ready for a luau. 

That's what I have been doing. Oh, and tracking down my dogs who dug under the fence and escaped. One came back as soon as I noticed they were missing so I figured they had just gotten out recently. The beagle, well, he was gone for over an hour before I spotted him coming back home when we went searching in the other direction. At least he was heading back home, he looked hot and thirsty.

My Week and This March

There have been some little things that have happened this month that I thought were interesting...to me, anyway.

Here's what our little family has been up to.

Spring consignment sales have come and gone. Love it when these sales happen! Here's what I got this year. The girl didn't really need any summer clothes but I did pick up some stuff for next year. I got some great deals for the boy. $3 for cleats for baseball! Brand new shirt for $3. A bike that was in great shape for $25! I also got a few other things for their upcoming birthdays (bike, games, assorted toys).

Spring baseball finally got underway. So far of the the six games we should have played, we have only played three of them due to weather. One of which was supposed to be on the boys' birthday, but it rained, and it was our turn to bring snacks, and I made cupcakes for everyone. The cupcakes ended up going to the kids' Sunday school class.

This year his team got their names on the backs of their shirts. Cute! So official.

I made a montage of the past four seasons he has played t-ball.

Aww. Look how little he was! He certainly is growing. Stop it.

One of my girls' daycare friends' brother is on the boys' team for the second season in a row. They like to hang out together during the games. It looks like my girl, and Marie, decided to find another family to join. She just made herself at home next to them. Her friend was somewhere else.

The boy. He turned six. Six! He is so much fun. Smarter than I don't know what. He got his report card the other day and he is just blowing kindergarten out of the water. Out of the 39 areas he gets graded in, he has only gotten four 2's for the third quarter. The rest were 3's, which is the highest number he could get. He's above his level for kindergarten reading, too. He's pretty awesome.

My girl, helping me with the boy's birthday cake. My goal is to make her birthday cake next month for her party. I thought I would practice with his birthday to make sure everything turned out the way I wanted.

Pretty dang good for my first ever try with making/using fondant. The fondant I made doesn't really have much flavor, or any flavor at all. But I like the recipe and it did what I needed it to do, so it's a win. Also, marshmallow fondant is kind of chewy.

A coworker gave me a coupon to Monkey Joe's. You buy one admission and the second one is free. So, half price for both kids! They had a good time, which was a nice change of pace from when I took them a couple of years ago. The boy was very unsure of playing near kids that he didn't know. As soon as a strange kid would get in the bounce house he would immediately get out. I think playing baseball has helped immensely with this. It was so fun to see them enjoy being kids.

One thing that made my heart happy was seeing my kids play together. Don't get me wrong, they play well together at home and outside, usually. One of them ends up in tears (girl), or they argue about something, or over something. I was watching them together. The boy was looking out for his sister. He made sure he knew where she was, stayed near her, interacted with her, and helped her get on some of the inflatables if she couldn't do it herself. He looked out for her and I noticed it. So did another mom because she commented to me about how he was looking out for her. ♥ happy.

Since there was no baseball we waited for dad to get home for the rest of the birthday fun...cake and presents.

I think he likes his new bike. He's been asking to take the training wheels off his old (toddler) bike. So I took one off for him to practice balancing before he knew he was getting a big kid bike. We've practiced a little with riding a two-wheeler with me hanging on. He will be so excited to be able to ride it by himself one day.

So that is what I have been doing this past month of March, and a little sewing.