Shea's first movie

so this is it

The end of grade three and kindergarten have already come! I can't believe it. I was nearly crying watching Rileys' sweet teacher close off her class asking each child what they appreciated about the year. She cried as she opened up her gift from the class. She was great for Riley this past year, and he really did well with her. I love her positive attitude and strive to find the strengths of each child and work with those things with much positive reinforcement. I have found in the past, that teachers tend to focus on the negative and try to beat that out of Riley without doing much to focus on the things he really is good at. I really thank God for good teachers and know that she taught me how to focus on the positive as well. My kids are so lucky to be able to benefit from a great school.
Liam, though he hates public speaking and performances, he excels at everything else, especially Math, writing and PE! I'm hoping to keep up with their reading, writing and math over the summer so they don't have a hard time transitioning back in the fall.
So now I need to step into high gear and keep three busy boys entertained for two months. Wish me luck!

rock climbing in our flip flops

When life lately is ALL about the kids, and school, work and bills...it is so nice to just get away and think about US.
We've been hitched for 11 years now. We spent most of the day outside, hiking around in places we wouldn't dream of taking the kids. We also shopped, ate out and came home to watch a movie super late.







It was an absolutely beautiful day with my best friend forever...what do you say BFF?? doesn't sound so hot. LOL

We had another torrential downpour this afternoon. It came with thunder and lightning and so I had to go and rescue Riley from school and stick his bike in the trunk. In the matter of 2 minutes that I was outdoors, I was soaked to my underpants.
Afterwards though, the sun broke through and everything was clean and green. We decided to walk to the park...

Short do

I'm keeping it short for the summer! Just got it cut again today. Next time I go in, I'm going blonde. WHEEEeee!
Short hair is fun! I do intend to grow it out again after the summer, but it has been nice to have it this way for a time!

Daddy's home!

Flying solo

This week Greg is away for work again. It hasn't seemed to be as much of a challenge since this time I actually have a vehicle. We dropped "daddy" off at the airport yesterday afternoon and will pick him up on Friday. On Saturday I may just need some ALONE time!? Time away from these busy three is maybe what Greg needs before we celebrate Father's day. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, no?!

With summer comes bathing suit season. Ugh. I've been trying to faithfully do my Tony Little DVD before bed to help maintain any resemblance of tone! I don't know if you have even heard of Tony Little, but he's pretty crazy!

Here's a picture of the exact DVD...ya, it's a goodie. I found it at the thrift store, okay? Doesn't he have great eyeliner? and you have to watch the program to hear his cheesy one liners. But hey, he walks you through a circuit of buns, abs, back, arms, legs...so it's better than nothing. I'd love to hear of something better out there for sure if you're wanting to inspire me!
Speaking of "inspiration"...we got new neighbors recently. The mom (who is probably in her early 20's) is this little tiny blow-over-in-a-strong-wind kind of girl. In fact she teaches yoga. I feel the urge to MOO loudly whenever I get next to her. No, she's nice and all, she just gives us "big girls" a hard time to hide our Moo-ness.
Sigh. I'll be down in the family room doing some wide-stance squats if you need me!

Sleeping beauty

Check out my little buddy sleeping next to me here on the couch...

Aww...what a little hunny.

We had a wonderful weekend in the sun, and I don't know if it was the sun or the water or just some weird germ he caught, but he has been struggling with a fever for the past two days. He fell asleep while we were reading stories last night (never has ever happened) and then in the buggy on the way to school today (again, never!).
He let me snuggle with him for an hour after he woke up in the buggy, and that was nice. The only thing I really appreciate about my kids being sick...they are so calm and snuggly!
I let him have his two hour nap this afternoon, and he woke up feeling quite a bit better. His fever seems to be gone. I wondered if that two hour nap might keep him up tonight, and it did. He joined me on the couch and watched me surf the net before he slumped over and fell asleep so cute like that.
*sigh*
Thankfully I'm strong enough to still carry this one to his bed. The other two ...not so much!

The new look...

Ok, so blogger updated their templates and design majorly! I had fun with their new backgrounds, obviously! Sorry if it's a little busy on the eyes, but I loved the print so much I had to try it for awhile.

And today I managed to catch a butterfly on camera! I believe it was a first for me (other than at the zoo!).
Happy weekend to you! We spent the beautiful day at the beach with my friends, and it was so lovely. All the kids were swimming and playing at the playground, and now are completely worn right out and sleeping.

In our yard....

Shea and I

It's so hard to get pictures of myself with my kids. I am so thankful that I've gone to Photobooth to get quick candids of Shea and I since he was tiny...




And then look at us today...




(Here's a pile from the last year.)

Once upon a time

We've been to the Enchanted Forest every year since we moved here (so 3 times now), and every time we LOVE it! This time we were able to go with Glen and Bri and their girls, G's parents and our friends. It is such a beautiful day in the woods.
(And for those who asked...those flower pictures from the last post were taken at the zoo, so they are oldies...all on my little camera.) These pictures were also taken on my little Canon Powershot! It sure does well, no?!