Feast yer' eyes!

My pretty bouquet from G is getting prettier. It had closed lilies on it when I got it, which have now opened up into huge pink and yellow flowers! Look!

I had to take a lot of pictures of it because we are leaving for a few days and I'm scared it'll be dead when I get back :( Today was a busy day filled with packing and cleaning. Mainly cleaning the van and my dirty children! We ran off after dinner to watch the movie "Brave" with all the in-town cousins! Was quite fun! "Feast yer' eyes!"

Memorable week for all

Today was the grade five graduation! Riley is officially finished with elementary school! I wasn't too emotional because I still have years left with Liam and Shea in that school, and I feel like Riley is ready and happy to leave there! The slideshow was really cool. It faded out from their kindergarten photos into the ones I took of the kids just a few weeks ago. It was a tad emotional to see the changes from their little faces to the much older ones! We loved both the teachers that the boys had this year and are so thankful for good teachers. What would we do without them?!

Liam finishes up softball today. He has loved it and it is the first sport he hasn't whined and complained about!! Phew, cuz it was two days a week for the last two months! Here is their cute little team...

Running home...

Shea had a big preschool graduation as well on Tuesday...

And of course, Greg and I had a big celebration of our own...

Hello Summer!!!

It was great to have G come home again from New York. Happy reunion! So we've had a good week hanging out again and are now celebrating our 13th. Time flies when you're having fun!! I love my Greg. Shea asked me to put on my wedding dress for him. I've been into watching "Say Yes to the Dress" on Netflix. He took one look and said..."Not good". I guess he has watched too many shows with me and is now aware that this one is clearly out of style!! Oh well. I wouldn't choose it now either....

Playing with the girlies

Today we had our little girlie cousins over. They were kept busy with bubbles, riding the plasma car, splashing in our water table, squirt guns, the trampoline and painting on wood. Sadly these girls won't be in Salmon Arm much longer. The time has gone so fast!

Father's Day...sans daddy!

Today mom and I took the boys off to Margaret Falls. It has been so rainy the past few weeks, and I've wanted to go as I knew it would be so gorgeous, green and the water would be rushing! It didn't disappoint. The boys in their "man cave". That's what they called it! We stopped at the park on the way home, and I knew I should have packed their suits!! We were rained out and left in a hurry. (excuse the bad angle on this self-portrait, but here we are, mom...thanks for joining me today!)

MOM cop

My friend saw me downtown yesterday and was laughing with me (not at me), about my optimistic voice in my last blog entry! I'm sure it did sound as though I was gritting my teeth as I was saying some of my "glass-half-full" statements! I must admit though that I AM glad that Greg is in New York, having an adventure. He needs to get out of here and refresh and just be out of the usual grind. I AM happy for him. Honestly. I wouldn't be having as much fun because I'd be feeling too guilty and worried about leaving my job to everyone else. And that is just a mom thing. The dads have to consistently worry about the financial aspects, while us moms have to consistently worry about the caring aspects. It's a mom thing, and I remember the overwhelming feeling I got when I was first left alone in my hospital room with Riley and was thinking...He is MINE, forever! No one will be this child's mother but me and it is now my forever duty that I can never give back. No responsibility will ever be so huge. Even while I'm away, sleeping, sick or tired, I can not give that job to anyone else. I actually am doing fine with all the physical work involved in taking care of three kids. I am organized and actually quite good at making sure we're all fed, cleaned and out the door on time. It is tiring to be the only one doing all the clean-up, tucking in, feeding, driving etc. But it is totally do-able. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have had three kids. Same goes for the summer...having three kids to be physically responsible for is hard, but do-able. What I'm NOT good at, though, is the emotional side of being a cop 24/7. Making things fair, disciplining while cooking dinner, solving problems while in the shower, separating conflicts while on the phone, dealing with their crying outbursts and hurt feelings while two others are talking in my other ear. That stuff makes me lose it. And those are the times when having Greg around is huge. Right now my oldest is doing his best to annoy everyone (esp. before 7am), while my second loves to over-react to every situation and my youngest has turned off his ears. After thoroughly exhausting my discipline tactics, I've resorted to telling the boys that they are needing to deal with these specific faults as sins that need forgiveness and prayer. We are also starting up behavior charts next week, rather than chore charts, to work on their specific behavior issues. Maybe they will be more aware of their actions. The boys aren't always terrible, by the way. They just don't give me an easy time. I'm also a girl, and they are boys. We don't speak the same language most of the time. Overall, we are managing and it is already Friday. I intend to wear us all out over the weekend, keeping out of the house even if it's raining (like the forecast says). Then when Greg is home, I'm going out with some friends, shopping and getting my hair done. ;)

Wow. I have handsome boys! So the countdown to summer is on! I'm starting to freak out about that a little, actually! The lack of routine and busy schedule is a little hard for some of us! It takes a LOT of energy, enthusiasm, patience and creativity to fill up a summer with activities for three busy boys! They all like different things, and their attitudes swing around all through the day. But I think it has gotten easier as we go along through the years, so I'm hoping this one improves even more over the last! Greg is headed off for his first work related trip to New York City in the morning! He will be gone for a full week, and with the nutty schedule of school field trips and other activities, it will be a busy week for me! I am sure he'll have a great time! This morning I took head shots for all of Riley's grade 5 graduating class. I did 46 today...we were only missing 3. These will be shown at the school assembly slideshow. They will be fading their kindergarten shots into these "big kid" shots and all the mothers will be bawling their eyes out! I can't show you them, but the top photo of Riley is his. Here's to the rest of this busy June!

Lilac love.