Lana's Preschool Graduation

I can't believe Lana is finished with preschool. She can't really be that big, can she? :(

She was sure proud yesterday though as she did her end-of-the-year program. She couldn't stop smiling and giggling all day long.

Grandpa was nice enough to come and watch Lana's program and help me wrestle this little stinker so that I could take some pictures.

Lana was so excited to have her grandpa there, and gave him a big hug as soon as she received her little diploma.

Lana with her main men. She loves her daddy, her brother, and her grandpa.

I love this picture because you can see Rylee's hand reaching down to help Hayden climb the hill.

Lana's teacher is so amazing. I really can't say enough good things about her. Lana lights up every time she sees Eve, and it is a good thing we get to see her at church or Lana may really struggle as she is leaving preschool. Eve has done so many good things for Lana these past two years and it will be hard to get used to Lana having a different teacher next year. Thank you so much for all you have done, Miss Eve, and we love you!

Rylee was the proud big sister, who thought it was extra special that she got to be there with our whole family, plus Grandpa, for Lana's program. (Being checked out of school for a couple of hours is never a bad thing, right?)

I'm proud of my big girl too. I can't believe she stopped flirting with the boys long enough to take this picture! The stinker!

Lana's cousin, McKenzie also graduated from preschool yesterday, so we had a BBQ with my family to celebrate the little graduates.

The kids went crazy running through the sprinkler and enjoying their beginning of summer!

I had the hardest time getting a picture of Hayden. That kid never stops moving!

And cute little cousin, Isaak.

Thank you for the fun BBQ everyone! We had lots of fun and can't wait until ALL of the kiddos are out of school so that we can do more of this.

Rylee's Opera

For the last two years, Rylee's class has written an opera throughout the year and then they perform it at the end of the year. This year's opera was called "Trouble in the Kingdom." Rylee and seven other cute little girls were witches. They were so cute!

Memorial Day Weekend

On Saturday we had a joint baby shower/bridal shower for my sister, Brooke and for my future sister-in-law, Nikole. The company was awesome and the food was incredible!

Shannon (my cousin's wife) and my aunt, Sheila.

My cousin, Amanda with her sweet baby, my aunt Arlene, and the beautiful bride-to-be, Nikole.

Rylee with my gorgeous cousin, Ashley.

The always fun, shoe-lovin' Marja.

Brooke opening some of her gifts. (She looks so darling pregnant, by the way!) The kids were so into this part! But can you blame them? Baby gifts are irresistible.

Along with the showers, we had some other excitement that weekend. We also bought a new van so that we could trade in our old one while it is still worth something. I had already felt like we had achieved our "Memorial Day Weekend obligations" by spending a lot of money on a car. (You ARE supposed to spend a lot of money that weekend, right? All the ads sure make it seem that way!)

If the new van wasn't enough fun, I went to start a load of laundry after the showers and my washing machine sounded like it was going to explode on me. We had a friend come look at it and decided it wasn't worth messing with. The sucker was almost ten years old, so we put it in it's grave (okay, the garage for now until this weekend when we can move it) and bought a new one. No, we will not be visiting the dump next Memorial Day to place flowers on the grave of our dearly departed washing machine. It has been replaced by a shiny new washing machine.

Whew, what a Friday/Saturday that was. I hope this next weekend is a LOT cheaper!

This brings us to...

MEMORIAL DAY

I had a bunch of costumes to make for Rylee's class opera. Rylee was watching me make the witch skirts and asked if she could help. HECK YES, you can help, sweetie! So I put her to work. She did a fantastic job and loved helping me. (And she looked so grown up doing it too.)

The afternoon of Memorial Day, we were able to have Bill's parents over for a BBQ. We haven't been able to see them much lately, and we haven't really seen them much at all since the holidays. So they brought over Christmas presents for the kids. They LOVED having Christmas in May. They were just like, well, kids on Christmas! ;)

They brought way too many gifts and spoiled the kids rotten. But the kids loved all of it. Hayden hasn't parted with his new Lightning McQueen sleeping bag and pillow since he got it.

Grandma and Grandpa got all of the kids some new PJ's, and they all had to try them on RIGHT THEN, so we took a picture of all of them together.

Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa. The kids loved all of their gifts and it was so good to be able to see you and spend time with you again. We hope to see you again soon!

SOCCER IS FINISHED!!!

I know I shouldn't be so excited about this one, but really, I am VERY excited that soccer is over. It will be fun to be able to do other things on Saturdays again.

Lana doesn't look too upset about it being her last game. She was obviously just given the treats. That will always put a smile on her face. ;)

Rylee is pulling her "I-am-so-tired-and-ready-to-get-out-of-the-heat" face.

Seriously...

Do you ever feel like all you do is wipe off messy faces?

I promise Kate doesn't always look like an orphan. This was taken AFTER church, AFTER she had ripped her cute hair-do out, AFTER her nap, and AFTER we took off her other clothes for obvious reasons. :)

Rylee's Latest Creation

Apparently she gets bored while I fix her hair...




(If you can't tell, that is a person and a dog, all made out of hair "stuff.")

What Have I Been Up To?

I haven't blogged for way too long, but I have just been having way too much fun. I've been having lots of fun just playing with my kids, making cookies (what's new?), and enjoying the nice weather!

So, wanna see what we've been up to? Here's a quick rundown:

We gussied up Lana for her class pictures, and she loved it...




And Lana's daddy was even home that morning to see her looking so pretty before school.



We can't get Lana looking all fancy without doing the same for Rylee, you know!




Then Rylee got a crazy idea that she really wanted to have her hair look like Gabriella from High School Musical. She wanted it in a low, side ponytail, so she woke me up really early last Friday so we could put her hair in curlers for the fancy "do!"

What do you think? Besides the fact that Rylee is about half Gabriella's age, and is blonde when Gabriella is dark, she looks just like her...right?! Oh come on, humor a girl.





I have been playing referee to these two cuties! They have been seriously the gruesome twosome lately! They follow each other everywhere and get into mischeif together. They play with each other and fight with each other. They are so much fun and they keep me hopping and laughing all day.







Then this past Friday, Bill took the day off work and we played for Mother's Day! He took me to get a pedicure - nice! Now I have pretty, flip-flop-ready toes! Then he took me to Kohl's (I could live at that store!) and had me pick out a summer outfit. How fun was that! He even had me get the earrings and necklace to match. What a guy!

Then he took me to pick out a bunch of plants for our yard. I have wanted a tree for our island for so long, as well as a bunch of bushes and flowers. So we went and picked those out It was SO fun! Oh, and he picked up these bright red buckets I had seen and said I wanted to use for flower pots outside. It was so fun to come home and plant all sorts of stuff in the yard!

See (maybe you can't really tell the difference), here are the "before" and "after" pictures.

We added bushes along the front of the house and some in front of the porch, as well as more in the island. It will be great when they all take off! I can't wait! It was a fantastic day. I LOVE working in the yard with Bill.

Then on Sunday morning for Mother's Day, I got to open some gifts. But I gotta say, I was so surprised with a little something Rylee did for me. It was so adorable. She wrote a poem for me. She typed it up and matted it and everything all by herself. Here's the poem:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue

I love my dad,

But I really love you!

I think dad is nice,

But I think you are very nice!

When you put on body spray,

It smells like a great spice!

I love you so much,

I want to give you a clutch!

We all know you are no slouch,

And I love it when you and I sit together on the couch

Everyone knows you do pedicures good,

You always do them like you should.

When you have a problem,

You don't get impatient,

Just like a secret agent!

Now this poem is done,

Because it's time to go out in the sun!

How clever is she!? I'm going to keep this poem forever. She will love to see it someday, I'm sure. And it is definitely something I will treasure forever.

Anyway, there's our quick rundown. Now I need to go and catch up on all of the blogs I love to read!!! :)