thankful tuesday, 5/31

boy oh boy - we've had a great week. we are zonked, sun kissed, happy and so very very grateful. god is good!

• ella's spring sing pre-school concert
• praying for her - that the shy jitters don't take away from her excitement
• trivia night out with the girls - even if trivia didn't happen because of the b's
• fun irish pub
• parenting courage - oh to have the courage of shadrach, meshach and abednego
• kids with freeze pop stained faces
• the smell of my bug sprayed, sweaty and sunscreened kiddos
• wes' tomato plant strategy discussions with brittany up at the farm (good news they are bouncing back)
• a fantastic family cookout and splish splash day at judy & charlie's
• the simplicity and joy of sprinklers and slip & slides
• wes & justin craziness (and taylor holding her own with the boys)
• bennett's love for "water minnow" (aka watermelon)
• end of the day sink baths for dirty feet
• water gun wars with between my brothers and my kids
• a day with the cranstons
• burgers & ice cream at four corners - i miss those days
• memorial day parade
• bagpipes
• ella singing along to the national anthem - 'mama she sings that so good" ... guess my bedtime version was put to shame
• cookout at home with the reardons
• a new phase of bennett stories - little chatter box
• the season of impromtu outings to the lake

the long weekend

time. sun. family. friends. splashing. cookouts. cousins. freeze pops. playing. laughing. remembering. celebrating. an absolutely wonderful memorial day weekend. and of course a few photos to remember it (like 500+...but here are just a few of the highlights).

first outing to the lake (and we've already been 4 times since friday)

 

  
splish splash fun at grandma's house

a day with the cranstons and snuggling with sweet baby addy

 

memorial day parade w/o my camera

<<insert memory here of of ella singing along to the national anthem>
<<insert memory here of me as a weepy mess during the remarks>>
<<insert memory here of bennett waving his flag>> 
  
water gun tournament & bbq at home with the reardons

it's going to be a long thankful tuesday list this week!

easy peasy, lemon squeezy

as mentioned earlier this week, here is the 2nd part of ella's end of the year gifts for her teachers - a homemade sugar scrub.  its a simple recipe of raw sugar crystals, refined coconut oil, some fresh lemon juice, zest and a few drops of lemon oil.  just mix it all together to get that squishy, oily consistency of a body scrub.  as ella says - "this is easy peasy, lemon squeezy!"

we hope her teachers like it as much as we do!  and in case you were wondering - ella's lemon t-shirt was not planned for this photo opp...she basically lives in this favorite t-shirt!

spring sing

it doesn't get much cuter than a pre-school spring sing concert. even if it was a bit emotional for this mama - realizing my baby will soon be off to kindergarten. thankfully ella's school doesn't do the formal graduation production - i would have been a complete mess!

ella has been practicing her songs non-stop for weeks. the little class had an impressive set of about 10 songs including her favorites - fruit of spirit, alice the camel, take me out to the ballgame and inch by inch. all the practicing must have really tired her out...as she was less than impressed with singing on the day of.  or it maybe it was brother waking her at 5 a.m. that morning? sleepy girl...but adorable if i do say so!

 

but then after a few brownies and laughs she ran her monkey bar clinic for anya out on the playground. she'll take those monkey bars over songs any day!

 

kiddo car wash

saw this sponge idea in family fun magazine. so we picked up a couple packs of good ol' kitchen sponges and gave it a whirl. just cut them in thin strips, tie a string around the middle,  then poof... spiky squishy sponge friends!

the results? 2 hours of the kids being completely immersed in playing with soapy buckets of water and giving all their bikes and cars a kiddo car wash. 2 hours! we almost played right through lunch...that never happens in this house!

 

 

 

 

 

thankful tuesday, 5/24

 

thought the little gifts that ella made for her teachers today were appropriate for thankful tuesday. aren't these thank "ewe" pins cute for an end of the year teacher gift? we've got another little something in the works that we'll share later this week...but in the meantime, what do you do for end of the year teacher gifts?

this week's thank 'ewes'...

• reading through all the little beatrix potter books with the kids
• sunshine after days and days of rain
• praying for a friends' adoption
• book club with the girls
• my husband's mouse sleuth skills
• butterflies hatching from their cocoon and letting them go - gotta give props to www.livebutterflygarden.com
• getting my arms around summer's plans
• budgets - even though its so hard
• late night planning and praying with wes
• belly laughs with the kids
• after dinner family outings up to the farm to check on the gardens...so pretty up there at night
• kids running through the meadow
• psalm 16:11

p.s. for my local friends - i have a bunch of these supplies left if your kids want to make any of these for their teachers.  baaaaaa :)

mooooooooo

took a trip a week or so back to davis farmland. we love this place - because you can get right in there and snuggle the baby animals...literally.  we were hugging on these cute cows - reminds me so much of when i was little and the arrival of new baby cows up at my dad's barn.  so gentle and sweet!  we also got to love on the newborn baby goats and sheep too - with their protective mamas keeping a watchful eye while they gobbled the the grain treats that bennett so generously dumped out.

 

thankful tuesday, 5/17

blessings & praise...

• blooming lilacs
• my brother's engagement to leigh...yay a wedding!
• cooking, baking, cleaning and laundry...gaining a rhythm at home
• freedom from work stress
• planting our vegetable garden up at the farm
• dirty knees, hands, faces...and loving it!
• my dad's generous gift of the garden & seedlings
• judy & charlie's visit and enjoying our ball game picnic at home vs. in the rain
• kids getting their bedtime story and snuggles from their grandma
• bennett's sweet apologies
• princess birthday parties
• friday night with our small group
• dorian's sermon on sunday - welcome to fcch dorian!
• worm hunting with the kids
• kiddo bowling outing with friends to escape the rain
• baby animals at davis farm
• little farmer kiddos - we've had lots of that this week
• sweetness of god's blessings

worm hunt

where is spring?! since we can't hit the playground, beach or zoo - we thought we'd go on a hunt for some little friends who love this rainy weather....worms!

 

ella & bennett each made a little worm paradise in these mason jars and then we headed down to the river for our hunt. and let me tell you, we hit the jackpot - worms, caterpillars and a slug! wondering if i get some sort of cool mom award for picking up the slug and letting it squirm in my hands? maybe?! ha!

  

  

we talked about how the worms are good for the soil - so we'll be bringing these squirmy friends up to our new garden plot later today.