I'm a Gardener!

By Amy

Bad things happen to me. Not horrible things, more like... unfortunate things. Like, I make hotel reservations and when I arrive they have no record of who I am. Alot of things that i buy are defective, missing parts or broken. When I crave McDonalds icecream and I drive there, about half the time the machine is broken. I find the perfect shoe but they have every size but mine. I order things online and it comes one day after I really needed it. One of the biggest things that has happened to me was one time I had invited 100 people to a co-ed bridal shower and when I show up at the place to get it all ready it was completely locked up, dark, and no one is in sight. Talk about panic! It was resolved, but still. Unfortunately I have passed on this trait to my boys. I always know where my oldest is in a store because whatever he touches, it crashes to the floor. I hear it four isles away. He picks one thing off the rack and the whole rack of twenty falls to the ground. My youngest get's sick everytime he has a fieldtrip to go on. We have missed three of them and he is only in first grade.

So when I try anything new, I usually expect the worst. Not the most postivie way to go about life but at least I'm not disappointed when things don't turn out. My point is, when I decided to have a garden I wasn't expecting much. In fact, I didn't think anything would grow at all. But low and behold.....

My beautiful tomato plants

Green beans


cucumber

Fruitage!!!

If it all shrivels up and rots tomorrow I won't be surprised. But if I actually get something edible out of this.....well, I just may have to change my profession.

It's Official

By Amy

School is out. Summer has begun. Well, not 'officially' but in my book summer has begun. When I dropped the kids off, I could feel the excitement from the students and the teachers. I remember my last days of school and how we would count down the seconds and when the final bell rang we would scream "ya!" and run out in the hall and hug our friends because it would be a longggg three months before we saw each other again. I would walk home and hope I didnt' get sprayed with shaving cream or some other kind of prank. And then I would go home and plop on my bed and read over my year book and all the thought provoking comments people wrote like....'have a great summer!!' I'm glad school is a part of my wayyyyy distant past but it sure would be nice to have summer off again. I'm excited for my boys. So tonight I decided to throw a last minute end-of-the-school-year party. Nothing fancy, in fact all the decorations was stuff that I already had. Wednesday I went to a couple places and bought some stuff they can do during the summer so when they say 'I'm bored' I'll have some ideas. We had hamburgers and hotdogs and ice cream with all the toppings.

The boys were surprised and I think they had a really good time. It was a beautiful night and a great start to summer. I hope I'm this postive after a few weeks. Hopefully they will still be smiling. And not killing each other.

I've Got Three Months

By Amy

When my 13 year old started junior high last year I expected the worst. Junoir High was the worst years of my life. I transformed into a mouthy, sullen, emotional and insecure teenager. So I braced myself when he made the switch from elementary school to big, bad middle school. And guess what? Nothing happened. He is still the same good kid that left sixth grade. Taller maybe, and a little more moody, but basically the same.

When my kindergardener made the transition into first grade I thought nothing of it. I should have. Take a look at the sweet self portrait he made of himself at the beginnning of the school year. The date on the paper is August 19th. Look at my sweet boy! Cute hair nice, colorful clothes. I am such a proud mama!

Yesterday he brought home another self portrait dated May 19th. Nine months later.

Oh dear. What happened to the color? What's with all the black? And the hat that's sideways, and the..... is that CHAINS? Gulp.

And look at those arms. I do believe he drew some muscles on them. And there seem to be something around his wrist and neck. Oh boy. I guess I have three months to de-program the little guy. Make him sweet and colorful and innocent again. So he's not the same as when he entered first grade. I still love him though. Chains and all. (:

Cute Cute Cute Cute Cute Cute Cute!

by Ang

I went to see my niece on Wednesday. She’s already changed in the 3 weeks that I seen her last. She is completely adorable and has all of us wrapped around her tiny little fingers.

It’s so fun to see my brother and my sister-in-law as parents. My sister-in-law is an amazing mom. I knew she would be though – she loves kids more than anyone I know and is just a natural at it. And it’s so fun watching my brother be a dad. He changes Miss A’s clothes and diapers like he’s been doing it for years!

I’ll get to see her again in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait!

Field Trip

By Amy

When we were in Paris, everywhere we went we saw school kids on field trips. Think of it though...if they are studying Egyptian artifacts....hey! let's go to the Louvre! Or if the subject is Napoleon Bonaparte....let's trace his path through Paris and even see where he is buried! So much history and art in Paris that everyday could have been a field trip. Here in the midwest.....not so much. In fact even when it is time for a field trip, there is only a couple of choices. So with school winding down it's that time of year. I have Wednesday's off so when the field trip to the zoo was scheduled on a Wednesday, I had no choice but to volunteer. I think I was assigned the three most hyper kids in the whole class. Mine included. It rained on and off but over all it was a really fun day!

My little group

At the zoo you are guarenteed to see something ugly....

And something beautiful.....

And three crazy monkey's....

Oh wait, that was just on Wednesday. (:

That Face

By Amy

The Hair....

Those Arms....

That little body....

That Forehead...

Those cheeks....

Hey! Thats not nice!

That face....

Remembering

by Ang

I miss Paris. I miss walking out our apartment door, walking one block, and seeing the Eiffel Tower. I miss the bakery on Rue Cler that had the BEST apple tarts. I miss the Metro. I miss Montemartre. I miss hanging out with Amy and Megan 24/7 for 9 days straight.

I have some reminders scattered around my apartment.

Montemartre:
The Seine:

I bought this little trinket in a cute store in our neighborhood:
These little reminders help when I'm missing Paris.

They help me remember this:

This:

This:

This:

And THIS: