apple blossom festival.

Every year, Presbyterian Manor (the retirement home where Sophie's pre-school is) hosts the Apple Blossom Festival. The weather was a little chilly, but we had a great time.



How cute is that little girl up there?
Not an ounce of shyness in her this night!



Afterwards, Miss Renee' (the director) came out and hugged me and asked if I was crying happy tears. (I was!)
On Sophie's enrollment forms one of the questions was what are your goals for your pre-schooler this year? I had written about her shyness and said that if she would actually get on stage at the Apple Blossom Festival and sing, I would cry happy tears!
We got to experience this already this year with the Christmas program (happy tears there, too!) Such a difference in our little girl! At her pre-school last year, she wouldn't even go near the stage, let alone smile and sing. She was in such a little shell last year... so withdrawn, so quiet. I give Jessi credit for a lot of this... the fact that we were able to get her out of what was a horrible daycare situation for her. (Not necessarily a horrible daycare... just a horrible situation for Sophie.)

We were so blessed to find Jessi.
So blessed by pre-school this year.
So excited to see what she'll be like in kindergarten!
Happy, happy tears!


More festival fun...

Petting zoo.


Balloon animals.


Train rides.



And this super fun slide!


This little girl was having way too much fun!


Lawson, on the other hand, was being a big chicken.
He wouldn't do the slide. Wouldn't go on the train. Wouldn't touch the baby horse.
The frustrating thing was, he would be so excited about everything... right up to the last minute.
Then he'd chicken out.
Sophie finally convinced him to try the big slide... he made it 3/4 of the way up, starting crying, and I had to yank my shoes off, climb up and get him.

He did finally get in the bouncy house.
Only to get kicked in the face by a bigger kid 2 minutes later.
So much for that.


Super Daddy didn't want Lawson to miss out on all the fun.
And, of course... he loved it!

baby snake.

Corey came home with a surprise on Thursday.
As soon as a I saw the plastic cup, I had a feeling I wasn't going to appreciate this as much as the kids.
I was right...




I admit... this was freaking me out a little bit.


I get shivers just looking at this picture.


Lawson loved the snake.


At one point, he was treating it like the tiny little rubber snakes they got from Miss Amy... stretching him out from head to tail.
(I did feel kind of sorry for the thing at that point.)


Sophie really wanted to go show it to Megan and Annie.
"Megan's gonna love it!"

The crazy thing?
She did love it!
Annie loved touching it, too.
But 2 minutes later she starts screaming and jumping all around.
There was an ant on her. :)


Talby let it get way too close to her face.
Freaking me out again.


It could have been worse, though.
Daddy could have brought home something like this...

My camera (and my kids) wouldn't have been anywhere near this thing.
(If it was alive. It's not. But it still freaks me out.)

yard.

All the construction last summer really did a number on our grass.
The back half of our yard looks like this...



Look at this thick green grass. Perfect for walking barefoot in.



The front half of our yard looks like this...

Not quite so lush and green.


See the little trench by the side of the garage?
We've never gotten around to putting gutters on the garage.
Every time it rains, water just pours off the roof and has made this little ditch.

The T0-Do-List never ends...

tee ball.

Corey is coaching Sophie's tee-ball team this summer.
He says I'm going to be his assistant.
I think I'm going to be plenty busy trying to get this little man to understand why he can't be out there playing, too...




Not bad for a 3 year old...





He is going to be so sad.

blog book.

I am finally finished with all the editing on my blog book. I don't even want to know how many hours I spent on the computer getting it finished. 276 pages... June - December 2007. 654 photos... 1 1/2 hours to upload/save/order book. I can't imagine how long it will take me next year when I actually have a whole years worth of blogs.

We are so excited to get it, though! I think I am going to love it!

super daddy.

I've been out of my "mommy groove" for a few days now.
Craving quiet, alone time.
I've spent a lot of time inside by myself in the afternoons.
Hoping to be back in my groove soon, but until then,

I have this guy to make up for my slacking...

Planting seeds...


Making brownies...


Yes, that is silly string they are shooting at me...



Using power tools...


Lawson is super strong!



Shoveling dirt for the garden boxes...




I am so lucky that Corey chooses to be such an involved Daddy.
I know these projects would take him half the time if he didn't have so much "help."
He really is an awesome daddy.

I would be a really bad single mom.
We'll pray that never happens.

field trip.

I took a personal day on Thursday so that I could go on a field trip with Sophie's pre-school class.

We started our morning with breakfast at the local donut shop.



Then a stop at the Park shop to give Daddy hugs and kisses.


Then both kids went to Jessi's and I went to town with my friend, Jody.
Shopping at Target, a long lunch at Panera, a little more shopping...
Then we met the pre-school bus and our girls at the Children's Theater to see "The Three Little Pigs."



This was Sophie's favorite pig, "Mahogany." She was the very girly pig who wanted her house to be pretty!



The show really was cute. I laughed out loud several times. The wolf was too funny.
Jody was a little worried how her daughter, Gracie, would do. She's very afraid of wolves. They had a different version of the story, though.

The wolf (who is a vegetarian, we find out at the end) just wants to eat dinner with each of the pigs. He can smell the microwave pizza, "The smell just comes right through your walls. They're only made of straw, you know." He loses his temper really easy and gets mad at the pigs. "Or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down. And tonight you'll be sleeping right here on the ground!" They figure out at the end that he just wanted to be friends with them, they all apolgize to each other and sing a song about what it means to be a good friend. Very sweet.



How cute are these three? Sophie, Josie and Gracie.
Such good little friends.

school kids.

Guess who loved going to his pre-school open house on Saturday?
He was so excited!
I still haven't figured out how I am going to get him there... or how I'm going to get him back to daycare once preschool is done... minor details.
But he is going to have so much fun!

Not sure if he realizes that Sophie won't be there, though...

Kindergarten enrollment was tonight.

Sophie was super excited.

Pretty unsure about things though, when it came time for the kiddos to leave and go with the teachers for awhile. Thank goodness for her little friend, Gracie. Gracie grabbed her hand and they marched off together. Sophie needs a brave little friend.

They'll have so much fun next year!

(And mommy's room is about 50 yards away from the kindergarten rooms!)