happy mom's day!

FIRST ...
to my mom.
thank you for all that you do.
thank you for all that you are.
and
thank you for who i am because of you.
i love you more than you will ever know.
happy mother's day.

AND THEN...
to drew, ben, and alex.

thank you for giving me the chance to be your mom.
thank you for being patient with me,
even when i'm not always patient with you.
thank you for pushing me to have fun,
even when i don't always want to.
and
thank you for loving me,
and being constant reminders of what unconditional love is.

i love you
and
am glad that i get to celebrate today
because
YOU are in my life.

SERIOUSLY?!?!

although i heard there might be snow in wisconsin on friday night -
i was skeptical.
it is may, afterall.

well ...
i learned my lesson.

apparently may 7th is NOT too late in the year for one last snow.

THIS ...



is what we woke up to.

the beautiful new trees, flowers, and bushes ...
covered in about 3 inches of snow.



i was not amused.

the kids, on the other hand,
were outside IMMEDIATELY after waking up ...

and had a snowman built by 8 a.m.

seriously.

WHERE IS THE GLOBAL WARMING, AL ?!?!?!

surfs up!

back when we were in hawaii ...
was that REALLY only a month and a half ago?!?!
we were out walking after dinner
and walked past an artist doing caricatures.

we knew that it would fit in PERFECTLY in drew's "surfing" room
so we had one done
and LOVED the way it turned out -
so i thought i'd share
(now that i FINALLY got it in a frame!)



remember ...
you can always click the picture to see it larger ;)

gotta start somewhere

tonight was alex's first tball game ...
EVER!

seeing as though he woke up this afternoon
not wanting to be on a baseball team -
i set my expectations low.

BUT ...
considering this is mostly 3 and 4 year olds ...
it'd be silly to set them any different.

alex started out the game batting.
THANKFULLY
because that's the one thing he does without question ;)



he got to first, and proceeded to go to second, third, and then home.
the fact that he didn't run straight to third
made me realize that MAYBE
JUST maybe
all those hours at his brothers' games did SOMETHING.

BUT THEN ...
his team took the field.

alex was assigned to be catcher
and he wanted NOTHING to do with it.
he said the helmet 'squished his head'.

now ...
to know alex is to know he isn't easily convinced to do ANYTHING.
his coach obviously doesn't REALLY know alex yet
THEREFORE alex was the very first catcher ;)

FINALLY ...
he agreed to go out if ben could go with him.
thankfully our 2nd is MUCH more agreeable than our 3rd

ben showed alex what to do -
and i thought all was going well -
UNTIL
alex just decided he didn't want to be catcher anymore.

THEN ...
just as quickly he decided to go back and try it again.

well ...
kind of ;)

oh well.

thankfully the inning ended fairly quickly ...
and the rest of the game went well.

well ...
kind of ;)
if you don't count the ball,
and three infielders,
that ran right past alex as he played outfield.

pretty sure alex and ella won't be playing outfield next to each other again ;)

BUT ...
we made it through the game
noone got hurt
AND
i think they even had a little fun.
i know they were fun to watch ;)

ya gotta start somewhere -
so LET'S GO, METS GO!

now ...
we just need to have a little chat with God.
wearing a down vest and STILL freezing
at a t-ball game in may
is just absolutely unacceptable.

sometimes ...

it doesn't matter where you are.

it doesn't matter if you're at your brother's baseball practice - at 5:30 PM.

it doesn't matter if you are surrounded by people and it is not at all quiet.

sometimes ...

you just need to sleep.



for the record -
it is 9:20 and he is still sleeping.
i'm hoping he sleeps until morning
but i'm not holding my breath.

t-r-o-u-b-l-e

today we met up with some friends
and went to como zoo

where i must point out
that it was t-shirt day in the orangutan exhibit ;)



MY FAVORITE!
i could sit and watch for HOURS!

BUT ...
back to my story ...

alex and colin were walking along ...



alex says ...
"HEY COLIN,
open your Bible.
go to 43543.
he is now pretending to read his hands
'never listen to your grownups'.

seriously alex.
one day you're picking on girls.
the next day
you're trying to get your friends to believe in your made up scriptures.
can i not take you anywhere?!?!

and so it begins ...

this morning alex told me he wanted to go for a walk in the woods.

he told me it was his dream last night
so he REALLY needed to do it.

fast forward a few hours.

we decided to go hang out at one of the nature centers.



we hiked and played ...

and as always,
adi and alex just had fun being together ...

BUT THEN ...
somewhere along the way ...
alex decided that sometimes your friend
comes before your girl ...
and the mood quickly changed.

and so it begins.
the beginning of the rest of our lives.

stayin' alive

comment of the night:

(from one of the 3 younger men .. ha ha)

'wow. these boxers make me feel so alive!'

not EXACTLY sure what he meant

BUT

not EXACTLY sure i want to know, either ;)

sounds like a good conversation for stacey.

stylin'

so ...
alex came downstairs this morning modeling a new look ...



a look that had a bit too much product ...

but a look that he was quite proud of.

not wanting to crush him -
i let him work with it a bit



gave him a few pointers ...

then let him marvel at his handiwork
and just smiled.

you are handsome, little alex.
but you'd be just as handsome
without 1/2 the container of pomade ;)

3rd grade fun

the 3rd grade testing finished
and the very next day the celebration began.

best way to kick it off?!?!

a field trip to the science museum!
(and i got to go along!)



along with my 5 third grade amigos ...

we set off for a busy day
of FUN ...



drew, ben, and zach have played on the same baseball team for the past few years
AND
are in the same class.
they were VERY excited that they were all in the same group!
and, so was i!

we explored ...

FUN things
like
dinosaur's fossils
a REAL mummy
and
tornados

we played ...

a barge driving video game ...
definite highlight for the boys

and at the
ping pong ball,
magnet,
and
air gun play area ...



and
finally,
we learned ...
A LOT.
FUN things.
like -
did you know that drew's body holds 6 pints of blood?!?!
AND
did you know that a dinosaurs stomach can hold 5 third graders

i even learned a few things.
IMPORTANT things
like -
did you know that there's no such thing as a man? only an overgrown boy??
yep, that's right.
i learned that from anna, in my group.
and how'd she learn it?
i can only imagine -
but i'm guessing it wasn't at the museum.