No, No, No, No, No

Sam cracks me up.  He is so expressive and never hesitates to say what he thinks or give his opinion.  I don't know where he gets it from! ;)  But one of our favorite things he does when he REALLY doesn't want something is to stick his arms out perfectly straight and to shake his hands back and forth and say, 'no, no, no, no, no."  As if a simple "no" couldn't possibly ever suffice.

A House of Order

One of the biggest blessings of having to/trying to slow down and simplify my life is how my mind has been working on organizing and cleaning out our lives.  I have been so happy as I slowly take one room and one project at a time and actually finish them.  I am reminded that sometimes when things happen they don't always look like blessings at the time, but before you know it you realize they really are.

Here are just a few of the things I've been working on...

Detangling the piles of jewelry and having a place for them.

 Lego bins and labels, garage cleaned out and organized, and the pantry done.

Matt's Toy

We got a message from Matt that he was nearby and lifting a track repair car off the tracks and on to a semi.  Well, that just happens to be right up our alley, so we went and grabbed Sam out of school and took off to watch, jammies and all!

It was a cold rainy day and the kids were freezing, so watching outside quickly turned into watching from our heated car, to watching out the sun roof when the rain stopped.

 It was so fun to watch Matt from start to finish.  The crane looked so small until he raised it and extended it and then had to add the bar and cables. 

 When he lifted the train car it was pretty amazing.  It seemed so light with his big machine.

 After the work was done we got to go on site and Matt let the kids help him put everything back.  A definite highlight for the kids.

Teacher Appreciation

Sam and I had fun planning what we wanted to do for his teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week.  Being the Room Mom, I was to go in and "sub" for an hour so that his teacher could go have a nice teacher's breakfast.  They handed out some signs and colored paper so that we could "Heart Attack" her door, but knowing me, that just didn't cut it.

So Sam decided he would make Mrs. McKenna as a Lego.  I loved the idea and we worked together until we were happy with how she looked.  I then made her a book that the kids could write/illustrate for her.  It was called "If Mrs. McKenna wasn't a teacher she would be..."  I also wrote a little song for her to teach the kids.  I have been going into Sam's class on Fridays with my guitar and singing with them, so I thought this would be a fun surprise. 

 Sam was so proud of how his masterpiece turned out.  Mrs. McKenna loved it and has been telling us how everyone she shows it to is jealous and wants one.

 She also loved her song and book.  The kids did a great job and came up with some fun career choices for her; ranging from being a ballerina to a dog walker to a fire fighter to a worm! (that one was Sam) :)

I am so glad that everything turned out so well.  We are very grateful for what a wonderful teacher she has been to Sam.  What a blessing she has been in his life.

We bought a Pool Today

:)

Mom Gets Hooked

I sometimes am apposed to how many Legos we have, but when I saw that they came out with a Lone Ranger Series, I didn't care, I sent Seth to get them.  I had to email this picture to my dad immediately and share the good news.  He is the one that instilled in me my love for the Legend.  Now I just can't wait until the movie comes out!

The Ladies Room

We went out to dinner with some friends today and Chloe and I have to go to the ladies room.  I love that we both had to hang up our purses! :)  It's so fun having a little girl!

It's On!

We love our annual Easter present...Lagoon Passes.  Going to Lagoon in the spring and fall are the best.  We try to get all much time in as we can before it gets too hot.  We've already had so many great, carefree days filled with fun rides and good times.  We even had our best day ever with a combined ride total of 102 rides.  Now that's something to be proud of! ;)

 

 This video was my favorite part of the day.  Somehow we have started the tradition of making up funny names for each other when we are saying goodbye or goodnight, so I thought this was as good a time as ever to see what my kids could come up with... :)

 He's some shots from our record breaking day.  Chloe helped out a lot by riding her favorite ride, Dino Drop/Ladybug Bop 6 times!

 

Picnic Season

 We had a blast today having Natalie and Presley over for a craft and a picnic.  The kids had fun playing together and were so excited to go on their first picnic of the year.

 We of course had to bring all the best foods and trust me, we didn't leave anything out!

 We have the perfect park just a few blocks away.  It is right by the lake.  It was a fun slide, swings, and lots of fun things to climb.  We also love going down to the docks and throwing rocks in the lake.

 Snuggles snuck into the lake and had a nice refreshing swim.  We are learning that she loves water and tries to get in it anytime she can.

 Cindy and her kids joined us a little later on for all the fun.

All in all it was a very great day filled with beautiful weather and great family.