Last day of school

Yeah! We are all so excited! It's the last day of school.

The little boys had their little day of Mother's Day Out yesterday. They celebrated with a pizza party. Crash's class had a "beach" party. They wore their swim suits and played on the sand volleyball court. They had water balloons which initially Crash was terrified of for some unknown reason. Then he saw all the fun and promptly assisted his class in soaking their sweet teacher.

I was just thinking of what a difference a year makes. Last year, if Crash was confronted with something unknown and scary to him (like the water balloons) he would have broken down into a huge fit that would have been hard to stop. This year he politely said "no thank you" but then eventually joined in on the fun. I am so proud of that boy!

Ms. and Ms. D have been wonderful have been the most perfect, wonderful, and fun teachers for Crash. We look forward to another great year with them next year.

Wingman reportedly ate 3 adult size pieces of pizza. That boy loves pizza. He loves his little class. He chants Miss R's name along with his buddies when we drive to school. He's such a socialite. We will be sad to not have Miss R anymore, but he will have a great teacher next year.

The Test Pilot has been having end of the year festivities for days now. He has gone to a bounce house place during school for a pizza party that also had COOKIES! (Emphasis his) They have had movie days. It's his last day to buy his lunch. He had perfect attendance at school. I am not sure what is in store for today. He has had a great year.

Mommy is just thrilled the school year is over because I am just tired. I don't have to get up at 5am anymore. Hallelujah! (I don't know how my mom did it all those years.) I don't have to live on a military time schedule to accomplish our daily tasks and be on time everywhere. It will just be nice to have a slower pace to our lives for awhile.

We have a few vacations lined up plus lots of swimming and hanging out with friends. Looking forward to lots of good times. Yeah summer!

Boys and baby showers

This weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for a friend. I decided I wanted to make the cake myself. I had made the boys' birthday cakes before so I decided to take a leap and give it a whirl. This was the finished product.

Thank you to my wonderful sister who gave me lots of encouragement and an awesome strawberry icing recipe. I could not have done it without you.

I think I have figured out the royal icing consistency. No pharmaceuticals were needed following the decorating! Yeah!

I did not make this diaper cake. I just thought it was adorable. Someday I might attempt that. You never know what I might do in my domestic journey.

I have been working on the preparations for this shower for a few weeks. It just cracks me up the questions my boys come up as they observe me.

For instance, "Why is it called a shower?" They thought there must be some rain involved.

"Why are you making the cake instead of the mommy?"

"Why can't boys come?" "If she had a boy baby could we come then?"

I informed them that no legos and wrestling were allowed and that stopped all the interest in coming to the shower.

(My shower gift was a large box of diapers.) "Why are you buying her diapers?" (with a look of disdain on his face)

I explained the rationale but he still thought that was the most awful idea on the planet.

Life with boys...

Challenge Lab Showcase

Last night, the Test pilot had his showcase for his Challenge Lab project. A small group of his peers have been studying about Egypt all year. This was their time to show off their studies.

This was him showing his workbook with all his Egypt facts in it.

The kids developed a board game with all sorts of Egypt facts. It was quite interesting. The boys loved the part about removing the brains through the nose to make mummies. Boys.

Here's his 1st grade group with their teacher, Mrs. D.

Here's the Test Pilot telling Mrs. M (from our church) all about his game.

People were supposed to walk around to the different exhibits and ask the kids questions about their projects. The talking part is so up the Test Pilot's alley. He cornered some lady for 15 minutes and told her EVERYTHING in his fact book. He was so excited.

Then we celebrated by going to Cracker Barrel for Coca-Cola chocolate cake. It was a good night!

"Growing" like my mom

A storm came through our area last night and it was forecasted to be a pretty severe one so we decided that I should bring all my potted plants in the house just in case. It was at that moment as I am carrying pots in the house that I wondered how I got to this place in life where I actually enjoy plants. Then I realized I am becoming more like my mother. (Which is a wonderful thing!)

For as long as I can remember mom has always had plants. I don't remember too many flowering plants, but I remember lots of greenery. Big plants. Small plants.

I can remember one summer when we moved towns, travelling in the car with all the plants. Our housing was not ready for us in the new town so we stayed in a hotel. Mom's plants decorated the pool deck of the hotel pool. I am sure they were sad to have us go. Those plants looked nice.

Mom could make anything grow. The funny thing is- I really didn't enjoy the plants. Mom would make comments about how lovely they were or how enjoyable it was to have them around. I sooooo didn't get it.

Now I get it. I really enjoy my flowers. I have enjoyed learning about them, the challenge in keeping them alive in spite of deer, pests, and small children. I enjoyed watching them in the spring to see who will spring back to life after the winter. I like sitting and just enjoying their view.

I like the geraniums in the front. They bloom fast for the not so patient person I am.

There are some marigolds growing in my favorite red pot.

I just needed some white flowers for some color variation.

The boys gave me some pentas for Mother's Day.

I have loved hydrangeas. I started growing them a few years ago. This is the first year they have grown like crazy. Next year, I want to try and make them change colors. I find that fascinating.

Happy Blooming!

Violet Cascade Cake

We were having a birthday celebration lunch for some of my friends. I got a wild hair to try something different.

I had seen this cake on www.wilton.com and decided to give it a try.

It didn't turn out exactly like the picture, but I think I did ok. This was my first attempt at royal icing. That is what I used to make the drop flowers.

I learned that I made the consistency too stiff because my hand is still aching four days later. Oh well! Now I will know for next time.

What to do on a rainy day

We've had a few wet days lately, so the boys have had to get creative with their indoor time. (That's really code for "How many ways can we destroy the living room?")

I was really proud of Crash and Wingman for coming up with this idea on their own. They made little forts out of our tray tables.

They used just about every blanket in the house for their "bedrooms".

They moved the play kitchen in so they would have something to eat.

They played there for hours.

From the mouth of 7 year olds

I have been trying to scan this for a few days but my scanner is on the fritz. I will just transcribe it for you.

The test pilot had an assignment at school that said, "Imagine that you won one million dollars. What would you do with the money?"

The test pilot wrote...

I would buy legos from the Lego store up in Ohio. And I would buy Legos at Wal-Mart. And I would buy legos for my brothers, Crash and Wingman.

Now that's a lot of legos. At least he is willing too share them.