Mimi's Last day of Preschool

Mimi speaking to the Turtle Lady (this story retold to me by her teacher):"There are reptiles, and mammals, and then there's the duck-billed platypus, that's whole different story!"

I cried a little and then bought some chocolates as a thank you for the teachers and a little for myself to make me feel better. Where does the time go???

Here's a look back...

Mimi's first day of preschool 2010

I didn't realize until just now that she is wearing the same shirt.

Mimi's first day of preschool 2009

And here's Mimi on her last of preschool 2010. Seriously, such changes over just one year.

They even had a sweet graduation ceremony with tie-die T-shirts no less!

26 seconds of Baby Yoda eating chocolate cake

Watching him eat this cake was almost as much fun as eating it myself.  Almost.

Kitchen Redo

I didn't blog about this before today because I was afraid of jinxing something, but now I feel confident enough to post some pictures.  I wouldn't consider myself superstitious, but I would be embarrassed if things didn't work out.  

Here's our kitchen as it was for about the last 2 years.  We had painted the walls and soffit, we put in a new dishwasher and stove (necessities), there's 2 new lights and I put up some new blinds (they fell down-DOH!).  So, yeah, we have done some stuff, but I wanted a big change. 

We went through a dozen ideas of what to do about our kitchen.  Our plans went from either do nothing, or totally tear everything out, or pretty much everything in between.  We finally settled on new counter-tops and nothing else.  But since we never used the breakfast bar, didn't like walking around the breakfast bar, always dumped stuff on the breakfast bar, we decided to get rid of said breakfast bar.

Here's the kitchen the night before the guy showed up to change everything.  As you can see the counter tops are not in bad shape, but they are not what I like.  Also, one of the previous owners had taken down 2 of the cabinets from above the breakfast bar (which is good because it opened up the room), but that left behind the soffit--the box coming down from the ceiling that the cabinets are hung from.  This soffit bothered me--a lot. 

________________

During Day One...

I took pictures whenever the guy did something else.  I think he thinks I'm crazy. 

This is what the kitchen looked liked while the counter tops were ordered and on their way.  The guy cut away the breakfast bar, but kept the rest of counter tops, kept the sink connected and re-hooked up the dishwasher so we really didn't suffer while we waited.  I had planned to eat out at every meal, but I realized this was all no big deal after all. 

In this picture the ceiling is all clean and the upper cabinet is waiting to be put back up.  

And this is today.  It was a big day.  Baby Yoda really didn't like all the guys coming in and out.  There's a few things left to do, one of which is get the back splash up, they didn't bring the right one today, so we'll have to wait a day or two on that.  The guy was so embarrassed and kept apologizing--I had to keep telling him this was nothing to worry about.  The floor is the next thing...

A list of things that happened while I was on the phone with my sister

Mimi:"where are my shoes?"
Parker wiped out on his bike
Yoda ran in the street
Mimi:"I still can't find my shoes!"
Parker's friend wiped out on his bike
Yoda ran in the street
Parker:"Can we ride bikes in the street?"
Me:"NO!"
Mimi:"Mom, where are my shoes?"
Me:"I don't know"
Mimi:"See, you're not smart all the time"
I found Mimi shoes--I am smart
I loaded the washing machine and turned it on
Yoda turned off the washing machine
An angry robin squawked at Mimi while she climbed the tree to take a look at the baby robins in the nest
Parker's friend poked the nest with a stick
Yoda ran in the street
My sister and I did a bit of laughing

Signing with Baby

I tried teaching all my kiddos some baby signs to help get through the toddler years, but Yoda is the only one who cared enough to learn a little.

...More...

...All Done...

...Please...

...Train...

He also knows a bunch of words, here he is with "POP!" for pop corn. 

Communication

This is a nice video of Baby C saying the word, "Mom."






This is a nice video of Baby C saying the word, "Dad."






We love the Baby.

Easter/Anniversary

 Greg:"What nice Easter clothes!" Looking to me as if I bought them or something.

Me:"All these are from aunt Sonya"

Greg:"ALL the clothes?!"

 I didn't take pictures of the ham, the guests, or the family, but I did take a shot of this beauty. 

Dozen down 

Dozens to go

-To me from Greg on our 12th anniversary

These chocolates looked so good it was tough to eat them.  One of our favorite cupcake shops now sells super cool chocolates--just another reason not to diet. 

Pinewood Derby

Putting on the finishing touches.  Parker worked on every step of the car. 


Just before the race.  We didn't really know what to expect.  We hoped he would end up somewhere in the middle.

Mimi watching from the sideline. 

I've been the den leader for the past year.  I started with 3 scouts, now I have 10, and by the end of May I'll have 13!  There's a whole lotta 8-year-old in each of these scouts.

2nd Place! 

Mimi and the weather

During one of the many rainy days this week,
Mimi:"It's...raining-it's-pouring-the-old-man-is-snoring out here!"
 __________

Mimi, stepping into the hot car on a rare warm day:"Whoa!  This is up to hot!"
__________

Mimi-wearing a nightgown for most of Saturday:"Have you noticed that I haven't had a single bit of pants?"

The Screaming Gina's

She's known as Mimi on our blog, but we don't actually call her that. Somehow her nickname over time has become Gina. Greg wants to form a band someday and call it The Screaming Gina's. Here's a little preview.

Lately

Grandma Eunice came for a visit!
__________

 Parker:"I want to be in the middle of the cuddle!  Put that on the blog!"

__________

 We headed to the science museum over Spring Break and in this area there is a blue screen and a camera with all sorts of controls for the kiddos to play with.  You can add a background and funny effects. 

 Here Parker is being run over by a train...somehow Yoda survived...

 Here Yoda is trying to get through the Plexiglas to get to me.  He was so unhappy. 

Poetry Month

Parker has trouble expressing himself.  But occasionally he comes up with some beauties.  Here's a poem from Kindergarten that I will NEVER throw away.