Summer Vacation

Went to Metro Beach today. It's not officially summer - not until next Saturday - but it sure feels like it when you spend all day at the beach digging in the sand.



What is it about kids and sand? They could just dig and dig and dig. We adults sat on a blanket and tried our best to keep any and all sand AWAY from us.

In case any of you were wondering - that's Lake St. Clair in the background. Not a Great Lake - but a pretty good one in my opinion.

Kindergarten Bound

First Day of School 2007 (4yrs. old) Last Day of School 2008 (5yrs. old)

Big changes - although she's wearing the same shoes - she's filling them out more. It makes me cry just looking at this. It's almost too much to bear. What a great year. Can't wait to see what's in store for next year! Well - I can wait a little bit.

Apple of My Eyes

My girls. So cute. So still for just a moment.

Lookie here......

Okay, so I know she is crying. She is tired. It's almost bedtime, and we are clearly making her do something she is SO not in the mood to do - but like a good girl, she does it anyway. What a trooper. And she makes the cutest little crybaby face. Go Paigey Go!!

Sorry about the crazy angle - it corrected itself in the camera., but not here...hmmm... I love Emily sliding into the shot. Then Max. I did take some still pic's, but I think a video is clearly in order here.

It's all about choices

Friday night, while feeding Paige her last bottle of the day, the stress of the next day began to bubble over. The next morning I was getting up at 6:30am to have enough time to get ready for my crazy, busy day. My Aunt T was coming over at 8 to pick up Paige for the morning. Emily had her dress rehearsal at 8:45am - which I was taking her to. I had to be ready to go at 8. I had to make Rice Krispy treats for the Emily's picnic Saturday afternoon. I had to time our leaving the picnic perfectly so that I could make it back to my Aunt's house so that we could go to brunch no later than 1:15pm. Then it hit me.....what about Max? I was leaving the house at 8am, and not planning on returning until the evening. He's pretty good about holding it - but I think it's asking a little much.

Did I mention that I was doing this all by myself? Eric was up north with the men in my family at my Grandpa's cabin. He was due to return around 5pm on Saturday.

Something had to give. So, the picnic got the axe. Emily was initially upset. She got over it. I really think she had never really bonded with any of the kids in her class, so it wasn't a big loss for her. I hope they didn't miss my Rice Krispy treats.

Emily did a great job at her performance. She sang, did all the movements. I was so proud. I was disgusted with all the parents. They kept jumping in front of me during the performance - blocking my view so that they could get yet another picture of their child. Seriously, do you really need more than two or three pictures of your kid singing up on stage? I, myself, took exactly four pictures. This was Emily's last performance at Schoolhouse Montessori, and I wanted to savor it. I did manage to get about forty seconds of video for your audio and visual pleasure....

Once the performance was over, we went home, took out Max, got some stuff for Paige and headed out for my Aunt and Uncle's house. Then the garage door decided to take a crap. I basically had a moment in the garage trying to get the door to go down. I threw chairs and a water can in frustration. I did get it down after my hissy fit - and we were on our way.

We had a lovely brunch at this small little place in Royal Oak - Cafe Muse. We walked around for a bit, then took the scenic route back to my Aunts house. We hung out for awhile - Ryan, Julie and Emerson came up from Kalamazoo, and my Aunt Lindsay was there from Tennessee. It was good getting to spend some casual, non-holiday time with them. They guys returned dirty and tired in the early evening, and after a good scrubbing, we had a lovely BBQ dinner. I love doing stuff like that. Good times.

Today we had a lovely warm and sunny day. Emily played in her pool this afternoon. Paige spent some quality time with her walker. Around 5pm the tornado sirens went off. We headed into the basement. No major damage here. We did have some pretty awesome wind gusts. Our neighbors fence was damaged from the playhouse that slammed into it. They also lost some roof shingles. It was over very quickly. A drop in the bucket compared to a hurricane. Emily was a wreck.

Last three days of school this week. Last two swim lessons. Summer is here.

Hot, Hot, Hot

This is by no means a complaint - but, oh my goodness, it's going to be over ninety degrees here today. I guess Michigan is into extremes this year. Extremely cold winter, which went way too far into Spring. And now, not just a little warm, but REALLY warm. But, I will take it. No problem. I am sure those thousands of people who are headed to downtown Detroit - Red Wings Stanley Cup Parade - are not complaining one bit. Go Red Wings!!

I was sitting at the kitchen table this morning, looking out the window and I noticed this:

The peonies across the way have begun to bloom. They are just so beautiful. I think they are my new favorite flower. I must get some for myself. I must restrain myself from going across our yard and cutting off a few stems....that would be very wrong.

Busy weekend for us. Emily has her End of the Year concert tomorrow morning. Then a picnic. Eric will be missing it since he is up north with my Uncles and Grandpa. He will be home tomorrow afternoon. Paige will also be missing it as well - she is going to be hanging out with my Aunt T so that I don't have to worry about her during the concert. Concerts and ten month olds - well, my ten month old - do not mix.

We also have some "girl" things planned for the later afternoon tomorrow. Don't know how my girls are going to hold up for that - we'll see.

Have a great weekend - and check back here later Saturday for pictures of the performance.

Five for Tuesday

I am telling you - this cute, sweet, adorable, little child of mine is so hard to photograph. I was able to take a few this morning. Even got one of her standing all by herself. Of course, I was fiddling around with the camera at the time, and it was on the wrong setting, so the picture is a little blurry. Oh well, you get the idea. That first picture is of her doing her motorboat. A Paige favorite.






These were Emily's pajamas. Loved them five years ago - love them today.


Happy Tuesday!