Happy Birthday Chris!

Chris' birthday came and went without so much as a blog acknowledgement. Don't worry - we didn't forget! Happy 28th Birthday Chris!!

Yes, he was present. Maybe I should snap a picture of the birthday person next time!!

Summer fun, with stocking hats

Swimming!

So Cute!!

Manhattan tornado

The tornado that made its way through Manhattan just missed our house, thankfully. It is truly heartbreaking how many families have lost their homes and belongings. The damage is devastating. We were very lucky to have our home intact, being less than a mile from the path of the tornado. Unfortunately, in addition to the homes and businesses, a hundred or so storage sheds were destroyed - ours being one of them. We spent several hours searching through the area, into the creek bed, but were only able to locate a few small items. No sign of the kids' beds, or any of the 50 or so rubbermaid storage containers that were inside. I was really overcome by the sight of Ashton's baby sleeper hanging from a tree. I'm sure we've lost things we haven't even thought of yet. We are especially discouraged since the majority of my mother's furniture and cherished belongings had been temporarily stored in that shed while she was living with us. It is very much as though her house were destroyed.

These are all pictures that I took of the Amherst storage sheds. They show the area where our storage shed used to be, and what was left in its place.

Google map of tornado path through Manhattan:

http://www.ci.manhattan.ks.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=4547

This photograph was in one of the news stories I came across. I believe it said it is the actual tornado that went through Manhattan, but I can't find the story to verify again. I'll update if I find it.

Waters True Value - leveled:

Please keep the residents of Manhattan in your prayers

For every mother of young children

I've been following Catherine Newman, stalkingly, through her weekly posts for three years now and I just had to share. What a wonderful writer - she captures the thoughts of every mother out there, humorously, week after week. I began reading when she posted on BabyCenter, then followed her to Wondertime. If you have time, I highly recommend starting at the beginning, but at least check out today!

http://wondertime.go.com/parent-to-parent/blogs/catherine-newman-blog/

and the old ones:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_quick-index-to-bringing-up-ben-birdy_72519.bc

FUN day

With Chris out of town, this day had the potential to be very stressful. We started out running late. Ashton decided to sleep in (for the first time in his life). Kristen had softball practice this morning, so I had to drag him out of bed. Not a good idea. We were late to practice and everyone was grouchy. After that I was determined to make the rest of the day a FUN day! We went to the park, picked up a pizza, and went to the swimming pool. After supper we made S'mores (what a mess!) and popped popcorn and watched a movie - Kristen's favorite, Mr. Mom. Now I'm ready for bed...... as soon as I clean up our mess.

A Summery Weekend

Well, it officially feels like summer! Not that the temperatures are particularly warm, but we are enjoying the laziness of summertime. Chris has been working really hard on the house and landscaping, but in that satisfied, making-progress, enjoying-the-weather way that he seems to do just about any type of outside work. The kids enjoyed swimming in the backyard on Saturday - pretending it really was summer. Kristen's the only one doing any real activity. She began tennis camp this week, and is really enjoying it. Next week will be art enrichment classes at her school - thankfully. I spent a panicky weekend thinking she was going to have to miss half of her summer activities. Kristen's grade cards came home with a letter stating that she was required to attend summer school. I spent all weekend agonizing over it, trying to figure out WHY, studying her grade cards for some clue as to what went wrong. As it turned out, and I was finally able to find out Tuesday morning, the letter was a mistake! She doesn't have to go to summer school after all. Now I'm feeling really guilty for being so upset about it. I mean... oh no! extra learning. How terrible!






Landscaping project!














Kristen demonstrating what she learned the first day of tennis camp.

Our "summer" day

Chris is painting the back of the house :)

Ashton..... are you sure Daddy said you could play with that?

Kristen's party!

Kristen hasn't had a whole lot of time to have fun with her friends this last year - just a few playdates here and there, so we thought it would be a great idea to have a "last day of school" party for her. As it turned out, it was! The first graders (now second graders) were so excited, they came barreling down the sidewalk from school - 12 lb backpacks and all! They had a blast jumping on the trampoline, playing baseball, eating pizza and making fruit kabobs, and then heading to Time Out Corner (which is a fun indoor miniature golf and arcade with black lights and flourescent carpet). They also enjoyed eyeing a plate of celery at lunch - but not touching it. They took turns peeking into the bowl of pimento cheese spread and screaming "ewww!" Oh well, I tried. I was actually surprised that they devoured every last bit of fruit. Maybe I should try celery kabobs next time :)

Soon-to-be second grader

Kristen has 2 more days to be a first grader! I can't beleive my little girl is almost in second grade! I wonder if I'll have this same feeling of surprised disbelief every school year until she graduates?? Here are some great photos of the 1st graders that her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Pittenger, thoughtfully sent home for us.

Kristen's class in the fall with student teacher Ms. Bogart

Kristen at lunch - beginning of the year

Playing on the monkey bars - a recess favorite

The first grade class preparing for a Thanksgiving feast

The class earned an ice cream party!

First Grade class in the spring with student teacher Ms. Appel

Field day! Kristen and Kiersten won 3rd place out of all the classes in this event! They take thier field day seriously!

Kristen "reading" her poem at the poetry cafe event put on for parents. Kristen decided she wasn't quite ready to read it aloud into the microphone when her turn came, but she held it proudly and stood on the "stage" while her teacher read it for her!

We'll miss first grade!!

Help

Tell me this child doesn't need a haircut!! Any ideas on how to get him to cooperate?

Face-lift

Oh, you wanted to see the house painted? Ok, sorry. Well here's the front anyway (before and after pictures). We still need to paint a little bit of trim and the front door, but you can get an idea of the color at least. As you may have guessed, the other three sides of the house don't match. It's a work in progress. We're taking advantange of this beautiful weekend to return to the yardwork. Chris also has plans to tear out and pour back the front porch and walkway this week. I've decided to be extra helpful and plan an "end of the school year" party for Kristen and her friends next Friday at our house. I'm sure Chris will be done (fingers crossed!). I'm going to wait until everything is finished before I take a final picture.

Change of Plans

While we fully intended to work on landscaping this weekend, the weather had other plans. Today it rained, so we put that on hold. Instead we went shoe shopping for Caitlyn and Ashton, and picked up paint to start painting the exterior of the house (which I'm even more excited about). Chris plans to get started painting Sunday and should be finished...... oh, maybe next year? Just kidding. The yard can wait though - Caitlyn is thoroughly enjoying the weeds anyway.

I love these expressions of Caitlyn's. There's the "Ha! I did it!" and the "Watcha gonna do about it?"

The Loss

I am sad to say we are facing the potential loss of our trampoline due to daycare licensing regulations. Ok, I know this may not seem tragic, but we will miss it dearly. Maybe I should just say the kids will miss it - Kristen especially, since she uses it to practice her gymnastics routines. Me? Not hearing "mom, watch" five million times per afternoon doesn't sound so bad. The possibility of the kids being able to play in the backyard without me dashing out every time I hear screaming, thinking someone's been hurt, only to find that they're actually just mildy irritating each other while fighting over trampoline space (yes, that's what it is EVERY time) might be nice too. Then there's the fact that I wasn't terribly crazy about having a trampoline in the first place because of the possibility of injury. On the other hand, I know that in about 4 or 5 years Kristen will have outgrown the rest of the play equipment in our yard, while the trampoline guarantees enjoyment for at least the next 10-15 years.



On that note, here's a video to put you into a trance.

And another in case you're really bored