Major League Yankee

Bubba is loving T-ball this year. He randomly was assigned to his favorite team, the Yankees, which has made it even more fun. SBG cheers for him and says "Go Hank-ees!" I think it might be time to give him a more masculine nickname.

Chillin with some teammates

Batter up!

Hanging with his favorite fan, Lulu, his buddy Aidan and sister too

Couldn't resist a shot of this cute cousin stroll to the car

Criddles in A-land

A day at Adventureland has been a family tradition since we were very little and my Dad's employer, American Federal, had a family day at A-land instead of a Christmas Party back in the day when we could still have Christmas parties and not Holiday Gatherings. Sorry off the soapbox now - any how Mom would dress us in matching outfits and we do every ride and end the day swimming at the Adventureland Inn pool.

So fast forward about 25 (more like 30) years - Aunt KT found the deal of the century - 2 hotel rooms and 8 tickets to Adventureland for $100. So how could we resist? The whole crew enjoyed a gorgeous day after a brief but wicked 9:30AM thunderstorm. Just FYI the crew consisted of Nanny & Papa, 5 parents, 6 children ages 6,5,3,2,1 & almost one, 3 strollers, and enough illegal snacks for an underground militia.

Our first stop is always the little train that skirts the edge of the park and gives a glimpse of the rides to come. Thad & SBG had the front car. This cheese-y squinty face is going to be really familiar to you by the end of this post.

The Tea Cup Family - in the Papa, June, Lulu, Lions, Bubba (hiding) and KT, Mac, Mini, Scott

Tea for two...

and two for tea

The two babes (Lulu and Macky) chillin' - which they did a lot of - very well I might add
All Bubba has talked about with regard to our trek to A-land has been "doing the BumperCars with Dad". They even ignored the rules and did a head on collision with Uncle Scott and SBG. Uncle Scott laughed,SBG not so much :(
Then it was time for a little lunch at Soda'N Sounds. Thad said they must have known he was coming when they announced their country theme. The kids loved it and I loved this picture of SBG scooting in to get the very best spot in town between Mini and June.

A little dancing was in order for a rousing tune
Papa found Lulu's dropped bow. How did I know that?

Aunt Klions coached us all day on the rowdy rides to do NO HANDS.
Here are Thad & SBG complying on the Underground Railroad ride.
Action shot at "Infant Ocean"

Attempt by Aunt KT to get 4 smiling cousins to look at the camera Those who dared the LOG RIDE. "Someone" told some others of us that those in the front don't get wet. Uncle Scott, Amelia & I listened and were soaked. Notice the tall, baseball cap wearing dry guy and his dry son. I'm not going to name any names.

5 out of 6 enjoying the car ride

Following instructions for the FrogHopper. We were so glad that SBG passed the 36 inch mark to do this super fun ride.

She started out saying she liked it but as it kept hopping (aka jerking and bouncing) her face got miserable. As the tears welled up she said "It not working" "It broken". Needless to say the smoother rides were more her thing.

Cuddling Cousins

Sibling Super flyers smiling at Mr. Tom (the Adventureland Retiree) who was trying to help we get their pic

Same song, 2nd verse

Nanny, June, Mia & Bubba do their TIRED pose as we were heading to the car
Phew! What a day! A million memories made and no worse for wear other than 2 Bandaids for Bubba (one from Aunt Lions and one for a random YMCA day camp counselor), a few sunburns, some very grubby children (and probably adults too)!

We noticed a couple families with matching shirts and one saying something about it being their annual family tradition since 1978. I say next year we have 14 matching ensembles (or maybe 15 - one never knows the plans of a certain sister :)

Thanks for a great day family!!

The Princesses and the Brave Knight

Hey - I keep forgetting to post this great pic from our precious friend Lydia's 5th birthday. It was a princess ballerina party with one knight in shining armor to protect them all :) The birthday girl is to the left of SBG in the lovely pink ball gown with the tiara. Next to her is SBG's best budd, Lydia's little sister Holly.

See the big Barbie face behind them, it was for a very creative game of Pin-the-Accessories-on-Barbie. Great party Tara!

Strawberry Creations

We made a quick trip to WalMart this morning and then got busy making good use of our strawberries. The jam seriously could not have been easier. Just time consuming but Bubba loved the mashing part.

Melt-in-your-Mouth Strawberry Muffins from the Stonyfield Farms website. Their claim is 150 fewer calories and 18 g less fat in each muffin if you use lowfat yogurt instead of butter or oil. So I tried it. Well - they were fabulous even without the butter!

We only have about 2 lbs of strawberries left to eat now :)

Strawberry Fields

Cathy & co. took us on an adventure today. It was our first time to pick our very on strawberries. I don't think my town-y kids even realized that strawberries grew in a field.

Here's crew packed in to the van.

The lady told us our flat would hold about 12 lbs of strawberries. I might have picked 12 lbs. but we weighed in a little under 8 due to some that kept "disappearing.

The finished job. The fun starts tomorrow when I am going to make StrawberryJam for the first time ever with my 2 precious helpers :)

Freedom Festival Parade Day

Encouraging civic involvement at an early age - we walked in the parade in support of local mayoral candidate Ron Corbett

There was a Kidsfest in the park after the parade - farm animals to pet, crafts to try and Hair Spray Painting. What was Daddy thinking?!?!?!?! :)

An aerial view

We patiently waited in the steamy heat for the 11 o'clock start of the Big Wheel Races. Bubba won his heat in the 5 year old division. His prize? His very own Big Wheel to take home. Daddy said it was fortunate he won because his channeled a little T-O (Terrell Owens) and slowed to take a peek over his shoulder and almost lost :) For all of you non-football fans - he told me he was just checking to see how fast he had to go to stay ahead of them. Smart boy - why work too hard in that heat?

Here's the video ...

So bugged!!!!!

I've been frustrated about not making it to the gym in like a million years so I ordered the Jillian Michaels' DVD THE SHRED that I've heard so much about. Today is Monday, a good day to start a new routine so I got up at 10 til 6, managed to not wake anyone else in my house, turned on the TV, popped in the DVD, found my old hand weights and ...

I CAN'T FIND THE DVD REMOTE ANYWHERE!!!!

Our old DVD player in the basement has no arrows or buttons on the front other than stop and play so I have no way to select a workout from the menu screen.

The drum beat and guitar played over and over again, taunting me as I turned the basement upside down in search of the remote. NOTHING!!!

No happy ending here so I guess it off for a long shower and accurately shaved legs for once and to wake Thad and tell him we need a new DVD player. Atleast my basement is a little tidier :)

My date is growing up

My precious boy and I have been doing fairly regular "dates" since his little sister joined our family. They range in activity from Barnes and Noble to the IceCreamHouse but it's always full of memorable conversations and so peaceful that I am always envious (for only a minute or two) of those parenting only one child.

Yesterday we went to our local community theater for a top-notch performance of High School Musical. We were grooving in our seats, singing along - just having a great time. About half way through the 2nd act I leaned over, whispered "I just love going on dates with you", gave him a squeeze and a quick kiss. His response (for the first time ever) was a kind of embarrassed"Aw Mom" followed by a hand swipe of his cheek :(

That's all he had to say because I could read the look on his face. It clearly said "Mom I'm a big 5 boy and you snuggling and kissing me even in this dark theater is not too cool". I knew it would happen some day but I have to tell you I wasn't really prepared for it at that moment. It was a brief glimpse in to the future because soon he was leaning against me of his own choosing and on the way home he was full of gratitude and suggestions for our next date adventure together.

Although brief it was a reminder none the less that my precious boy is growing up at lightening speed. In my mind he's still this boy from June 2006.

Oh the love for that precious 2Boy as well as the incredible big 5Boy God is growing him to be.

Cherishing every moment, signed One Blessed Mommy

End of May Outings

The Houby Days Parade - Houby means mushroom in Czech. It's a little festival nearby that they have every year right around morel picking time. Bubba as always was enthralled with the old time tractors. MudPuppy soccer has been a highlight of our spring. Our last game was Sunday afternoon. Check out that form. The big blue dress is called a "penny" and it's an alternative to "shirts vs. skins" when they scrimmage.
Mom & I took the kids to the annual Memorial Day Ceremony at Veterans Stadium. I was hoping to give them a little history lesson but in all honesty this was Bubba's favorite part. He was up there for most of the ceremony until "a scary blue guy" aka a Marine in DressBlues asked him to get down.

Ask Bubba who his favorite person is in the whole word and he'll name this precious cousin. He loved our play date with her at the mall play area. It was her first time there and a great place to practice her walking.

Mom got this lovely Dora dress for a $1. She brought it to give to me but the second SBG saw it she had to have it on. She turned quite a few heads at the mall. Here she's posing with that super special Pop.

Stacy & Christian had us over for a great night of grilling and hanging out. Here are Bubba and David enjoy a stroll in the field behind their house. Notice what's in their hands. Yes - they were headed for some pretend pheasant hunting :)

Bubba spotted a hot air ballon one night as we left the grocery store. We pulled on to a side street, I set them on top of the car, and we joined the neighborhood in listening to the whoosh of the heaters. Bubba thought it was so cool that it was the same balloon that flew over Lydia's house a few nights before.