Preschool Picnic at Thomas Park

The preschool picnic was held on quite a breezy May day but the kids had a blast. The highlight was the watermelon seed spitting contest coordinated by Mrs. Y.

Here she is demo-ing for the kids

Carly, Bubba & Lexi getting ready

Spitting

Bubba took the picture of of the drivers doing their turn so that's why half of my head is missing. I'm on the left - then Stephanie and Jorie

BSF 2008 - 2009

Miss A-wice, SBG & Miss Jeanne

Miss Melinda, Bubba & Miss Carol

Mother's Day Tea at Preschool

Here's my precious escort who met me at the door and held my hand to show me to my seat :)

This Cake Sucker made by Mrs. Y was a hit

The lovely table with flowers potted in mugs that they made on a field trip to a make-your-own-pottery place

Mrs. Y reading the Mommy-letter that Bubba wrote for me.

Getting reading to recite the flower poem with his class

Groovin' with Ty, Macie & Joel

Some of our Mom/Kid buddies

Jorie & Joel
Stephanie & Macie Are you tired of hearing how much I love and am so thankful for his school, his class, the teachers, the families and the incredible first year of school experience he has had?

The Secret Steps and the Secret Tunnel

When we were little my Dad always had secret adventures he concocted for us. They might have been silly but when he proposed them using the word "Secret ____" it made it seem so exciting. Our fave was called the Secret Place and he used to take us there with our eyes closed or blind-folded or something. You'll have to ask him the details but years later we realized it was a creek under a bridge about a mile from our house :)

I love to see him doing it with the grandkids now. Saturday the 4 "big" kids, Papa & I (as chief photographer since KT wasn't here) headed out. Bubba was so excited to show Mini & June the secrets at our favorite park. Here they are at the top of the Secret Steps.This was SBG's first time so she held Papa's hand.Here's my sweet niece - the best smiler I know. Just loved this chase scene with June heading after Bubba Getting close to the S.T.
Braveheart Mini was the first to venture in

As you can see from the wet stripe, Bubb had a little slip but then we convinced him to go in again

Papa kind of tossed Junie in but he was not about to walk in that "scary" place so he was pulled out

Amelia's first completion of the tunnel (they did it about 5 times each)

Yay - for Bubba too

Morel Mania

I think you have to live in Iowa or atleast the Midwest to know what a Morel is. This is prime time for these famous dudes so Bubba and Thad followed a tip from one of his buddies to the "Narnia forest". Why is it called the Narnia forest? #1 because a great morel hunter never reveals his secret spots and #2 it was a great enticement to get Bubba out the door. He was so excited he even took his sword.

The best part? Only one morel was found tonight and guess who found it? Thad said he had just showed Hank a wild, normal looking mushroom and told him that a morel would be similar but with a bigger top. 2 secs. later he's calling Thad over to see his find under a fallen elm log. Great job boys!

Murray Move

I'm back from my whirlwind adventure to Chicago suburbia for the great Murray Moving Adventure. I took my camera with the intent of taking many pics. Surprise - that I started the day with this one, set my camera on the counter, and then never looked back.

KT woke me at 5:52 AM by promising me Starbucks on the way to the new house. We entered to an empty newly painted and floored home with lots of fine dust everywhere so our first task was cleaning. Then Scott's CRV full of garbage bags and rubbermaids began to make their trips over. We unpacked the kitchen, dealt with appliance installation snafoos (they delivered an electric stove instead of gas and a refrigerator 2 inches too tall which their sales person had promised would fit :( I also gladly did a lot of sicky Macker holding. I forgot to mention that in the midst of the early AM Katie made a trip to the dr. and Mac is now on a 5 day Zpack for a sinus infection.

I begged her to let me take him home but she just couldn't part with that sweet red-headed chunk :)

I hit the trail back to Iowa a little after 6 last night with Junie & Sissy. We stopped for Happy Meals and made it home by 9:30.

I told my Mom on the phone on the way home that I didn't think I had sat down all day. From the back seat Amelia piped up "Remember Aunt Kers when you sat on the steps to eat your Subway for lunch and I think you sat down to have Macky practice crawling to you." Thanks Mia! :)

Post-Preschool Park Pals

These 4 buddies have had hours of fun playing at the "park" aka the school playground after preschool pick-up. I can't imagine preschool without this fun 15 min. that has now stretched in to 45 or until Silas and SBG really need a nap :)

Thanks to Joel & Silas (and Jorie) for being the best park pals ever. I've included 3 shots because as usual I need Photo class to learn how to catch 4 kids faces at the same time.

May Day

For 4 years I have wanted to celebrate May 1st the way we did on Forest Drive - popcorn, candy, and 1/2 dead flowers in styrofoam cups with pipe cleaner handles. A few differences between the 70's and the 00's include:

1. No violets to pick out of yard because of all of the stuff we put on our grass to make it lovely. We could have picked a few dandelions but that just wouldn't have been the same

2. And no Pipe Cleaners - now don't get confused looking at the picture. While they may look like pipe cleaners may I assure you they are not. As the SuperTarget worker explained to me, it's not PC to have kids do craft projects with items that contribute to smoking so these colorful handles had to be made of "FUZZY STICKS". Can you believe it? I almost didn't want to buy them just to make a point but since I'm not craftsy enough to come up with a handle alternative - I hand no choice.

Delivery Dan as I called him - loved it! D.D. put the baskets on the steps and rang the bell while SBG and I found the best hiding spot to watch them open the door. We drove to a few preschool friends' houses after we did the neighbors at 7:30 in the morning so they could be surprised before they got on the bus for school.

May 1st also was Bubba's first MudPuppies practice. It was his first time to wear shin guards, soccer socks, and cleats. Pretty cool!

A MudPuppy cheer at the end of the night!