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.

Morning at the Museum

We put our free passes to good use on Monday morning. Tara and I reminisced about coming for the first time when Lydia & Bubba were 2 and we had morning sickness. Here's our crew now.

Bubba ringing up the little ladies.

Holly enjoyed that fancy phone attached to the wall. It dawned on me that our kids have probably never seen a phone with a cord on it :)

I love this one of Lydia letting SBG sit on her lap and helping her drive. SBG loves "big girls".

And of course a trip to the mall is never complete without a ride on the Carousel.The rest of the crew - can you see Holly sitting on Tara's lap in the background?