Our 100th Post! and time for some updates

Oh April feels so long ago, and I'm feeling horrible about not getting on here sooner.   But now that summer is upon us, I'll have more time for the updates....or so I plan!   :)

May:
May brought Mother's Day.   And this year Matthew and Sophia spoiled me silly.  Thursday morning as I was mid-teaching, 2 office-aide's walked into my room with a large purple box.  "Is today your birthday?"  One of the teens asked me.  "No...?"  I answered, and as she handed over the box, I understood the question.  It was flowers!  I opened the box to find 2 dozen beautiful bright pink roses and what must have been 2 more dozen lilies.  Gorgeous.   My students were so excited to see the beautiful flowers and hear the message on the card that our lesson stopped.   :)  Matthew and Sophia had surprised me, big time!

For Mother's Day, this year we had the boys plan the morning.  At first, none of them were excited by the idea.  But as Carly, Mom and I reminded them, we shouldn't be planning our OWN Mother's day...right?  Josh took the lead and designated Matthew with a coffee cake.  Matthew, the non-cook that he is, was a little apprehensive about finding a recipe, so I did help with that detail, finding an overnight coffee cake, which I thought might take some of the pressure off the busy morning if we made it the night before.  Or if HE made it the night before :)  It was DE-LI-CIOUS!   My mom has already called for the recipe, and coming from my mom, the master chef, that's a HUGE compliment!   :)  So we had brunch at mom and dad's and it was so fun to celebrate with Carly on her 1st Mother's Day.  We were all some spoiled Momma's;  All 3 of us getting gorgeous jewelry.


Sophia had her first school performance.  Noah's Ark held their annual Preschool Graduation, and though Sophia is not graduating (Thank Goodness!!  Time is going by so fast that we know this day will come soon enough), all the preschool classes participated.  Well, kind of. Sophia's class was up there, but in true Sophia form,  she stood up at the front and did not say a word.  Not one.  :)   She did so good though, I thought for sure she would be running to us in the audience when she saw us, or she would start bawling her eyes out, but she did so good.  She stood with all of her classmates and watched the audience so intently.  At one point she was craning her neck so high to see where we were, that she almost fell off of the step...!   After the performance we came home and had a bbq.  Or as Sophia calls them "Party!"

At school, Open House fell on one of our busiest weeks at school, but it was fun!  I love having the kids take ownership for their learning, and showing their parents and families everything that we have done through the year.   We raised frogs again this year so we had a Frog Map that families followed to make sure they saw everything there was to see about 1st grade.   It was so much fun.

Matthew actually got a little break from his school this month.  With the Tee Up For The Huskies Annual Golf Tournament, he was maxed out.  So it worked out well that he got some time off to focus on the tournament, without having to worry about keeping up with his course work.  We are less than a year away from his completion.   It's going so fast!  April 2013 will be here before we even realize it!

And a new car!   After Matt's beloved Jeep took a dump back in 2009, we replaced it with the Nissan Pathfind with the intention that it would be our "family car" since Sophia was on her way.  This meant that Matthew inherited my Nissan Altima.  My 1998 Nissan Altima.  It was a good car.  Matthew would probably argue otherwise because he was the one who had to drive it everyday.  And notice how I said "had to" drive it.  Matthew did not think that this inheritance was so great.  It was 14 years old.  It was getting to the point where the repairs and parts that were needed were going to cost more than the car was worth.  So, in true Matthew fashion, we did research  and we found a great deal at CarMax and a great car-loan rate at Golden 1.  So we got a new car.  Or Matthew got a new car.  You might laugh, but it's also a Nissan Altima.  Only this one has all the bells and whistles.  Leather seats, a moon roof, and a Bose sound system. 

And with this school break came yard work too.  :)  Of course.   So we're on to more work and more plans and as it happens, we'll post pictures.  Basically, we're finally working on the Back-Back Yard.  The space that appears to be dirt.  Soon to be leveled/graded, treated so weeds won't grow, and ready for actual space planning.   Turning our vision into a reality...one step at a time.

Sophia got her 1st set of wheels!  A new tricycle.  She tried it out in Target and did AMAZING!  And we haven't been able to get her off of her "motorcycle" ever since.  She LOVES it!

 

June


SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME!  It's finally time!   I am SO looking forward to my summer with Sophia.  This year we will have Tita Carly and Addison to spend our time with too.  It will be great!  Pinterest has given me several ideas of things that I can do with Sophia, crafts I can do, recipes to try, and ideas for school.

We're starting our summer off with a celebration for Matthew's birthday. (Just after Little Miss wakes up from her nap,) We'll be heading up to Chico to do some Mini-Golfing and then eating dinner at a place we used to frequent when we lived there, Smokin' Mo's.  Yummy, southern style BBQ with all the fixin's; Cornbread with honey butter, beans, and coleslaw.   Good Stuff.

Our Tahoe vacation with the Taylor family just happened too, so as I promise all the time, another update will be up soon!  Only this time I mean it!  I'm going to get better at this!

Easter Pictures, VERY Belated!

I Know...These are very late...But we still think they are cute and thought we'd share anyway!

We had a very busy Easter this year.  We had our own egg hunt at home, went to Mae Mae & Grandpa's for a 2nd egg hunt.  Sophia enjoyed the egg hunting so much that she collected eggs for Addison too!  in the next few years I'm sure the girls will be running around together racing for the eggs!

and then headed to Colusa for the traditional Easter gathering, where Sophia had her 3rd egg hunt.  This year Auntie Al joined us!

We came back to town early evening and spent some time with Granny & Papa Joe as well as GG & Papa.

We had every intention of driving down to the airport with Sophia to pick up Grandma & Bocka, BUT their flight home kept getting delayed.  We were having gorgeous weather, but Texas was not.  So Matthew made the night time trek down to Sacramento while I got Shpia to bed.  After a VERY long & sugar filled day.  

It was a fun day, but we missed Grandma & Bocka.

Sophia was a PRO egg-hunter this year and insisted on doing every bit of it all by herself.  Then we had about 1,000 more egg hunts during spring break.  :)  Honestly.

It's that time of year again....Spring is here!

Which means.....Yard Work

We're at it again. Well, Matthew's at it again. I help where I can... Mostly, Sophia and I rummage through the weeds as I pull them and she looks for worms. or lady bugs, or my personal favorite, "Rolly Puppies" :)

So, if you've ever heard us talk about our yard, you know there's a lot of things that we wanted to change when we bought the house. And ever since the very second that we got our lawn mower and Matthew started mowing the lawn he has HATED the tree in our back yard. It drops these "berry" things that are horrible. We can't walk barefoot in the yard because stepping on one of those things is like stepping on on a pebble. Horrible. Makes you bend over in pain horrible.

Once we had Sophia, it got even worse. Playing in the yard meant going out to sweep it first. And during the "put everything in your mouth" phase, we were constantly on the lookout...who knows what damage these thing can do!



So...After almost 4 years in the house, and almost 4 years of talking about it's non-existence in our yard, the tree is going.

I don't know if I will miss it more this summer when the shade is gone, or if Bandit will. He LOVES running circles around that thing! Here's the last picture we have of Bandit making his run around the tree!


And down a little further is a picture of the yard after the tree was taken out. It really opens it up. Now if you know anything about Yuba summers, you know they are hot. And shade is a necessity. So while we won't have a tree for the shade this summer, a new one will replace it soon. One that absolutely does NOT drop anything. Except it's leaves in the fall of course.



This year, like most years, I had projects planned for my Spring Break. Matthew thinks that sometimes I create a project just because he knows I can't sit around for a week and do nothing. I don't deny that. If there is something I can do that makes something look better than it already does, then I'm on it. I love projects! And some people might think I'm crazy but I like painting too. So that's how I started the week. The weather didn't make for that many days outside anyhow.

Thursday night after getting home from school we had a quick and cold rain pass over the neighborhood. It was one of those small storms where your house might get rain, but 2 blocks away they are as dry as can be. And since it was a small one, Sophia and I ran outside to do some rainbow hunting. :) What a fun way to start Spring Break. We ran around in the sprinkling rain searching the sky for colors. We didn't find a single one, but Sophia melted my heart as she stood in the driest part of our yard singing, "I'm catching rain, I'm catching rain" with her palms out. She sure has a way of making us smile.





After our big rainbow hunting adventure, we ran to Home Depot to get paint for my bathroom painting project. Paint turned into yard supplies, and painting supplies. I guess that's what happens in the spring. After getting Sophia into bed, I taped the bathroom up so I would be ready for painting in the morning.

I'm proud to say that Friday morning, I started painting the hall bathroom at 8:30 and was DONE by 10:30. A personal best! (This is what happens when you dedicate all your school breaks to house projects. Sometimes I think I could work for HGTV and show them a thing or two!)

Sophia and I had some fun projects this week too. We did some art with Shaving cream. Of all things! But it turned out awesome! And we had MANY egg hunts after Easter. Many. She couldn't get enough of me hiding the eggs and her finding them.







And we hung out with Tita and Addison as much as we could. Until the germs hit our house. Then we went into Addison withdraws. We can't get enough of that little sweetie. Here is a picture I stole on one of her many afternoon naps in my arms. Love that little girl!


And just as we started break with a rain storm. We ended with a hail storm. A big hail storm. It almost looked like it had snowed in the backyard!




And for those of you dying for Easter pictures, an Easter update will be next! As soon as I get all my project-clutter cleaned up!

Introducing Addison!!!

Our precious little niece made her debut! And while I was DYING to announce it to all of our blog followers, I had to use my self control to wait until my sister announced it on hers first. Finally! ( You know I'm joking Carly....I remember those first few weeks in a blur, trying to stay awake, and wondering if I would EVER set hands on a keyboard again, let alone update the blog...!)


Carly and Josh have fallen into the parenting role so naturally. It's been amazing to watch them during their first few moments, days and (already!) a week. Watching them go through all of these things makes it all seem like it wasn't that long ago that we were experiencing them too. The nights without sleep. The celebration of a 3 hour sleep-stretch. The phone calls to mom. The feeling of being a human pacifier. But it's been so fun to watch and be a part of, and they are champs. I like to think that all of their babysitting Sophia was practice for them, but it's obvious that it just comes naturally to both of them.

I was showing off some adorable Addison pictures to my classroom parents this week, and one of them asked if she was my first niece. I told her that she was and then asked how she could tell. "You've got that, ' I wanna do this again' look on your face." she laughed and then said, "It was the same look I got before my 2nd and 3rd kids arrived!" :) So funny. Someday we plan on it happening again, just not right now...



But it's true. I do have baby fever. I hold Addison and I feel so much love for her. It's the same kind of protective, "I will do anything for you" kind of love that I have for my own daughter.
But for now, just as Carly told me waaaaaaay back in her 1st few days as an Auntie, "I'm having fun holding her, but I get to go home and sleep." :)


Sophia Updates

Sophia has blossomed since her change to the new preschool. She asks me EVERY day, after getting piggies in her hair, "Go to 'cool Mommy?" And all the talking we thought she was doing before was NOTHING compared to the conversations we have now. From the minute she gets in the car she sings new songs, shows me new art projects, and tells me countless things that she did at school that day. We could not be happier with the outcome.



We have been experiencing so many spring-like days lately that we've already made several trips down to the park to play. We especially like the weekends when Daddy can come with us too.