The Graduate

Today Jackson had his pre-school graduation.

He told me that he was supposed to dress "very handsome" for his graduation. Today he decided that he must wear a tie because it makes him look more handsome. I couldn't agree more.

Here they all are walking into the ceremony. Three pre-school classes graduated this morning and you should have seen all of the cameras and video cameras going (obviously mine included). During the ceremony the kids sang songs and diplomas were presented. They also receive a binder full of projects, papers, and pictures that they have done all year long.

Here he is with his class.

With his two bff's from class.

After the ceremony we all had cake and said goodbye to Miss Sheree. I love pre-school but this summer I will really love not having to drive there numerous times a week. And for the next couple of years I will really enjoy not having to pay for it. However, it is definitely worth the money.

Seeing Jackson graduate had me thinking about when my little Meggie graduated 4 years ago. Here she is on her pre-school graduation day.

Three On Tuesday-Sadie Edition

What can I say? I just adore my little Sade. She is the type of gal that knows what she wants and is persistent until she gets it. And fortunately for her Megan, Jackson, Eric and I tend to give into her a bit more than we probably should. But I just can't help myself.

1. I may not be a mom who gets out the fingerpaints for her kids, but I am a mom that lets them play in all the dirt and mud that they want. Apparently I am also a mom that lets her baby play outside in her diaper. Once she got herself this dirty, she discovered she didn't like it very much and cried and kept saying "dirty, dirty" over and over again until she was all washed up.

2. I am also a mom that will probably let her kids wear whatever hairstyle they want. I believe it is a personal expression. I say probably because if my girls come home when they are older with a shaved head I may change my mind. We will see. I also enjoy a m0-hawk and received great pleasure in seeing Sadie's hair like this. This look was courtesy of sunscreen.

3. Lastly a picture that broke my heart in the best way when I saw it. I love these girls!

Pumpkins?

I don't garden. I don't know how and I really have no interest in it. However this year my children have done a little gardening all on their own. About a month ago they found two seeds. I have no idea where (probably on the floor of the garage) planted them under the trampoline and watered them. They have done this before and never have had any results, but this time may be different. A few weeks ago there were two small sprouts. One disappeared, but one has kept growing and growing. It is planted underneath rocks, sand, and finally some dirt. It does not seem conducive to gardening, but this pumpkin apparently really wants to grow. For their sakes, I hope it does.

Check out the location.

Tres on Tuesday

For those of you not fluent in the Spanish language, that is Three On Tuesday.

1. I do love to coupon, but I have now discovered that if I go to the grocery store and come away not saving 60 percent I am disappointed. I must get over this feeling, but once you have received so many things for free, it is difficult to accept that you must actually pay for things. Although documenting coupon savings is not thrilling to those who do not coupon, it is thrilling to me. So, here are some of my results from last week that resulted in a 69% savings.

I received many free items, but the most exciting was the Electrasol which sells at Smith's for over $6 and for which I paid 49 cents a box!

2.This last weekend Eric and I went and saw the movie Angles & Demons. I really enjoyed it, but I am not sure about the approximately 10 children, ages infant through 8 years old that were there! After we left I thought for sure it was Rated R, but I just looked it up and it is PG-13. There were many seriously disturbing scenes, and I know my 8 year old and 4 year old would have freaked out. I was just really surprised so many children were there.

3. Check out Jackson's hands from pre-school yesterday. I particularly love a place where Jackson can go and fingerpaint to his hearts content, since we don't do much of it at home.

"Do you love to coupon?
Do you think it is annoying when people post their savings?
Would you have been shocked by the kids at the movie?
Are you a "good" mom and let your kids paint at home?"

Fathers And Sons Campout

Eric and Jackson left on Friday for the annual Father and Sons camp-out. Every year Megan is so upset that she can't go. When Eric jokingly suggested she could make herself look like a boy by wearing boy clothes, and putting her hair up in a hat, I could tell that she thought that was a great idea and would have been all for it. Despite the protestations of unfairness, Eric and Jackson left for Mt. Charleston, and from what they told me that had a great time.
By the time they got there on Friday, got their tent set up, had dinner and smores, Jackson was very tired. Around 9 pm he requested they go to bed, fell right to sleep and slept until 7 am. Eric wasn't so lucky and didn't get much sleep. Apparently it was pretty loud and some of the boys were up a lot of the night making a lot of noise. I am surprised there is not some sort of curfew, or that the boys dads would not make them go to bed eventually. If I were there I would have been very annoyed, but since Eric is so laid back, he said it did not bother him much. If only I were more this way!

Jackson is in that sleeping bag somewhere.

Two years ago, they had been camping at this same place. Jackson was 2 at the time, but remembered the monkey bridge, and was very excited to try it again.

Jackson and Eli watching the water. Within about 5 minutes of arriving at camp Jackson had discovered this stream and decided to go wading in it. So for the rest of the night he had wet shoes, socks and pants.

Hanging out around camp.

Jackson loves to hike and luckily this was the place for it.

Eric and Jackson looking so outdoorsy. Jackson came home on Saturday dirtier than I have seen him in a long time. Just like he should have been.

By the way, these boys were not the only ones that had fun. Megan, Sadie, and I went out with Rachael and Alexis and had a very nice time eating dinner in a restaurant (not in the dirt) and sleeping in our own beds.

12 X 12 May

My day started off a bit differently than normal. Sadie is generally awake by the time I get up in the mornings. But today she slept in until I went and woke her up at 8:30! One of my favorite things about Sadie is that she always wakes up in a good mood. She never cries, just waits patiently in her bed and talks to herself until someone comes to pick her up.

She saw Eric working in the office so I couldn't get her to look at me for a picture.

Here is my not so little anymore Megan walking to school. In the distance you can see one of the schools crossing guards. I am so grateful for them. They are all super friendly, take their jobs very seriously, and are so careful with our kids.

Later that morning we headed over to Rachael's house to swim and to have lunch. Although we don't have a pool, I am grateful for such a good friend that willingly shares hers.

Jackson loves to swim but I can't get him to give up his life jacket. He likes the security of it.

Sadie loves the water, but this year does not seem to be much of a pool person. She wanted to spend most of her time on the patio playing with this car and also with the dog. She is definitely a dog lover. Too bad for her that I enjoy being pet free. Having a dog of her own would make her very happy.

Jackson spent some time in the afternoon watching cartoons while sitting in this pool toy. In fact since I brought this toy in from the garage, Jackson and Sadie have been playing with it non-stop. I need to be one of those moms who keeps only a few toys out and then switches them with other toys when her kids get bored. I could have so much free time with them entertaining themselves.

I spent much of the afternoon paying bills on the computer. I love that I now only have to mail one bill every month. The rest I pay directly on-line. However, since I had to spend so much time on the computer, my usual cleaning duties were neglected, which means my house still has not recovered. And here I am on the computer again. I am also including this picture because you can see my ironing board in the background. You may be asking yourself, "Why is there an ironing board in the office?" Well, I will tell you. Since we have a small home, and Sadie needed a bedroom, I decided to put the office in the laundry room. It is unconventional, and inconvenient, but it works for now.

While driving around running errands, we happened to park by a large truck like this one. Jackson looked over and saw a woman getting out of the driver's seat. He then said to Megan and I, "Why is that woman driving a truck? Women don't drive trucks!" I had no idea he had such a skewed view of the world.

After picking Megan up from school I had to do a task that I dread (vacuuming out the car). I was going out with some of my friends later, and had volunteered to drive. So they didn't have to sit on wrappers, and cheerios, and numerous other pieces of garbage, I vacuumed out my car in 100 degree heat. It sucked, but it does look much better.

After the vacuuming was done, and I had cooled down, I headed out with my friends for dinner. My day was filled with some highs, and a couple of lows. I felt like I could have really used a couple of extra hours just to catch up. In fact, I feel that way today too, and probably will tomorrow.

Mother's Day

Eric and I are both indecisive. This manifests itself in many different ways, but never more apparent than when deciding what to have for dinner. You will often here, "What do you want for dinner? I don't know, what to you want?" And so on and so on. Well on Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Birthday's, the person we are celebrating is forced to choose where to eat. The other person loves this, since they will not have to make the decision. Well since it was Mother's Day I was given the responsibility of choosing. I chose Chilis, because I love it, but also because it is kid friendly and they have a call ahead list so we don't have to wait for hours. Here is a picture of Miss Sade at dinner.

She was a messy disaster, but enjoys feeding herself. What is a mother to do?

On Mother's Day, Eric and the kids always bring me breakfast in bed. They bring it to me and then I take it out to the table and eat with them. Mostly because I find it difficult to eat in bed, and I would be awfully lonely eating all by myself. Eric really outdid himself this year. He made spinach, mushroom omelets, sausage, and toast. Then I got to open my presents. Eric gave me a beautiful watch, necklace and earrings, and of course flowers. Then it was time to open my handmade gifts and cards from the kids (my favorite part). Megan is very thoughtful, and crafty and always comes up with unique gift ideas. This year she made me this cool purse out of a Ziploc bag and ribbon. If you could see it close up you would be amazed. The bag is perfectly cut and the ribbon is tied professionally. She has skills! She also made me a charm bracelet for my purse, and a card made out of a paper plate with coupons attached.

Jackson made me these earrings. Megan supervised, but Jackson chose all of the beads himself.

We spent the rest of the day in St. George with my mom. I had a great Mother's Day, and I truly hope all of you did too!

Mother's Day Tea

Today Jackson and I headed off to the annual Pre-School Mother's Day Tea. This is my fourth time attending, and every year I love it. The kids are all so excited and proud that their moms get to come with them to school.


We start off playing a little game. The kids have filled out a questionnaire about all of us and we have to guess who said what. This year it turns out Jackson said my favorite color is red, I have red hair, I am 45, and once again (just like last year) am devoid of any funniness.

Here is Jackson's teacher Miss Sheree. She is truly wonderful and had us all crying after she read us a story and talked about her mom and us as mothers. We will miss her next year.

Then it was time for the kids to serve us our punch and cookies.

The kids singing all of us a song.

Here is the picture Jackson made of me (notice that my hair is not red, he chose blonde) and the handprint dishtowels the kids gave us as gifts. It was a great way to start off Mother's Day weekend.

SFLB

I have a problem. My Sadie is sporting an SFLB. Also knows as, Short Front Long Back, or more widely known as a Mullet. She has worked very hard to grow this hair, and I don't think I am going to cut it. Lots of stuff from the 80's has come back into style, and I am sure the mullet will too. Don't you think so?

This picture reminds me of the Air Supply lyric; "Flying through the wings in her hair."