We've Got Green Thumbs!

After last years practice run at gardening, we are trying it again! We spend the holiday weekend (with Mike's help) turning the front yard into a gardening wonderland. (not really a wonderland, but it made it sound cooler...) We have 3 kinds of watermelon (round, long, and even one that is yellow on the inside! I cant wait to taste that one!), cantaloupe, zucchini, yellow squash, burpless cucumber (i didn't even know they burped!) so i can try to make pickles, artichoke (Ashley's favorite veggie), 3 types of corn, a thornless blackberry bush, a red grape vine, a marion berry bush, and a partridge in a pear tree... oh wait, not that last one. It took forever and I am sunburned, and every inch of my body is sore, but... we are so freakin excited! Hopefully soon we will have more food than we can eat, jar, freeze, or dehydrate... that's if the bunnies don't eat it all first... I spied some this morning and i wanted to go running after them wearing a mumu, bunny slippers, and with curlers in my hair, waiving a broom around like the crazy farmers wives do in the movies.

After we were all done i made a comment to the kids about how we now have green thumbs, and both kids looked at their hands and said they didn't have any green on them so we went into the house and grabbed some of my green nail polish and painted all of our thumbs green!

Sleeping with Daddy

Mike spent the night at my house so he could spend some more time with the kids. In the middle of the night Ashley climbed out of her nice comfortable bed and climbed onto the couch so she could be with her daddy. It was such a cute sight to wake up to!

CJ's Last Day of Pre-School

Its official, Calin is a pre-school Graduate!

Siblings Rock!

Ash & CJ are the best of siblings! They are so kind to each other, they rarely fight, and they are always helping each other. I am so lucky to be able to call them my children!

CJ School Program

Calin's Preschool put on a program for the parents, Mike and I both got to attend. The kids counted for us to 100, counted it again by two's, recited the alphabet and told us the letter's sounds, sang, danced, and put on a play. It was amazing to see how much he has learned just this year alone.

The kids clicked, and sang and danced "the sounds of summer" accompanied by a piano played by a teacher.

Calin played the Troll in the play "Three Billy Goats Gruff". He did great! He said his lines clear and loud all the while grinning for our camera and posing for pictures. Mike and I are so proud of him!

For Uncle Jose

The emailbox the military assigned you wouldn't accept a file this big, and I really want you to see this home video so i am posing it here on my family's page for you to watch...

We Love You!

CJ's Dairy Fieldtrip

Snells Preschool went on a field trip to a local dairy. CJ was so excited! It was the first thing he told people- even before he said hi "I get to go on a bus to a cow farm and see a baby cow!". The day of the field trip he jumped out of bed and rushed to get ready so we could go. He checked with me 3 times to make sure i paid for the trip and that i "put my name on the paper saying he could go". He jumped and danced in the line as we waited to board the big yellow school bus. When we got in and sat down he was so excited because there was no seat belts. (I mean how exciting is that?!?) When we got to the dairy he smelled the stinky cows, and looked like he might want to change his mind about wanting to get off the bus, but as soon as he heard a moo in the background he promptly forgot about the smell.

The kids got to pet a baby cow that was born just the day before. Most kids practically climbed over each other to touch the calf, not CJ, he was happy to stand about 3 feet from it and just look. He didn't want to touch it, either because he didn't want to put down his camera, or the calf was dirty, I'm not sure...

CJ loved learning about what the farmers feed the cows and he liked playing in the dried corn kernels. He could have played in the huge pile all day!

CJ wanted a picture of us from his very first time on a school bus... a very exciting day for sure.

The Best Mothers Day Ever!

For Mothers Day the kids wanted to treat me to a pedicure. They took off my nail polish and repainted them. Both kids used different colors for each toes. They worked really hard and took their time to make them perfect for me. It was such a fun thing to watch.

CJ & Ash picked their favorite colors, stickers, and sparkles. CJ painted my left foot, and Ash did my right.

CJ chose "hyper-color" polish that changes with temperature, and used a detail polish (one with a little thin brush) to make lines, dots, and "checker boards" on my nails. He added sparkles to several of them to make them "shiny". He even put clear polish on the top to make it last "forever".

Ashley chose cute pastels. She painted a "Hawaii flower with leaves and a palm tree" on my big toe and sparkles and metallics and stickers for the rest. She begged me to keep my nails painted by them for as long as i could. And how could i not??? My feet are beautiful and every time I look at them it makes me remember how lucky i am so have such wonderful children!

Mothers Day @ Ashley's School

Ashley's 2nd grade class threw a Mothers Day party. They worked on it for weeks learning new songs and memorizing mom-themed poems. They made fancy pink paper hats with tissue paper roses, and even made tissue paper rose bracelets for the moms. It was a very special day, and it was so fun to see Ashley get more and more excited as the party day got closer.

My Beautiful new hat.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, pretzels, and grapes were a delicious treat.

The kids sang mom-themed songs and poems. Some of the songs even had sign language in them. All of us moms were impressed with all of the hard work the kids had put into this party.