One Loooong Post

Warning! I have neglected my blog for way too long so this one entry will have to cover several weeks of stuff! I'm just gonna go through my pictures and outline the craziness.

First, here are Justin and Ryan playing Spring Soccer. This was Ryan's last season playing on this league so THANKS to all the coaches who have taught him the game! He started when he was only 4 and now he's a good player and wants to play soccer for the High School in a couple years. Justin is in red, Ryan is the giant in purple.



So, for Mother's Day, since Todd was in China, I told the boys that I wanted them to help me build some grow boxes for a garden. They were surprisingly helpful (especially Tyler) and in just a couple of hours we took this spot in our yard behind the garage



and with just a little cutting (Tyler used the circular saw) and drilling (Ryan did all the drilling and screwing)


and postioning (Tyler is good with a level)


and stirring up all the soil mix, compost, vermiculite, and peat,


and lots of shoveling (Justin worked hard at this)


we ended up with... three square grow boxes!



Then we went to Steak N Shake for dinner. Happy Mother's Day to me. I love being a mom and I have the best three boys. I am so blessed.


The next Saturday, Todd was home so he helped me add more soil and the grids on top and plant the seeds and strawberry plants. It looked like this:



We've already had a few berries and lots of the little plants have sprouted. I hope I can keep them alive! We used the Square Foot Gardening book so each small square has it's own crop. We planted corn, beans, peas, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, radishes, hot peppers, bell peppers, and lettuce. Mmmmm.

And my lilac bush bloomed! The flowers smelled sooo nice. It's just a little bush right now, but it will grow to be huge someday and the scent will fill the whole yard. Isn't it goregous!


And last week, Ryan graduated from Elementary School (6th grade)!! I can't believe this tall 12-year-old is my baby boy Ryan. He is a great kid. We are proud of him and how he's growing up. He loves his brothers and his friends. He's nervous and excited about going to middle school next year. He's already bored with summer and wants to have friends over every day and doesn't think he should have to do jobs on his vacation. Hmm. It's going to be a long summer.


Last week was also Tyler's 8th Grade Band Banquet. There were many awards given to the kids, some serious and some just for fun. Tyler was nominated for a couple but he got a certificate for Most Improved Player. He really likes playing the trumpet in the band and has lots of good friends there too. Yay Tyler!


Then it was 8th Grade Promotion! I cannot believe that Tyler is done with Middle School and off to High School! How did that happen?! Tyler is on the front row somewhere.


Can you tell how proud we are? We love this boy.


Then on Friday, Tyler took his Driver's Permit test and he PASSED! He can drive! He is sooo happy. He's been out driving twice and he's pretty good. He's very careful and he pays attention.


Saturday, Tyler left for a Scouting camp - National Youth Leadership Training. It is a pretty big deal and we're glad that he went, but I miss him so much! I hate not seeing him and talking to him! He only has 2 days left and I can't wait. We've had a little rain so I'm worried about him being wet and cold, but I know he'll be OK. I'm just selfish - I want him back!

We also had piano recitals and scout activites and tons of other things going on so we are now enjoying the first week of summer vacation. Ryan and Justin are reading, playing the Wii, having air soft battles, and starting to bug each other. We have lots of plans for the summer so check back with us and we'll show you all our adventures!

Another Yellow Brick Road

Last week I whipped up a baby quilt for my friend's baby shower. I used the fabrics leftover from the Micah's quilt. It's a Yellow Brick Road pattern, random, fast & easy. I just love the blues and yellows and can't wait until this new baby comes I can snuggle him up! And I had to show the most adorable ceramic bunnies I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Love them.

Written & Illustrated

Our school has a program called Written & Illustrated where the 5th & 6th grade kids go early one day a week and learn how to Write and Illustrate their own book. At the end, after their books are assembled, they have an Author's Tea where the parents come and have cookies and punch and the finished books are presented to the kids. This is Ryan's 2nd year to do this. Last year his book was about a secret agent platypus and his evil foe. This year, Ryan told the same story but from the bad guy's point of view. It's called "The MOM". Ryan did the entire thing himself this year so when I finally read the finished book, I cracked up. Someday maybe he'll let you read it. Ryan has always loved playing with his "guys" - action figures, army men, knights, star wars people, even dinosaurs. He has an imaginative and creative mind and it's interesting to see how he defines them all - good guys or bad guys. His story is like that too. He is a talented kid!

Easter - Was it Really a Whole Week Ago?

Blogging has taken a place lower on my list of things to do so I am just now posting our Easter pics. The boys' baskets were overflowing with candies and some small toys. On our egg hunt, Justin found the bowl full of eggs that the Easter Bunny was just too tired to hide, so he had a lot more treats. Ryan did not think this was fair, but I've given up on fair. All the good stuff is gone now, so today I combined all their remaining candy into 1 bag.

And then we got a friend to take our picture at church. We all looked preeettty cute AND since it was Stake Conference, Todd got to go with us, sit with us, and come home with us. Ahh.

Ta-Da!

I'm not expecting, but I've been nesting! I just enjoy fixing up the house and working on projects. I have a list of things to work on and I've got a bug to get things done. Maybe I'm just ready for spring. So, here's my bathroom window:
Before, blah, boring.

After, better, but beautiful? Not sure I like it. I bought the panels and hemmed them up to fit over the tub, but I think it looks a little Grandma-y. No offense to the Grandmas out there. Any suggestions for how to make this work? It needs some help.

And here's my bedroom windows. Two years ago my sister, Tammy, helped me pick out & hang the curtains & I really like them, but it has bugged me that the sheers showed at the top because the brown curtains were not long enough. I wanted to order longer ones, but too much money! Sooo, yesterday, while listening to conference, I added 2 feet of a similar embroidered fabric and some fringe. Todd helped me move the rod up as high as possible and now look!
Before, good, but not quite right.

After, so much better. And I got a warm-weather coverlet for our bed so I had to get new pillows too!

I've done about all I can do without getting furniture for this room!
In the rest of the house, I think I'm going to hang a mirror and a quilt rack and some pictures tomorrow. Whoa.

Mathematical Geniuses

All three of my boys love math. I don't get it. Recently, they've each had some successes I'm going to brag about now.

Tyler participated in 2 Math competitions this year. Yes, they get have teams that get together and practice doing math and mathy things. Then they go to a big gathering of these teams and take tests. Math tests. And they like it. At Math Counts, Tyler did not place, but he did get a very cool T-shirt, certificate and trophy. (I didn't get a picture of him w/ his swag, but he was happy.) Then at SumDay, the second contest, Tyler had a top ten score on the Geometry-style test. He was pretty happy about that too since he thought it was pretty hard. All the kids got T-shirts and he also got a ribbon for the top ten. He goes to Mth Club every week and now I think he's looking forward to starting Honors Algebra II next year. He's a genius.

Ryan, who is just as smart but just doesn't love school as much, took his state assessment test this last week. We get notes from the school telling us to make sure the kids sleep enough and get good breakfasts so they'll do really well on their testing. I don't worry about it. Ryan always gets top scores. This week he made goals for how well he wanted to do and he passed his goals! And he got a super-high score on his math assessment. He called Todd at work to tell him all about it. He's a genius.

And Justin. The 3rd grade had a Multiplication Olympics and there was all kinds of hype. Justin, lacking no self-confidence, didn't study or worry about it at all. He came home with a certificate, candy, a medal, and a torch! He's a genius.

And for a bonus, here's a picture of Justin as Harry Houdini for his class Wax Museum. The kids got to learn about a famous person's life and then dress like them and tell about them at a special presentation at school.

Justin's Cub Scout Dinner

The Cub's Blue & Gold dinner was in March. The theme was something about games & so we got to play a few! Justin also got 3 belt loops! Now he's gotta finish his Bear!

Spring Break, Part Four

Thursday night we went to Medieval Times. At first the boys were skeptical about the paper crowns, but then as the show began, they really got into it. And they even liked the food - we got to eat with our hands! It was very hard to get good pics.


On Friday, we went to the Other Air & Space Museum. Very big. Very cool.
Then we said Goodbye to Washington and went a few hours south to Monticello. That was really interesting.

From there, we went to Todd's brother Kirk's house. We had a really good time with them but I only thought to take pictures of the kids running around on the Virginia Tech campus. Jen took a really good shot of the 7 kids when we went to Kirk's work. Our boys said out of everything we did, they wanted to go back to Kirk & Jen's again.


All in all, it was a really good week. We'd definintely do it again, but we have so many other places to see and adventures to have. We took over 600 pictures so I have lots of organizing and editing and scrapbooking to do!