Coming to a close

The 2015-2016 school year is coming to a close, and I'm amazed at how fast it has gone. We had end of the year programs for both kids this week. Evie's program was Friday night and her part was about 30 seconds long. After sitting for an hour with another hour to go, so we skipped the rest because we were all worn out and cranky by then. Do other people's kids not melt down near bedtime after a full day at school? Sullivan's program was during lunch earlier in the week and went well. He's not much of a stage performer, but it was sweet to see how much they've grown over the year.

LLES end of the year program

ABC end of the year program. Perfectly captures their typical attitudes when I ask for a picture.

I made my first LLES field trip the previous Friday to the Memphis Zoo. The weather couldn't have been better and we had a great time. I brought Evie along as well.

Taking a picture with me is apparently very painful.

We traveled to my Mom's the same afternoon to spend Mother's Day weekend with her and Freddie. We got to go to the new grammy museum for the first time, and it was so much fun! If you are a Beatles fan, that exhibit leaves in June, so get there soon! They have so many interactive exhibits that kids and adults both enjoy. I could have spent all day in there, but my kids got hungry and were ready to go after about 2 hours. I highly recommend it though!

Dance Floor

Fred Daddy and Bebe with my ever reluctant photo takers.

On Sunday after church we stopped by the cemetery where my father is buried to place a special stone Daniel had made. The small stone in the picture came from the Nantahala River and Daniel carved "Dr. Barry" in to it. It was something that Daniel just wanted to do, but means a lot to me that he was so considerate. My dad's headstone also came from a quarry in the Smokies, since that is an area that he really loved. 

My last two photos today are rather random. The first is a photo of two birds that love to build nests each  year above our front door. Daniel is determined not to let them and goes out to prevent them from making any progress. I feel bad for them and would cave, but he's holding strong. The pile of poop at the front door is a bit annoying.  I'm fairly certain they are planning their revenge though...

The last photo is of me and Sullivan and Evie. We read Pete the Cat books all the time and the kids decided they wanted everyone in the family to get some Pete the Cat shoes. 3 down, 1 to go.

I can't understand Whinese

Holy cow. My kids were completely unable to communicate this morning.

Evie cried about everything: wants to get her yogurt-cries because she can't find strawberry, wants me to get her yogurt instead- cries even though i found strawberry, i'm taking a shower and won't let her in- cries,  i put on shoes- cries, i help her wash the soap off her hands- cries, i tell her she can wear a doc mcstuffins pull-up- cries, i tell her she can wear a dora pull-up instead- cries because it's not doc mcstuffins, and on and on and on.

Sullivan wouldn't answer a single question I asked him except with a dirty look. I raise my voice for him to answer me- he cries, Daniel gets on to him for something else- cries, get in the car and I say no tv- they both cry.

And then...as I'm driving through the neighborhood, I spill my coffee all over my white skirt and the floorboard of the car. Like a light switch, my kids suddenly are able to communicate. No crying, no whining. Happy, normal conversation all the way to school and through drop off. WTH? Did the demons get ejected with my coffee?  Do I  need to recreate this scenario every morning? I'm still baffled.


Parenting tip: when your kids are driving you nuts, watch cute "bideos" of them.

Spring has sprung

This is going to be a typical catch up blog. Lots of photos.

Some recent happenings:

We finally sold my car from high school. Still looks pretty dang good for being 20 years old! I was a little sentimental about letting it go, but it went to a co-worker's son and will get to do something besides sit in my driveway. So long, Rodeo!

We've been spending lots of time outdoors while the weather is still beautiful and cool. Our garden has brussels sprouts that are almost ready and strawberries ripening each day. We've got tomato plants started and lots of seeds beginning to sprout. I've determined I need to add another raised bed to our garden since Daniel has claimed an entire bed just for strawberries.

We've got lots of baby pears and peaches on our trees, but I only got a photo of our two varieties of pears.

We grow our own luck around here as well as we have discovered several patches of clover that consistently produce numerous four leaf clovers.  It's a bit like taking candy from a baby, so I avoid those areas when scouting for lucky clovers.

Kids are doing well. Sullivan has good days/weeks at school and bad days/weeks, so we just take it one day at a time. Listening and following directions are not his strong suit. He loves to love on our cat Sophie and to "play" with the lizards in our garden. When he's engaged, he can be such a great helper. He's recently mastered tying his shoes. This summer we hope to check off confident swimming and riding a bike without training wheels.

With his BFF Jackson

The Sharks!

Evie has started exerting her independence more and more. Her favorite words are "let me do it!". She's still a sweet snuggler though, and I just love it when she leans her head against me while we read books at night. She speaks in full sentences and really likes to sing these days. The princess craze has fully hit. She wants to wear a princess nightgown each night, has a princess night light, and has a set of "bath tub" princesses that she carries just about everywhere. She can be rough and tumble, but she's a bit of a girly girl as well. In the photo below, she is twirling her dress. :)

Daniel and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on April 22. We had hoped to take a trip to celebrate, but with our company selling and the kids in school, we decided to postpone a trip to a more convenient time. Instead, we had drinks and dinner with some of our best friends and came home to have some "wedding" cake and watch a movie. Daniel surprised me with an anniversary band to add to my wedding ring set, although we weren't supposed to be doing gifts...All in all, it was a good day. Hard to believe it's been 10 years.