My Little Ones

Over the past week I loved receiving all of the homemade little gifts the kids came home with celebrating Mother's Day. Forrest gave me a clothespin with a watercolored butterfly on it. Summer gave me the most precious note in her own writing. She wrote that one of her favorite things to do is having time with me. And, Summer, I love having time with you.

In my mind these two will always be my little ones even though they are not so little anymore.

Muffins with Moms

Last week Forrest's preschool class put on a "Muffins with Moms" performance. Forrest was so proud to give me the official tour around his classroom, particularly the floor toys area which is his favorite thing to do. It has been such a great year for him and I can't believe this preschool year is coming to an end. His teachers are Mrs. M & Mrs. B, the same teachers Summer had when she was in the 4 year old class. Both are amazing teachers and I feel so fortunate that Forrest was able to be in their class this year. They have given Forrest a positive start to kindergarten. Forrest has grown up so much this year. I can't believe my baby is off to kindergarten!

After the kids served muffins and lemonade to their mommies we were instructed to stand in the back of the classroom for the performance. All the kids did silly dances and made silly faces to several songs and we all laughed so hard. It was too funny. When Forrest gave me this drawing, I couldn't help but smile at the picture of me. I am not quite sure about the see-through dress but it is just adorable. I am going to keep it forever.  They don't get any sweeter than this little boy.  I'm sure of it.

Play Catch

As we were cleaning up after the party, I told Forrest that the birthday fairy had visited our home. He could barely sit still he was so excited. I put our birthday banner and a pair of baseball gloves out on the front porch. It was so simple but he was BEYOND excited when he saw the gloves. He got to play catch with daddy. I think it is the sweetest thing ever.

"You don't raise heros, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heros, even if it's just in your own eyes."

                                                                                        ~Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

Look Who's 5!

Today is my super kid's 5th birthday. 

Forrest loves all things super hero. I made red capes and masks for the boys, pink for the girls. It was so fun to watch him play with his friends. He's a lucky boy to have such a great group of friends. For lunch we served corn dogs, chips and strawberries. Forrest requested lemon cupcakes with vanilla frosting. After lunch the kids went through their own super hero training with punch balloons, obstacle course, and water balloon toss which turned into a full blown water balloon fight. After all the super heros completed their training and earned the title of real heros, we sent them off with their own cape and mask. It was a perfect day. 

I love you my sweet, funny, smart and handsome little boy. 

Happy 5th Birthday, Forrest!

My Little Fisherman

One of Forrest's favorite things to do is fishing. By his definition, that means fishing with a stick and a rope.  Whatever I am doing in the yard, he insists on fishing by my side. He walks on the top of the retaining wall and does whatever he pleases to do with the stick and rope. His fishing usually means that whatever I am doing in the backyard will have to stop and then I have to throw the rope out as far as I can for him. To reel in the catch, he turns the stick until the end of the rope comes up. It is something fun we do together. Today after school when we got home he said, "Mama, I am going fishing so you can leave my lunch by the wall!" He walks to the backyard with that cute little stick with pride along with the rope in his hand.  He is my little fisherman. And just like when I was his age with full of imagination, his favorite part of fishing is getting to taste each of the catch for himself.

Donuts with Dads

In honor of Father's Day, Forrest's 4 year old class at preschool put on a "Donuts with Dads" program today. Since preschool ends before Father's Day, the class did this for their daddies. So sweet. Forrest was sooo excited he could hardly stand it. As they were driving to school he said, "Dad, my cheeks are hurting from smiling so much. I am so excited." It was 100% adorable. My favorite part was watching Forrest and David this morning while taking pictures in the backyard before they left. Forrest didn't take his eyes off of his daddy the entire time. He was so proud that he was there for him. He presented him with a drawing of his daddy that he made for him and "My dad is..." here is how he filled it out in his own thinking.

The tears came down when I saw this, "My dad is handsome when... he goes on an interview". Tears of sadness but mostly gratitude. There is something about the innocent in a child's eyes. I laid in bed next to my Forrest watching him breathe as I read a book to him this evening. His love for his daddy is insurmountable. Last july David got laid off from his state job. All of us in our daily routines until this unexpected change of life was thrust upon us. This experience has touched our whole family. Forrest loves his time with daddy. To say that he adores his daddy would be an understatement. The bond between these two have grown deeper over the last several months which I am deeply grateful for. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for our family. I still have my little family. And that is the most important thing to me. This has been a faith promoting experience for all of us. Even our sweet Summer has gained a greater appreciation for prayer. David is going to come out of this stronger. I think we all will... We know that we are being watched over and we will be forever grateful to the countless number of people that have been so mindful of our little family. My eyes well-up just thinking about how our family has been through... with love.

It is also interesting how the hardest periods of our lives end up being the experiences that enable us to be or at least be on the road to becoming the kind of person that we want to be. This experience has done that for me. As hard as it was, I have learned so much and now have a new heightened awareness of how truly blessed we are. Life is such a precious gift.

Porch

Our front porch had a facelift this weekend. The kids love to eat their breakfast on the front porch and so I decided to fix it up a bit for the Spring. I painted the posts and railings a coat of white paint to freshen it up. The biggest difference happens to be our new door mat. Extra wide and extra soft. That I love. Later in the day Summer went with me to get ferns to hang and we came home with four of them.  I love how it looks from our front door. I also love Forrest in the background playing on his scooter.

~ Happy Spring ~

Saturday

Now that the kids are back in school after their Spring Breaks I am loving our Saturday mornings. David leaves early for his bike rides which leaves me with the kids. We're super lazy and I love it.
Now let's talk about Summer's hair. How amazing is her long hair?! Her hair keeps growing like a weed. I've trimmed at least 4 times in the last two months. I think it's time for another trim.

Easter Morning

The kids were so adorable when they woke us up to go downstairs on Easter morning. The carrots and water they left for the Easter Bunny were gone. He really had been at our house! Very exciting.

Here are my Summer and Forrest in their Easter best. I couldn't get over their cuteness.

Happy Easter!

Happy Day

We had such a nice day today. From start to finish it was so great.

The Easter Bunny made a visit to our home last night. We woke up to LOTS of chocolate and an easter egg hunt. After church we came home and had Easter dinner on our back porch. I did take lots of pictures but am just too tired to even look at them right now (I am in the middle of a painting project, more on that later) except for this sweet one my David took the three of us right before we left for church. The kids had a very happy Easter. And yes, Forrest got his haircut. I cut it the other day and it's just adorable.