Monday, May 11, 2009

Mother of the Year

We spent a wonderful Mother's day weekend at the lake. Nice and relaxing. Wonderful weather - can you believe we were in the lake in early May? Well the kids were in much more than me.

We continued our tradition of Mother's Day strawberry picking and headed home with 3 1/2 gallons after just 40 minutes. Anyone have good strawberry recipes? Send them quick!



Upon returning home I found that my dear friend Stefanie nominated me for Mother of the Year and guess what? ............................. I won!!!

Do you think it was my acceptance of child labor?


Or unsafe working conditons?


Or maybe keeping the kids out so late they fall asleep at dinner? (really it was just 5:00 pm)




How about letting them drive at an early age?



Or for being sure they're dressed in weather-appropriate attire? (yes look closely, that's Katelyn's bare belly showing while making a snow angel)



Who knows? But Click here for the full story (Thanks Stef - love ya!)

Ok, so even I'm not really Mother of the Year,
my kids think I'm pretty special. One of the cards Katelyn made me this year is an acrostic poem (very big with 2nd graders):
M - Marvelous
O - Other than mean
T - Terrified by nothing
H - Hates snakes
E - Entertaining
R - Right all the time
How cool is that?? Her other card started out with a little poem:
Here's a gift for Mother's Day,
I'll try my best in every way.
But when you get upset with me,
Relax and have a pot of tea!
Inside the card - a teabag!! Too funny.

Slow down....please!!!!

As I look at how long it's been since I've written, I found myself thinking about how fast time flies and if only time could slow down just a bit. But as I started remembering all of the things that have happened in past few months, I realized that I really need my girls to stop growing so fast!!! Here are a few glimpses into moments in past few months. If anyone can find my babies please let me know!

It really began with the Father/Daughter dance. Perhaps, something to do with Katelyn being all dressed up complete with rhinestone hair clips, high-heel shows, fancy curls in her hair and notice the necklace - it's the one I wore on my wedding day! Am I really the mother of this beautiful grown-up girl?



And although she wasn't actually going to the dance, Lindsay could not be left out of the dressing up festivities or the pre-dance photo shoot. Here's my "baby" looking quite grown up herself:



Both girls have had recent makeovers of their bedrooms. Katelyn wanted more space in her room and well, it was way past time to get rid of the toddler bed that Lindsay wasn't sleeping in anyway. They both LOVE their new rooms and are even doing a great job at keeping them picked up -- well one better than the other ;)


Katelyn's -


Lindsay's -


We finally caved in to the many pleas by Lindsay to sign up for a gymnastics class. It's actually a combination dance/gymnastics class. She's not so interested in the dance part(though looks very cute), but is a natural gymnast! She's already been invited to join the advanced class in her age group. With her strong little arms she may someday take a medal for the rings event!



Here she is with 2 of her best friends - Ariel and Isa


Here she is practicing the rings in our backyard - look out Olympics!


Both girls have had birthdays since my last post. We celebrated Lindsay turning 4 at where else but The Little Gym. She and her friends had a blast jumping and trying out all the equipment. The party staff cuts and serves the cake, then cleans up. By far the easiest place to throw a birthday party.



She was quite the helper - insisting on decorating parts of her cake all by herself. To my surprise she did a really great job!





Celebrating Katelyn's 8th birthday wasn't quite so easy, but definitely a lot of fun. She had a sleepover party with eleven 7 and 8 year old girls. Our basement was a maze of sleeping bags and pillows. The girls started the party by making their own pizzas. Then we decorated pillowcases and purses. Next came cake - which was an event in itself. I very jokingly told the girls I was too tired to cut and serve the cake and that I was just going to pass out forks. Well....it turns out that's exactly what happened....









Finally we made homeade lipgloss, watched a late night movie complete with popcorn. We heard lots of giggling until about 12:30 and think they were all asleep by 1:00am. By 7:00 the next morning they were ready for pancakes! Whew! Lots of fun, but I'm glad birthday season is only once a year!

Here's Lindsay on her first day of Pre-K looking all grown up in her uniform.


Katelyn before....


and after getting braces!


Lindsay having her first sleepover with her buddy Isa. Lindsay hasn't quite mastered staying over someone else's house yet, but I don't suppose it will be long before she does.



And last but certainly not least, here's Katelyn on the day of her First Communion.







Wow, I knew a lot had been happening in the last few months, but this felt like I was summarizing an entire year!