Chalk Art

The good mom I am allowed my children to have 2 friends from school come over. Hannah had Allyn (again) and Emily brought Rachel.

At first, they tried to plop themselves in front of the TV and computer, but after I chased them out, I found them doing this:

They were taking turns tracing each other and then coloring in their bodies.

The finished products made me laugh (that's Hannah on the left and Allyn on the right)

Here we have Emily on the left and Rachel on the right. I know this because they labeled themselves. You just can't see it in the picture.

Both Hannah and Emily have been friends with these girls since kindergarten. It will be interesting to see if they stay friends all through school.

Fun in the sun

Last week I decided to take today off to "recover" from all my ailments as well as First Communion preparations. It's a good thing I did because last Thursday I found out that Hannah would be off school today. I guess for her to recover from First Communion as well. Unfortunately for her, my recovery involved lots and lots of grading, which means she watched lots and lots of TV. But, we did take a break and headed out for some lunch at the park.



It was too nice of a day to spend it all indoors. We went to Helicopter Park and ate under the shelter



And then we played a little tennis. We stopped by Meijer before grabbing food to purchase tennis rackets and balls.



I had a good time laughing as she tried and tried and tried to serve the ball (you'll have to click on the picture to see her serving. Some day I'll figure out how to make these pictures bigger!)



I think with more practice, she'll improve.

I had a great time with Hannah today. I didn't feel like I should be playing out there when I have all this grading to do and interims due tomorrow, but then I thought about what will be important to me next year or ten years down the road. Will it be the kid in my class who I won't see in ten years or even in five, or will it be my daughter? I chose Hannah. It's not that I don't care about those kids in my classroom; it's just that sometimes I need to realize that there will come a day when I will look back on these times. When that time comes, I don't want to find myself regretting not doing things with my children because I was too busy working. The ungraded papers will eventually get graded. In the meantime, I'm going to try to carve out some meaningful moments that will last a lifetime.

Spring

is such a tease. Today, it's going to be in the 80's; the rest of the week will be at least 20 degrees cooler...I wish the warm weather would just come and stay! I am way more motivated to get things done when it's warm and sunny outside.


The other day I saw a cool picture of a bee on a flower. I wanted to try to get one myself. Didn't get any that were quite as cool, but here are some pictures I did take that I like:









I was trying to get a bee hovering over a flower, and with the million bees swarming this tree, you'd have thought I could get one, but these little buggers are so fast!


Another reason why I'm not fond of spring is that it is very fleeting, just like these daffodils. If you blink, you'll miss them and you'll miss spring.





So, I'm going to try to savor these awesome warm days in hopes they will get me through the cold, dreary ones ahead!

1st Communion

Today was Hannah's special day, and might I say she looked so freakin' cute??!

Her dress was a labor of love, but I think it turned out quite well. Watching her stand with her class on the altar brought me close to tears. I had flashbacks from her baptism only 8 years ago.

It also made me think what she will look like on her wedding day, the day Ray and I will "give her away..." :-(

After Mass we took a bunch of pictures:

Ed and Hannah,

The four of us,

Sue, Patrick, and Hannah,

Ray and Emily

Me, Ray, and Hannah

Jo, Brian, and Hannah,

Godmother Jo and Hannah,

Hannah and Emily,

Grandma and Grandpa Durbin,

Grandma Heckle,

After Mass we had a small party at our house. It was exhausting battling bronchitis and a stomach virus while trying to sew, clean, and shop, but it was all worth it in the long run. Seeing her look so cute and enjoy her day makes all my suffering ;-) worthwhile!

Easter Pictures

One of my favorite things on Easter morning is to stand in the dining room before Hannah and Emily come down the stairs and snap pictures of the girls rounding the corner, spying their baskets for the first time. Emily's reaction is always priceless (click on the pictures to see their faces close up)

They spent quite some time checking out their baskets

After gorging on candy, Hannah, Emily, and I went to church with my family (minus Sue) and then went to my mom's house for breakfast.

Taking some pictures with Jo

And then Vickie

After hanging out at Mom's for a while, Jo suggested we stop by Dad's grave site

Boy, I so miss that guy!

Then it was off to Aunt Cathy and Uncle Nick's house for more food and an egg hunt.

Our third stop was to Ray's Mom and Dad's house where we ate even more food and had another hunt

It was an exhausting but enjoyable day!

Funny stuff

Two quick funny stories:

1) Emily started throwing up this morning around 4:00 (not funny). At 6:00, she came into my room so she'd be closer to the bathroom. We made her a little bed on the floor. Around 6:30, she threw up again (also not funny). She didn't quite make it; some landed on the carpet (bummer) and the tile. I was just about finished cleaning it up, when Emily started crying. I asked her what was wrong. She said, "I can't tell you. You'll be mad at me."

"No I won't," I replied. "Just tell me." It was right then that I looked down. At my feet was one of my fairly new green shoes. Guess what was in it. Yep. A big pile of puke. I couldn't help but laugh. Of all the places for the puke to land, it landed right in my shoe!


2) Hannah was being mouthy (not funny) and said something like, "Mom, there is nothing you can say to change my mind." I can't even remember what we were discussing.

"Oh really? How about, 'you're grounded' or 'no friends for the whole weekend' or 'no more DS'" and before I could say anything else, she cut me off and said,

"Okay, okay. I stand incorrected!"

Incorrected??? I had no choice but to laugh out loud. She tries to use these big words all the time, and most of the time, she gets them wrong.

Funny stuff.

Happy Belated to my Mom!

April 12th was my mom's birthday, and I had the family over to celebrate. I made chicken and rice for dinner and baked Mom a pineapple upside down cake--her favorite.





We all chipped in and got her a hot stone massage. Hopefully she likes it...



And then we just spent time hanging out...

Ed and his phone,


Emily and her phone,


Mom and her new granddaughter,

Patrick and In Touch,

the girls and their cousins,

and Lauren and her brother.

It's always so much fun hanging out with these guys!

Next posting will be some Easter pictures...stay tuned!