Graduation Day!

Aidan graduated from preschool last Friday. It was such a fun day! They had their last lesson on the letter Z at the zoo, did a fun alphabet search to show all of us how well they all know their letters and ended the year with a picnic and graduation ceremony at the park. Here are a bunch of pictures to show off that great day.

Here is his whole class posing at the tiger exhibit. Ella, Lindy, Lindsey, Aidan, Hazel, Kenya, and Mason. Actually, Gabe is missing in this picture.

Gabe is in this picture, in the striped shirt. Missing Hazel.

Aidan and his best-next-door-neighbor friend, Ella.

My little graduate! He will actually be in the class of 2022. Can you believe that?

Preschool has been such a fun experience for both Aidan and me. We got to hang out with a great group of friends and learn all the things he needed to be ready for Kindergarten and experience many new and fun adventures. Aidan says that the thing he liked the very best about this year was his friends. I truly enjoyed teaching these kids and getting to know their mothers. I hope all these new friendships don't fade with the school year ending and they last into the summer and beyond.

Dinner at our house

So, we try and we try to teach our children manners, how to use a fork and a napkin, and not to eat out of the pan, and it falls on deaf ears. Either that, or we have a 1 year old at the table.

And this charming picture of Aidan's blue tongue is his way of saying "Thank you! This meal is great!"
If any of you want an meal and a show, come on over! It's always exciting at dinner time!

A milestone in every boy's life. . .

Aidan's first shiner. Isn't it a beauty? He aquired this lovely black eye by falling off the top bunk-while sleeping. Apparently, he didn't sleep close enough to the wall, and rolled off the top bunk, onto the bottom full bed (where Wyatt was sleeping-his first night in the big bed, now we will never get him back to sleeping there!), and onto the floor. We *think* he hit the laundry basket, which is where he got the nice cut. What is even worse is that we didn't notice the scratch and black eye last night-I saw it this morning when everyone woke up and Aidan asked, "Mommy, what is wrong with my face? It hurts!"

Needless to say, Jeremy is putting up the guardrail as we speak.

Barky's Tribute

Barky is a pain most of the time. He may be cute, but lets face it, he steals food, chews my kids toys and now his new hobby is digging out my flower beds. For some reason, we love him and keep him around. And the reason became clear last night. After a rough bedtime (a whole other post) we were all slumbering peacefully. Barky sleeps at my feet and normally I don't even feel him. But about 3:30 A.M., my usually quiet (and full of crazy dreams) night sleep was distrupted by an unfamilar growl and angry barking. Now, Barky is named such for a reason, but his barking is usually more excited and hyper. This was mean. He jumped off the bed and ran into the kitchen. When he got there, he started clawing at the sliding door frantically trying to get outside. I slid open the door, and freaked out, waking up Jeremy to go see who was out there. Well, no one was, but Barky was upset. He didn't calm down until he surveyed the backyard and was assured that nothing was there. I like to think that he scared away a would-be intruder, protecting the family that he loves so much. More likely, it was some really scared squriell or cat on a late night prowl. After he was sure we were all safe, he curled right back up on my feet. And I realized, this dog is a pain, but I love him. Last night, Barky earned his kibble.

Eight Things

So, my friend Toni tagged me to do this, and I had time, so here it goes:

The rules: * Mention the person that tagged you* Complete the list of 8 things* Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends* Go tell them you tagged them.

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Bed tonight
2. The pots and pans I am hoping I am getting for Mother's Day tomorrow
3. My flowers coming up and blooming
4. Summer
5. Aidan going to Kindergarten
6. Making our 1st million
7. Wyatt sleeping in a big boy bed
8. Putting together Liddy's room

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Laundry
2. Cleaned the house
3. Bought flowers at the nursery
4. Went grocery shopping
5. Took Aidan to preschool
6. Watched Aidan's friend Tyson
7. Watched Evita
8. Made "real" popcorn

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Go on a Mediterrean cruise-just me and Jeremy
2. Hire a cook
3. Hire a housekeeper
4. Be on Dancing With The Stars
5. Go to the bathroom by myself
6. Have the perfect hair with little effort
7. Go the the Acadamy Awards
8. Meet Patrick Dempsey

Now, I am supposed to "tag" 8 people, but I don't know of 8 people's blogs-or 8 people who come to my blog, so I tag Rachel, Michele, Emily and Abbey for the blogs, and Julia and Amber for Facebook. Maybe I'll get Jeremy to do his another day.

I want to see the sun!

Okay, so I make it a point to not complain too much about the weather. There isn't a thing I can do about it, so what good is it to complain? But I am going to allow myself a little break here and whine. I am tired of the rain, the cold, and the wind. I want to wear my cute new capri pants and dress the kids in their cute summer clothes. I am tired of having to wear jackets everywhere we go. I want to go outside without shivering, getting wet, and blowing away. I want to open up the windows and get rid of the staleness in the house. I want to finish my gardens and play on the new swingset and go on walks. Is that too much to ask? Really?

Maybe I'll move to Florida. They are already swimming in their pools now.

A Brief Update

Yes, I have been seriously slacking on the blogger front, and I apologize, but frankly, nothing interesting has happened. We have all been sick this week and are just barely feeling better. We have done some yard work and our front flowerbeds have been expanded and planted and are colorful and beautiful. I will post about that later this week. I hope to get some good pictures. Other than that, we are just making it through the days. Maybe something fun will happen this week. We'll see.