just a little OC

We went to Ocean City, Maryland this past weekend. We stayed on the 15th floor of the Capri on the North End of OC. Alan's department chair has a condo there and was so very kind to offer it to us. It pays to have well established friends!!
Within 15 minutes of getting there, the high-rise next door had a fire alarm go off and people were running out of the building. Then a couple of fire trucks came along with an ambulance. They were fully dressed in their garb and went marching in as hero's only to come out shortly after having been a false alarm.
We spent a lot of time at the pool and on the beach. It was so much fun to just relax and be together!

3 little fish went out to play

Our sweet friends let us have access to their community pool this summer and my kids have just become little fish. Loving the water and not at all fearful...not at all the song we were singing last year. I decided that our children needed to gain some skills, so we have been taking swimming lessons over the last 9 days at the West Laurel Swimming Club. Joseph was in the level 1 class and Hannah and Peter were in level 2. They could not have been more happy and perfectly placed. Hannah and Peter really took off and are able to do fairly well with swimming. In their class they started teaching them how to perform the different strokes.

Peter just needs to get his legs working with his arms and he will just take off. His arms are very powerful!

Hannah is just "easy does it" with the greatest of ease.


Joseph is always so happy! Every time he would jump in the water it was on top of his teachers. They started to teach him some different strokes but they were mostly trying to get the kids comfortable in the water and to be able to go under without drowning.

On top of Spaghetti ...

All covered with cheese, I lost my poor meat ball, when somebody sneezed.

It wasn't just any meatball, but a whole pan of mexican meatballs that were going to be dinner. I slaved away, only to have them turn into mush on the floor after dropping the pan. Plan B: mac n' cheese.

June Bride

"They say when you marry in June you're a bride all your life"

I got the opportunity to do the wedding flowers for Natasha Nielsen. It was a lot of fun to use such bright beautiful flowers. I think they turned out just right. The bridesmaid bouquets were very similar to the brides bouquet. (the one in the picture to the left is laying on it's side)

I thought that I got a picture of the boutonnieres but I didn't. They were made of delphinium, lemon leaf, and tree fern. and looked more modern then traditional. I have not worked with or used orchids very much and the mother's corsages had a smaller orchid. They were suppose to compliment the color of the Gerbera Daisies, but turned out to be more purple than hot pink.

First day of summer

I don't care what the calendar says the first day of summer is. The first day of summer is when the fire flies come out, and today is the day. I went outside to close up the van and sure enough I saw little lights floating through the air. I remember living in IL as a young child catching fire flies. It was always fun, happy times and nothing brings a smile quicker then to see them flying around. Happy summer days!

It's Father's Day.....

...and what a man is he! Dad's are just those people who are near and dear to your heart for all of the little things that they have done for you. The times that they made you and no one else feel like the most important person alive!

I think that my children are very lucky because not only do they have a great Dad who loves them they also have two wonderful Grandfathers to look up to as well. I can not say enough about the way these three men have touched my life. I love them dearly and wish that I could spend more time with each of them.

Some of the things we like best about Alan, my husband and the father of my children:

• When he wrestles with me! (Hannah)
• When he smiles at me. (Eden)
• Playing games and watching movies with him. (Joseph)
• When it's just Dad and me. (Peter)
• All of the above!!! (Rebecca)
• When we have our covenant interviews together. (Hannah)
• When he makes me laugh. (Eden)
• When he puts me to bed. (Joseph)
• When we get to listen to music together. (Peter)
• When he goes with the family places. (Rebecca)
• When he lets me read his books. (Hannah)
• The way he feeds me! (Eden)
• When he takes me to his school. (Joseph)
• When he makes jokes. (Peter)
• When we are on vacation and he is nice and relaxed and doesn't have a care in the world! (Rebecca)

Our crazy lives wouldn't be the same without you. Thanks for all you do to make our family what it is! All the little things have made a big difference to us. We love you!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Today we had a Knights and Princess party to celebrate Peter's 6th Birthday. He is not a social bug like my other 3. He has never asked to have a friend over and has a difficult time when other people come over. He is getting better, but is not really interested in others, so this was a big deal. He decided that he wanted to have a dragon birthday party. Making the guest list was a difficult thing. We went through his whole class list and only came up with 3 kids that he wanted to invite (plus Mrs. Hunter, his teacher...he loves her to pieces). I asked about people in his church class, he only wanted Sister Creel. It was very sweet and it warmed both my heart and theirs that this little boy loved them so very much. We finally came up with a list of 11 kids plus two adults. Peter's biggest fear was that no one knew where he lived and that they wouldn't be able to find our house. I reassured him that they would be able to and that I would tell them how to get here. (No one ever asked!!) Invitations were sent out and it turned out that 6 of his little friends were going to come plus Hannah and Joseph made a perfect 8, 4 boys and 4 girls!

We made crowns and then had an obstacle course that included jousting, storming the tower, rescuing a damsel from the dragon, and jumping over the moat. The kids had a lot of fun!

We had a fire breathing dragon for the cake after our banquet of hot dogs, corn on the cob, and cheetos. We then slew the dragon in the form of a piñata! The kids were all smiles and giggles.

Peter was very pleased and was super excited about all of the fun gifts that he got! I think all in all it was a success and we got to meet a couple of his classmates.

I must give most of the credit to familyfun.com , I can copy almost anything but coming up with the ideas is not for me. Why invent the wheel twice!

On the move

Eden has started crawling! She has been trying for a couple of weeks. Today was the day, it was all of Peter's packaging from his presents that made her get up and go!

Life will not be the same for a very long time!

Free at last!

Today was the last day of school!
Mom is thrilled to be done for a little while!! No more homework, and no more rushing out the door first thing in the morning.
Hannah is very sad, she loved this year. She had all of her friends in her class and really enjoyed her teacher, Mrs. Vernor.
Peter is excited not to go to school anymore and to be home with everyone. He will, however, miss his teacher, Mrs. Hunter.
Joseph could not be more delighted to have everyone home to play with.
Eden is indifferent, just as long as she gets fed and gets a nap whether on the go or at home.

A child's thought process

"Mom, I think I need to take swimming lessons this summer."
"Why is that, Hannah?"
"Well if I am going to take ice skating lessons this winter, I need to know how to swim in case the ice breaks."
"Okay, we'll look into that!"

A little more protein

Today after taking the bread during the sacrament I heard Joseph whisper to Rebecca:

"Mom, do you know what I wish we had for the sacrament? Eggs...eggs with a fork."

Preschool Graduation

The little preschool group that we did for Joe this year decided that we would do a Graduation Picnic. It was a lot of fun. Joesph got tagged with growing up to be a Competitive Eater! He is always asking for food within 10 minutes of being at anyone's house. And that's after eating a snack on the way to school. He drives me crazy!! We had a lot of fun with this high energy group! It's amazing to see how they have changed over the year. I personally really enjoyed getting to know the moms! What a great group of women!! One of the little boys, Evan, and his Mom, Amy, is missing from the pictures. Thanks, you fine women, for a great year!