A CRAPTASTIC DAY TO CHAPERONE

When I checked the little : Yes, I would love to chaperone ( a day off of work and have a great time with Jen and her friends in nice warm sunny weather) the zoo field trip, never in a million years did I think that it would not only rain but down right pour , thunder and lightning. But it did. We didn't even get off the bus and it was a complete mess. Jen and I had umbrellas and only one out of the other 4 kids had a rain poncho. So, even though we all were already drenched, off to the gift shop to buy overpriced plastic rain ponchos we went.

Can you guess how fun it isn't to keep track of 5 kids with yellow ponchos on when every other child in the zoo is also wearing the same thing? I grabbed my sharpie and wrote their first initial on their back.
We visited everything indoors - the reptile house, amphibians, penguins and polar bears. The kids had fun playing on the frogs- you know, cuz they weren't wet enough.

My poor drenched kids. The rain didn't phase them too much. They has a blast trying to see just how wet they could get. The boys had a hard time with their pants- they were weighed down with being so heavy from the rain.

It finally cleared up the last 20 minutes we were there-just in time for the obligatory fountain picture.

The bus ride home was so nice. Most of the kids feel asleep on each other and the rest didn't even have enough energy to talk.

A DAY AT THE FARM

Uncle Cory and Aunt Daniela invited us to go with them to the Bowers School Farm. It was their open house , so there was a ton for the kids to do.

We went a a tractor ride around the farm, which Jimmy just loved. He sat directly behind the wheels and watched the mud kick up. He could have stayed on it all day long.

For whatever reason, my Little ocd - germaphobe child touched everything on the farm. He surprised me completely by getting on a horse all by himself. He loved it !!!

And of course Jen was in her glory. She is happiest when she is riding.

Little Leila and the huge rabbits.

These tiny chick were only 3-4 days old. So soft and fuzzy. Jimmy didn't hesitate to pet one - again a huge surprise.

And the biggest surprise of them all was Jimmy milking a goat. I can not believe he did it. After he stuck his hands in the air and said " Please wash my hands". Once he saw the Purell pumps, he was in love. He slathered it clear up to his elbows as if he was scrubbing into surgery.

After the farm, we had lunch with Uncle Cory and Aunt Daniela. We had such a nice relaxing day and can't wait to revisit the farm again.

Jimmy just joined a baseball team with his cousin Cody and Ryan. While only a couple of the kids actually know how to play the game, all of the kids are having fun running around and the parents are getting a few good laughs. I think Jimmy likes the idea of playing on the same team as his cousins more then the game itself.

Cody and Jimmy- best buds

The Friday before Mother's Day, Jenevive's class had a ice cream social for all of the moms. We all were warned ahead of time and was told where the Kleenex was. The kids walked in the classroom, got into their lines and each took a turn saying a couple of words why they loved us. Some of the kids said things like I love my mom because she takes care of me when I am sick, I love my mom because she feeds me, I love my mom because she is nice. Jen said I love my mom because she is beautiful and honest. Now, I know every child thinks their mom is beautiful, and it was very sweet of her to say, but I was very proud to hear her say honest. We have taught our kids that the one thing we do not allow is lying. We have told them over and over your word is everything.

After their speeches, we sat at our child's desk and were given a bunch of little gifts. Jen gave me a pouch of Hersey kisses with a poem attached (which she instantly gobbled up) a card with a very sweet message, a hand print place mat and a cup with some artwork on it. As if that wasn't enough, we all were treated to a make you own ice cream sundae bar. This Mother's Day party was one of the best Mother's day present ever.

WHAT'S IN THE WASH WEDNESDAY????

Since I get a crap load of "extra's" in the wash, I thought I would document just how much is found in the bottom of my washer every Wednesday. In the last three weeks I have found 2 banana erasers.....

98 cents..............

a bunch of the tiniest Lego pieces I've ever seen.........

glow in the dark vampire teeth, a miniature boat,a golf tee, a bracelet, a blue marble, a dinosaur finger puppet and a Sponge Bob Leapster game ( $24.95 value at one time )........

And the best part - a melted blue crayon. Yep I found this in my brand new dryer. Can I tell you how happy I was with this one when I opened the dryer and the crayon wrapper popped out. I didn't even want to look inside. I did get most of the crayon out and got a good lesson on checking pockets from now on.

FAILED

FAILED - That is what was on the top of the vision exam form that was sent home from school. We kinda had a feeling that he might have a slight problem seeing things far away. It wasn't until Jim took him to the opthamologist that we realized just how bad it was. He wasn't seeing much and what he did see was very blurry. He defiantly needed glasses and would always have to wear them.

He got to pick out his frames which had a red pin stripe on the side. He calls them his race car glasses. Even with thinning the lenses out, they are still pretty thick. We wonder what if anything he even saw before. Disney, Monster Jam, airplanes in the sky and zoo trips must have been a struggle for him. He told me " Mama I could never see the lions or the bear or the little monkeys. And when you tell me there is an airplane in the sky, I can't see that either." I Just wanted to cry. I guess if that's the vision you have always had, then you don't know any better.

So during the weeks it took for the glasses to come in, we were trying to get him excited about wearing them. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought glasses for his stuffed animals so they could see too. We thought he would fight us with wearing them, but he hasn't given us one problem. It must be such a difference for him that he actually likes them.

HAPPY EASTER

This is probably the best picture I have ever gotten of the kids with the Easter Bunny. Jen's Brownie troop a trip to a pancake breakfast with the bunny. Not only did they have breakfast, but there were arts & crafts, games, face painting and a visit with the bunny.

Later that week, we died eggs for the bunny to hide in the morning. Since we don't eat the eggs, we only boil a dozen. As much of a waste that it is, it's tradition and we had to do it.

The eggs all ended up being just about the same color since they dipped them multiple times in each dye.

The kit this year had foam pieces to make cute little egg animals. Good thing there was one green egg for the frog- the pink chicken was a little odd looking.

The bunny left lots of goodies for Jen and Jimmy. Lots of bubbles, Lego's, chocolate bunnies and chalk.

He also hid our eggs that we dyed. It took all of 3 minutes to find them.

The kids looked so cute in their matching outfits. This year they were ok with it-probably not so much next year.

This is my cute little Grandpa Al. Jimmy is his little baseball buddy.

Every year we have an egg hunt at my sister's house for the kids. They go for a walk around the block with some of the adults, while we scatter them around. Between their baskets and the eggs we have more than enough candy for awhile.

They were so proud of all the loot they collected.

Jimmy, Jenevive, Lanie, Kaiden and Spencer