Heading into Memorial Day Weekend

 A couple pics from Jenna's game Wednesday night. She caught two line drives (I did have to ask my dad how to word that correctly) - it was very exciting! Coach Chapman referred to her as a little "spider monkey", shooting her arm out to the right place in an instant. I think he also told her she was like a magnet to the ball, or something to that effect. It is still a huge adjustment to move up to the older league and learn all the rules, but she's doing a great job. I'll be taking her to her game tonight while Jeremy takes Jared and Julia to Tyson Grgurich's graduation party.

She's READY. 

Jenna's game followed Julia's. Julia was able to
sweet-talk Grandpa into some nachos. 

 Yesterday was the last day of school. The girls got out at Noon and Gigi picked them up. They played on the school playground a bit and then went to Dollar Tree (they each got a "wig," something Julia's been after for a while - it isn't a full one, just on the sides of their face, pretty crazy looking!) and for $1 smoothies at McDonalds. The girls are none too spoiled! Jared walked home with his friend Conner and kicked off summer vacation by playing until about 6:30 or so. Mom is watching them for me today; I'm off Monday for Memorial Day, and then our sitter, Sam, starts on Tuesday. I'm a little concerned with keeping up financially with childcare payments, but here's hoping to a great summer for the kids!

Mom sent me these: Playing after school on the last day of kindergarten. 

A little dark, but here's Jenna on the last day of 4th grade with a few of her
awards. She had several, including "hardest worker" in her class and perfect attendance!

My Saturday will be spent tomorrow cleaning UP and cleaning OUT the garage after a long winter. Monday will be a BBQ at Gramps before taking the girls to dance at 4:30 - their last classes before their recital!

A Fun, and Productive, Weekend

Thursday night was Julia's softball pics followed by her first game. She had a lot of fun and looked adorable out there on the field, and was enthusiastic to go after the ball and throw it in to the pitcher whenever she could. At this age, their coach pitches to them a certain number of times and if they don't hit it, they can hit off the tee, which is nice.

Headed to softball pics. I didn't realize she would have a ball cap
instead of a visor, so we quickly had to re-do hair :) 

Julia & Sophia before their first little league game. 

A beautiful sky during the game; we thought we might get rained out but made it through. 

Friday night was Jenna's first game. I guess I didn't get any pics of her but I will. This is the first year that the kids pitch (a certain number of times, and then the coach can pitch). That in itself is kind of a big deal since the kids are just learning to pitch, and the batters really have to watch to choose good pitches to bat at. This year they also do outs at 3 strikes, and 3 outs to an inning. In the past, every player has gotten to bat each inning; at the game Jenna's team had 3 outs before she had a chance to bat and I'm not sure she knew what to think about that - didn't seem too happy about it. So, overall it's just a whole new ballgame this year for Jenna. I hope she continues to enjoy it; she is a good little player. Oh also new this year - stealing bases. Seriously, a whole new ballgame.

Friday night after the game I took the girls to see the KHS production of Cinderella. Margaret's brother played one of the stepsisters and the girls really got a kick out of that.

Saturday was a busy day. Our house had been neglected for too long and was pretty much a pit, so I stayed home to clean house while Jeremy took the girls to Opening Ceremonies, followed by another ballgame for Julia. After that I took Jenna to her friend Noah's birthday party at Leisure World and then met Jeremy and Julia for lunch at DQ. Early evening we went out to our friends Chris and Kathryn's for their son's HS graduation party. The girls immediately made friends and played all night long; Jared wanted to keep to himself and was mostly bored all night, though he did perk up when s'mores were made around the campfire. It was a beautiful evening and beautiful countryside to enjoy and it was nice for Jeremy and I to get to sit and visit with friends.

I don't know what got into Jeremy on Sunday, but I'm certainly  not complaining. Actually I'm encouraging him to keep up the good work! He potted the flower Jenna gave me for Mother's Day, vacuumed out the window sills (I did get to visit with Jamie Magers Saturday night about our windows and roof; he is going to get estimates for us and although I don't see how we can do it financially right now, I'm still hopeful we can get that done), mowed the yard, took the girls to the park, helped with supper....it was great! I wonder what he wants in return?

My Mother's Day flower from Jenna. I brought it to work today  as Jersey kept messing with it.
(That's my plant from Julia on Mother's Day last year in the background). 

More Sunday - I worked for a while on switching out the girls' summer and winter clothes; Jenna helped me a lot with that. I still have to go through my closet and Jared's. I pulled out things that were too small for Julia and got all her new birthday clothes put away, plus I washed up a whole tote of hand-me-downs from Jenna - a whole new wardrobe for Julia! I then had to work for the trucking business quite a while but managed to get a pork loin in the oven which Jeremy finished up by baking the potatoes and dishing up plates. I did get a big lettuce salad ready earlier in the day and got strawberries cleaned and sliced up for the kids. The kids played outside quite a bit and Jared also had a friend over for a while. We finished the night up with manicures and pedicures for the girls on the front porch (I wonder if Aunt Tiffy knows that Julia tells me she is getting a "pedicure and massage" when Aunt Tiffy comes in July?). Jeremy and Jared had been tracking the weather all day and it looked like we were in for some storms. Right after Julia fell asleep, Jeremy got the girls both up and made us head over to Dee's basement. A pretty strong thunderstorm came through, but that was about the extent of it; a tornado watch was in effect and a tornado warning for Schuyler. We finally got to to go back home (in the rain) around 10:00. Julia was a little scared so she slept with us. Unfortunately it sounds like we could have more tonight, so Jeremy will have another sleepless night. This time of year is when we really wish for a home with a basement. The girls both have games tonight if they don't get rained out, plus dance. The recital is coming up on June 1; I think everyone will be glad for dance to be done for a while. Thursday is the kids' last day of school. This weekend will be another busy one with two graduation parties (Tyson Grgurich and Parker Osborn), ballgames, and hopefully I'll get more done at home. I want to finish the closets and clean up and clean out the garage; also will have to get things ready for a yard sale, proceeds to benefit New Year's in Nashville! No big plans for Memorial Day yet. Grandma and Grandpa did make it home safely from Chattanooga last night :)

Birthday Girl!

Today my baby girl is 6 years old! She got lucky as it turned out to be a non-uniform day at school. She picked out one of her new outfits from Aunt Tiffy to wear along with her new necklace and bracelet from Gigi. I had to get her braids "just right" this morning, which only took me 3 tries (first ones too low, second ones too high, third ones just right). Last night I wrote a birthday message to her on the easel in the girls' bedroom and tied her birthday balloons to it so she would see it when she woke up. I got a picture with my camera that I will have to post. She opened two gifts in bed, a soft Jack Terrier webkinz from me that she's named "Jackles" and a small Princess and Popstar fairy from Jenna. Jeremy had to leave for work before she got up so he called her this morning to wish her happy birthday. Jenna made her waffles for breakfast at her request and she took her cupcakes to school today that I made on my lunch hour yesterday and Gigi frosted for us yesterday afternoon. We thought she had her first ball game tonight but it turns out it isn't until Thursday. She's been asking for weeks to go to Wooden Nickel for her birthday, so that is what we'll do tonight, followed up by more cake and getting to actually blow out her candles since it was too windy at her party!

Six Years Old

I am going to try to "interview" the kids every year on their birthdays now. I started with Julia this weekend; she had a hard time choosing a "favorite" in several categories so most of the time she gave me two or three answers:

Favorite Color: Purple and Light Blue
Favorite Movie: Princess and the Popstar, Hannah Montana, and the Incredibles (She also loves the Notebook, her favorite line being "Aww Mama I'm comin'!!" and she's also been watching a lot of The Parent Trap lately. Oh also, she LOVES New Years Eve).
Favorite Song: "Tattoos on This Town" by Jason Aldean, "Home" by Phillip Phllips, "Here I Am" & "Look How High We Can Fly" from Princess & the Popstar
Favorite Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and "Laura and Mary" (Little House on the Prairie)
Favorite Toy: Dora, Woodsies, and Princess & the Popstar
Best Friend: Sophia and Jenna
Favorite Sport: Softball and Soccer
Favorite Dinner: Thanksgiving and Christmas
Favorite Place to Go: Chuck E. Cheese and Bonkers
Best Part of School: Math and Science
Likes to do with her Family: Celebrate Jesus' birthday
Makes her happy: Mama
Makes her sad: "One time last summer when Jenna forgot I was outside and locked me out." (I did not know about this; she said it was when Gina was here. I'm surprised she didn't mention the time that Gigi dropped her off at our house, thinking we were home as my vehicle was there when in reality Tiffy, Melissa, Jared and I walked to Wal-Mart and Jeremy had apparently left and only DD was home asleep in Jared's bed - of course she didn't find DD right away and Mom hadn't walked in with her, so needless to say she freaked out a bit - she reminds me of this often).
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Doctor.
That concluded my interview but she wanted more questions so I made up a few:
What's your favorite thing to do with Grandpa? Go to the park.
What's your favorite thing to do with Gigi? Play games on Christmas.
Favorite thing to wear? Snoopy nightgown (Jenna's hand-me-down); her black boots
Then she told me to ask her who does she like to snuggle with, so I did, and she said: Mama and Gigi!

I don't know if I've said where the name "Gigi" came from, which of course refers to Grandma. DD would call her Gram-Grams, which Jared picked up on and used until it got shortened to GG...and once when Mom signed a card I noticed it was "Gigi" instead of GG - she had to add her own flair.

One last thing about Julia: she loves to mismatch her socks; rarely will you see her with two of the same socks on unless its for school ;-)

Addendum:

Birthday Girl, after her dinner at the Nickel
(and after her shower in her new BD nightgown).

There really were only 6 candles on this cake,
although my phone camera made it appear to be a small fire. 

Julia's Grand Slam Birthday!

Yesterday was Julia's birthday party. She will be SIX years old tomorrow! Yesterday was also Mother's Day, and I started out my morning with Jenna and Julia bringing my handmade cards in bed. Jenna also typed something for me that I loved:

Jenna was my helper yesterday (of course, don't know what I'd do without her); we picked up the cake, ice cream, and balloons, and went to the ballpark to decorate before Jeremy brought Jared, Julia, and Faith (who spent the night) to the party. It was not the pretty day I envisioned; it was cool/cold and windy - Jenna and I tried to wrangle table covers but in the end we only got one on and one that I wrapped and tied around the center of a table. The other two tables we gave up. It was even colder under the shelter so I pulled one table out into the sun. The cake and cupcakes looked awesome. My usual girl at Hy-Vee (Denita) made them. We had treat bags for the kids with a practice ball, Cracker Jax, and "Big League Chew" (gum) plus white beaded necklaces for the girls (to represent baseballs). I also had a centerpiece vase filled with baseballs and our old wooden bat that I had everyone "autograph." The kids got to play some ball on one of the fields. Mostly the older kids did that (Jared, Jenna, Jake, Clay) while the younger set (Julia, Sophia, Faith, Hope, Hank, Andi) preferred the playground. Julia and Sophia did bat awhile after Julia opened her new helmet and bat (we also got her a softball gear bag, socks, and a softball plus a book about a dog playing baseball and the DVD A League of Their Own - she watched that on TV once and loved it). We were also going to let the older kids do the batting cages but turned out you had to have cash so that didn't work out. Julia had a great time; she told me afterwards that she loved her party, so although I was feeling like everything hadn't come together like I'd hoped, all that matters is that in her eyes, it was perfect.
Julia received a lot of wonderful gifts. A Tinkerbell guitar, sprinkler, a LeapPad, some books and movies (she makes mom watch New Year's Eve with her constantly so mom got her that and she was THRILLED), money (most of which will go into her savings account), and a lot of very cute clothes. Gene and Kelley made it (Gene is still recovering from surgery but doing pretty well), Gramps and Gigi, Uncle Derek, Aunt Steph & kids, the Vices, Julia's BFF Sophia Maag, Grandma Bea, Pat & Parker, and Pam. Aunt Missy and Aunt Tiffy had sent gifts for Julia and were with us in spirit!
Here are some pictures; I hope to add a couple more later:

Lil Slugger

Running to the field to test out her new gear! (I love their shadows).

Sophia, Julia, and Faith

After the party we went home so I could get everything unloaded and put away (Julia went to Gigi's with her and Grandpa). Then a couple hours later we met up and all went to La Fuente's for Mother's Day dinner. 

Tiffy and Melissa had sent Mom gifts plus I had one for her, so we surprised her with all of those at dinner. I gave her a ticket to the girls' dance recital and a gift certificate for a shampoo and style; turns out we got lucky with the recital - it is June 1 and she leaves on June 2 for a FL vacation with Tiffy and DD!

This week is going to be a busy one. Tonight both girls have dance, Jenna has softball practice, Jared has a percussion solo for band, and I need to make cupcakes for Julia to take to school. Tomorrow is Julia's actual birthday (which turns out to be a non-uniform day; she will get to pick one of her new outfits to wear to school) and she has her first-ever softball game, plus we'll do cake at home for her. It was so windy at the party that we couldn't even get the candles to light, so we will be sure she gets to blow the candles out on her actual birthday. Thursday the girls have a choir party after school and will be giving their final performance this year at the MI 8th grade graduation on Friday. Saturday is full of activities. It's Opening Day, Julia has a game (no schedule yet for Jenna so I don't know when her games will start), Jenna has a birthday party to go to, plus we were invited to our friends' son's graduation party (Magers). I also want to take the girls to the KHS production of Cinderella that night. We'll have to see if we can get everything done. My mom and Dad are leaving tomorrow to visit Chattanooga; Dad wants to see some of the Civil War sites, so they will be gone all week. Next Thursday will be the last week of school, and then Sam starts babysitting the following Tuesday after Memorial Day. Summer is nearing and maybe eventually the weather will even out. This month we've seen snow, 30 degree temps and 80 degree temps, plus rain in between; sometimes even a 30-degree difference in one day!

One last thing; I don't know if I've mentioned the email I got last week from Betty at Mary Immaculate. Julia had given her a note she had written herself, instructing that she should go home with Sophia. Betty knew it was Julia's handwriting of course, but just wanted to make sure that she wasn't really supposed to go home with Sophia. I told her that she wasn't; I knew nothing about it. Later that night I told Julia she couldn't be doing things like that but I don't think I really got through to her because not much later she was asking me how I make my "signature."  Betty sent the note home to me because she thought I'd get a kick out of it, which of course I did ;-)  

Weekend in a Nutshell

Saturday morning: dance pictures...

Then, delivering birthday invitations...

Then, picking up Jared's new guitar... 

Then, running home to switch laundry
(Or in Jared and Jersey's case, lounging)...

Then, more dance pictures (thankfully softball practice was cancelled due to wet fields)...

Insert whistle...

Saturday evening Julia went to spend the night with Gigi, Jared and Jeremy went to see Iron Man 3, Jenna basked in having the house to herself, and I worked on billing. Sunday morning I made vegetable stew for Gene and Kelley, since his surgery would be the next morning, and peanut butter cookies to take to Dad's BBQ that afternoon.

Now that Jared has his guitar, the girls are all about "playing" Jeremy's old one,
with mismatched strings and a lack of tuning. 

All the kids did some shooting. 

The girls went on a bike ride when we got home from Grandpa's, and I walked along. 

And we ended the night with a phone call to Papa and by sending up many prayers for him.
Kelley texted me earlier  this morning that the surgery went well and she hopes to bring him home tomorrow night. Jeremy, Wes, & Derek are going to visit tonight, I think. I've sent with Jeremy two Mustang magazines for him and Jenna's handmade card that we all signed. 

When Grandpa is introduced to virtual reality....

Last Friday Jared and Grandpa headed south for Columbia after school. They had dinner at Cracker Barrel then headed to Mizzou Arena for the Jason Aldean concert. They had a great time but it was a late night; Jared slept the whole way back to the farm as the concert got out some time around 11:00. They both enjoyed the show and the opening acts, particularly Jake Owen. When Jason Aldean sang the duet he recorded with Kelly Clarkson, she "appeared" onstage. Dad asked him to tell me "who that girl was that sang with him." Jared told him Kelly Clarkson, but she "wasn't really there." Jared had to let Dad down easy that she appeared virtually on some sort of screen. Dad could not believe it. He could swear that she was really there. He asked Jared how he knew, and Jared pointed out to him that she never moved from one spot and she faded away at the end. Grandpa really had a hard time reconciling that! I'm still not sure he believes us ;-) The next morning they went to breakfast in Macon then did some BB shooting at the farm before coming home. Before Grandpa left, Jared hit him up for a ride to Conner's and he spent most of the rest of the day there.
Saturday night, Jeremy and Jared joined Joe and Tara for dinner at Colton's while the girls and I went to the KHS grand march. Tyson Grgurich is a senior this year and so is Parker Osborn; Pat wanted me to get pictures of Parker. The girls were thrilled to see Aunt Debbie and Uncle Frank there and went across the gym to say hi. Pat had gotten the girls corsages; Julia didn't care much about hers but Jenna carefully wore hers all night. When we got home, she cut the bloom off and put it in a bowl of water, but Jersey kept stealing it so it only lasted a couple of days. The girls were very good at the grand march and I think they liked watching the "fashion show" of dresses.
Sunday we all went to a special Mass at Baldwin Hall for Father Bill's 40th anniversary. It was a very nice celebration and I'm glad we got to go. We explained to the kids that Father Bill is the priest who married us. He is a kind and humble soul and I'm glad he's been a part of our lives.
After Mass, the girls and I went to Jeremy's cousin Natasha's baby shower. It was a nice time but Jenna got a little too competitive with the games and got pretty upset when she thought she had lost one game in particular, but it all worked out in the end. Sometimes its hard for her to control that competitive streak.
Monday was dance for both girls and softball for Jenna; Julia has softball practice tonight. The last few days have been very warm (80s), but it is supposed to cool back down to the 40s/50s for a couple of days. I found out last night by a text from a friend that there was a Middle School band concert. Turns out Jared was supposed to be there. I have no idea why he skipped out; I knew nothing about it, and probably wouldn't have if my friend hadn't texted to see where we were. We're going to have to talk to him tonight to get to the bottom of it. I spent a little too much money on the percussion set for him to not participate, and it was after all a graded, required performance.
This Saturday we have dance pictures for the girls and I plan to make vegetable stew and maybe cookies for Gene as his surgery is Monday. Many prayers are going up for him that all the cancer will be removed and after recovery, this will be behind him for good.