***Memorial Day***

From your great grandchildren...

Thank You

Happy Birthday Biggest Brother!!!

Has it really been 9 years already!?!

Happy Birthday Son!

In Your Dreams

It was an entertaining night at the M house. Both Younger Brother and Big Sis have a tendency to talk in their sleep, and they were in particularly rare form last night. At one point Big Sis stumbled out into the hallway and was wandering around looking lost when I met up with her. She mumbled some sort of gibberish and zonked out the second I picked her up. I carried her back to bed, and only a few minutes later heard all out shouting. It was Younger Brother, calling out the name of one of the little girls in his class and apparently trying to give her a toy. I asked them both today if they could remember what they were dreaming. Brother had no idea what I was talking about.

But Sis said, "Mommy, I dreamed you had 7 arms!"

Me: "7 arms?!"

Big Sis: "Yes, so you could do everything!!!"

She drew me an illustration.

Although, she got a little carried away and decided to give me lots and lots of arms! I think my eyeballs are there somewhere in the middle.

Younger Brother drew his own interpretation of, "Mommy with 7 arms."
Except he gave me eight, because he wanted to make it symmetrical.
That's my boy right there!
:)
From the looks of it, that's 1 arm for each kid, one for laundry, one for dishes, and one for making dinner.
You're right Sis!
That's a fabulous idea!

Earth To Aunt L

Thanks for the cosmicly cool new shades!

Breakfast In Bed

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Younger Brother often takes the girls downstairs and gives them breakfast while I feed Princess A. Either they were a little faster, or Princess A was a little slower...but either way, Biggest Brother, Younger Brother, and Big Sis finished before I had A squared away and came running back upstairs to play. Only Little Sis wasn't with them. I went downstairs to check on her and this is what I found...

Ah yes, that's a guilty face if I ever saw one.

And what exactly was she up to??

Oh, just giving Liberty breakfast ...Cheerios to be exact, her Cheerios, in bed, from a spoon. And I'm pretty sure they were sharing.

I told her that this was not okay!

Though I doubt she got that message when I preceded it with a poorly concealed giggle and a reach for my camera.

:)

Kids At Heart

There are still more ballet pictures on the way, but they are on hold for the time being. Grandpa M gave us quite a scare this weekend! He was admitted to the ICU due to illness and very low blood pressure. He was given a blood transfusion, and a pacemaker this morning to improve his heart rate, which slowed to 30bpm overnight. Thankfully, he appears to be on his way to feeling better.

Ironically, right before we got the phone call, I had just finished mowing the lawn and discussing with J what other weeding and household projects needed to be addressed. And as he walked back inside to check on the kids I thought to myself, "Wow, that's so surreal. I feel like a couple of kids playing house!"

My dad also scared us a few weeks ago with some heart trouble of his own.
And I know that J and I shared the same gutwrenching feeling of,
"I can't lose my dad! I'm not the grown-up. I need my dad!"
***
I guess your dad is your dad is your dad, no matter how old you get.
So dads, take good care of yourselves!
We love you!
And we still need you just as much as we did in 1984!

Bouquets of Love

Big Sis had her very first ballet recital today!

It's a shame nobody turned out and brought her flowers!

:)

More pics to follow...

Unnecessary, Sweet

The kids apparently overheard me on the phone, griping to J about dropping a ridiculous amount of money at CVS after the insurance company doubled the cost of Younger Brother's asthma meds from last month to this month. As I stood in the kitchen making dinner, Biggest Brother, Younger Brother, and Big Sis came down the stairs and told me to close my eyes....

"Surprise!" they said, as they presented me with a tub full of change that the three of them gleaned from their piggy banks.

"It's to help with the taxes!"

(Okay, so they didn't quite understand the conversation...but I got the point anyway.)

And while I am going to sneak their offering back into their banks, it was awfully sweet of them to be so generous!

***

Children have a way of humbling a grown-up. And on a like note, I got to thinking about my conversation with J. While I'm not at all thrilled about the exponential price increase, I was missing an important reason to be grateful. I am grateful to live where I have access to medical care for my children, and where I can easily obtain lifesaving medication for Younger Brother's very treatable condition...when that's not the case for many people in many other parts of the world.
It would still be okay with me if the insurance company would redact that price increase though. ;)

Independent Woman

Green

Biggest Brother has a passion for growing things. About a month ago, he spent a day at Aunt L's house planting seeds under indoor grow lights. His seeds have finally sprouted! And he was super excited to get to put the newly emerged plants in the ground this weekend.

Planted so far, peppers and tomatoes.

Next in line, the strawberries that Brother chose to purchase with his own money.

With all of his tender loving care, I have no doubt he will reap a bountiful harvest.

Night Night Daddy

Relative Humidity

Sooo Sleepy

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Sock Wars

I'm pretty sure that Younger Brother probably has nightmares about baskets full of matchless socks. It just so happens to be the perfect solution for wild boys (or girls) who are not following Mom's instructions to play quietly/nicely and end up earning themselves a job...one that requires them to settle down and helps me out simultaneously. I like it! But judging by his reaction to his sentencing, one would think it was pure torture!

At least he isn't serving his time alone.

Princess A is keeping him good company, and she isn't wearing any socks at all for him to match.

"Teether me!"

Princess A has a new teether to help her with those new teeth she appears to be working on once again.

It's a rather strange looking contraption that I found while browsing the baby aisle at Target.

And she absolutely loves it!!!

In fact, she loves it so much that she even managed to hang onto it for the entire duration of time that it took me to take one complete shower.

That's worth every bit of $7.99 in my book!

Princess A agrees completely.

Tea With My B

Every year at the boys' school, the preschoolers host a Mother's Day Tea. It is probably the most highly anticipated and grandiose of all of their events and programs. And Younger Brother has been teasing it for quite some time. Over the past couple of weeks he has been excitedly reminding me that he's having a tea party for me because he loves so much, and told me that he made me surprises, and asked me if I'm going to wear a dress. :) Wild as he is, he has such a sweet, tender heart!

He was so anxious to get to the Tea, that sitting still for a few pictures ahead of time was clearly painful for him! Pardon the redundancy of the next few pics, but I found the progression of the look on his face hilarious.

This one is totally my favorite!

...complete with body language.

This was my coffee filter corsage.

Each child got to choose how to dye theirs. He picked purple just for me.

The Tea is held in a special room at the school and includes all kinds of lovely brunch items, along with tea, and some special crafts made by each child.

Once safely to the Tea Party on time, I was able to obtain a less painful picture of the two of us.

After brunch, the preschoolers perform a few special songs that they've learned.
"I am a promise, I am a possibility, I am a promise, With a capital P, I am a great big bundle of POTENTIALITY..... "

"He's still workin' on me...It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, The sun and the Earth and Jupiter and Mars, How loving and patient He must be, 'Cause He's still workin' on me..."

When we got home I told him that I wanted a picture of him all handsome in his suit. I turned to get my camera and turned back around to find this. I should have known that he'd want his formal picture upside down. He did take care to keep his tie pointed in the right direction though. I thought that was a nice touch.

:)

I am very thankful to have such a loving little boy to spend such a lovely morning with!

Thanks for all of your hard work, and all of your love B.

I am so blessed that God picked me to be your mom!

Shot Of The Day

"Drama"

:)

Daddy Do's

Today was a work day for me. Typically, I would do the girls' hair before I go, but this time it was all Daddy. I thought they looked so cute in their coordinating outfits...Big Sis with her curls piled on top of her head, and Little Sis in a sporty little pony tail.

Nice job Daddy!