face paints

  

It started out with " mom can you paint our faces?".  

The voice was coming from the other room as I was in the kitchen picking up after lunch. 

 " Give me five minutes" I replied.  

About ten minutes later, after a few more chores I find the three of them have helped themselves. 

 How considerate to put down the oil cloth mat first. 

 They went to town. 

 I mean, sister painted the bottoms of her feet!  

Hooray for budding artist and creative soles. 

Thumbs down for the looks I got while grocery shopping with 

the two boys and a dalmatian with soot on her nose. 

It all the joys of being a stay at home.....crazy looks and all.

Princess Warrior

Mum's the word

Mum, ma, mom, mommy, I answer to it all. Depending on the pitch of their voice is how I decide how fast to answer their call.

This Mother's Day was spent in Bringantine, New Jersey. It was very fun, relaxing and easy.

I love you munchkins with all my heart.

Letter to PJ

I've had pen pals since the fourth grade when my class wrote to one of the troops in the gulf war. Its been fun keeping in touch with people I meet around the word as a young woman studying abroad starting at the age of 15 years old. ( I'm not sure I'd ever be comfortable sending my kids away for six weeks during the summer to another continent, but we will cross that bridge should it ever come up) Modern day technology has change the fashion of pen pals via letter in the mail box. However I fancy delivering a thought out note to the mail box, giving the seal a kiss and raising the red flag to alert the postman we have outgoing important mail.

PJ is Aidan's great friend who lived next door to our home in come Connecticut. Our families graveled a friendship path between the proprieties so the boys would never need to walk along the street between homes. Aidan and PJ get excited to share their new skills and toys together. This was the case when we lived next door and it is still the case as they live three hours apart. Officially, on his own accord Aidan write PJ these words last night before hitting the sack.

In the garden

Gardening makes me a better mom. It an activity I love and the kids love the tools, hose, watering can, seed packs, dirt, rocks, worms, and did I mention water? I mean getting wet. They just love that.

Today we opened the sand box for the first time this year. That busied them while Kyle helped me ( basically bring my ideas to life) by muscling crowded hydrangea from butting up to the side of the house. It would do better in a different location where it had the proper space to to reach its full growth potential. We ended up dividing a third of the hydrangea into three very nice parts to build a new buffer on the corner of the property. Then I spied hosta's that could use a little 'room' itself. And then tall architechal beach grass got divided as well. Suddenly ( or not that sudden as Kyle dug and pulled the entire time...) a new garden bed appeared at no cost. I'm so excited to see everything fill in this growing season.

No notes on my lil watering girl. She's just yummy.

The Gang

The Gang, 

Logan, Abby, Jimmy, Casey, Thomas

Elise, Ethan, Aidan, Caden

Becker's, Hinkley's and Bitting's 

Now you sort out the sets of siblings...

baby's bum in coveralls

 Dressed to play on the farm in rubber roots and coveralls/overalls.  

The same one her father and uncle use to wear on the same farm.  

Enjoying a York peppermint patty.  

One of her grandpa Mike's  favorite treats.

I should ask about the age of this very luscious lilac bush.

Elise, the youngest of cousins on Kyle side of the family played hard with all the older cousins.  Abby the only other girls cousin and the oldest cousin of the bunch will be graduating from High school in a week.  Regardless of the age span, they all included Elise in whatever game was taking place at the time.  It was a very long day outside by by the fire but she kept up and had tons of fun roaming the property with the gang.