Living, Loving, Learning

It has been seriously steamy here! We have tried to make the most of this hot weather by getting some water time in. They both love Griffin's new slip and slide - thanks Grandpa and Grandma Gast!!

We spent Friday doing anything Griffin wanted to do. We started with cinnamon rolls for breakfast (and scrambled eggs....I almost forgot the eggs and panic rose!), next a bike ride and an eternity (probably only a half hour) of bubbles in the back yard (he LOVES to chase and pop them). We came inside and he watched Madagascar 2 before having pizza and carrot sticks for lunch (I let him plan the menu for the day entirely). We played some games in the afternoon and then headed over to Fun4Kids (a indoor play scape, like a big hamster maze, for kids) where Bruce met up with us. We got home and I made what Griffin had requested for dinner - sausage pinwheels and dippy eggs. Boy, was he a happy camper. A few gifts before bath time.... and the rest after. Lucy had a couple presents to open from Grandpa and Grandma Gast which was an awesome way to distract her! "Thanks for the motorcycle, little sister." This one made everything else come to a screeching halt. I have no ...

We celebrated Griffin's birthday for the FIRST time last Saturday while Granny and MorMor were visiting. We started the day at Griffin's soccer game. Being a Gemini, Griff definitely has two side to his personality. One is tough, aggressive, eager, excited, explosive and the other is mister mellow, chilled out, cool guy. Well, Mr. Mellow showed up to the soccer game so we watched him trot along at the back of the pack, hang out in the center of the field with a buddy and just cruise around the field. Afterward, we sped back to the house to change him and jumped back in the car for the hour drive to Evansville. Griffin was soooo excited to take Granny and MorMor to the CMOE . He has had a breakthrough and now loves to go up in the tubes!! There was a new and improved baby room open that was so amazing and Lucy was totally blissed out in there. Then we all went to Griffin's choice restaurant for dinner - Chuck E Cheese. We had never been to this location befor...

My little guy turns 5 today. He is so amazing, it really blows my mind!! I have told you all about him this year from my perspective and I think it is time he spoke for himself. This is the first annual Birthday Interview. I hope to ask him the same questions every year - won't it be interesting to see how his answers change! I tried my very best to not interfere in his answers even though some of them were truly suprising. Birthday Interview Griffin George Age? 5 Grade? Pre-school Your teachers this year? Ms. Cile & Ms. Rian, Ms. Angel (Library), Ms. Kelly and Ms. Charlotte (Speech Therapy) What activities/sports/clubs were you involved in this year? Soccer, basketball, story hour What pets do you have? Sunshine (dog) and Zed (bearded dragon) What do you want to be when you grow up? A policeman Where is 1 place you really want to go? Granny and Mormor’s house What is your favorite…………. o Subject in school? ABC’s o Meal? “Rollies” (sausage pinwheels) o Fruit? Apples o Vegeta...

We had a really great weekend with Granny and MorMor visiting! It was a weekend all kids should be lucky enough to experience - 4 days devoted to celebrating them! They got here late on Wednesday and we were all up bright and early on Thursday morning to take Griffin to his last day of pre-school. It was the final show-n-tell so we brought Zed and two dozen crickets for him to gobble up as the main event. We were told by the teacher that he was quite a hit with the class. After an early dinner on Thursday evening we headed back to the school/church for Griffin's pre-school "graduation". All the kids were lined up on chairs on the stage and they all looked so cute dressed up in their "church clothes" (that is what we were told was the dress code for the evening.) There was a slide show of a ton of cute pictures showing on the wall behind the kids. As soon as the teacher started the program and they turned the slideshow off Griffin turned to the girl beside him a...

This time though, they are for US!! My sister bought us these huge, 32" square, pillows for Christmas...without cases. This was her awesome way of throwing down the challenge, "Are you up for making cases or what??" And 4.5 months later they are done - pretty good since I had given my self a six month goal. I have truly only been actively working on them since late March. I was going to make you guys guess the theme (yeah, I'm corny like that, there has to be a theme) but I am not confident enough in my skillz to know that you would be able to come up with it. Sooooo, EARTH WIND FIRE WATER

In other news, the Moms are driving in tonight for a fun filled long weekend. They will join us as we take Zed to the final show-n-tell at pre-school and the pre-school "graduation" tomorrow evening. Then on Saturday, we are going to celebrate Griffin's birthday just a smidgen early. Not sure how much I will blog...might not be much until Monday....although, I've already prepared a fun one that will post tomorrow morning. Hope y'all have a GREAT weekend!!!

I am having a FANTASTIC Mother's Day. I think today is a great day to honor Mother Earth, as well as all of us human Mamas! Today we are spending the day as a family gardening, pruning, planting and taking care of our little piece of this planet. Working outside as a family makes me HAPPY!!! Lucy is going to fit right in - look at those dirty little baby toes!

BEFORE AFTER Well, I lost the vote 2 -1 and Griffin got his hair cut this afternoon. We had been growing it out since the first of the year, and I really enjoyed his new "look"...when it was styled that is. And, you know, that was the crux of the problem. His hair has cowlicks and body galore so every morning we would have to wet down his head and hairspray it to get two hours of "do" before funky hair returned, and that just does not work for this active little boy. A couple of mornings ago I was busy getting Lucy ready and Bruce found Griffin in our bathroom going nuts with the hairspray - that was enough for both of them, it had to go. I am glad to see those glorious eyebrows again. And Griffin, if there comes a day that you decide you want to grow you hair long, I have got your back buddy!

We needed to get out this weekend because it has been sooooo rainy out. Our backyard is starting to be rather jungle like since we have not been able to get out there and mow, weed and trim. So instead of watching the grass grow through the windows we headed to Evansville for the day last Saturday. Our first stop was at the Evansville Art/History/Natural Science/anything else we have to display Museum. Both the kids had a great time - I really feel like babies are never to young to be taken to new places and exposed to new ideas. Lucy was really into the science room. Griffin, of course, was lovin' the animal display.

The little monkey got into an ant trap when I wasn't looking. Of course, I freaked (I hate having them in the house, but I also hate the trail of ants....whatcha gonna do??) and stripped her and put her directly in the sink. She thought that was a splendid turn of events.

We took the kids to a museum yesterday and watched some movies like this....so cool!!

Theme: "Log Cabin" pattern in beige and red.