Ten on Tuesday

1. Recital has come and gone..what a weekend. The girls did awesome and thoroughly enjoyed being on stage in front of the audience. They ate it up and would have definitely done it more than dress rehearsal and the actual performance if they were allowed. The only thing they didn't like - the lipstick I bought.

2. We had both sets of grandparents here for recital and the kids especially were super excited about that. It was really nice to visit with everyone.

3. Jason is home! He landed at 9:30PM Friday night and was on a flight with a company of soldiers returning from overseas.

4. A huge thanks to my mom for all her help the past two weeks. She watched the kids so I could go grocery shopping without four kids, go to doctors appointments etc. It was pretty nice.

5. Everyone misses school and their teachers. Especially Isabella. She was actually crying for her classroom and music teacher tonight.

6. It looks like Drew and I will both be having surgery this summer. Nothing major but with his asthma, I'm still leery of any type of anesthesia. Mine is just the annoying hernia repair.

7. I had round one of allergy testing yesterday and I am officially allergic to nature. I didn't even have to wait the entire 15 minutes to get a reaction on most of the testing. I'm hoping with shots, I'll get some relief soon.

8. Our new patio furniture was delivered last week. Just in time for the blazing summer sun. Jason and I insist on the kids being outside every day even if we aren't able to make it to the pool. We don't have any trees for shade and the best we could offer the kids, is a large umbrella.

9. Jason is registered for his masters classes and is just waiting for his schedule to be approved. I think he has around four weeks of work left and then he'll be a full-time student for 18 months. And no, we won't be moving on campus :)

10. We're looking forward to a four day weekend and a pool birthday party for one of he girls' friends this weekend. I hope everyone has a Happy Memorial Day!!

The ladybug performs

the fish performs

what a difference

Here are the kids on their first day of school (this is the only picture I had with all three of them)

and here they are on the last day of school. What a difference nine months makes.

We were really blessed with amazing women for teachers this year and we are really going to miss them! People always ask me the benefits of sending your kids to preschool versus keeping them at home all day and I'm a firm believer in sending. Besides the social interaction they all made huge accomplishments this year.

Isabella:
- Can write and read all her letters
- she can write and read some words
- can count to 100, knows the months in a calendar year
- waits patiently and follows directions

Amelia
- no longer cries at drop off and is always smiling at her teachers now
- colors inside the lines
- knows all of her colors, most of her letters
- can write her name and half of her letters
- speaks clearly, follows directions, shares and is extremely patient

Will
- LOVES school
- speaks clearly (a huge improvement)
- uses complete sentences
- recognizes his colors
- shares and is patient

Ten on Tuesday

1. I took the littlest man for a well baby this week. He was behind on a set of shots and needed to catch up before his one year well baby in TWO months. Oh my goodness. He weighed in at 22 pounds 10 ounces and measured 29 inches long. He's a big boy.

2. A tooth has finally been spotted on the bottom right. Maybe Drew will have one tooth by the time he's one and walking. Maybe.

3. Spent the weekend at the pool with the kids. It was awesome and I think we'll be camped out there all summer.

4. Another resident decided to test their new kayak in the pool on Saturday morning. We're swimming and in walks the man and his boat. All my kids are already in the water and Bella stands up, looks at me skeptically and says, "Is he really going to put that in the pool?" Of course she had to stop what she was doing to go inspect what he was doing. She was quite certain he was going to drown and she told me she wasn't jumping in after a crazy person in a boat. In a swimming pool. My thoughts exactly.

5. Jason comes home in three days. We never make it through a trip of any kind without a plumbing or appliance disaster and this was no exception. The washing machine decided to act up yesterday. Hopefully this is not a repeat of last year when I was without a machine for five weeks.

6. I have to say this trip has really made me think about our soldiers overseas, their families and their sacrifices. 547 or 365 is a lot worse than 30. Thank you for putting things into perspective and reminding me that it's not always as bad as it seems. We take things a day at a time and we'll get through it. Until they all come home..

7. Today is my good friend's birthday and a few of us went for pedicures while the kids were in school. It was nice to relax with my friends.

8. We met our new babysitter yesterday and I have to say I think Will has a little bit of a crush on her. She is pretty cute. I just hope he behaves and she's willing to come back more than once.

9. Tuesday = dinner with my favorite redheads. I have to say Mama redhead has us all eating our vegetables. And I'm not talking pickles and ketchup. I'm talking actual vegetables that grow in the ground.. who would have thought.

10. Bella's new favorite outfit is a denim skirt and a plain white tank top or white short sleeve shirt. Boring. We've gone around and around about this. I've tried to talk her into other shirt options. She has a rainbow of color in her closet to choose from. Today I looked at myself in the mirror as I was getting ready out and what am I wearing? jeans and a black tank top. It's part of my uniform. Maybe it's part of her's too.