"The Arts" in action

Tonight we went to B's Kindergarten program. The theme was "My future Career". This is not a very good picture, but the kid with the glowing eyes is Brandon dressed as a firefighter (he did not get to chose but he was thrilled with his "profession.") His group sang a cute song and the whole program was mercifully short. However the "blog-worthy" part was that one group of kids -Dressed as Plumbers. I could not make this up-did an interpretative dance-COMPLETE WITH PLUNGERS!

I'm sure glad that our music/dances classes are safe from the budget cuts because I'm not sure HOW our kids would ever grow into well-rounded citizins with out plunger based dance training.

Her Dad's a Freaking Trapper

Hey girls! I just wanted to give you an update on this weekend. Jonathan and Kristine Woodring and their little girl Niah came to Washington on a "survey trip" this weekend. (sorry-no pics)They got here on Friday night and wouldn't you know over the course of dinner it came up that my Dad was a trapper. For some reason Aaron feels the need to tell everybody he knows what his F-I-L does for a living? (trapper envy?) Anyway... her dad is a wildlife biologist (or something like that) and does trapping on the side........ What are the freaking odds? It's just weird that we sat around telling trapping stories over dinner. Overall their trip went very well. Now we will just have to wait and see where God leads them. And girls thanks for the blog therapy while in Flo-rida. I'm going to try to work through my "issues" and post more often.

Belated American Idol Post

With all that's been going on lately, I failed to mention the Kris Allen mania that was going on around here a couple of weeks ago. Since we have been following the show all season, we wanted to participate in some of the Homecoming Week festivities. We took the kids to the Metroplex on Thursday night when Kris was interviewed on Fox 16. Then Jeff picked-up Nathan early from school on Friday so they could go to the concert in Conway.

My family sporting their purple UCA shirts. Go Bears!

Our closest encounter with the paparazzi.

Concert in Conway

Sean, Kate, and Nate

Riverfest 2009

We went to Riverfest, or as I like to call it Freakfest, on Friday night. For me, it's a toss-up on which venue draws the highest percentage of weirdos between the State Fair and Riverfest. The fair is more redneck populated, and Riverfest is more of the earthy/hippie types. On positive side, the weather was nice and there were a lot of free things for the kids to do. Jeff, Sean, John, Mom, and Dad all stayed for the concerts that night (B52s and Willie Nelson), but I headed home around 8:30 to put the kids to bed. We were planning to go back tonight to see the fireworks, but it has been raining here all day.

The one-armed juggler impressed us all. Nathan was especially mesmerized.

Obviously a butterfly.

Did I mention that it was free face painting? That's supposed to be an American flag.

Yeth, he loth the other tooth

While, I was in Florida, Nathan lost his other front tooth. He's very proud of his new toothless grin. Here's a few pictures from this week at school. They had a very belated Mother's Day breakfast on Thursday and Field Day on Friday.

Congratulations, Sean!

Sean graduated on Thursday night for my alma mater Benton High. It was a little weird being back there 15 years later...yes, I said 15 years! I have been out of high school for 15 years! A lot has changed since 1994. I didn't see very many people that I knew, and I didn't recognize many of the the teachers. They now have graduation at the Stephens Center at UALR. In fact, the only things that are really the same are the school colors (maroon and gray, really?) and of course the Alma Mater that Renee loves so much.

We had a graduation party for Sean at our house last week. Jeff made a slide show that was really good and made us all laugh and cry. Phyllis had the cake above made to look like a snare drum. It tasted as good as it looked!

Go Pirates!

It's T-Ball time again! This year Nathan's team is the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has shown a lot of improvement since last year, but as this video from the second game shows, there's still much work to be done.

I don't know how well you can hear the coaches in the background, but here are two of my favorite lines.

When nearly the entire team (including Nathan on the pitcher's mound) runs after a ball: "Good job everybody! Way to go for it."

And also, "Touch third. I know it's crowded." Nathan has a set of triplets on his team and they were all playing third base at the same time.

You gotta love T-Ball!

Fort Myers Beach

Yesterday we spent most of the day at Fort Myers Beach. There were lots of junk shops and other beachy stores/restaurants. It was cloudy most of the day, but the rain held off until late in the afternoon.

Girls Night In

Last night we hung out at a Amanda's condo. It is beautiful here, more like a resort than a condo really. After dinner, we had Amanda's almost famous Ding Dong Cake which devoured like a pack of wild animals.

Then we went to the big pool at the condo.

After that, we came back and played games until bedtime. First we went really old school and started game night with Taboo (Renee won. I came in last.), Clue (Miss Scarlet in the Hall with the candlestick), and then went more modern with a Wii bowling challenge where Amanda spanked us.

Pedicured Toes on Barefoot Beach

My day started yesterday at 3:45 am. It is simply unnatural to be up that early! We got to Ft. Myers by early afternoon and spent the day seeing the local sites and stopping by the house that Amanda and Josh have made an offer on. It is very close to Brandon's school and has a pool.

After that, we all went for pedicures and shopping. We had dinner at local restaurant and had to have the alligator appetizer. (Tastes like chicken!) I've had gator before, but I don't remember the meat being so grayish. It was battered and fried, so it tasted alright.

Mandi and I were both tired, so we went to bed early and slept 11 hours!!! Today we went out for a pancake breakfast at IHOP and then to Barefoot Beach at Bonita Springs. It started raining right after we got there, so we waited out the storm at a junk shop. We went back and had a great afternoon.

Operation Snowbird Commenced

Mandi and I joined the O.S. crew this afternoon. I told Amanda that I wasn't leaving until I saw a gator. Within 10 minutes of arriving at her condo, we saw a big one in the "backyard".

One Lucky Mom

Here's what Nathan wrote in his Mother's Day card to me:
In case you're not fluent in reading 6-year-old, let me translate:

I love you so so so so very much. Love Nate!
You are lucky to have a son like me.

Jeff did not read what Nathan wrote before he gave it to me, so we both had a good laugh over the last line. Happy Mother's Day to all!

Pick a Pose

We saw the proofs for our family portrait yesterday and cannot come to a unanimous decision about which of these two that we like better. Any suggestions?

Paranoia? Maybe.

When I went to the clinic last week, there was a sign on the door that read: "If you think you have the flu, please ask for a mask." I walk in, and there are 4 people sitting in the waiting area with masks on. Luckily, no one tested positive for the flu, swine or otherwise. We have a largely Hispanic population, so just in case anyone there had recently been south of the border, I ordered some Tamiflu. Just in case.

E.T. Phone Home

I used to give Jeff a really hard time because he had never seen so many classic movies before he met me. (i.e. The Wizard of Oz--I mean, who hasn't seen that!) However, I did out myself by telling him that I have never seen E.T. To be honest about it, E.T. kind of grosses me out.

Since there's really nothing better to do on a rainy day than eat a lot and watch movies, I decided to watch E.T. with Nathan this afternoon. Though it was a heartwarming story with brilliant child actors, I still might have some bad dreams about those long, spindly fingers and that telescoping neck.

Wild Goose Chase

Mom called the other night to let us know that dad brought a wild baby goose home. Of course, we had to see it. I expected that they would have put it in a cage outside, but no, Mom had it in her bathtub! Nathan liked it, but Ashley didn't have much to do with it. They decided to let "Lucy Goosey" run around outside, and run she did! Mom and Nathan had to chase her all around the front yard! I did capture the whole thing on video, but Mom told me that she had better not see it on the blog.