Patience Is.......

Meg waiting her turn

at the food bowl.

And yes.  Remington is that lazy.

He has to lie down to eat. 

Grace performed in the All County Band.

She is wearing the long skirt.....her choice.....a true musician at heart.

This was during warm up before the concert began.

Questions - Kites - Lost and Found

Grace's Quick Recall team.....

Their coach was new to the Quick Recall world this year.

 

The team had a lot of fun and won a few contests during the season.

They finished the year with a third place tropy. Of course we won't talk about how many teams were in the tournament.  I will just say it was more than three.

 

Grant

 

enjoying a beautiful early spring day in March

flying a kite

Meet Ozzy

He decided to help with carpool last week at Grace and Grant's school.

He was running through the school parking lot saying hello to everyone during morning carpool line.

Rather than seeing the janitor take him to a shelter, I took him home.

Since he wore no collar, I hoped the vet would find a microchip in him.

No such luck.

 Meg and Remington were not sure what to do with this new house guest.

Ozzy was not aware of his size limitations.  He liked to boss around the big dogs. 

LOUDLY!

 

So with two days of searching for an owner and with the magic of social media,

a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend (no kidding)

finally made the connection so little man Ozzy could be reunited with his family.

Phew!  That was close.

 I love Yorkies.

 But I really wasn't ready to expand the zoo.

Farm Facts

David's bounty from mushroom hunting 

  

Our kids flat refuse to eat these because according to them,

"They're gross!!"

Why ruin a good thing?  We don't have to share.

There are other things I prefer not to share as well....

like snakes

I got into close range for a picture before retreating to the safety of the porch.

 I'm not exactly afraid of snakes.  But I do think "they're gross".

Emily enjoying the beautiful weather last Sunday

Grace and Grant are doing great on Hershey.  He's a sweet little horse.

And if eight ducks are fun, then seventeen ducks are awesome.  Right?

 Our neighbor that raises ducks convinced us of that fact.  She sells more females than males, leaving her population a bit heavy on the male side.  She convinced us to take several male ducks off her hands.

Our female ducks are not too happy with this arrangement.  Boys are stupid.

Enough said.

Junior Prom - Friday Night

 

 

Birthday

In the midst of the craziness that was the month of March, Grace turned eleven years old.  Celebrations get simpler and sweeter every year as the kids get older.

She wanted to have friends over to spend the night.  Meet Alyssa, Ellen and Ella.

They live in our neighborhood and are in Grace's class.  This group has a great time when they are together.  No squabbles, no fussing.  They are a great group of girls.



Crafts and home manicures were on the agenda for the evening.

 

Emily was a big help.  I think she likes playing the role of big sister.

Happy 11th Birthday, Grace!!

Momarazzi taking pictures at Kroger.  Grace picked cupcakes to share at school for her birthday.

It's Happening

I cannot believe our kids are old enough to get high school class rings. 

But they are

And we are proud of their accomplishments the past many years of school. 

The days are counting down quickly. Soon we will have seniors. And then in one very emotional blink of an eye they will be off to college. 

NHS and nutrition

This is why our kids are so smart....

they spend mindless hours playing video games while being dragged to activities and events for one another!  LOL


This time it was the National Honor Society induction for Male High School.

Unfortunately, John and Emily's last name appears at the end of the alphabet.
They're in the back row....But they're there!!!

That blur at center stage is John receiving his certificate.  Emily is the blur walking across the front of the stage in front of the other students.

If I asked them to wear matching clothes, they would have thrown a fit.  They picked their own outfits and then proceeded to wear matching clothes once they realized they were dressed like....well, like twins!!

Cory, Emily, Morgan Kast and John before the Sadie Hawkins Dance.  Nope.  John didn't take Katie.  I guess he's keeping all of his options open.

Some nights the kids' activities interfere with dinnertime.  Then it is each man for himself.  Grant loves lunchables.  I told him he could not eat a lunchable for dinner.  It's only slightly healthier than eating candy for dinner.

His dad helped him resolve the problem.  See?  He didn't eat a lunchable.

He ate a SUPPERABLE.  Way to parent, David.  Way to back me up there!!

Military Ball

March 5 was military ball.  There is a slight chance I have already posted pictures.  There is a high probability I have not.

If you've seen these already, too bad!  You get to see them again.  I downloaded six weeks of pictures today.  Time to play catch up.


Oh, and John informed us this week that he was promoted.  I believe he is now sergeant first class.  I'm not sure how all of the ranks are ordered.  It only took him four weeks to remember and tell us he was promoted.  Way to go John!  Oh, and good job on getting the promotion too.

Getting ready for the ball

Going to get Katie.  We played parent paparazzi since Katie lives up the road from our house.

They had such a great time together at the military ball that they are planning to do a repeat performance for John's junior prom.  I believe Katie invited John to her junior prom as well (at a different school).  I haven't heard much about her prom lately.

More pictures to follow!!

Around the House

On the way to school this morning in the car....

Grant - Do you know who my favorite people are?

Me - (pretty confident I can guess this)  Ummm, Dad?

Grant - That's one.  (seems amazed that I know this) But who else?

Me - (still pretty certain I know the answer) Me.  And Grace too.  (figured it was worth a guess)

Grant - Yes!  But there's more.  Keep guessing.

Me - John?   (not at all confident with this answer)

Grant - Yeah.  Okay.  But I'm thinking of someone else.  Keep guessing.


**Let me take a moment here to say that it can take twenty minutes or more to get to school in the morning.  That leaves lots of time for these highly intellectual conversations.**


Me - Ummmm,  Emily?  (not at all confident with this answer)

Grant - Nope.  It's God.  (didn't see that one coming)  Keep guessing.  There's one more.

Me - (out of ideas at this point, and kind of out of patience too) Is your other favorite person Clay? (his neighborhood friend)

Grant - Nope.  Give up?  (Yes!  About three guesses ago)  It's Tracey West!  



If I drove Grant to and from school every single day of his remaining school career through elementary, middle and high school...even through undergrad and grad school...never would I have guessed Tracey West.  I had no idea who Tracey West was before the conversation in the car this morning. 

He was so proud of his list.  I was pretty proud of the God part.  And maybe a little dismayed that Emily was not on the list.  But then again, she loves to torment him.  It's only fair.

And who IS this Tracey West person that my son loves so dearly.

Why, she's the author of Pokemon books.

Of course.

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And then.....

This evening was hair cutting evening at the zoo.  I love warm weather.  Hair cutting takes place on the back deck.  Everyone sits around and visits while waiting their turn.  

Yep.  Our neighbors love us I'm sure.

Anyway, we were talking about junior prom which is this Friday night.  Emily is going with Cory, a friend that she earlier this year invited to a Sadie Hawkins dance.

John, as of Friday, still had not decided if he was going to prom.  As he walked home from the bus stop Friday afternoon he ran into a neighbor girl that happens to be Emily's best friend.  John decided at that moment to ask Katie to go to prom with him.

Now I wasn't there, but I believe the conversation went something like this....

John - "Hey Katie, are you busy next Friday?  It's our prom.  Can you go with me?"

Katie - "Sure.  I'll go.  Is Emily home?"

Fast forward to our hair cutting party tonight.  Emily was giving John grief for his very unceremonious way of inviting Katie to prom.

John's comment?

"I don't have to be nice.  It's Katie.  She's almost a dude."

Sigh.  He's got some work to do if he plans to get a girl and actually KEEP HER.

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Let's see, what else has been going on?

Grace was picked to play in the fifth grade All-County Band Concert last week.  She and one other girl were selected from their school.  Probably one hundred fifth graders were in the band.  David and I enjoyed listening to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee among other selection.  It was a fun evening made even better by a stop for ice cream on the way home.

Congratulations, Grace, on a job well done!

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Grant had his first soccer game Saturday morning.  His team won in spite of only practicing one time prior to Saturday's game.

He got some good passes and almost scored once.  The final score was 5-1.  

Good job, Grant!

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I have lots of pictures to share if I ever get time to sort through them.

Hope  you are enjoying this beautiful weather!!

Soccer season

The view on the field....

It's a beautiful spring day. Great day for sitting outside watching a game. Unless you don't like sitting in the sun watchin boys kick a soccer ball. 

Then you do this instead. 

Grace played in the shade behind her chair. It's a long season when you're the sister.