Summer begins.....

We ended our first offical day of no school with a fire.  Trevor had been collecting school papers that he did not want to keep.  He asked if we could have a fire the last day of school to celebrate the begining of summer. I thought it was a great idea.

We roasted hot dogs over the fire for our dinner too.  The kids jummped on their new traompline.  While they were at school the day before the last day of school, Patrick & I quickly assembled the new trampoline, so we could surprise them when they got home from school.

We've spent the last few days sleeping in, playing at the park, going on bike rides, going on walks by the Rio, taking care of our friend's Ferrets, making homemade pizza (sauce and crust) and just relaxing.  So far, summer is awesome!

We also started rading our first book for summer, The candymakers, it's really good so far!

Teacher Gift & last day of school

This year was a little different.  Trevor's teacher left school about a month ago for medical reasons, and a surgery. On her last day Trevor gave her a gift basket with some stuff to make her time in the hospital more comfortable.  Savannah's teacher hold a special place in our hearts!  She has been a super, fantastic teacher to all three of our kids for their  Kindergarten school year.  Since our last little one is now done, we won't get to have her as a teacher again.  We wanted to something special to let her know how much we care about her.  I bought a picnic basket (on clerance) and filled it with two story books, chocolate covered strawberries, and a gift certificate to Jason's Deli.  In the books I put picture of the kids thru the years with Mrs. Berglund, we each wrote some things to her.  We thanked her for being the best teacher ever.  Savannah took it to class with her today.  When I came to the class a few minutes later, she said "Amy, you made me cry, and I'm not saying anything else!"   I am happy she liked it!  Later in the day, she said it really touched her heart, which makes me happy because she has touched our hearts for many years, and she will be missed.

  For Griffin's teacher (who we had tons of problems with) and Trevor's sub, we gave them each a box of chocolate covered strawberries.

We are so happy school is out.  I'm looking forward to spending lots of time as a family.

Goodbye kindergarten

Savannah had her Kindergarten promotion this afternoon.  It was cute to see the kids so excited for this important day.  We loved hearing them sing some adorable songs.  After they all got their certificate, we went back to the classroom where we enjoyed more songs, and dessert.  We  love our teacher Mrs. Berglund, she has been a great teacher for all of our kiddos.  It's amazing how fast time has gone. 
Savannah is ready for 1st grade.

I've been duped

Today while at the store, Trevor asks if he could use his money to buy a thing of yarn.  I say sure.  He tells me it's for a craft he's gonna make.  Later in the day, this is what I see.

Chop-Chop

I took Savannah to get her hair cut today.  I'm trying to help get her bangs and hair the same length. Giving her bangs in the first place was the dumbest idea ever.  Someday (hopefully soon) her bangs will be no more, and she'll have long lucious hair once again.

What's going on....

Well, the end of the school year is upon us.  Since I am now done with my school, I've been helping at the kiddos school much more.  This past week I made 24 freezer paper stencils & applied them to shirts for savannah's class to paint.  The day after they painted the bears on their shirts, I came back again so the kids could decorate the bears. 

Friday I attended a fiesta with Griffin, they were celebrating learning all about New Mexico history.

This weekend I bought two new rose bushes.  I  took out some ugly dead plants, and planted these in their place.  They will look great with the other rose bushes that are in the front yard.

While I was doing this Savannah was watering the plants in the front.  The boys were learning how to change a tire on a car with Dad.  He said they did very good.

While I was a church today, my super husband cleaned the bathrooms and laundry rooms from top to bottom.  I was tired today, and he kept going & going.  He did dishes, laundry, cleaned up his school bookshelf.  After a scout meeting and dinner I was beat,  I decided to lay down for a nap.  When I woke up I found my super husband washing the cars with the kids.  He said that now school is done (for a few weeks at least) he has lots more energy and less stress.  I'm going to love having him around, even if it's just for a few weeks.

Mother's Day 2011

In honor of Mother's day I thought I'd post some pictures of me with my sweet little ones thru the years.
I don't have tons of pictures with me & the kiddos.  I'm usually taking the picture, or I'm dodging the camera.  I don't like having my picture taken (wonder where trevor gets it from).  I've decided I need to document this time in life with my kids, even if I feel like I look old, chunky, tired or whatever.  I'm quickly realizing how fast the time is going.  Pretty soon they will be all grown up.  I need proof I was there with them.  They need proof I was there with them.   I wish I had more pictures of me with my mom as I was growing up. 

                                                           Mothers Day 2011 @ the Rio Grande

                   It was a terrific day with the best people in my life!  I'm glad to be their mom!

                                                                 

Me

I thought I'd do a post about me.  Many people don't know much about me.  I guess you could say I keep a lot of stuff to myself, except for a select few.  So here's 10 things about me you may or may not know.

1. I am a night owl.  I enjoy staying up late, then sleeping late the next morning.  I tend to get more done after 8pm for some reason.  Since Patrick works night I put the kids to bed, then do housework.

2.  I adore dessert (probably too much).  I love to bake all sorts of sweets when ever I feel the "need".  Years ago when Patrick and I first got married, I would actually get a little offended if we went out to dinner and other people did not order desert.  It's the best part of the meal in my opinion.  I've had a long time dream of opening a desert place (I'll spare the details).  Just for fun, not my main career.

3.  I love to drive fast.  I have gotten plenty of speeding tickets too.  Maybe it stems from my very first job at Saugus Speedway.  Even years before I worked there, our family would be there most every Saturday night.  My favorite races were the train races, and the demolition deby. 

4. I'm a country girl at heart.  My dream besides living closer to the beach, is to have a little farm.  I was raised in a small town in CA.  We had chickens, pigs, ducks, and even a sheep.  I participated in 4-H for several years.  Raised pigs and took them to action during the summer fair.  I want that life again.  I would really like to have room to raise pigs, have chickens, maybe a cow (one each year), and a really big garden.  I've always wanted to have a big open yard with tons of flowers growing everywhere as well.

5.  I love to travel.  And it really does not matter where I go.  This world is so huge, if I could see just a fracton of it before I die I'd be so happy.  I love to experince local favorites.  Off the beaten path where most people don't go while on vacation.  If I had the money I'd be taking my family on many nice vacations every year.  Sometimes, I just brouse websites and plan out trips even though I know I can't take them yet.

6.  I don't mind being alone.  I am perfectly happy going out to the movies by myself, shopping by myself or whatever.  When I'm not by myself I perfer very small groups.  I hate big groups of people.  When I was a nanny in NY I had two really good friends.  One was my party friend who I went to many night clubs with.  The other was my calm travel companion.  We went on many trips together like Boston, and  Philadelphia. That's all I needed or wanted.  It's not that I'm not outgoing, I just prefer one on one ineractions much better.

7.   I hate with all my heart folding laundry.  Seriously, it's the dumbest chore ever.  Luckily I am married to the world's best laundry folder.  He's awesome!  He actually takes his clothes that I fold and re-foldes them the right way.   So, when he has the time he folds laundy, and I love it!  I wish we could just toss all clean laundry into bins  :)

8.  I love kids.  I actually wanted to have like eight kids when I was younger.  After Patrick and I got married we decided on four.  We ended up with three, which I am happy about.  Sometimes I do wish we had the fourth.  We even had names picked out, Phoenix for a boy, Brooklyn for a girl.   I've worked with kids a lot.  From preschool teacher, running a before & after school program, photography, and nanny.  I never finished college, so I'm back at it again  (11 years later), working on getting my Teaching degree.  I'd love to teach anywhere from K-2nd grade.

9.  I sleep with a special blanket.  The Christmas I was eight years old, my Grandma Pearl crochet blankets for all of the grandkids.  I have always loved mine, but more as I've been an adult.  Whenever I'm sad or sick, I like to cuddle with this blanket.  It's always on the end of my bed when not in use.  A few weeks ago Trevor borrowed it.  After a few nights I missed my blanket a lot.  It's my added layer of warmth, and I often find it in a ball  near my face when I wake up.   It's special  to me, and always will be.

10.  I enjoy the simple things in life.  I enjoy camping, hiking, the ocean, going for walks, spending time with the kids, baking, sometimes crafts,occasional sewing, reading, going to the movies, going out to dinner, sunsets, rain, gardening.  I think the older I get the more mellow I become.  I was in a former life a bit of a wild child.  Known by my family as the fighter.  I still have fight, just a lot less of it.   I love to blog.  I've tried many times, all unsucessful to write journals.  I start and stop them.  When I discovered blogs, I was hooked.  It's fast and easy for me to update often.  I'm grateful that I finally have a way (that I like) to record our history.