sticky sweet

**Blogger just told me this is my 400th post*** WOW! Time flies. I recently looked back to my first few posts and am amazed at how much L and T have changed.

So now I'll wipe the tear from my eye and continue with our STICKY SWEET day.
While getting L on the bus this morning I noticed the thick humid air. We've been lucky the past few days with cooler temps (70s) and very low humidity. Today the STICKY came back...but at least it warmed up as well. I've been here for 4+ years now and 70 degrees has become too cold.

This afternoon while Ms. Maria (have I mentioned lately how much I love her?!) picked Lauren up from Art Club and brought her and Lea to the neighborhood pool, I took Tyler to SOCCER. This boy loves the futbol. He loves the competition, he loves playing with his friends and he loves to laugh at himself when he makes a mistake. It is so much fun to watch him play.

After the lesson was over he ran over to me all hot and STICKY. He said he'd really love a "nice cold SWEET Frosty treat." So we went to the building with the "flags flying all around it" (WENDY'S) and got the SWEET boy a Frosty.

I snapped a picture of him enjoying said Frosty in the car but he started to blink. Even though Taking a Picture While Driving is not illegal yet in our state I thought it would be in the best interest of everyone to just accept the photo as is. ;)
Other news:
I had lunch with a dear friend today. She brought me food from Athena's. I've been wanting to eat there ever since they opened. Let me tell you...the gyros (which i think? should be pronounced "J-eye-rose") did not disappoint.
Along with lunch, Susan also gave me a super cool birthday present.

A book by Amy Sedaris!I love to entertain and I love all things Sedaris. Check out my collection of books by Ms. Amy Sedaris's brother!

from the family room book shelf

I've read the front cover of the book so far and LOVE IT. My favorite quote (from the jacket of the book) is this tip on throwing a party.

"Try Filling your medicine cabinet with marbles. Nothing announces a nosy partygoer more successfully than an avalanche of marbles striking a porcelain sink."
LOVE IT

I'm excited to finish reading the book but also I'm excited at how well Tyler's Spring school pictures turned out. (how's that for transition?!!)

Doesn't this boy look adorable?!

What about the whole class?!! (T is the cutey on the left)
To conclude this STICKY SWEET post I must include these pics of my sweet L. She's attempting to make some masterpiece with tape.

And let me tell you...this is masterpiece enough! The girl taped her own mouth shut.
I love this girl!

Park Day

We met some friends today at the park at the local municipal airport.

The park was not much to talk about...basically a big sand-box.
(luckily we brought our sand-toys)

The best part of the playground was just beyond the fence.
Planes were constantly landing and taking-off.
We must have seen at least ten little planes take off during our two hour visit.
The kids had a blast.
One plane even circled near the children and waved.
(Tyler is the tall boy in the blue shirt and red shorts.)

He loved watching the planes.
(He's pretty sure he could fly one since he's been practicing on the Wii.)

And what would a park day be without Doritos and Capri Suns?

I didn't want to leave Lauren out of today's post so here she is eating her evening snack.
Rainbow Sherbet
YUMM

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day we took a little hike. I wanted to have our picture taken by the sign (for the blog, of course) but Matt said there would be much better things to take pictures of. Guess who won?!

Here we are by the sign!

This was a very easy trail and both Lauren and Tyler had a blast. Lauren kept saying, "this is so much fun!" but Tyler kept tripping over vines and roots and who knows what. He (proudly!) came home with some "battle scars" on his hands and knees.

the fam

It was a great Mother's Day and I'm so proud to be Lauren and Tyler's Mama. They are true true blessings.

Today (Monday) while Lauren was at school, Tyler and I headed out to do the weekly grocery shopping. I finally remembered to take a picture of him in the shopping cart (aka "Buggy")

T gets comfy...

...and I continue shopping.

Poor guy was a little confused when he woke up and tried to wrestle out from under the groceries.
And yet, He Does This EVERY Time!

After school, Lauren brought home her best homework yet. On the front of the page they colored in a picture of a box. (The letter of the week was "X") On the back of the page (the one you see) they were asked to write some sentences about the box.
(transcription below)

"The box is blue.
My box has purple socks inside it and toys.
My box has a(n) elephant in it.
The box is destroyed."

My girl sure does have a "great imagination!" I'm so proud of her...and ohhhh to be a fly on the wall during that assignment.

I hope all three of my Mom's had a fantastic Mother's Day. Y'alls the best! Tomorrow we'll shift the focus to Matt's 30-something-th birthday.

my birthday...29th??

The older I get, the harder it is to remember my age. 29 has a nice ring to it so I'll be sticking to it...until I'm lucky enough to turn 40.

Today was a fun day. I didn't do anything too exciting but everything ordinary seemed exciting.

My Facebook page was a hoppin'. It was cool to see so many people wish me a Happy Birthday. Who says Social Networks aren't good for anything?! Thanks y'all.

Lauren came home from school today with a huge gap in her top teeth. She lost her first top tooth at school. I asked her if she coughed and the tooth flew out and into her teacher's hair. She laughed and said it just came out when she wiggled it. Remind me to tell the Tooth Fairy to swoosh on by tonight.

(please don't notice Tyler in the background playing the Wii...he's always playing the Wii)
(for the entire 20 minutes he's allowed, 3 times per day)
(I'll be working on stricter limits soon.)

I had quite the birthday spread on the kitchen table today. I can't believe how many people care enough about me to send birthday cards, gifts, flowers, facebook posts etc. etc. I feel very blessed in my life. (note: this spread may also contain Mother's Day cards/gifts and Matt's birthday cards...but for the sake of this post I'll just pretend they are All For MEEEE.)

check it out!

Since it's my birthday (and my blog,) let's take a closer look.
Cards

gift from my rockin' Secret Mom
Trader Joe's Birthday Extravaganza
(I love TJs)

Lauren's Mother's day poem with hand-prints.
I love artwork with the stamp of time (i.e. 6 year old hand-prints.)

Beautiful flowers from GG
(Thanks Grams!!!)

Mother's Day flower from Tyler
he said it was a "daisy or something"
(or something)
a couple of bags
It was a great birthday.

I feel I must mention the Matt factor though.
Our birthday's must be unlucky for him this year.

For both Lauren and Tyler's birthday he was in the hospital fighting for his life. At least for my birthday he didn't get admitted but he did have to go in. (Not the emergency room but to the IDS office.) See, his stomach bug came back and in full force. The good thing is that this is just a very serious bug but not a life-threatening one. He's now back on the strong oral antibiotics until who-knows-when. We'll see what happens on his birthday in 5 days.

my final days of my 32nd year

Today is my birthday and it was a good day. But before I get to my birthday post I have some pictures I need to share.

A couple of days ago while Lauren did her "Q" homework in her ballet outfit...
Tyler taught himself how to ride his bike FINALLY! (Matt is in the background fixing the lawn mower)


While they studied, fixed and played I made the most delicious dinner. I made Mediterranean Chopped Salad from March 2010 Southern Living Magazine. (I added half a cup of cubed cooked chicken to make Matt happy.)

the main ingredientssauteing chickpeas
all mixed togethermixed with chopped Romaine lettuce
YUMM

Yesterday, although Tyler didn't have school he was invited to the Petting Zoo his school was hosting. The Country Junction has a traveling petting zoo which came all the way to Tyler's school: cage, animals, hay and all.

Tyler liked it.

He liked it well enough to pet the animals outside of the cage.

He chose to pass on the inside petting tour.

After school, good friend Lea came over to play. They had their own sort of tea party.

playhouse dinnerware with real fish crackers and real water.

While the girls had their tea party, Tyler showed off his new biking skills.

This was a pretty exciting couple of days. Tyler learned to ride a bike and Lauren found the "Rabbit Speed" on her Jeep. She is now crazy (as crazy as Lauren can be) about her Jeep and wants to ride it everyday.

Weekly Menu - 5/3/10

Today Tyler and I did our weekly Monday grocery shopping. As usual he laid down in the "buggy" with his "soft blanket" (as opposed to the identical yet "scratchy blanket") and was asleep within 5 minutes. Why I didn't take a picture is beyond me but since he does this EVERY week perhaps I'll snap a shot next week. As usual I just piled the week's groceries around and on top of him. We received many comments and "oh Bless his Heart"s today.

Monday: Chicken with Creamy Dijon Sauce, Balsamic Cucumber and Tomato Salad & Italian Orzo (recipe on the bag of Orzo)

Monday review: The chicken was broiled for 9 minutes, turning once. It was moist and perfect. The Creamy Dijon Sauce was just so-so. (light mayo, lemon juice, dijon mustard, minced garlic, salt & pepper) The kiddos prefered ketchup for their dip. The Cucumber & Tomato salad was DELISH and the Italian Orzo was a tad bit spicy. (I used a can of HOT Rotels instead of the diced tomato. I loved it of course but it was a bit hot for the rest of the fam.) I also added blanched asparagus (which was on sale) to both the cucumber salad and orzo. A very satisfying meal.

Tuesday: Mediterranean Chopped Salad (with l/o chicken for Matt & kids)
Wednesday: Sloppy Chicken Pizza Joes
Thursday: left-overs or pantry dinner
Friday: Black Bean Lasagna & Garlic Bread
Saturday: Loaded Mexican Pizza & fruit
Sunday: Greek Pork Chops & Asparagus Risotto

Welcome to the Month of May

I love the Sun, I love the Spring , I love the flowers and green on the trees, I love the perfect month of May. (Obviously, it's the month of my birth.) Both Matt and I are May babies. I was born years and years and years after him but we are indeed both Tauruses. We each have our stubborn little quirks but we do just fine as long as I always get my way. (wink)

We said farewell to April with an impromptu neighborhood gathering in our yard. The boys played basketball and Frisbee golf. And the girls wanted to play with squirt bottles and rags.

Here is a picture minutes before Matt saw them and told them to get off his car. I saw no problem though since his car is 100 years old (though VERY reliable!) and the girls were giving it its first wash-down in months.
Finally, we said our farewell to April and May 1st rolled around. We unpacked our fancy Derby hats and waited for our neighborhood pool to open. Lauren and Tyler have been counting down the days until the pool opened on May 1st. There was no way they were going to miss opening day.

I got their gear all ready.

Smiled for a picture.

And sent them out the door with Matt. The water is still freezing so there's no way I was going to go. Instead I stayed home and enjoyed some time to myself.

I did send the camera with Matt. (Please don't pay attention to how much better the pictures look when Matt is the one taking them.)

Fun in the Sun

The life jacket adds some swimming confidence.
(we have a pink and a blue one...who's wearing the pink? Tyler?)

He must be trying to get the water out of his ear.

Matt said the water was VERY cold (it's not a heated pool and it takes about a month of warm temps to heat up to comfortable) but the kiddos just couldn't stay out of it.
(Tera's brother Tyler is in the background.)

The pool must not have been that cold since Lauren, Tyler, Tera, big Tyler, Matt and Mr. Mike are all back out there today. And once again I'm enjoying some time to myself. (...changing the beds, folding laundry, prepping dinner, cleaning up, getting ready for baths and blogging.)

Happy May!