Pictures Galore!

I think that I forgot to mention the fact that I was starting a new schedule at work in my last post. I'll be working early in the morning in order to accommodate our new schedule in the fall - but it seems to be hampering my efforts to do much of anything after the kids are in bed because I'm so tired. Blogging seems to have taken a back seat this past week, but I think I'm getting used to the schedule now & will try to post in the afternoons from now on.

This past week was filled with Taylor doing track, Ian doing t-ball, both of them doing swimming lessons, landscaping the front yard, parking cars during Back to the 50's this weekend, a neighborhood party on Sunday afternoon & finally a parade in Roseville yesterday!

Taylor is just amazing at track! She seems to be right in the middle as far as the age group of her peers, but she's one of the fastest and most competitive girls out there. She is still enjoying the relay races the best.

Ian and the t-ball - it was hilarious! Panod was able to come and watch all of these 3-5 year olds interact with one another and learn how to play ball. There is one coach, about 10 adult helpers, and nearly 24 kids! They are going to be broken down into 4 teams of 6, and they will be playing one another every Monday until mid August. Ian is very good at hitting the ball, he seems to be catching on to running the bases, and still needs some work on catching the ball in his glove. He really did love it and has been walking around for the past week shouting, "1-2-3 Gooooo T-BALL!"

Both Taylor and Ian have shown so much improvement in their swimming skills since last year! I was blown away at how easily they jumped into the pool, listened to their teachers and Taylor even got to bump up a class to the level 3's! Ian's class is very large, but his teachers seem to do very well with all of them. He is working on putting his face in the water and making bubbles, and Taylor is working on turning, not lifting her head while doing the crawl stroke.

I really had to do the landscaping in the front of the house. It had been a large pile of dirt since construction started on our street over a year ago. They finished up the construction project back in May of this year, and I have had a pile of dirt sitting in the front of the house ever since. One of our neighbors was nice enough to hear that we were looking for a specific type of rock to do the landscaping with, and he was able to get some for us from his job and delivered right to our front yard for free! (He's being repaid with homemade dinners & pies from Cafe a la Lori) I got busy on Friday morning and was putting the finishing touches on it by Friday night. The plants in the picture are all perennials and will come back every year. Most are spring blooming and it will probably take about 3 summers for it to look the way we would like. Grand total for the project: $24 for the plants and pea gravel!

Back to the 50's was this weekend and it always means a neighborhood party while we park cars on Saturday. Friday was the night to sit out on Snelling and watch all of the 11,000+ old cars stream out of the main gates. Over the years we have learned that if you yell at the ones you like you will likely get a wave, a honk, and the scream of the hot rod burning his tires for you! We all had a blast, even though it did start to rain after a while.

Now if you've never been to the Roseville parade - you haven't been to a parade! It's that amazing! It goes on for nearly 4 hours!! The kids and I will usually drive down Lexington Ave. about 4:00pm and stop to drop off a blanket and chairs in order to make sure that we have a spot saved for us when the parade starts at 6:30pm. This year, we brought our dinner to eat while we waited for it to start and some goodie bags to catch all of the candy and goodies that get tossed at us as the parade goes by. Taylor and I got so tickled at Ian because every time a float would go by with the beauty queen winners for local cities, Ian would wave and jump up and down until a the pretty ladies smiled and waved back at him!

That's about all I can think of for now.... enjoy the pictures & thanks for reading!

Ian running the bases at t-ball

Ian hitting the ball

Ian running to me after t-ball

Ian on Panod's shoulders while we watch Taylor run track

Taylor is on the far left of this picture

Taylor is really hard to see here, but she's towards the middle

Taylor is finishing

Taylor!

Ian getting into the pool with his teacher

Ian kicking

Taylor swimming with the floaties

Taylor & Ian

Taylor jumping off of the diving board

Sorry - I have to include some pictures from Back to the 50s this weekend

Have some car with your rear tires!

This one and the one below it were two of the nicer paint jobs we saw that night

O.K. - so it isn't a car, but it was still cool!

Taylor & Ian are running back to tell me that they can see the beginning of the parade

Taylor and Ian waving at the fire fighters

This little guy was dressed for the parade!

The landscaping in the front yard that was done on Friday

Let the games begin

Summer has officially begun! Taylor has been doing very well these past two days. She's also been kept a little busy.....

Wednesday afternoon we all waved good-bye to Taylor's school one last time. We tearfully worked our way through it, and then we hopped right into summer! Spending the day yesterday at Como Town was a blast! We spent the entire day there since the kids received unlimited ride wristbands as a gift from grandma. The kids and I rode bikes there in the morning, but we did leave for home when it was time to eat lunch and again for dinner. Panod was able to join us after dinner, and we got to see Janie Peterson from Fox 9 news! She videotaped her kids jumping in the moon bounce with our kids. How cool is that?

Our vote on Como Town: We're going again!! Soon!!
Taylor's favorite rides: The dragon rollercoaster & the glider
Ian's favorite rides: The little race cars & the trains
Ian stopped the ride and got off of: The swings & the frog hopper
They played the most on: The giant playground

**Here is a link to all of the pictures we took of Taylor & Ian at Como Town**

Then this morning Panod and Ian took Taylor to track & field. She ran her little heart out! So far her favorite activity has been the relay races. I'll have to get some pictures of her running next week. The kids will also start their swimming lessons next week, and Ian will begin his first ever t-ball!

Busy Week

'Tis the season, I suppose. We've had so many functions over the past week -- Grand Old Day, end of the year school picnic for Taylor, ice cream social, neighborhood gatherings, work functions,graduation open houses, and hunting for track shoes at MOA today ....and those are the only the ones I can remember off of the top of my head! But it looks like things are going to be winding down by the end of this coming week. Taylor will start her track & field on Monday. That will be three days a week this summer, swimming will be on the other two days a week for both Taylor and Ian starting next week, and Ian will have t-ball on Mondays. As crazy as that may sound, it's all scheduled to take place after 5pm in order to allow for some much needed sleeping-in for the kids and going to beach during the day.

Taylor's last day of school will be this Wednesday. She and I took a long bike ride tonight and stopped at the lake to talk for a while. She's understandably sad to see this school year coming to an end since she will not be continuing with the program she is currently enrolled in next fall. Any phone calls or emails of support this week that we can offer her might brighten her mood a bit and help make it a little easier for her. The kids and I are also planning to spend the first full day of summer vacation at Como Town on Thursday! That should help a little, too.

Quick updates on a few things:

* Taylor's fish are doing very well and are growing every day!
* Ian has made it very clear that butterflies are a hit in Ianland
* This is very scary!
* I got to do the electric slide this weekend!! :) (Even scarier to witness than the item above, just ask the neighbors)

This is Horton! He is being puppysat by our next door neighbors & he is the same age as Toby
Panod is playing a new game that we learned while at our neighbors graduation open house last night.
Taylor on the front porch today!

June 2nd!

I cannot believe that it's already June! Where did spring go??

This week started off a little on the rough side. A combination of things led to the overheating of Taylor's aquarium Sunday night, and when she looked in there on Monday morning, all but one had died. She was upset for a while, but she soon moved on and we helped her realize that above all else, she needed to get a better heater. We discovered that Petco was in fact open on Memorial Day and she spent most of the birthday money she had left of a new heater and a few new fish. Things seem to be going very well so far -- keep your fingers crossed for her.

Ian has had a very relaxing week now that his preschool has come to an end. He has enjoyed playing outside in the sprinkler with Taylor and the neighborhood kids, playing in the dirt pile in the front yard, catching ants and helping them find a new home, going to the playground with Panod while I'm at work, riding bikes to Taylor's school and having a picnic snack, and hanging out at the frog pond and butterfly garden in Como Park.

Thursday was a special day for Taylor. I finally found her a new bike! And the best part is that once I sell her old 20" Trek, we should walk away from this with an extra $25 in our pocket! Yes, it is a slightly used bike, but is a 24", 21-speed Gary Fisher in amazing condition! She has gotten the hang of the gears already and was begging to ride bikes home this afternoon. Taylor did have a little spill as we were pulling up the driveway, but she managed to get back up and go the rest of the way up the driveway without so much as a tear!

Yesterday was also a wonderful occasion in our little neighborhood - our little neighbor turned 1!! While the big celebration will take place tomorrow, we were invited over to watch the birthday girl have her first piece of cake last night with her family and a few other neighbors. I would like to post some of the pictures up tonight, but I should really get the parent's permission first. So, maybe tomorrow.

The last thing we have to post about is Taylor's class play. It was this afternoon, and it was terrific! The enthusiasm that her teacher and his assistant have for these class projects just spills over into the kids. It was so apparent that everyone had a good time with their roles - they took it seriously, but they also had a lot of laughs doing it. Taylor played the role of the frog that came in at the end of the play. She did her thing and hammed it up as only Taylor could!

Taylor on her new bike
Taylor in the play - she is on the far right side
Taylor, Ian & friends