Minus One Tooth

"Why does my dad have to be a dentist?"

A little loose...

KA-POW!

We had to join in the fun. Watch the video... it's nuts!

Street Party

Tonight we had the annual end of school year street party at Christ the King. They block off the street between the school and playground, a band plays, there are clowns, a dunktank with teachers, and inflatables out the wazoo. People who you never see come out of the woodwork for this event. Reid loves to jump and slide. Emiline was looking foward to seeing Fr. Rick get dunked. Thank goodness the faculty were good sports about the dunk tank. Last year Fr. Ross wore his fishing gear. This year Fr. Rick had a huge watergun he shot whenever he was dunked. Personally, I think intentionally dunking a priest would be bad karma. I need them on my side!




This is what happens when you wait until the end of the evening to take a picture... I could only find seven kindergarten girls for a picture. I know there were at least six other girls there, but amoung a few hundred people they were hard to find. (L to R Meg, Holland, Libby, Emiline, Claire, Ashley, Sterling)

Tomorrow is field day, and then an early dismissal for summer vacation. I plan on taking the kids on a bike ride to Sonic for breakfast on Thursday to kick off the season. Then it's off to Las Vegas for 3 nights! Isn't summer the best?

Kindergarten Graduation

Today we had the Paraliturgy for Kindergarten graduation. Each child said a prayer of thanks and Emiline was thankful for learning about reindeer. After all the time and money invested she is taking away knowledge about an animal none of us have ever seen. We also got to bring home her journal that she writes and colors in every Friday. There were many pages about horses, and many about holidays. Then on March 28th there was a picture of a strange lady with only the word 'Subtoot.' I asked her what that was about and she said, "That was the day we had a substitute." I don't think she was enamoured with this woman because she was depicted with quite a stern look and not a lot of color. Sounds like it was a fun day.

The dress code for girls was a dress with sleeves and closed toe shoes. Sound easy? It wasn't. All dresses this time of year are sleeveless, and Emiline lives in sandals.

I also received a certificate for my volunteer efforts which I am going to have framed.

Emiline and Libby Jantzen

Georgi Reed and Emiline

Girl Scout Swimming Party

We had the big end of year swimming party for Emiline's girl scout troop on Tuesday after school. Thirteen girls came to swim in some very chilly water. They didn't seem to mind. When one little swimmer became too adventurous for her swimming abilities my cell phone and I got to check out the water temperature too. If I was thinking a little more clearly I would have left it on the side of the pool. Luckily I was able to fix it. Then Reid slipped and fell into the pool and my friend LeAnn and her camera went in after him. I guess we should remove all electronic devices while lifegurading.

After the party we did a trip through Sonic for burgers and then went to the ballpark for our T ball game.

Next time I swim I'd like to first, be wearing swimwear, and second, be drinking a mojito. I think I can accomplish both in Vegas next weekend.

Mother's Day Campout

While most mothers like to be taken out to a nice brunch on Mother's Day, this year I opted for something different... a campout at Lake Arcadia. That's not to say that quiche and a mimosa didn't sound good when I woke up this morning (are you really allowed to say 'woke up' when your night only consisted of small bits of sleep?) in 40 degree weather and was faced with the task of preparign breakfast on a campfire. Believe me, a quick trip to Sonic crossed my mind.

We found a somewhat secluded campsite and I became obsessed with collecting wood while the kids played in the tent. I had visions of the early pioneers who ran out of firewood halfway through the long, hard winter and they all perished. Needless to say we left a nice sized wood pile at our campground for the next visitors.


She's a natural


We made foil packets for dinner, and lucky for us they were a hit. After we made s'mores a car drove by and said, "That looks like the Hendersons. Wait, it is the Hendersons!" We had a surprise visit by our friends Darren and Meredith Ford and their kids Reece and Paxton. They were driving through checking out campsites for a future visit. If we ran into someone we knew camping in the woods, we aren't alone anywhere!

So the tent we borrowed from Gigi and Leo we were told was a 4 person tent. The nice surprise was it was a 2-3 person tent! Nice. It was a tight fit. As it got cold I kept checking Reid to see if he had enough blankets. Every time I checked he had kicked the covers off, but was still warm and toasty. When he got up this morning he said,"Mommy, my tummy hurts" and then began throwing up. The lesson is: if you want to stay warm at night while camping just run a fever.

Poor Reid.

Arts Festival

The kids' caterpillar sculpture in the background. Emline could have worked on decorating this thing for hours.

This weekend wrapped up Arts Festival and we had great weather all week (it only rained about 1 hour on Wednesday). Emilne and Reid made it through all the activities for kids, and I think we saw most of the artists. The highlight for me was during the last hour when they sold the hanging baskets of flowers that were used during the week. We were sitting with a snack of sweet potato french fries when they came on the mic and offered them 1 for $15 or 3 for $40. Well let me tell you, the pickings went quick. I didn't want to fight for flowers so I got 3 decent ones and got outta there! Then we packed up my dad's art (he sold 16 pieces!) and went home.

Are you dizzy yet?

Painting raku pottery. Always a favorite.

My grandma is home from the hospital, and still resting a bit. My aunt Margo is coming to visit Wednesday, which we are looking forward to.

Also this weekend we trimmed our trees and got rid of plants we hate. Thanks to Gigi and Leo and their firepit we are ready for one heck of a bonfire!

This weekend proved itself to be the kickoff for the Henderson kids and their rockets. We don't know if any of this activity is legal within city limits, but when we had a calm sunny day we assumed that all systems were GO. Robin prefaced the whole thing with warnings about each kids' rocket blowing up or being lost in unattainable territory, but luckily none of that happened. After maxing out our budget (you have no idea how all these cardboard tubes add up) we made our own launch pad out of a pizza box, plaster of paris, and a coat hanger. I'm proud to say the engineering on this contraption performed to perfection. Emiline's Eliminator went 1st and had a calm parachute landing in a tree about 10 feet from the lake. Reid's went 2nd and when his nose cone didn't deploy it took a dive back down and imbedded itself in the dirt. Robin's separated into 2 pieces in the sky and we recovered the main section. It's hard to find a piece to a gold cardboard rocket when the grass is still brown. Next time we might invite some other people to experience the launch. When everything was over we went home and watched October Sky which our kids could hardly relate to. To them a rocket is something your dad buys you at Hobby Lobby.

The rockets and launch pad 'pre launch'

Trying to find them in the sky

Blast off!

Reid's rocket eats dirt

Redbud Classic 2008

The Redbud Classic is an annual rite of spring. This year Emiline ran the kids one mile fun run for the second time. If you ask her how she did she will tell you she beat all the boys and even some 4th graders. I'm just happy she ran the entire way without one complaint. However, when she woke up the next morning she said her legs hurt in a strange way. That night we went to Pasta on the Pond where we did more crazy stunts in the inflatables than carb loading. We shut down the event and when they pulled the plug on the inflatable slide Reid cried. The next day we cheered for Gigi, Leo, & Jeremy in the 5k and Laura in the 10k. Eli brought up the rear in the 2 mile stroller derby. I'm just glad we were able to spot them in the crowd of runners. Robin missed a lot of fun, but I'll be sure he's in town for it next year so I can run too. Cheering is not my forte.

On your mark, set, go!


Emiline and I during the first quarter mile of the 1 mile run. Smiles all around!


Still smiling afterward!


The kids are waiting for the runners to arrive.


Gigi and Leo after the race