Shopping!

Yesterday Jana, Jen, and I hit the road for some "school" shopping in Kansas City.  It was so nice to have adult-only shopping.  We did plenty of damage at the Legends and Oak Park Mall (had to go inside because of the rainy weather) and enjoyed lunch at Granite City.  I timed it perfectly and rolled back into town at 8:30, bedtime for the boys!!

After a hard day shopping!
The loot!  (Sorry for the strange glow; I'm fairly sure Miles adjusted some setting on my camera that I can't figure out how to remove).

Weekend

On Friday Owen and I met my Mom for some school shopping in Topeka.   We spent the whole day looking only at five-year-old boy stuff.  He was very excited about his purchases.  Owen then went home with Grandma Jean to spend the night.  On Saturday, Miles and I met Mom and Owen at Aunt Nancy's house to hang out while the guys went to my brother's bachelor party in KC.  The boys put on a fashion show for us.  We finished up the day Sunday by hitting the fair one more time (bad pictures, bad camera!).  Owen and Grant had fun on the rides, playing games and checking out every animal on the premises.  We even managed to make it home with two prizes!  

Not sure whether he's showing off his new shirt or picking his nose
Showing off some new school clothes.
All of the loot.
A couple things Miles helped me pick out in my quest to use my $15 Gap coupon before it expired.  The shoes don't exactly fit, but hopefully by fall or winter they will.

Carnival

The kids got to go play at the Sonic playground yesterday with the Henry kids.  Last night we hit the fair for about an hour.  It was so hot, but they were bound and determined to go.  We've only driven by the area about a hundred times over the past week checking the progress of the set up.

Potty Time!

Miles has been using the potty a few times during the last week.  Today was his best day--4 times going potty = 8 M&M's.  He's certainly not potty-trained by any means, but hopefully this pattern continues (this blog will probably jinx it).

Bachelorette Party

Saturday night was my-very-soon-to-be-sister-in-law's bachelorette party.  She wanted a bus tour of small town bars, hence the theme, "Small Town, Saturday Night."  I think everyone had a fabulous time--all 30 of us!  Here are just a few of the pics I took.  

This was a real school bus in its former life--now it's lime green and purple, complete with neon green lights!
The matching T-shirts were a nice touch!  Good job Megan and Kate!
Two hands on the wheel dude!
The bride-to-be and her mom looking good!
Just for you Sharla!  I think this was about the time someone started "Yo Baby...." 
Almost family!
The windy bus wasn't doing much for my new haircut!  I look like Chewbacca!  Melissa (my cousin-in-law; is that such a thing??) looks way better!

Boys' Pictures

If you click on Jen Salmans Photography in my favorites list you can see some pictures she took of the boys a couple weeks ago.

Fun Weekend

For the first time in a long time, we got to do some "adult" stuff this weekend. Friday night we went out to eat with the Henry's. Adam and I really like So Long, but rarely get to go because there's usually a wait or no booths open and that doesn't work when we have the kids. It was nice to eat without being on a time table or having to keep kids happy with crackers or regulate how much chips/salsa they are eating.
Saturday Owen got to go to Grant's 5th birthday party at Cico pool. He was very excited and had a great time. Later in the day Adam took him out to the lake with friends while I headed down to Susan's (future sister-in-law) shower and bachelorette party. Very fun--more to come on that...

Adam and I.

Lindsay and Luke Henry.

Kids getting ready to find pennies to redeem for prizes.

The Henry kids and cousin ..... seals in the sun?

Owen spent most of his time right by the birthday boy!

Organizing

Yesterday Owen went home with Mason after tennis which left me with just Miles. While he napped I worked on the projects I'd put off the longest. Our basement is in a state of disarray as we try to come up with a set up that works for the furniture, the Wii and the other features of the room. I am convinced there is a way to make it work--just hasn't come to me yet!


This file/drawer thing was left here by the previous owners. I was going to use it for the kids' stuff, but it works better for all of my supplies. 30 drawers and 29 of them have contents!

Once we got rid of the garage sale pile the cheerleading uniforms now have a home (under the stairs).

These are the nasty uniforms (hello, 1987!) that I've found a semi-permanent home for during my basement organization--hopefully they will leave for good SOON!

The boys entertained themselves while I carried piles around by pretending to be Bob the Builder and Handy Manny. Later they requested to be called Jack and Jacobi.

Miles found my winter shoes and picked out his favorites!

Cheap Entertainment

Miles was with me during Owen's speech class today. I wanted to watch/listen from the observation room for as long as possible, so we made up a game where I put a fruit loop on the floor and Miles laid on his stomach on a rolling chair and picked it up before crawling off the chair headfirst. It worked for about 30 minutes!
PS--That's not poop on Miles shorts, he sat in sap at the park beforehand.

Wii

While the kids and I were in Omaha, Adam bought a Wii and a new TV to go with it. Neither of us are into X-Box, etc. but we thought this would be fun--we are still hunting down the Wii Fit. No one in town has it.
Mason came home from tennis with Owen today. They played so well together all afternoon. We met up with Lindsay and the rest of the kids at the pool later in the afternoon. The kids wolfed down some "chips and cheese" before we left.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Omaha Trip

We got back from Omaha this afternoon, and although we were all glad to see Adam and the dogs we were sad to leave.  

Owen with Olivia, the birthday girl, at Papio Bay.  Olivia had a pool party and then hotdogs on the pool deck afterwards.  
The kids got to spend a day with Katie, our #1 Manhattan baby-sitter.  She's back home for the summer so it worked out perfectly!
Jessamie and John (two of my all-time favorite students, and she cheerleader) invited us out for dinner Saturday night.  I can't believe they are either graduated or about to graduate from college!  I am definitely getting old.
My friend Amy (social studies teacher/cheer coach), my very pregnant friend Lori (English teacher), John, Jessamie, and me at Red Robin.
And sadly, my old classroom..... I went into PLHS while Lori taught tennis lessons.  They are in the process of making major renovations to the entire building.  It will be so nice when it is all done--I'm jealous!   

Lunch for the Girls!

We are having fun in Omaha--doing lots of stuff!  Yesterday we got a sitter so that we could meet some Papio teachers out for lunch.  It was great to see everyone--I miss them!

Omaha!

We are leaving today for Omaha to visit friends back in our old stomping grounds!  My friend Lori (who graciously takes care of us for 4 days) is expecting her third baby in August and her daughter is having her 6th birthday party while we are there.  I like to make them crafty gifts because Lori always thinks my projects are way more difficult than they are, so I feel very Martha Stewarty.....  

My friend Sharla gave me the idea for the butterfly shirt, and I adapted from there.  The grey one is the crap first one.  I don't know why I made four; I guess it was just fun and they were practically free--the shirts were 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so for all four it cost a grand total of $6!  
My favorite--probably part of Olivia's gift.
Lori's baby room is going to be animals--brown, orange, yellow.... I made these photo boards to match.  The most exciting part was my new heavy duty stapler.  Should have bought one of these long ago!
Close up of the board and the cute corduroy card I found at Target.  
Omaha, here we come!  Papio friends, can't wait to get together.  I picked this photo because it makes Omaha look much bigger and glamorous and further away!

The Baker!

We hit the library today, dropped Miles off at daycare for lunch and nap, picked up Rock-A-Belly and ate lunch with Jana on the steps of KSU speech center while Owen had class.  Then we picked up the older boys from daycare and took them to the pool with us.  The boys swam while we caught up on "cheer talk", school, .....

Since Miles did not get to go swimming, I let him make some puppy chow.  He loved being the helper!  This is so easy to make, but I've never made it--probably because it looks disgusting.  I happened to notice the recipe on a cereal box this morning and figured it was a good way to get rid of the powdered sugar I'd surely never use before it got old.
Miles is very proud of his goods.  Unfortunately while we were downstairs wrapping a gift, Newman ate half of one pan.

Tennis!

Owen started tennis lessons today.  Some of his little friends are there too, so that makes it even more fun.  I did not take Miles today, but I suppose I will need to go buy him a racquet so that he can play on the sidelines.  He hates to be left out!

  Owen's class.  He's on the left end.
Working on a drill with one of the coaches.
Tonight after baths, Owen managed to get down some of his winter clothes.  He decided he and Miles could wear sweats.  We had to roll Miles' up several times; he loved that he was wearing "Wo-wo's" clothes.