My Ideal Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, I requested a picnic.


I wanted an afternoon where I had nothing to do but hang out with my boys.


We packed up a lunch, loaded up the car with all kinds of balls and blankets, and headed to Buffalo Park.


It was a great day--everything I had hoped for!

Good Enough......For Now!

Anthony, KS had a Hot Air Balloon Festival last weekend. I've always wanted to take the boys to see hot air balloons take off so it was a perfect Saturday morning activity for us!

We headed out bright and early.  It was rainy and we were well aware that it may be a no go, but I was hopeful--apparently I shouldn't have been!

On the way back home we told the boys that it was a fun road trip even if we didn't get to see hot air balloons, but they didn't really agree.

There was another launch scheduled that evening, so we decided to try one more time.

This time the sky was clear, but it was pretty windy.  We decided to wait it out just in case they decided to go ahead with the launch.  They were giving helicopter rides so that helped entertain us in the mean time!

Finally, the got two of the balloons out, and, although they didn't actually launch them, we did get to see them aired up.

The boys were so excited! 

It would have been great if they would have actually made it into the sky, but I’m glad that we got to see what we did.

We’ll definitely try again next year!

Biting Leads to Black Eyes

Josh Oliver currently has a terrible black eye.


It started off as a goose egg at the corner of his eye and then quickly moved to a long dark bruise that's hidden under that swollen, squinty fold in his eyelid.


He keeps pointing it out to people, just in case they don't see it.  (There's no way anyone could miss it.)  It's kind of like a badge of honor.


I don't feel bad for Josh, though, Henry gave it to him purely out of self defense--after being bit 4 times he finally threw a bin at him.


Unfortunately, no punishment I can give him outweighs the reward of a black eye!


--He's still super cute, even when he's rotten!  Don't tell him that, though!

Leftovers

Apparently one of the boys (Henry) did us all a favor and licked the creme filling out of all of the oreos.

It was kind of him to leave the rest of us the cookie part.  

Everyone knows that's the best part of an oreo!

He's My Favorite!

Ben turned 35 on Saturday.

We shipped the boys off to Grandma's and had a day to ourselves!

Ben played golf and I tagged along.  

We were there for 5 hours.  Five hours of no distractions, no kids, no cleaning.  Just being together.

It was quite perfect.  

It also reaffirmed that I don't really want to learn how to play golf.  I would much rather spend my time lounging in the cart than getting sweaty and frustrated!  

Plus, I have no desire to get involved in such a time consuming hobby!  I'll just tag along when I can!

After golf, we went to see American Reunion.


The American Pie movies hold a special place in our hearts.....they are very romantic you know!  (I actually think this one may have been the raunchiest one yet!)

They've kind of followed us thorough our years together.  


Our last date before having Luke was to see American Wedding.  That was such a good day!

When we got home it was late.  Ben was hoping the boys would be asleep.  I knew better!


They were wound up and wanted desperately to stay up to see the Super Moon--the moon , but bigger and brighter!  


We had about 45 more minutes until it was at it's peak, so we grabbed some blankets and laid out in the front yard.  Ben pointed out planets and constellations while we waited.  

It was a perfect way to end the day.  The boys even went right to bed when we came back in!

It's not very often that Ben and I get real dates, and when we do we usually end up not really knowing what to do with ourselves--we're pathetic and boring, I know!  Golfing may have to be our new "go to" date!  It was so much fun!

Saturday really couldn't have been better.  

It's pretty high up on my list of all time favorite days with my very favorite boy!

Workin' the System

Henry gets up at 6:45 on school days and has to be out the door by 7:15 when Ben leaves.  


That gives him 30 minutes to do his morning routine:  get dressed, make his bed, bring in dirty clothes, brush his teeth, and eat breakfast.  


He should have plenty of time......should.


He usually takes forever to get himself woken up and dressed and, in the end, has to eat his breakfast on the run.  Even when I help him all along the way or wake him up earlier, he still dawdles.  It makes for a stressful morning.  


Lately, though, he has been right on time--early even.  He pops right out of bed and is brushing his teeth before Ben is even out of the shower.  It's been a nice change!


Then one day, when I came home from work, I went in to give him a kiss and I noticed that he was completely dressed in his uniform.  Shoes and all.


I asked him the next morning if those were the clothes from the day before and he said no.  He's been waking up in the middle of the night and getting himself completely dressed for the next day.


We've since convinced him that he should probably just wait to get dressed in the morning, but I must admit that his solution, other than the wrinkles, was a good one!


That boy is a problem solver!

Watch your Fingers

Luke loves funnel cakes--LOVES them!


Don't bother trying to share one with him, though.  As soon as he gets one in front of him he starts grabbing it by the fist fulls and shovels it in.


Luckily, no one's lost any fingers in the process!


On the plus side, if he ever needs to be won over, a funnel cake is the way to go!

May Day Treats!

Last year on May Day, Luke had his First Communion.


It was a busy day, but we still managed to deliver a handful of May Day flowers.  It was better than nothing.


This year, I spent a couple hours over lunch time helping at Luke's school, we had a funeral in the afternoon, and Henry had his May Crowning Music Program in the evening.


May Day just wasn't going to happen.  The best we could do was surprise a few of our neighbors.  


It was sad.  

(I thought Henry was going to write "from the jonker boys" on his box, but he took all the credit instead.  In all fairness, though, he was the one who wanted to add some fun dip to the May Day surprise!)

Much to the boys excitement, the doorbell rang just after we got home from the funeral!  

May Day flower cookies!!  Jennifer....love that girl!

Then it rang again!

Dilly Bars and ice cream sandwiches from our neighbors across the street--the ones who got the fun dip!

Then once we got home from Henry's program, the neighbors next door brought us over some still burning hot, homemade egg rolls!!  A ton of them!


Delicious!

Our doorbell rang one more time tonight, but it was just one of Ben's friends bringing something over that he had asked to borrow.  I told him he should have dropped it on the front porch and ran.  Instead we shared some of our still hot egg rolls with him!


There's nothing like a good May Day to make you feel loved!


I only wish we could have spread the love a little more today. 


I've got high hopes for next year!