The table returns!

We got to pull the crawfish table again and enjoy another boil - this time with crawfish, shrimp, and crabs - and a big water slide.

Groovie Goodbye

Back in 2004, we got new neighbors who have a sweet granddaughter, Emma Kathryn. National Night Out August 2004

Margaret, Michaela, Savannah, and Emma became fast friends. They played after school and all summer long and had the best time in our carpool. Three years ago the girls decided to name their group - putting a few of their suggested names together, we came up with the "Groovie Cuties". We even made shirts for them at the annual sleepover.

August 2006

But now Emma's mom is getting married and they are moving away so we decided to have a surprise going away party to say goodbye.
We started after school on Friday at our garage for the surprise, drinks, and gifts including a scrapbook of Groovie Cutie memories. Next was dinner at Emma's, and then spa and pool at Savannah & Michaela's. Last stop was back at our house for a boat-in movie in the garage and a sleepover. The girls had a great time. We will miss Emma, but luckily Gammy still lives next door so she will come back to visit!

Getting silly during the "boat-in" movie

Happy 5th Birthday Nathan!

In honor of Nathan's 5th birthday, here are 5 of his current obsessions (and boy - it was hard narrowing this list down to 5!)

1. Fashion - he is even more particular than before about what he wears. Acceptable choices are: jeans, athletic shorts, camo shorts, camo crocs, camo flip flops and t-shirts with pictures. Banned from the wardrobe: "handsome" shirts, stripes, plain khaki shorts, and tennis shoes. He dresses himself every day - so that's my disclaimer to whetever he is wearing.

2. Disasters - he is really interested in books about hurricanes, floods, shipwrecks, volcanoes, - especially when it involves mass destruction.

3. Max & Ruby - for some reason he is obessed with this show and wants to watch it every morning. Never mind that it didn't take him more than 2 weeks to see every episode ever made. He is still back for more.

4. Video games - After the first time I took him to The Zone, he was hooked. He loves any game and asks to go back daily. Unfortunately, he really likes that claw thing where you put in lots of tokens to not get anything.

5. Big boy stuff - he was so over the 3 wheel scooter, so he has been riding Margaret's 2 wheel scooter until today, when he got his own red Razor for his birthday. He is also obsessed with riding his bike without training wheels off curbs, his pocket knife, and anything else he thinks is big boy.

And he is a big boy - our biggest little man 5 year old.

This little light of mine...

What are the chances that Nathan and Margaret would sing the same song at their school events this spring?
Same song...

...different level of enthusiasm.

School Specials Spectacular

Margaret LOVES music and was so excited tonight to be a featured musician in the school concert.

Ahoy Matey! Nathan's pirate birthday party

Nathan has been waiting to have a pirate birthday party for months now. And if you own a boat and are going to have a pirate party, you may as well have it at the lake. We found a great campsite to serve as our home base. First we had some genuine pirate food. Ok, maybe not, but we had a hot dog lunch with cheetos and fruit skewered by little swords. Next, the men and kids were off for the treasure hunt. They took the boat for a tour of the lake and found the treasure...a pinata. Then the kids took many turns beating the pinata and got the treasure (mostly gold coins and other favors because candy, bugs, and heat do not mix). Next it was time for gold coin cookies (because frosting, bugs, and heat do not mix). Then, the kids had the best time just swimming in the water by our site.

Happy 21st Birthday Meg!

Preschool Graduation

Congrats Nathan! Preschool is officially over. Next stop...Kindergarten!

Let's root, root, root for the Riders

We've got our rally caps on! Go Riders!

Happy Pretend Preschool Birthday

At preschool on Thursday we celebrated the summer birthdays - Nathan, Maddie and the 2 teachers. We had cupcakes, napkins and favors - Princesses for the girls and Transformers for the boys. There is Maddie, sweetly posing for the camera, with napkin, blowout and favor all perfectly arranged in front of her. Then there is Nathan, who had so much fun blowing that blowout that I didn't get a picture of him without it.

Puppy Le Pew

Poor Sandy. She is such a sweet dog and so friendly. I'm sure when she saw the black and white cat in our backyard last night that she just wanted to play. Unfortunately, it wasn't actually a cat.

Poor us. It certainly wasn't fun making a late night run to the grocery store for tomato juice. And washing our dog...with tomato juice...and dish soap...and tomato juice again...and dish soap again...in the dark...during a thunderstorm...while smelling wet skunked dog.

Poor Sandy. She certainly didn't understand why we had to torture her like that with 4 baths! And to top it off she was banished to the garage to sleep for the night. But, there is only so much wet dog-Bloody Mary-skunk residue smell a person can take.

Game Ball

Coach Ed said "Everyone hit well today, but the game ball today goes to someone who hit the ball extra hard. One time he hit it so hard that it hit me in the head!"Wait a minute - did Coach Ed just say my name? Yay! I got the game ball!!!

Preschool Mother's Day

Allow me to get a little weepy here. Today was my last preschool Mother's Day. It is such a nice tradition - where the kids shower us with gifts, sing songs about us, and give us a little extra love and attention. First, we were supposed to find the portraits the kids painted of us. Look how beautiful I am in my pink dress.
Then we had a nice tea on placemats designed by our children with nice statements about us. Nathan wrote: "My mom is smart! She even knows how to set up a tent." Love that...and true. But then he wrote: "My mom can do many things! I think she's best at cleaning" Uh, no. I'll remind him later in life to NEVER say that to his wife. Here are me, Nathan, and the gifts: flower, card, flower pot, and picture frame.
And then the songs. They sang "Mommy Loves Me" to the tune of Jesus Loves Me and "M-O-M-M-Y" to the tune of Bingo. He wasn't quite into the singing as everything else, but it was sweet.

Mudbug Madness IV

Mudbug Madness arrived again to celebrate our love of crawfish. First we played with them and then we dunked them in a pot of boiling water and ate them.
The kids had a blast making hats, playing with the crawfish, playing in the backyard, and then dancing in the garage disco after dark.
Then men had fun shooting hoops and horseshoes, and then shooting the newly modified potato gun after dark.
The women had fun chatting and drinking 'ritas, and then dancing on the tables after dark.
And we were so glad Amy, Steven, and half of her Brat Pack were able to come in town for the party!