Summer has begun

We've had a busy couple days!! Here's some pics from the last few days:

The girls up at Watkins Mill. I thought this was cute. I like pictures from the back like this for some reason.

Kaylin as a clown at her preschool program last Wednesday. She was the tambourine player, and did a darn good job. If you watched the video, she was incredibly silly through the whole preformance. Macy wouldn't hardly do anything her first time on stage, and Kaylin was a total ham.

Kaylin with her teachers. I hope I never have to wear a clown suit to work.

On Friday, Macy's friend Gillian had an end-of-the-year pool party. She has an inground pool, and the girls had a blast. This is Macy, Gillian and Mallory. Mallory is moving to the new school with Macy, but Gillian is staying at the old one. :( At least they will still have Jazz class together. Macy quickly learned she could swim well enough in the shallow end that she didn't need her life jacket, and ditched the uncool accessory.

Ahhh, Kaylin's dream in life. A gigantic bowl of Cheeto's all to herself...


Today I had Girl Scout training for camp in the morning, then we had ANOTHER pool party for Jericho's birthday, then a Girl Scout picnic this evening. It was crazy!! Tomorrow is the Royals game; hopefully Monday I can rest before VBS starts on Tuesday!!!

For your viewing pleasure...

Wednesday night was Kaylin's preschool program. The theme was "Under the Big Top". Very cute. I still haven't downloaded the pictures--shocking, I know, for me--but I do have a little video to show you. They got all the dads up on stage to do Mr. Fun Show, and the song repeats seveal times "Shake it like a duck!"

Enjoy! :) I may need a divorce attorney after this. :)



I'll get the pictures downloaded sometime this weekend, in between birthday parties and picnics and the Royals games.

Thoughts on graduation

Worked graduation last night. Beforehand a bunch of us went to eat in the new Power and Light District. I've been to the Sprint Center, but never to the P&L district. I was impressed--it was really cool. I'd like to see it before a big concert or event. We ate right by the stage where David Cook sang a couple weeks ago when he was in KC.

We were expecting graduation to be looooonnnnngg--last year it was just shy of 3 hours. This year was barely 2 hours! We were in the car by 9:30, which is quite impressive for a graduating class of 579 seniors, the largest in school history (but only for a year). I've never been so thankful.

Here's my not-so-inspiring words of advice for seniors:
1. Some girls need to practice walking in high heels before they try to walk in front of 5000 spectators.
2. It is never cool to show up to your high school graduation with jeans and dirty work boots. Or tennis shoes.
3. High heels should fit better so your toes don't curl up over the top.
4. Everyone walks out in the processional with a cocky swagger, even if they are the shyest person on the planet.
5. All of those cocky swaggers will quickly be put in their place this fall.
6. If girls wear a halter dress that ties around the neck, it looks really weird with the robe.
7. If you sit on the end of a row, don't take your cell phone out. The security people will take it away. And quickly.
8. Don't pretend to be embarrassed when your family is loud and obnoxious and uses 3 air horns. You knew they were going to do that!

Vampire trilogy

Tonight I finished a trilogy I've been reading by Stephenie Meyer. A fellow book lover at school, the photography teacher, told me I had to read these books. I was putting them off, because they are about vampires. Now, in recent years I've really branched out in my reading. I used to only read mysteries. I've been better lately, but vampires was outside my desired reading. But she kept on me, so I checked them out of the library. I could not stop reading! I went instantly from one book to the next. I feel sad now that I've finished...

First is Twilight--498 pages
Second is New Moon--563 pages
Third is Eclipse
--629 pages

All read in 1 week.

Meyer's novels are considered Young Adult Literature. I know many people who consider YA Lit to be "beneath them". But written correctly, YA Lit can be just as good, if not better, than adult literature. These novels were so well-written. The fourth book comes out in August, and I can't wait. Twilight is being made into a movie that will be out at Christmas.

If you have a chance, read these books. I highly recommend them.

To please a dog...

Last night we watched Jesse and Melissa's little girl Kali for a couple hours. Macy especially was in heaven; she wanted to carry Kali around the whole night. Jesse is a blogger too; my "inspiration" if you want to say that, although he doesn't need to know that. He blogged once before about Kali's eating habits with their dog, Nova. Click here read one of his blog entries about Kali and Nova.

We don't have a high chair anymore, so I put Kali on the couch with a towel on the couch and some paper towels around her. She thoroughly enjoyed Spongebob SquarePants (her first ever episode?) As you can see in this picture, Kobe is intent on the food in her lap. Gabe isn't so concerned. He really wasn't happy at first that she was in the house.


I went upstairs to change the laundry, and I heard giggling. Gabe and Kobe were suddenly closer. I came down to check out the situation, and grab my camera. Kali looks at Kaylin to say, "I think your mom is on to me!" I decide to move over to the kitchen where I'm behind her and she can't see me.

And all it takes is about 30 seconds. She pops a pasta bite in her mouth, picks up another one and hands it to Gabe. He gobbles it up. She giggles. I said, "Kali Leimkuehler!" in a fake angry voice. She looked up at me with a huge grin. "No, don't feed the doggie!" She grinned some more.

Obviously she listens to me as well as my own girls do. Another bite goes in her mouth, another bite goes to Gabe. He is in heaven. No longer concerned there is a strange girl in his house. This strange girl feeds him!!

Seriously?

Many times the attitudes of high school students astound me. Sometimes it is in respect for their maturity, sometimes it is in shock at their immaturity. Either way, there is rarely a dull day.

Today's vocab word was "compensate". The sentence they had to agree/disagree with was: "People should work for fun, not compensation." That lead to a lively discussion on wages, jobs, etc. I said that I think people should love the job they do, and it doesn't necessarily matter how much you get paid. (thanks Dad for teaching me that lesson.)

One kid looked at me like I had three heads. He said, "So, let's say you could make $10 a hour teaching, and $45 a hour shoveling horse poop out of a barn. Which would you pick?"

I replied: "In a heartbeat I would keep teaching. It doesn't matter the pay; I love high school kids, teaching, the people I work with, and so on. I have no desire to be in a stinky barn with horse poop, probably by myself all day, no matter how much money I would be paid."

Then he looked at me like I had about 10 heads, 20 eyes, and green snakes coming out my head. "Seriously?"

"Seriously, Jesse."

Other students agreed with me, but this one student just couldn't get over the fact that I was willing to be paid less to do something I want to do. It's young people like him that concern me--to him, it's all about getting ahead, getting more money, and not enjoying the time we have here on earth.

Kangaroos, Obstacle Courses, and Babies...Oh my!

What a day--Kaylin's preschool went to the zoo today. They had a great time--she liked the kangaroos best, she said, and the sea lion show. They ate lunch at a picnic table by the sea lions. She also has the grace of her mother--apparently she was holding the hand of her partner, and walked smack into a pole!! She's got a nice bruise and line down her forehead--nothing new for her!!

Macy had her Field Day today, which I helped with. I was with her class at the very beginning, but then was sent to the Obstacle Course where I spent the next few hours. It was a little disappointing that I didn't get to see Macy's class go through the different stations, but I was glad to help out. At the Obstacle Course they had to ride a tricycle through the cones, throw a ball into the hula hoop, run through the hula hoop, then jump on a bouncy ball and then run back. Funny part was watching the older kids with long legs on the tricycles-couldn't get them to move at all. There was a tug-of-war station, a bubble station, a race station, a tattoo/snow cone station (really good snow cones--I had a grape one!) and about four bouncy inflatables.

I got to eat lunch with her class out on the playground. Nothing like a good ole' peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bag of chips, cookie and a water bottle for lunch!! Macy has some really sweet friends--Chloe, Gillian, and Erin-- in her class and I enjoyed eating with them. It's neat to see how she interacts with them.

Then tonight we had a baby shower/family dinner for my cousin David, his wife Samantha, and their new baby Kaori, who they recently adopted from Japan. All of the extended family was there, along with some friends from church. There were over 50 people! It was nice to spend some time with everyone, and Dave and Sam got to show off Kaori. She's a beautiful baby!!

I'm so glad the weather cooperated--it was a perfect day. Not too warm, not too cold. Nice and sunny! And now the girls are sound asleep--worn out from a busy, busy day. I'm calling it quits too.

What can I do next, Mom?

My girls have never really done chores. I know that makes me a terrible mom, but it is just easier to do things myself. Macy has helped clean up her room before, but that’s it. They don’t get an allowance, and don't have assigned chores.

That being said…Sunday, while I enjoying my Mother’s Day nap and Bobby was napping also, the girls were playing in Macy’s room. We learn later that they ripped a hole in the screen on Macy’s window, and threw things out onto the driveway. Toys, a roll of toilet paper, paper, you name it was on the driveway. At least one of them hadn’t fallen through…I shudder to think about that.
(Macy’s theory of what happened to the screen...”While I was sleeping, someone came in my room and ripped a hole in the screen. When I woke up, the hole was there!)

Bobby’s “lecture” to them apparently didn’t work, because they were giggling about in the car. So last night, when Macy got home, I told the girls they had to do chores. I said they were going to start doing chores once a week. Last night’s chores would help “pay” for the screen. They were unbelievable—they helped me clean the coffee table, clean the kitchen, Macy vacuumed the living room and her bedroom, Kaylin vacuumed the hallway and her bedroom, they hung up clothes, picked up toys, put books on the bookshelf, made their bed…all without a single word of complaint. They’d finish one job, come to me and ask, “What can I do now?” They didn’t fight with each other, they didn’t argue with me, it was like heaven on earth.

When they got ready for bed, they wanted to keep doing chores. Kaylin wanted to make her bed, so after she was in bed and tucked in, we pulled the covers nice and neat around her bed. Macy made a list of things she was going to do at grandma’s for chores…after she played for a little bit, of course. They made a list of different chores they can do each day. THEY made the list—not me. Wednesday’s Macy wants to clean the garage—I vetoed that idea.

It was the sweetest thing I’ve seen from them in a long time. I’m sure the newness of doing chores will wear off, but it sure was nice while it lasted.

Open House and PTO

Hopefully all the mother's had a wonderful day yesterday!! Mine was nice; if only my kids had stopped fighting for five minutes for me to enjoy it.

Tonight was Open House at Macy's new school. She and her friend Paige led us through the building and showing everything off. She is definitely not nervous about changing schools!! She is ready to go NOW. The school is a definate improvement over the one we are at now--much newer, nicer, bigger. It seems like a nice place. She already seemed at home there, which makes me feel better.

The PTO meeting was afterwards. The PTO meetings at her old school lasted 15-20 minutes, tops. In, out, little discussion. Everything was already decided for you and you just nodded your head. Not so at her new school. Typed agendas, detailed budget analysis, votes on every item on the proposed budget. My head was swimming!! The meeting was an hour and a half--they said they are usually only an hour (?!?! only an hour!!?!?) but tonight's was longer. Goodness!!! Can't wait. :)

Green Grasshoppers Part II

I didn't have my camera Tuesday night, so last night I took pictures of the Green Grasshoppers.
Kaylin hitting... she keep straightening out her arms, but finally got a good hit.

Running to first...look at that smile!

Look at me, Mom! I made it to first base!

Macy hitting...she nailed it the first time

Macy running to first...

She said, "Mom! Don't forget to take my picture too!"

Macy and her friend Jessica waiting for the ball to come...

Macy's best friends--Kaylee, Jessica and Paige

Kaylin didn't put the glove on her head last night, but did take a rest on 2nd base.


No games until next week.

In one hour I get a 15-minute chair massage for Teacher Appreciation Week. I'm very excited!!!

The Green Grasshoppers!

Last night was the girls first t-ball game. We weren't going to do t-ball this year because it was $100 a kid (yikes!) and Macy really didn't like it last year. One of Bobby's firefighters has 4 kids, and he for sure couldn't afford $400 for t-ball. So he developed a new t-ball league that only costs $5. I figured that was something we could handle. :) It blossomed to 250 kids, which he was not expecting.

The girls are on a team together, along with 3 of Macy's best friends: Jessica, Paige and Kaylee. Macy's so shy that she wouldn't have gone out on the field if those girls weren't with her. There are 16 kids on their team.

The deal with this league is it is extremely uncompetitive--every kid gets to bat, there are no outs, so they basically hit the ball and run the bases.

Kaylin was cute--she grinned ear-to-ear the whole time she was at bat, and then didn't want to stop at first base but kept going. Then when the other team was at bat, she was sitting on her ball glove. Then she was putting it on her head and turning around in a circle. At one point Bobby picked her up under his arm and carried her to the back of the field.

Macy was very serious--hit the ball hard, ran the bases hard, and worked hard to get the ball when the other team was at bat.

For $10 total, it will be worth it. They have 8 games total.

I hate allergies...

Never used to have a problem with allergies until we lived in Chilli and there was a big tree with white blossoms in our front yard. In the spring that tree would get me every year. Now, we have another one of those trees in our front yard. Happens every year still.

I have no voice today. I feel fine, except my eyes are a little itchy. It's actually kind of nice not having a voice; the kids leave you alone. I have an excuse not to answer them.

I usually lose my voice at least twice a school year; a student I've had for three years pointed out to me this is the first time this year. Maybe next year I won't lose my voice at all...

Charity Basketball game...

Last night the fire department played against the police department in a charity basketball game. The trash talking has been going on for quite some time, coming from both sides.

Some celebrities were in attendance--those of you who follow the Tigers football team will recognize this star:


And I'm sure this full-ride Tigers football star really appreciates this picture:

And the tip-off between the two football players:

Can you block out with him next to you, Bobby?

The police department's "secret weapon" was a former New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneer's football player. Bobby was lucky enough to have to guard him most of the night. He said later there's never been a player he hasn't been able to budge, until him. He was a solid 300+ pounds. He just stood under the basket and they'd pass to him, and he'd score.

It was a fun night, although I think the cards were stacked toward the police department. They ended up winning by 2, and it came down to a final shot by the fire department.

Even with Bobby's broken finger from last week, he played very well. For the record, this is his second injury in the last few months playing basketball. Dare I suggest he's getting too old to keep playing competitively? Love you honey. :)

Scary storm last night...

Massive storms ripped through the area last night. The girls had spent the night with Mom and Dad, and Bobby was at the fire station, so I was home alone. When I went to bed, I called Bobby and told him to call me if I needed to go to the basement. That's the advantage of a having a firefighter as a husband!

I woke up around 2:15, with wind absolutley pounding the window right next to my bed. I went to the living room to watch the news, and I had left the living room windows up a little. The whole house sounded like a train was coming through. I closed the windows, and laid on the couch and waited for the storm to die down. The dogs were highly unconcerned; I'm glad we have two laid-back dogs and not ones that freak out in this kind of weather. I surveyed our area this morning, and the only real problem is the swing is knocked over.

Talked to my mom this morning, and the girls and my dad slept through the whole thing! Some of the neighborhoods in my school district were hit pretty hard, so a bunch of kids are gone today. I have two right now in my 3rd hour!! Houses are ripped apart, houses ripped off the foundation, walls are missing, etc. Pretty scary pictures. Our house appears to be built very well, and for that I am thankful. A lot of those houses that are destroyed are newer, and that makes me wonder about the level of construction.

They are saying it was hurricane level winds that came through, not necessarily a tornado. Funny to think about, considering we are MILES away from a body of water!