Dylan "graduates"

Dylan has graduated from preschool. I don't think he really understood what was happening, and if he did, he wasn't letting anyone in on the secret. He was pretty happy about his graduation picture. It listed the following:

• Favorite color: All the colors
• Favorite thing to do at school: Play outside and do jobs
• Favorite food: Jelly Sandwich
• My best friend at school: Owen and Ty-Ty
• When I grow up I want to be king of the video games. (Hence the Wario background)

Sadly the graduation ceremony was super lame, and the parents were super silent through the whole thing. I think they were speechless. Being a parent, I think I was in shock that the graduates were lined up, asked each child only 1 of their favorite things, handed their picture to them, and moved on. The whole thing lasted about 5 minutes. Not that the kids noticed. I'm just so used to our old director, Miss Shari, making a big deal over each child and making them feel special. I felt our middle child was cheated out of what could have been an even more special moment. When it was all over, I think Dylan was thankful. He looked like he was getting tired of holding that cap on his head (stupid thing didn't even fit). Not one smile on stage, but big smiles once he came down. He was so excited to show us his Wario picture.

Did I just get stung?

Last night Russ & I were talking on the phone (he's in SC again) and he says, "You want to hear something funny?" The story he tells is so not funny, unless you were the one who experienced it and a year has gone by...at least that's what I think. Let's see what you think:

Russ has been trying to clean up the landscaping around the house these last couple of trips. Yesterday he did some weeding around some stepping stones than no one steps on anymore. He noticed a big black bee buzzing around him, but ignored it because he figured, "I'm not bothering it, it won't bother me." Next thing he knows, he feels a sting. Of course at this point expletives are gushing from his mouth and he's checking his skin for a stinger. No stinger is found, so he assumes he wasn't stung. After all it's been 3o years since he was last stung by a bee, so he can't be sure what it should feel like. (His words, not mine.) Ok, to me, this is just crazy talk! You flippin' know if you've been stung by a bee! Anyway, Russ goes back to standing on this stepping stone to continue weeding. It doesn't take long before he feels *sting* *sting* *sting* *sting*. Only then does he notice that he is surrounded by yellow jackets. They are in the air, on his skin, on and under his clothes. Panic soon sets in and he goes running--yellow jackets still on him. Shaking to get yellow jackets off--yellow jackets sting him. Runs in the house--yellow jackets still on him and stinging him. In full panic mode he manages to kill all the yellow jackets he's brought into the house. He says he was stung at least eighteen times. He spends the next few hours jumpy and flinching at anything that remotely sounds like buzzing.

Fast forward a bit...Russ has been to Home Depot to buy a spray that shoots something like 24 feet to kill this nest he's disturbed. He's dressed in long pants, his sweatshirt with hood on cinched tight so you can only see his eyes, gloves and bottom pants taped tight so nothing is getting into his clothes. He sprays the nest and goes running. A couple of hours later (not the full recommended 12 hours he should wait) Russ goes out and flips over the stepping stone and takes off running again. No yellow jackets. He jams a stick into the heart of the nest and goes running again. Only a few remaining yellow jackets come out. Russ is successful and has destroyed the nest, which by the way was attached to the bottom of the stepping stone. No wonder those critters were so pissed. Russ was squashing their house!

Good news & bad news month

The month of May was a crazy busy, sometimes wonderful, sometimes horrible month. The wonderful part was getting to enjoy the beach with my family and friends. It was just a weekend, but it was a great weekend. We also celebrated Owen's 3rd birthday at an art studio. Lots of painting and coloring was had by all. I loved the personalized paintings the kids got to take home as a party favor. (I have spot picked out by our front door to put them on display). The party was a big hit and Owen had the best time. He was just loving the attention and imaginative play areas when he wasn't painting.


On the flip side, this was the month of our wedding anniversary, that we really didn't get to celebrate; my dad ending up in the hospital after a heart attack and having quadruple bypass surgery; being "fortunate" enough to be on my boys' preschool's executive board and having to assess the future of the school; two boys with projectile vomit illnesses; and volunteering more than most for our son's baseball team during snack shack week. The day I began writing this I should have been out celebrating a friends 35th birthday, but to be honest, I was so exhausted I preferred crawling into bed to shut out the world. That is May in a nutshell. Hoping June will be a better month...

Giving up FB games

So my excuse for not blogging? Playing Farmville and Cafe World on Facebook. I knew I was addicted, yet I'd still waste many hours playing those stupid games. I can't believe I haven't written anything since the beginning of May! So much has happened since now and then I have my work cut out for me, if I can even begin to remember what actually happened! I know. I suck. I apologize. Facebook is evil.

And the 2010 rookie champs are...

...not the Diamondbacks. The fact that the D-backs made it to the championship game surprised all of us parents. Brandon's team was the surprise of the season. One parent said, "I feel like I'm watching the Bad News Bears!" at one of the tournament games. Our boys weren't that bad at the beginning of the season, but they'd improved so much since March. It was a pretty spot on analogy. They were truly amazing to watch as they dug their heals in and beat team after team. Ok, they only had 3 games before championships, but it seemed like a long haul. On the big day the kids faced off against the best team in our division. The Cardinals hadn't lost a game all season, and they certainly weren't going to give up a game now. At the end of the 1st inning, the D-backs were only down by 1 run. I thought, "Wow! They are going to make this team work for it." It was a fleeting thought as the Cards scored 5 runs the next inning leaving the score 8-2. In the end we lost 18-10, but the kids had a blast. Brandon got to score one of those runs. He says it was his favorite part of the game. He didn't seem sad or disappointed when the game was done. He said he had fun and wanted to get an ice cream from the snack shack. I love that boy!

River Park Diamondbacks