Springtime?

It kind of feels like spring. Atleast we pretended like it was today when we went to Emma's "spring program" at school. She had to wear her summer dress and her "high heels." Of course I had to paint her toenails and of course I had to paint Lauren's too.....and of course someday there will be another one to paint. I think Dave should learn how to do this task. :)

Then there was the hair and earrings etc. etc.

The program was adorable of course and was only about 45min., which makes it even better. Grandma Sutton came too and we even went for icecream afterwards. The best part was that no one got "rainbow" icecream on their dresses. (That will never happen again.)

Anyway, here are a few pics of the girls from their springtime outfits tonight.

Emma wanted me to take a picture of her toes too, so there you go!

Peace and quiet

It is almost 8pm and normally this house would be bursting with whining and reasons to stay up just 15 minutes longer. Lauren would be running from me exclaiming, "you can't catch me" and Emma would be saying, "but Maria gets to stay up until 9."

We would go round and round about the need to shower and Lauren would be begging to take a bath, which I would do everything in my power to change the subject. I would be turning on a Spongebob lamp, Dora lamp, a pink lava lamp and an orange lava lamp.

BUT, not tonight!!

The girls are spending the night at grandma and grandpa's and actually have been there most of the day!! I worked today from 8-6 and Dave was able to sneak in a little nap this afternoon. Thank you grandma and grandpa! I am sure you will need your own naps tomorrow afternoon.

Although I cherish my alone time and quiet time, I don't quite know what to do with myself and feel a little out of sorts. As many times as I think to myself, "if I could just get some peace and quiet", I actually miss the noise....(a little bit.) So, I kissed them goodnight about 7pm and neither wanted to come home with me. Emma actually said yesterday that she wishes they were still building our house so we could be living with grandma and grandpa still. I think Lauren thinks that's still her "real house."

So......... I was able to use the facilities here without being bothered....
I was able to take a long hot shower without being bothered....
I am going to eat some M&Ms without having to share......
and I am going to sit here and listen to an inmate's phone calls...... (I know that may not sound like fun to most, but if you knew what was said, you would want to listen too!!! It is better than any soap opera and rather addicting. :)

I am enjoying my quiet night but have to admit I am so thankful for my noisy, rambunctious, energetic girls because too much quiet is no good. :)

Earth Day

Is today actually Earth Day? Emma and I had this discussion on the way home from school. I thought it was today because that's what my calendar says at work but she informed me that it was actually the 16th. (She's probably right since she came home today wearing a Earth Day hat.) I think they study everything these days.

Anyway, check out our awesome earth day gift: (well, it's not really a gift since we paid for it :)

The backyard appears to be somewhat larger than we thought. I do think a riding mower is in our near future. Dave thinks the length of it is 50 or 60 yards. We are ready for a soccer, wiffle ball, or football game! Here is the view from up top the deck. Now if we can just get some stairs.

We spent the evening at mom and dad's assisting them with their earth day projects. Dave and Andrew cleaned and filled the waterfall, I pulled some massive weeds and we finished the "birm' that we had started last summer when we lived there. Check out the big pine tree that was planted there. Good thing we made the birm extra big! :) Sorry mom, it is time it is said. I think there is maybe a little more room there for some more planting.

We had a yummy barbeque and the weather was incredible!!! The girls enjoyed the icecream cones too.

Daddy's Home......(thank goodness)

We survived the long weekend without daddy....barely! Me missed him a ton but we kept busy and we so glad that he had the weekend to himself and the fish.

We spent lots of time with aunt Stacy and the twins. Emma got another goldfish (who by the way is still alive) (thanks aunt Stacy)

We completely cleaned and organized the storage room, which took most of two days. We spent time at grandma and grandpa's and had a wonderful pork and sauerkraut dinne. I even got to sneak away to the craftshow with mom while Lauren was napping and Emma went to the indoor waterpark with her friend Colin and his family. Whew!

Dave got home tonight about 7 and we had a little belated birthday party for him. (He turned 39 yesterday :)

Anyway, this is what he came home to:

As if they weren't wound up enough, we had cake and ice cream at 7:30 (probably not the best plan)

Here is the cake the girls decorated...isn't it gorgeous? :)

Dave had a great time and just carried in about (4) gallon bags of fish fillets? I don't know. Apparently you soak them in vermuth first (whatever that is) I am not getting my hopes up and we probably won't invite the family over for a fish fry!

Here is a picture of Rich and his fish.

The pic of Dave and his monster was on Rich's camera but being the technological gurus that we are (NOT) we Emailed it to this computer. (I know, I know) This ugly fish was 5'8" and 65 pounds!

They had a ton of rain down there and here is a picture of a crazy looking dam.

And....this was a road but the guys used it for a boat dock since the real docks were under water...

Hey Ted, Dave wanted to "noodle" but the conditions weren't quite right! :)

And, totally off the subject:

the other day I was taking Emma somewhere and she out of the blue said, "sometimes I get sad thoughts in my head and I just shake them out"

so I asked her what kind of sad thoughts and she responded: " like if Lauren got dipped in hot lava"

tonight she told me that their class made a volcano that bubbled and smoked (kind of like the one on the Brady Bunch) she told me they were studying volcanoes in school :) Maybe we should take a trip to Hawaii to further our studies and see the semi active one.

Tornados and other weather

It was a fairly nice day "most" of the day. I think it got to 60, but not positive. BUT at soccer game time, it was VERY VERY cold and quite miserable. I had thought it was nicer than it was, so Lauren really was the only one that was dressed somewhat appropriately. Thank goodness for mom and dad who had brought a blanket and dad "wasn't cold" (yeah right), so he gave me his coat to wear. Thanks dad, I have a feeling you were cold or maybe just doped up on pain pills. :)

Anyway, despite the cold, it was a great game, another win but who's counting. Emma even scored a goal and I pretended like I saw it. :)

We had to get Lauren her own water bottle because the first game was a difficult time. She spent the whole game "drinking" and spitting all over than hysterically laughing.

Anyway, I think it is supposed to start raining and maybe snowing tomorrow or Saturday. I haven't exactly seen the forecast but maybe that's a good thing. I'm sure Saturday's game will be cancelled.......darn. :)

Dave leaves Friday morning for somewhere in Oklahoma. He was invited to go spoonbill fishing with a couple friends and I am SO excited for him to be able to do something for himself and have his own time. He is so good to us everyday and does a ton of stuff around here and it's time that he relaxes and does what he loves to do. I have heard that spoonbill aren't very good eating and if they are anything like the catfish last weekend.....I'll pass!

More on weather:

Today apparently was severe weather awareness day or the "kickoff" of severe weather season. I have no idea but I do know that on the news I saw some gradeschoolers practicing tornado drills. WELL, tonight at about 7, the sirens went off. I'm sure just another test BUT my little kindergartener had her little drills today too and she was primed and well trained. Before I could even realize what the noise was, she was screaming, "everyone down in the basement!!" I tried to say, "Em, it's just a test" and she demanded that "Miss Owens" told them to "take shelter" WHENEVER they heard the sirens. (Good advice "Miss Owens") It was one of those moments where it is easier to go with the flow than to make a big deal about it. So, Lauren and I made our way to the shelter/storage room where Emma helped Lauren into the correct Tornado "safety position." As she was instructing her sister, I ran upstairs (in the danger zone ) to grab the camera and when I came back down I found this PRICELESS sight........ (all well worth the drill)

Very, very busy!

This weekend was a very busy weekend for us. Not cause we had lots of commitments, but the weather was decent so we were outside almost the entire weekend, which is exhausting but fun. This isn't just an ordinary Sunday paper. This was taken at 7pm tonight and it is still tucked neatly in its orange wrapper. That is a sign that we were constantly on the go because it is one of Dave's favorite things to do on Sundays. :)

Emma had her first soccer game on Saturday morning. She does better and better each season and is VERY aggressive. Dave and I both missed it but our coach stopped play once and gave the ball to the other team cause she was pulling another girl's jersey or pushing. :) oops! :) They won 5-3. Of course "everyone" is a winner but try to convince that to our little competitive one.

Last night we went to the "Surfside Club" (a restaurant down by the "beautiful" Missouri River for a birthday party. Our friends were here from Minnesota so we decided to meet them down there for some fish. ....... Now, I haven't had fish since before Easter and so I was very excited to be going there. That soon came to a halt. :( I haven't been to this place since I was VERY little and all I remember about it was fighting the bees at dinner time. I soon learned why I haven't been there since. You have your choice of fish or chicken.....that's it! So, I chose fish of course BUT Dave questioned be about how sure I was cause it is catfish. I thought big deal, how bad could it be with tartar sauce. He, being the awesome husband and knowing me very well immediately ordered chicken. They waitress delivered by catfish and it was just that......A fried catfish without the head! The fins even had a layer of crust to them.

Now...I am not a total wimp and I do enjoy trying new foods because "you never know if you'll like it until you try it."

I took one bite of this fish and swapped plates with my Wonderful husband who was trying to hold back his laughter. The thing tasted like a river!!!!! Luckily the french fries and chicken were good and Emma and Lauren ate their share of corn fritters with honey!

Of course earlier in the day Emma convinced Dave that she is ready to have the training wheels off of her bike. I wasn't so sure as she has just gotten the bike in July and really hasn't ridden a ton. Dave had taken the wheels off once for about 1hr a week ago but was exhausted from helping her and put them back on. So, he took them off again and worked with her for about 1/2hr before deciding to let her learn on her own. Yikes. I kept saying, "we should go somewhere where there is grass" so when she crashes it won't be so bad. Well, there is no grass near us and Emma didn't want to go anywhere cause she was determined to show the neighbor boys that she can ride a "two wheeler" too! I cannot count how many times she wiped out (not too badly though) on the pavement and I think she ran into the light pole 2 times, BUT no blood and no broken bones. She is SO proud of herself and has almost totally mastered her new favorite activity. We still have to watch her closely so she doesn't run into us or Lauren but she is doing great!! Here are just a couple pics from today and of course Lauren had to try out the bike grandma and grandpa brought over.

I have to brag a little too. I got out my bike that I haven't ridden for many years :) , pumped up the tires (ok, Dave did that) and rode around the neighborhood. (yes, I had to push it up the last hill) but who cares, it was good to get some exercise. (no pictures of that though.....NO WAY!)

We met (again) many of our neighbors, which is so nice. There are three families on our block that each have 3 boys. Our girls are the only girls that I know of in the whole neighborhood. Oh well!

Then when Lauren got up from her nap we got this crazy idea to go fishing. So, we went all the way to Kmart and got worms then back out to this nice little lake near our house. IT WAS WAY TOO WINDY! Why we didn't realize that before we left or maybe we were just in denial. The girls did have fun though despite the major gusts. At one point, the wind almost pushed Lauren off into the rocks. :)

Lauren caught the only fish (with the help of daddy) and she touched it and almost kissed it which totally delights here father but sicks me out. Then Emma wanted to hold it which really got Dave excited. :) So, Emma held it, while nervously laughing before "placing" him back in the lake. We left shortly after that and ate our PBandJ picnic at the comfort of our own kitchen table before more outdoor activities.
Here are just a few pictures from our fishing adventure including one of Emma's "crack." I showed it to her before bedtime and told her I was going to blog it. She laughed so hard!

How cute is this one..... (proof that sometimes they get along) :)

(actually Emma is probably explaining to her that "daddy really caught the fish, you just reeled it in")