"Tyler's 5th grade party.........."

End of the year party!Bowling and mini-golf! The kids were wound up and excited. It was only Tyler's 5th grade class.

They were hyper to begin with.........but once the lights went off and music cranked up..........OMG........these kids went crazy! Funny crazy. I just sat back and observed. At this age (11ish) it's the pivotal age of interaction with girls and boys. Subtle flirting. Alot of the girls are taller than the boys. The boys oblivious to the (not so) subtle flirting from the girls. Girls nervously following the pack of girls flirting with the boys. Singing and dancing to the loud music.

Watching my son from a distance was hilarious. He was dancing, or moonwalking across the entire lanes of the bowling alley (we had the entire bowling alley to ourselves!) Not caring who was watching. Being crazy with his friends. Laughing at his bad bowling skills. He may (or may not) have been aware of all the girls watching him because was being quite charming....ha!

So my motley crue got a game of bowling in and then wanted to go out and play mini-golf.

Once we got out there, it had started to sprinkle. All the other groups had gone back in to bowl and we were the only ones out there. It started off normal.............................

And they started getting sillier, and sillier and the shinnanighans began!

Poor sweet girl with all these rowdy boys. (I had a great group!)

I'm sure this is the proper way to putt???????

I had to be alert and aware because the balls were flying off rocks, going into the water, going onto other holes, these kids were crazy.

But GREAT time had by all. That was on the the funnest field trips I have gone on with one of my kids. Next week is the last week of school. Elementary school and field trips I get to attend are over forever.....kinda makes me sad. Tyler is on to middle school next year! Yikes.........Nicole finally got her metal for her 1st place 5k we did at Cheadle Lake..........

And my sweet friend Kela supplied a beautiful arrangement of dogwood blooms for my kitchen table. Thanks friend...........

Yesterday Nicole had a basketball tourney in West Linn that lasted all day. We left at 8:00 am and got home last night at 8:00 pm.......That was a long day. No pics. Just a sore bottom from sitting in bleachers all day!!!! Wish I could relax today, but we need to clean house and I need to get supplies for work. No rest for the wary.....

"National Honor Society........"

Once again.........................I'm a very proud momma................
My amazing daughter was inducted into the National Honor Society at school tonight.
It is such an honor and based on academics, scholarship, leadership, service and character. And she graduates with honors....................
There was a ceremony tonight at the high school and we couldn't be prouder.................

The kids that were selected found out last week and I got a text from Nicole saying......"Mom, were you in National Honor Society in high school?" I said "Yes I was! are you?" She said "I am now, I was nominated today!"..................Music to a mom's ears....................

Tyler is seeing excellence in school from his sister and I hope he follows with the same effort and motivation....................He might just try and get by on his good looks!

Raelynn is one of our "other daughters"..........She is a smarty-pants also. Proud of her too. And she always says she is going to marry Tyler someday. The older girls love him!

I love that most of these girls are the girls Nicole hangs out with socially and plays sports with. So nice to see this group striving to be awesome.......

And I love that Trenton is always in the middle of the group of these girls (and he is Nicole's locker partner! hahahaa)

The ceremony was great. The choir sang before the ceremony. So fun! Each student that received honors was called up one by one and lit a candle and had a few words spoken about them. Signed the book and received a certificate............

Proud parents....................

Tonight was a very enjoyable night. My kids are growing up fast and I'm trying to savor every moment. I have some hilarious pics of Tyler I can't wait to post, and the Sadie Hawkins Dance is this weekend. So I will have lots more pics! And my sister Donna suggested I post one "old-school" pic every week....................remember..........I have a scanner.................DONE!

"mom, why don't you just stay in your jammies all day like me?"

says my 10 year old son................................
Well son................mommy has lots of things to do and I have to get dressed and get stuff done. So cute. Too bad I can't stay in my jammies all day :)
It was a gorgeous day today. The sun was shining and the birds were singing.
I took this picture this morning (out of my sunroof, not while driving, I did stop in the middle of the road!) after I dropped Nicole off at softball practice at 9:30 am..(on a Saturday??)
I took the same exact picture yesterday morning at 7:15 am but it wasn't as sunny! I drive down this street several times a day. It is the road that connects us to the high school. I seem to go there at least 6 to 25 times a day. Everyday.......
Yesterday I saw a cute little daffodil stand with flowers for sale. I saw it again this morning. I wanted to stop and buy some for a friend and figured I would have time after I dropped the girls off at the high school for the 2nd time today (varsity boys basketball made playoff and they rode the rooter bus to Portland. fun!!). So I drive down Columbus (this street) slowly looking for the flower stand.
Turn around.
Look harder.
Turn around.
Now mind you, I drive down this street EVERY SINGLE DAY. Sometimes I do take Geary Street depending on which side of the high school we are going. So I thought, hmmmm, maybe the flower stand was on Geary??? I did go that way this morning and back home on Columbus? Sure enough. Right on Geary St. was my little flower stand. If I wouldn't have felt so embarrassed with myself I would have thought to take a picture of it with my phone. I payed for my flowers and got out of there.
Because,, I was thinking I was going to have to steal some out of the neighbors yard! But the neighbors across the street were outside and it would have been obvious......I guess I could have knocked on their door and offered them a couple of bucks to steal their flowers???? Anyways................I got the purchased flowers delivered!
And I am enjoying this gorgeous view everyday with the beautiful cherry blossoms blooming like it is spring.............................., This is my friend Kela. She is amazing. But I think she was stalking me yesterday. Wait.........I think I was stalking her????
Yesterday morning we met for coffee and just visited. So lovely. Very rarely do I get to do that with a friend. She is so wise (sometimes wise-ass, ha ha!) but always enjoyable..........love her...
Then I saw her again at the kids school when we picked them up. Somehow I ended up at her house. I'm starting to be familiar with the same barstool in her kitchen. We visited again while she cooked dinner ( I think we did the same thing last week!). Kids played and were in and out.
Then we met again at the boys basketball game!

The boys had an amazing season.

UNDEFEATED!!!!!!

Last nights game was painful to watch. The final score was 73-11. We won, but felt really bad for the other team. They tried really hard.............

Tyler had 10 points and he was proud...............................

Thanks Jennifer for the pics! I give you all the credit!

So many exciting things going on!

Nicole had softball tryouts this week. SHE MADE VARSITY!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is only a freshman. So exciting. She is estatic and said practice this week has been so much fun and she loves it.

On the flip side of that, it has created some jealousy with some of the girls that didn't make varsity. Unfortunatly some comments have been made that are not-so-nice and rude. Luckily Nicole knows she earned that spot and has the confidence to let it go. I told her to take the high road and if it comes up again to tell the girls that she wishes they would be happy for her and support her just like she would if they had made it and she didn't. Sad....and what annoys me the most is that the "girls" are close friends of hers. It will all pass, but makes me a little sad that girls are discounting that she made varsity when it is such and honor and privilage and she is really excited about it.

I still have pics to post from the Sadie Hawkins dance. I need to figure out how to transfer them from my (scary) new camera. A little disappointed cause alot of them were "yellow-ish" and I thought I had it on the correct setting? I will figure it out eventually. Would have been nice before a big event! Hope to post them tomorrow. They had a great time and I have amazing pics of them. Was fun having them all here.......

And a random "shout out" to my sister Donna.....I LOVE YOU........................... :)

"i know, i know, i know........"

...........seems to be the only words in my sons vocabulary!!! I start to tell/ask him to do something, and before I have even finished his is talking over me "I know, I know, I know". Drives me CRAZY. So I shoot back "If you know so much, why are/aren't you doing it?". I kind of remember when I was younger I was famous for "I know", and remember it driving my parents crazy.....hmmmmmmmm
So it's almost Valentines and time for the Sadie Hawkins dance at school. Girls ask boys......
Nicole has a new interest (sorry T.J).... so she had idea to get a t-shirt and write his name on the front (pics don't do it justice. It's VERY sparkly and flashy). and write "Sadie's ?" on the back. He had a wrestling meet last night. She wore the shirt. After the meet (he won!) she took off her jacket and walked up to him. (I got a text before this all went down that said "mom, I'm so scared". I was laughing so hard and said "just do it!") He thought it was cool. And she said "do you want to see the back?" Then she asked if he wanted to go with her. SO SWEET. Of coarse he said yes (who wouldn't) and he texted her later and said he was really surprised and excited to go. So brave of her.........and what a cute creative idea.
I thought of a great idea for Cassandra to ask the boy she wants to go with.
I have a big heart shaped cookie pan. Bake big cookie. In frosting write "Sadie's ?" in frosting. Put it in a pizza box. She had an even better idea on how to execute the invite. Have him come to her house to hang out. Order a pizza. And I will be "delivery boy" and make sure he answers the door. And when he opens it, it will be the giant cookie with her asking him! I love these girls. :) So fun that they are allowing me to be part of their high school experience.........I'm loving every minute of it :)

He said YES!!!!!!!

Nicole has a class called Building Lifeskills. Her and Taylor had their "fake" babies last weekend. These babies have computer chips and the girls had braclets. Very high tech. Had to keep them for the weekend. Feed them, change them, support their heads, had 2 minutes to respond when they cried and figure out what they needed. Wow. They were just like real babies. All 4 of them stayed at our house on Friday night. Heard lots of crying! They had to take them everywhere. Funny because they had to go to the girls varsity game with their babies! Nicole said they got some dirty looks. They were exhausted my Monday morning. Nicole texted me yesterday from school and said she got 100% on her baby. And extra credit!! I'm glad she will be such a good mommy someday...................

They were all scrounged out because all the babies wanted to do was eat. They didn't get to take showers when they wanted. haha. And didn't get anything done! Just like real life.

They had my house so trashed with all of their stuff. Car seats, diaper bags, etc. So funny watching them.

My friend Teresa and I. Were headed down the The Vault for some drinks. Dinner at Clemenza's. Play at Civic Theater. All girls from salon went. Was a fun night.

Last weekend we went to Chinook winds with our good friends Mark and Becky. Went to watch Tesla (old 80's band) concert on Saturday night. Music was great (so was the wine!). Stayed for the superbowl party on Sunday. Weather was gorgeous. Warm, sunny and no wind.........

Heard 38 special is coming soon...........One of my all time favorite bands. Was the very 1st cassette tape LeRoy ever bought me when we started dating. I was still in high school...........

We've had some other funny things lately. Tyler has had a very loose tooth for awhile. (had one come out at school a couple of weeks ago. My kids lose like 2-3 at a time? Weird.) I had tucked him into bed and was out in the living room. He came running out about 9:30holding his mouth. His tooth was so loose it was hangin from a root. GROSS!!! I can handle almost anything. Except for pulling teeth. I sent him to his dad. I heard LeRoy said "I don't pull teeth either". Great. So I could hear them in the bathroom. Tyler was gagging. I didn't want any part of it. This went on for about 15 minutes. Eventually I saw the tooth. Had to try and remember to put money out because the one he lost 3 weeks ago sat on the counter in a glass for about 5 days! Tooth fairy was such a slacker!!!!!!!!!

Nicole has journalism as a class in school. They had to write about themselves and also had to interview their parents about when they were teenagers. Her and I are so much alike. LeRoy was the exact opposite! lol. In what kind of students we were, sports, activities, school involvement, etc.

So about a week later she had her final draft/paper finished and asked me to proof it before she turned it in. The very last paragraph was what every mom wants to hear. "I couldn't acheive any of this without my mom. She is my hero. She supports me in everything I do and is a great role model." I wanted to cry. So great to hear. But it gets better. This week I was driving the girls (Nicole and Jasmine) to school and Jasi has the same class. She said she had to write an article on who her hero was.......... She said it was ME!!!! :) I'm so happy I'm having such a positive influence on the girls.