my 2 grads

 Today was Ryan's kindergarten graduation.

Wow has this year gone by fast, my little boy is growing up.

I loved celebrating him today.

My mom and Heath were there cheering him on too.

He would wave and smile at us which is huge for one of my boys.

Ryan had a great year and learned so much.

He is an awesome kid and we love his little personality.

We are so proud of him and can't wait to see him as a first grader,

he will have his two front teeth sometime that year

can you even imagine that?

We love you buddy.

Of course I'm gonna want a picture with my little grad,

and of course it didn't surprise me when it turned out like this.

Here's my other grad from the family.

I told you we celebrated his graduation party on Sunday.

I can't say enough about what I think of Tucker

I tried sharing those thoughts with the family Sunday but instead got all choked up and started crying.

Tuck's the only boy cousin on this side of the family, so he holds a special place in my heart. 

He has spent a lot of time hanging out at our house with the boys

doing all those boy things and just being well you know...boys.

They think he is just the best and really look up to him and

I'm so thankful that he's been such a great role model for the boys.

The boys sure love him and so do I!

I can't wait to see the things he does in his life and what his future holds,

to start with Tucker will be working this summer and joining the National Air Guard.

So I have been working all year on a graduation video of Tucker, just like I had Brooke for her graduation.

It was finally time to show it on Sunday so I was excited, eighteen years worth of pictures is a big deal.

Anyway I showed all of his senior pictures to the song, I'm Sexy and I know it and 

had some fun in Photoshop with these pictures for a good laugh, which it did get! 

So congratulations to my two grads!
(Jeremiah 29:11)

ahhhhh

We have almost made it through the month of May

and now life finally is starting to slow down a bit.

It feels like summer break has already started with the long holiday weekend

but we have just three days and two hours left of school to go.

The boys went swimming yesterday, it was the first day for the pool to be open.

It was in the low 60's and had been raining all morning but they jumped right in for a swim with the girls.

Last night was also Tucker's graduation so the whole family was there to cheer him on.

Tuck didn't mind all the attention and was quite entertaining to watch.

Sunday the family will be together again for his party so there will be more to share then 

but here are a few pics from the exciting night. 

.

the graduate

 cowboy Ryan and my sis who has two down and one to go 

Kimber was all smiles with her daddy and one of my favorite cousins Burk

happy happy

 so happy it's friday

i'm ready for the weekend

so ready for school to be done

8 more days for the older boys and 4 more for Ryan

we've been dealing with colds/allergies around here

not fun at all

 so i'm falling behind in everything

 but hoping that this weekend i can pull it all together

a few pictures from our week 

i love looking at the mother's day flowers that cody picked out for me

a fresca and jalapeno cheetos are one of my favorite snacks 

  luke gives me this look every time he finds out we are walking home from school

cody worked hard on his speech about the inventor of legos he wasn't nervous at all to give his speech

heath was off on monday so ryan helped him change the brakes on the car

i was out running errands or i would of had ryan change out of his good shorts, oh well

 ryan was not going to share one bite of his cosmic brownie with amanda after school

ryan started signing his name just Ry on all his school work, guess a four letter name is too long

there is still a lot to look forward to in may

a lot going on so it should be fun

my day

I love being a mom. 

I love that God gave me three boys.

I love that He picked me to be their mom.

Each of them came home with something special that they had written for me at school.

Ryan had fill in the blank questions:

My mom is special because I love her.

I like it when my mom carries me back up the stairs.

My mom can do many things.  I think she is best at reading.

My mom has a pretty smile.  I like to make her smile by jumping on her.

My mom is as pretty as a dress.

My mom is so smart.  She knows how to spank.

Mom, you're the best and I wouldn't trade you for anything, not even a video game.

I love you mom, Happy Mother's Day!

Luke wrote:

Dear mom I love you because you help me on everything I need help on.

You make good dinners, sometimes

Sometimes you don't but I don't care you are a good mom still.

You clean up our messes so I feel bad you work so hard.

I love you mom.

From Luke to Mom

Cody had a questionnaire to fill out on how well he knew me, some of his questions were:

What is your mother's favorite color: red

Can you name three stores your mother loves shopping at: Famous Footwear, Walmart, Craft Warehouse

Did your mother have any pets as a child: a cow named Molly

Does your mother like eating leftovers: she eats anything

If your mother could live anywhere in the world where would she live: Australia

What radio station does your mother listen to: Pandora

Is someone offered your mother a chance to skydive from a plane, would she do it: no way

I love my mom because she: is the best mom in the world!!!! (He gave me four exclamation points even though he tells me it's bad grammar to put more than one.)

So how could I not feel loved after that, right?

Sunday was spent with my family

Going to church and a Mother's Day breakfast in Emmett

Enjoying a BBQ at my parents house

Celebrating the mom's

along with my dad's and Jim's birthdays

Visiting, laughing & playing with water balloons.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's I know...

cinco de mayo

 our cinco de mayo looked like this

this morning i finished watching season one of downton abbey and loved it

then i cleaned and did laundry with help from the boys

 i called my dad to wish him happy birthday, he's a handsome fella

then amanda stopped by to have her picture taken, seriously

the boys and i ran into amanda at craft warehouse

who knew they would have a photo prop set up for entertainment

heath's been gone fishing all day with a friend in brownlee

luke has the smallest bladder he made five bathroom stops while we were out today

 i treated the boys to chili's

ryan loved his chocolate milk and luke loved everything on the menu

 cody read and played the games on the kids menu

my favorite chili's meal - honey chipotle chicken 

 once we got home the neighbors invited us on a bike ride through the subdivision

ryan wanted to try out amanda's bike, he thought it was cool

what did your day look like? 

first communion

 Sunday we celebrated Cody and Luke's first communion at church.

It was special that the boys got to do it together, normally it would be just for the second grade religious ed class but since we were a little slow in having the kids become part of the church Cody is having to do a little catch up.

The boys looked so handsome all dressed up.

They even had belts, dress socks and dress shoes so this was big time for them.

Most of the family was able to come to church to celebrate with them receiving the body and blood of Christ for their first time.  Father Jerry told the kids that he had his first communion this same day just fifty years earlier so he asked the kids what today's date was,

one little boy answered that the date was "four dash twenty nine dash twelve"

it was funny so maybe that will help us all remember it.

The boys also each had a turn reading in front of the church,

they handled it so well and did so good,  I was probably more nervous than they were.

 The boys received some presents from us, their Godparents and the church.

 The boys and their Godparents 

 After a good lunch and even better dessert(s) we headed for a walk that included two dogs, two bikes, a wagon, a laundry basket, a stroller and 15 people.

Uncle Matt didn't want all the gifts for the boys to be religious items so he bought them water balloons and a sling shot (nothing says first communion like those items) but he scored mega cool Uncle points from the boys just like he always does!

 Look how well Tucker can mulit-task, texting doesn't keep him from being able to help with the sling shot.

 The boys had fun trying to catch the flying water balloons,

 they got lots of exercise and even caught a few of them!

 On the way home Uncle Matt thought Luke needed cooled off,

 so he took him through a little car wash.

Cody also asked to hold Kimberly, this was his first time.  He did so good and was so content just holding her and looking at all of her little features.

Ryan and Tucker will be our graduates in the family for 2012,

really just twelve more years until my baby will be graduating high school?

 I know I always say it but I just really love this family, 

it was so good having everyone here for the boys!

ryan's new thing

A couple weeks ago Luke went to a Karate class with a friend to try it out.

He loved it but still decided against joining even though I think that will probably be changing soon.

Ryan was also with us that day and got to try a class of his own.

Well he loved it too and wanted to become a Tiger right away.

Last night was the first time he got to wear his gi and he looked so great.

He was also presented his belt at the end of class which is a big deal.

He has already earned his first badge which is a balance badge for balancing on one leg for five seconds.

He tried earning this badge the same day he tried out the class but he couldn't do it until he officially joined the class.  Ryan is not shy about raising his hand to try something new or to answer a question even when he has no clue on what they are talking about,  he's a funny kid.  

Ryan can't believe he is a white belt, he says it all of the time

"I can't believe that I am a white belt!"

He couldn't be more proud.

This is all new to me so I'm finding out that there is a lot to learn about karate, so far I'm liking everything.

I learned yesterday that the belt never gets washed (because it holds all of your learning and knowledge)

and that it is never to be worn outside of the dojo (minus of course when mom wants to take a picture) because it would be seen as bragging and that no one else is to wear your belt.

I think the learning of focus and self control will be great for Ryan, 

not to mention the discipline and respect that will come from it also. 

I guess we will see where this takes us. 

Ryan's Tiny Tiger Pledge

I will obey my parents.

I will use good manners.

I will clean my room.

I will answer to my parents and teachers.

I will never use Karate to show off or pick fights.

I am awesome!