Lightening Struck

Our Memorial Day project was to bring down our newly, dead tree.... It was a huge, old tree and last Fall, Jake and I were worried that it was not losing all if it's leaves, even though the leaves were dead. We hoped the tree was just under stress from our extreme hot and dry summer, but Spring came, and the tree never turned green. Finally, we began to blame ourselves for killing such an old tree in less than 2 years, but what could we do? Watering is overrated, right? Then Jake was talking with our neighbor who mentioned these trees have main "arteries" of sap, just like humans have main arteries, and we had a branch break by Mother Nature last summer. Well, Jake couldn't let it just hang up there, so he cut it off and our theory was Mother Nature broke the branch and Jake didn't know it may have been "the artery" when cutting it down..... So we inadvertently killed it. Fast forward to today, our kind neighbor owns a scissor lift and chain saw, and nicely helped cut down our eye sore of a tree, only to find evidence that lightning struck it and fried a section and more than likely killed it. This makes sense, because that section died off before the rest of the tree last year. At least now Jake and I aren't tree killers... Mother Nature is. We can sleep well tonight. Now we have this fun stump to dig out one of these days.

Riley's Art

Riley's collection is a bit smaller... He must have had the super fun state assessments to worry about. Just another reason I'm wanting Reece to stay little so he can keep bringing me new art to hang up. In here is a cool weaving Riley got to do in class. The boys have awesome Art teachers!!

Reece's Art

I fell behind on displaying the boy's art.... Reece made this task difficult! He brought home so much!!! The skills these boys possess amaze me!! Almost everything these boys bring home is drawn by hand. What I have here covers many months and holidays. Enjoy!

Summer Is Here!

Finally!!! Summer vacation is a reality!!! I actually lost sleep the last two nights.... Hopefully just out of excitement. Yep...I'm worse than a kid, but I love my summers!!!

We snapped some pictures and Reece got to give his flower pot to Mrs. Olander.... We took the risk of planting actual seeds. There were some good sprouts coming up, and hopefully she has flowers to look forward to this summer. She loved it and as we were walking out she told me one last time, "Reece is the perfect student." She made me tear up, I just adored having her for two years. We added her favorite candy, Hot Tomales, and a gift card to her favorite tiny restaurant here in town. Reece did wake up extra early today very excited for summer to begin, but as soon as he got ready he did mention he was a little sad not to have Mrs. Olander anymore. Sweet boy!

Sadly, Riley's teacher, Mrs. Stucky, was still on maternity leave. I didn't get a picture of them.... Riley seems to have teachers who often have babies while he is with them.... We decided to get both his teacher and substitute S'more care packages, and we added a Walmart gift card to his teachers gift. Figured with a new baby, Walmart couldn't be a bad way to go. I really think Riley is excited to be a 5th grader. We were hoping to have Mrs. Stucky next year, but they've changes the system from a multi aged classroom to looping, and she is going to be in 4th, so we will find out who he has in August.

We have a trip to KC planned in a couple weeks, Riley wants to take some art classes and Reece will do a soccer camp. Riley will be 10 next month and I plan on surprising him by bringing his friend Scott, from Gardner down for a few days. The rest is unknown, but it's going to be great!! Let the lazy, crazy days begin!!

Mother's Day

We had a nice relaxing day, last Sunday. After relaxing we headed to my mom and dad's for family dinner.

Reece "surprised" me with this flower when I woke up. He made it in school and it had been hiding in his room for days. When he gave it to me I immediately noticed it was looking a little sad.... I told him it probably needed some sunlight. He searched the house for some and the only sunlight he found was in front of the our front door. So he plopped it right in the middle if the floor. It wasn't until later he showed me the cup he was using to water it, and he showed me how full he filled his cup.... Now I'm thinking the pretty flower drowned!! Haha.... It was the super sweet thought that counts.

This is the first year Riley didn't make a gift at school, so it feels more like he is getting too old. One more year and he will be in middle school. Yikes!!!

I got the best gift from Jake a couple days later.... We have tickets to go see Les Miserables" in Kansas City this December. I'm so excited!! It will be my 3rd time, and this is a brand new cast and production, because the original show retired a few years back. This September we will also be taking the boys to "The Lion King" in Wichita and hope they enjoy that. There is a lot to look forward to!

Carnival Fun

We spent 3 hours at the carnival last night.... A majority of that on the bumper cars. With the lines pretty short, who cares!? Now we are officially a little more "McPherson."

My Talented Son

Look what Reece taught himself how to do.... the belly roll! I have no clue how this came about, but he is awfully proud!! I find it freakishly funny!

All Schools Day

Today was my strange paid holiday, that we are still adjusting to. Thankfully, we had no one in the parade, or any festivities, so we got to blend in .... I did take several pictures at the parade just so you outsiders to McPherson County could see how big this day is!! This years theme was "Hearts Filled With Peace." In these pictures you'll see a lot of groovy floats, an appearance by The Brady Bunch, the 4A McPherson girls basketball state champs, the kindergarten from my school and the boy's school on their floats, the McPherson College boys basketball got to the NAIA Final Four, etc.... Enjoy!! We are going to try the carnival tomorrow!!