Heaven on Earth

Well I'll Be Darned,

Turns out there really is a Heaven on Earth. 

And we found it in our backyard!

Graduations

Graduations have a way of giving me that 'ball' feeling in my throat.  I get the same way at baptisms, funerals and weddings.  I kinda get the churchy stuff, but graduation?  Preschool graduation?

Really Heidi? 

I don't know what it is, but hormone highs and lows certainly don't help.  Having my baby 'graduate' from preschool certainly doesn't help.  The graduation music certainly doesn't help.  Apparently I've becoming a ball of mush.  However, I'm excellent at biting the inside of my cheek whenever that ball inflates in the center of my throat.  I've got a pretty strong bite and can usually distract my emotions with self-inflicked pain.  We all have our talents.

I was perfectly fine until I read the letter (obviously a Pinterest find, but still).  It was printed on pink card stock next to an awkwardly smiling Molly.

Dear Parents,

I give you back your child, the same child you confidently entrusted to my care last fall.  I give her back pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible, and more mature than she was then.

Although she would have attained her growth in spite of me, it has been my pleasure and privilege to watch her personally unfold day by day and marvel at this splendid miracle of development.

I give her back reluctantly, for having spend nine months together in the narrow confines of a crowded classroom, we have grown close, have become part of each other, and we shall always retain a little of each other. 

Ten years from now if we meet on the street, your child and I, a light will shine to our eyes, a smile to our lips, and we shall feel the bond of understanding once more, this bond we feel today.

We have lived, loved, laughed, played, studied, learned, and enriched our lives together this year.  I wish it could go on indefinitely, but give her back I must.  Take care of her, for she is precious.  Remember that I shall always be interested in your child and her destiny, wherever she goes, whatever she does, whoever she becomes.  Her joys and sorrows, I'll be happy to share.

I shall always be her friend.

I KNOW!  This was total ugly cry ammo. Thank heavens I didn't read it until AFTER the ceremony.

Most of the students dressed up for the occasion.  Molly came home with her spare change of clothes from the year and decided she would wear the outgrown jeggings and a Girl Scout Daisy shirt which sat in her cubby all year for the graduation.  Whatever.

A Tootie Ta a Tootie Ta....

She walked infront of the entire gym full of parents to receive her certificate. 

If you're not aware of the shyness factor we've dealt with this year, this was HUGE!

She's a kindergartener now. 

I can't wait to see what the future holds for this little ball of crazy.

Enjoy The Wipe

Molly and Jeb bonded over the weekend.  Again, Jeb is just the neighbor dog who joined our family last weekend. 

Just for the weekend.

As Mike described him, he's one of those dogs whose got an outtie for an a__hole. 

Poor thing. 

He's also NOT neutered. 

Of course we all noticed and pointed it out over and over again. 

Not the most flattering photo for Jeb, but this is nature.

Ironically, Molly didn't seem to care that his privates were so 'in your face'.

She's becoming more accepting of males in general.

It's a good thing. 

She graduates from preschool in 2 days. 

I think All-Day-Preschool is one of the best things to ever happen to her. 

Not to mention she has one of the BEST preschool teachers I've ever been lucky enough to meet.

She's begun finishing my sentences.  I'm not surprised as I find myself finishing other peoples sentences without realizing I'm doing it.  It's a habit I'm trying to break, but Molly's caught on.

She still asks me to wipe her butt.

Today as I wiped her butt, she went on-and-on about what a messy poopy she had and how her tummy was hurting today.

I told her "Molly, we don't have to talk about it, just lean forward ....."

"And enjoy the wipe?" she finished.

Weekend Warriors

Saturday at the Boyd Nest was spend watching a dog named Jeb play with Goose.  Goose was just starting to get used to him when his owners decided to start hunting for their missing dog.  But... Kratt showed up again Saturday afternoon, so we're still even in the pet department.


Two other animals showed up on Sunday. One with endless energy to play with the girls and the other to help make headway on the playhouse and trim tree branches.

MOM is permanent

Molly wrote with non-washable pink marker on the porch concrete.  I almost got mad at her until I read what she wrote.

MOM

I kinda hope it never washes away.

6 Year Old Party

Again,  when you have a birthday in August, it's hard to have a friend party when friends are scarce to begin with.  Therefore, we decide to celebrate Molly's 6th birthday with her classmates a little early. 

It was a mermaid party... naturally.

There was a mermaid hop race...

Pin the tail on the mermaid...

A piñata in the garage

A story read by Maddie (the neighbor girl who dressed up like a princess for the party)

A mermaid cake (which I think I've made over 3 times now)

Ring pops and dresses...

Swings and running...which lead to barfing.

Yep, I spent the last half hour of the party cleaning up the puke one girl projectile vomited in the house.  There are certain memories kids seem to hold onto forever.  I'm pretty sure this poor girl will always remember the day she puked at the first friend party she ever attended. 

Life's funny like that.

Molly's School Party

Guess who celebrated her 1/2 Birthday at school this week? 

It's actually her 3/4 Birthday, but whatever.  She's never celebrated her birthday in school.  That's what happens when your birthday is in early August. 

Needless to say, this was HUGE!

She took cupcakes (Which I made.  No, I didn't buy store cupcakes.  For Pete's Sake, I sell baked goods out of my house and teach the Foods classes at the school.  I figure I'm good.)

During that day I received last minute call for a catering event on the town square.  I didn't want to turn it down, so I took the job.  It meant I would most likely miss Molly's party at school which began at 2:00.  I emailed Molly's teacher to let her know I wasn't going to make it.  My heart sank and I felt torn, but sheesh, it's a half birthday and we're in the process of adopting a kid from China.  

Every penny counts.

Once I bought my groceries and got home, I realized catering experience is key.  With enough planning, (75 minutes) I could have my catering organized and make it to the party with time to spare. 

Thank God half-time jobs exist.

I was able to show up to Molly's party with plenty of time to smell the skanky duck eggs hatching by the sink and for the class to swarm me with playdoh snakes, hugs and random jumps onto my back when I wasn't expecting it. 

But then the party began and lets just say her teacher recreates Chucky Cheese Birthday Parties in her classroom.  There was music.  There was singing.  There was dancing.  And lo and behold... there were ceiling lights.  You don't know how significant this is to preschoolers.  They may as well be arriving at Walt Disney World.

The sparkle in her eye said it all.

So glad I made it.

Mothers Day

Another Mothers Day has come and gone.  As the day came to a close, I wondered if anyone realizes how much work it is to be a mother on Mothers Day. 

For starters, you have to remember NOT to go through school folders after school on the Friday before Mothers Day.  If you do, you'll discover the Mother's Day construction paper card your child spend the last two days working on at school.  In that case, distraction is key, while you quietly slip EVERYTHING back into the take-home folders and play dumb. 

Secondly, Mothers Day seems to require those who are NOT mothers to act like WE mothers have become handicapped overnight and are in desperate need of beauty treatments.  Guess what folks, Monday morning comes around and we realize how much catching up we have to do because of our 'day off'.

So as my Mothers Day Gift to myself, I gave Mike the day to play with his new toy.  If you can't tell, he's smiling in this picture.  I think he smiles the entire time he rides his tractor.

And to smoke some meat on our new smoker with his handi-dandy new thermometer.

Meanwhile I craved a little time in the dirt. 

So I began landscaping the front yard. 

And yes... I bought marigolds.  I don't know what came over me.

Marigolds make me think of old ladies. 

Even the guy in the checkout line smelled my flower choice and told me they smelled like skunk.

If I were Molly I'd have punched him in the face.

However, I have deer and rabbits to deter. 

Therefore, I bought marigolds.

Pay no attention to the boy in the doorway stuck in a bucket.

This is what Mothers Day is all about.

It's not the gifts, the pampering, the obligations everyone feels towards mothers on this day... It's the silly, real, and mundane events in our life. 

Celebrated.

It was a good day.

Until next year...

Tonight

Tonight I sit on my front porch as the sun sets, my children are at gymnastics and I get to watch my hillbilly husband plow the front yard in his wife beater, bibs and muck boots with his new tractor blade.

Could life get any better?

This little pooch doesn't think so.

go

Unless of course, I decide to bring out the gelatinized fat from the beef roast I made.

Yep, life rocks.

Morels

It's that time!  Look what Ross drug in.