Last Day of School Fiesta

Where did the year go? (See First Day of School post.) Campbell had a wonderful experience for her first year of preschool. She often would say that she had the best school in the world and she met many new friends. Many of the kids in her class will be together next year, too, which is great.

All dressed up for the big Fiesta!

Heading into school for the last time this year. I remember how choked up I was dropping her off for the first time in the fall. Got all choked up again on the last day just thinking about how much she'd matured over the year. She seems so much older now!

The kids had a performance for parents at the end of class where they sang a ton of songs. So cute! Campbell took it very seriously and sang nice and loud.

So proud of my preschooler! I'm going to have to come clean here and admit that we were late to the performance. We only missed a couple of songs, but being late for her FIRST EVER PERFORMANCE?!? How was I the first in line for drop-off and pick-up basically every day for the entire year and then blow the one that matters? I have excuses......when I was trying to get out the door a neighbor stopped by, then Blake had a messy diaper, then I had to stop and get a present for the teachers because we had just gotten back in town, blah, blah, blah. It still makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it. Campbell didn't seem bothered by it, but pretty sure that got me a big mom demerit.

Campbell adores her teachers, Miss Melissa & Miss Lacey.

After Gabe got done with work we celebrated with a picnic in the park.

Why not go head first?!?

Campbell had filled these gems out in school and surprised us with them: 

Weekend 2

Another busy work weekend at the cabin.Gabe worked on plumbing/wiring/hung the door in the master bathroom, did some insulating (he can't wait to be completely done with that nasty stuff), and other random projects. Campbell has been doing so amazing playing independently while we work.

Helping Daddy.

Cousin Justin was home so he came over to help for a good portion of the day. It was good to catch up. We consolidated all the wood piles from the screen porch, dining room, bathroom into this 1 pile. Woohoo....we got some space back!

Cuddle time with Daddy.

A strong storm came up really fast. That tree looked like it would snap and there were some pretty good whitecaps out on the water.

After the storm...a rainbow! Campbell was super excited to see it.

Rainbow zoomed in.

Nana, Papa & Blake came for a night to visit. Deb organized the shed, which was much needed, while Paul was super-Grandpa as usual playing with the kids. Deb & I also hauled the old cement from the back of the shed to cover up the conduit that is lying on solid rock. Someday we'll get fill hauled in to do some leveling,  work on clearing dead trees, and do some landscaping. Someday...when there's nothing else to do! :)

We boated over to the VC to meet Tez's & Weef's for dinner. So fun to get out on the water and enjoy a boat ride, especially now with a windshield/cover...we're spoiled!

Campbell & Blake fell in love with B & wouldn't stop hugging her. What a sweet girl. I can't believe how old she is, I remember very distinctly her as a newborn. And P was born the summer of our wedding....how'd he get so old!?!

What's more fun than stomping in the mud?

The kids love their new rain gear and the watering cans from Nana & Papa.

All packed up and ready for the trek back home. The best time we've made from door to door is 5 hours, getting home at 10 pm. We've had some very late nights though, depending on how many times we have to stop. Sometimes we get home at midnight. The kids rarely sleep in the car anymore. They are very good travelers, but we do have to stop more than we would if they would just fall asleep.

Cabin Season

Let the cabin season begin! We opened up the cabin and got to enjoy an entire week there. Thanks to the help of many people, we got a ton done. It was a great start to the season. We're on track to finish this summer.

GG came up for the weekend to fish and ended up staying for 5 days and working the whole time with only a couple fishing breaks. Jim came for 5 days. My parents unexpectedly ended up watching Blake for almost the entire time.

The story of why Blake got banned from the cabin goes like this...I stopped at Gabe's parents cabin on the way out to the cabin for the first time. Walking up the trail, Blake almost slides off the cliff even though I was right there by him. Strike 1. Then, I'm trying to land the boat by myself with the 2 kids. I tie up the back and tell the kids to sit while I go out of the boat and tie up the front. I should clarify, I didn't just 'tell the kids to sit', I repeatedly told Blake that he needed to sit and stay for just a minute and I'd come right back to get him. So I hop out of the boat, turn around a second later and Blake's finger TIPS are clinging to the dock and his TOES are on the boat. I ran to him and with one hand jerked him up by his life jacket. It was so upsetting. It wouldn't be so bad if he fell into the water, although it would've been super cold. What really upset me was that the waves were crashing the boat into the dock and since the water was so high, he probably would've been crushed into the metal part of the dock. Strike 2. The final strike was when the first thing he did when he walked into the cabin was pick up the nail gun. Sorry Blake...Strike 3. Wood piles and tools everywhere. No railings on the loft or on the deck. Just made it super hard/dangerous to have him there. We are so thankful that my parents watched him.

Loading up the shower into the boat and hooking up the boat for it's maiden voyage on Vermillion. The car was packed full of tools/supplies. Good thing GG came up because we packed his car full too.

Visiting Grammy's cabin.

Someone is fired up for the first campfire & s'mores.

Contained for a while.

GG drove the boat trailer out to the farm where it is going to be stored for the season. Blake had a blast running the open field and 'driving' all the machines. Tractors, 4 wheeler, Argo, you name it....it's there!

Getting the shower in place. We now have a shower, hot water and all!!!

Relaxing on the dock and fishing after a long day of work...not so shabby!

The last piece! Garet, GG, Jim & Gabe worked on paneling in the loft.

The loft is all paneled now except for the bottom left knee wall. Now I could set the kids' toy area and there is a (relatively) safe place to play. It looks great up there.

Getting started on another wall.

And done! Easy as that! It's so awesome to see how the look of the place totally changes with each wall that gets finished.

Campbell is ecstatic about the secret fort.

Working on another wall.

And another.

And another. Now the shower has some privacy. Just need a door.

Another wall.

And got a start on this wall by the fireplace.

The crew leaving the cabin. I'm amazed how much we got done. We are forever indebted to Jim for all the time and hard work he's put into this place.

Speaking of indebtedness.....we can't thank my parents enough for watching Blake for SO MANY days. Here are some pictures of Blake having the time of his life at Nana & Papa's.

Bedtime with Nana.

Seeing the chicks at L&M.

Bucket head boy.

Playing outside with Papa.

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a very nice, low-key Mother's Day. The day started with Gabe & the kids bringing me breakfast in bed - can't beat that! I've wanted a bike trailer since Campbell was a baby, so we finally went out and got one - a good deal even! I'm super excited to ride the trails that are so close to our house again, especially since I got a new bike to go with the trailer...whoot whoot!!!

Here are the cards the kids made for me. I love how Campbell is attempting to draw so many new things, as this card clearly shows: Boots the Monkey, a mommy cat & daddy cat, a little hen, glasses, mouse, koala bear on a branch, a rooster, two berry bushes and lots of berries. She also wrote her name perfectly, just backwards. I am very impressed with Blake's card, too. He's usually too busy to do more than a couple scratches, but he really went all out and scribbled a good portion of the paper, with different colors even!

 

I promise this isn't staged. I ran to a couple garage sales in the morning (looking for kids' summer clothes) and when I got back the kids ran to me and immediately started KISSING MY FEET and nibbling on them, which was unbearably ticklish. I don't know why they were doing it, but very appropriate thing to do on Mother's Day. So funny!

Blake was quietly eating his snack while we were out running errands. I turn around to find this...dried blueberry all over Blake's hands, face and carseat. Lesson learned, don't give a kid a cereal bag with just the dusty enders in it.

Campbell is excited to hit the trails.

Campbell & Daddy surprised me with flowers.

Gabe made a great steak dinner & while we were eating, he had the kids say what they liked best about me and Campbell said: I like it when you help me on the monkey bars. Blake couldn't come up with anything, except: Uummm. Love it!

Some other classic lines from the day:

• Campbell: "My bother's the only one in town with curly hair."
• Gabe at dinner: "I guess Mother's Day dinner isn't meant to be romantic - someone got hurt and something broke." Now isn't that the truth!
• Gabe is great at making up his own lyrics to songs, often times relating to what we're doing. So Gabe, Campbell & Blake were singing Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr.Golden Sun, please shine down on me, these little children are asking you, please come out so we can play with you.... Gabe still singing with the melody: "Mr. Blake wants more milk, too". Campbell: "He's so sweet and you can't refuse." It was awesome, right with the melody and perfect timing. She takes after her Daddy!
• My favorite one from the day....Campbell: "So what'dya think? You have the best Mother's Day ever?" Yes, I did. Couldn't have asked for a better day!

Random. A duck on our neighbor's roof....he's looking for his Mama.

Piggy back ride up to bed for my sweet boy.

Campbell was having trouble settling down for bed and she snuck outside to find us setting up the trailer. Does she look like she's ready for bed?

Pick 'em up!

Late night test drive with Blankie. She loved it and keeps asking when we are going to go again. We'll go once my new bike gets in, my old (20ish year old, super heavy mountain) bike is too small for me & something about the angle I sit at really hurts my wrists. After a couple trips down the alley my wrists were pretty sore.

Amazing to think that last Mother's Day Blake was just starting to walk and Campbell wasn't potty trained. It's incredible what a difference a year makes.

Not too long ago, a former co-worker's newborn died when he was only a couple weeks old. He was born 6 weeks early, same as Blake. Also, a good friend's 6 month old nephew was recently diagnosed with a degenerative neuro-muscular disease and is only expected to live a few more months. This next one is so shocking that I still get goosebumps when I think about it: A member of my mom's group brought her friend to our meeting the other week. During the course of our discussion, it came out that she had lost her infant son, and at the end of the meeting she shared with us the whole story - that her husband was in jail for killing their baby. It was a story I remember hearing on the news - the husband drowned the baby in the laundry tub while the mom was out grocery shopping. The husband was/is mentally ill and a general practitioner took him off all his medication, cold turkey, and within a week is when this happened. When she told the story to us, everyone sat there, totally stunned, not knowing what to say. Hearing a story like that on the news is a lot different than when it comes straight from the person who it happened to.

Don't mean to be such a downer, it's just that those heartbreaking stories have been on my mind lately. I try to keep it in mind how lucky I am to have 2 perfectly healthy kids and a wonderful husband, but hearing these horribly sad stories makes me even more appreciative for the blessings in my life and keenly aware of how precious life is. I love being a mom and I feel so honored to be doing the job I'm doing. Pretty sure I've said this before, but I feel very lucky to be able to spend my days with my kids. I wouldn't trade it for anything and wouldn't change a thing.