Are we really done with the school year already? This just doesn't seem possible. The year has absolutely flown by. This has been the best experience. Hannah had the most wonderful Kindergarten teacher. How do we top this year? I have no idea. I hope the first grade teachers are just a good as Mrs. Parker was. Maybe Eli will be lucky enough to have her when he goes. Oh my, am I glad he's not going yet. Seriously don't think I could handle sending my baby off to school yet. I'm glad I have another year before I have to think about that one :)

Here she is accepting her diploma.
Mrs. Brown, Hannah, and Mrs. Parker

She was given the Responsibility character award. Oh, and I can't forget about the super awesome purple pencil. The girl cracks me up, she loves her pencils.

Game time

He's too cute in his way too big uniform. The hat is as small as it goes (Cody can wear it, how 'bout a kid's size hat?) The pants have to be rolled at the waist and the shirt goes to his knees.

But look at him out there!!
He's a lefty. He eats, writes, colors, draws, shoots a basket, and throws left-handed. Batting is the only thing he does right-handed. We can't figure that out. We don't know if he's more comfortable or if the coaches have just positioned him on the right side enough that that's what he does.
With 4 & 5 year olds, the name of the game is to keep their attention long enough to play 2 innings. Everybody bats each inning and everybody plays both infield and outfield. Here he is being the pitcher's helper.
This is also very common. Wherever the ball goes Eli is sure to follow. He doesn't really stay where he's supposed to, but the coaches don't mind. That would just be me, "hi, my son is a ball hog."
This is probably one of the only times he's stayed close to his position. I'm going to guess that this was only the case because he knew he would get the ball after each kid hit, and then the mad dash to tag the bag.

Because she is the best big sister, she goes to every game and watches her brother and cheers him on. Not really, she goes by default :-)

The following post could end badly, but I won't tell you if it does

When I got home from work yesterday, I heard a very sad sound. First, you must understand that I'm a softy. I'm a sucker for animals and babies and all things small, cute, and cuddly (they must meet all these criteria...I don't like bugs and spiders and they are small). I also don't like to see things in trouble or hurting. Knowing this about me you can imagine my distress after I let Maggie out and walked back into the bedroom and then heard it. We've had a bird nest in the vent in our bathroom. We've had a few and I keep telling Cody he needs to put a cover over it so we don't have a repeat of the awful smell and death the happened last spring. Last night I could hear the baby chirping. We don't usually hear them. We know they are there because there is a muffled sound. Chirping, loud chirping, right above the vent cover. Oh no!!!! He must get back in his nest or he's going to die! Cody was not home yet so I called him. "Cody, I can hear the bird! He's right over the vent cover! You must put him back!" He paused for a moment. Then his response was something about tight spaces, attic, not being able to reach, blah, blah, blah. (I'm sorry, I really shouldn't say that about things that he says, but let me say again baby bird!) I was very glad that after he ate he decided to look and see what he could see.
Oh no!!!! Not one baby, but two!! O my goodness! What are we going to do? The Internet is a wonderful thing. I quickly googled abandoned baby birds. Did you know it's a myth that if you touch a bird the parents won't come back? Anyway, it said to make a makeshift nest and tie it to the tree and the mommy and daddy should come back.


Viola! Our makeshift nest. They are sooo tiny and have such huge beaks. They were loud and hungry. I have no idea how long they had been out of the nest. It was at least 3 hours and the Internet said they eat every 15-20 minutes. We had some nasty storms last night so that didn't help the situation very much. I couldn't check on them this morning because I am short and he put the nest above my head, but I called the best man in the world this morning to ask if he checked on them. He said he did and they were still alive. Then he told me that it didn't look good. They weren't as noisy this morning and they weren't moving around much. Because he knows me so very well he told me to try and not worry about them today. *Sigh* I'm not a fan of nature when it's cruel to babies.

Landon Taylor

We have a new baby in our family! Not we personally, meaning Cody and I, but my sister had her baby. His name is Landon Taylor and he's ginormous. He weighed 8lb 15oz and was 20 1/2in long. I really have no idea where she hid him at, because she never looked big enough to be carrying around an almost 9lb child. He has a head full of jet black hair and is absolutely adorable.



Proud Mommy and baby boy
See! Look at all that hair!

Our babies and their new cousin. He's already captured their hearts :)

Oliver Winery

We went to Oliver Winery a few weekends ago. My cousins were in town from Colorado, and my better half had never met them. It was a perfect day to be outside. The weather was gorgeous.

peek-a-boo...I see you :)

The kids had a great time. They love to climb and just be outside.






And who could resist feeding these guys? I lost track of how many trips the kids made down to the pond to feed the fish. I'm pretty sure they got everybody to take them at least once.

I love this place. I wish it were closer to our house. Oh, and the wine is fabulous. We never get tired of tasting.

Sometimes there just aren't words for a picture

He doesn't have to do what he does. He didn't have to open his heart up and let two children in, but he did, and he loves them. I couldn't ask for a better man.

Parade

We had a parade this weekend. This is a big deal in our town. I guess it's been a big deal for many years. Cody remembers participating in the football parade and going outside and catching candy when the parade came through his neighborhood. This is the 3rd year we've gotten to be a part of it, and it still amazes me how many people come out for it. The vehicles go all over town with a police and fire escort.

We got to watch the vehicles this year instead of being in the vehicle. I like watching and I like riding with the kids. They get so excited and love throwing candy at all the people.

Notice how none of the boys are actually throwing candy? We were at a spot about halfway through the route. This is very important to remember for next year. We must set aside some candy to give them when we see them, so they can throw more candy. The coaches said all the candy was gone about 10 minutes after they started :)