Ball? Ball? Throw my ball????

"If I sit here and stare at you long enough while you are on the computer, will you throw it for me? Hello? If I pick it up in my mouth and throw it on the floor enough times and back up wagging my tail and still stare at you will you pleeeeease throw it for me? Will ya huh huh huh?"

This dog is such a dork. For letting me get a quick picture of her, I DID throw the ball. Just so you know. I also should mention that sometimes when I talk to Mike on skype that he can see her behind me and will taunt her by saying, "Piper get your ball." Which she'll go get, but he can't throw it from Yemen so I still end up playing with her.

Well this week has flown by. A recap... for those who care....lol.

Mike left last weekend. We're back to being solo. One week down.

It hailed on Monday, but today is 80 something degrees. Go figure. I do love the weather here... I like that it is always a surprise.

Megan went on an overnight field trip with the entire 5th grade to General Butler State Park . All of those kids and chaperones stayed in the lodge. It sounds like it was a lot of fun. I'm kind of jealous because one goal I have living here is to visit ALL of the state parks. Megan now has been to two, and I've been to one. Who knew I was so outdoorsy?

Trevor and Matthew have both been super busy being social after school riding bikes with neighborhood kids and going out for ice cream. It's interesting now that Matthew is old enough to have people invite him over to do things that don't include being an official planned playdate. It's a little reminder that my baby is getting bigger.

Matthew and I also planted some new plants in the beds in the front of the house. He's a hard worker and thankfully loves dirt.

and lastly my frogs are still good... and cute as can be. I love those frogs. :)

Clearly I need more to do other than routine house cleaning, school stuff, errands and laundry. Which somehow keeps me on the run from the moment I wake up until I crash at midnight but dang it doesn't look very exciting when you actually type it all out!

Have a great weekend!

random photos from a springy Saturday.

This boy is reading like mad. I don't know why he decided of all places to hop up on the counter to read a book, but he looked pretty cute doing it. All three of my kids love reading the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid books.

Today was a gorgeous spring day. Everybody was outside working in their yards. I was no exception. I was popping dandelions out of my flowerbeds and tree well while the kids were out front roaming the street or playing in the driveway. - I love sidewalk chalk. :)

One of my pretty bushes in my front yard. I have no clue what it is, but they are huge happy flowers. My neighbors have tulips that are seriously the size of my hand. I have to get some bulbs for next spring. Until then, I just look at theirs and plot going across the street with scissors in the middle of the night. (I'm kidding. I wouldn't go steal somebody's tulips for my kitchen table, but yeah I still like to think like a criminal!)

There is a nursery near my house. It is pretty big, and they grow all of the plants right there. This little field makes me smile whenever I pass it. It's not the greatest photo since it was taken from the car.... but I love those little plants!

Hope everybody is having a nice weekend!

Just trying to kill some time while waiting for the bus to drop off my boys.... then the silence will be broken. LOL.

This is Trevor enjoying his new Easter present - Pokemon Platinum for his DS. He's my gamer. I love watching him play Rayman Raving Rabbids. That game is hysterical, and the rabbits are so weird I love them. I'll see him dancing and hear Toxic coming from the other room. The other day he and Mike were doing some thing to "Wake me up before you go go" from Wham. It's so funny. I have to get in on it, but I've loved having the time to do some other things while Mike has been home and spending time with the kids and the games.

Once Mike leaves again I'll secretly be practicing during the day when the kids are at school. ;)

On a side note, Spring has left us for a couple of days. It's 40 degrees out, cloudy and cold. I love days like this, but the tulips in the area seem to be screaming for some sun.

Easter surprise.

Easter Sunday was the first day of the big surprise for the kids that Mike had planned for when he came home. We went overnight (Sunday and Monday) to Great Wolf Lodge in Ohio.

It is the coolest place. It is always 84 degrees in this HUGE indoor waterpark. So I think it may have to become a winter vacation tradition. It would be cool to watch it snow outside while you are going down slides and tubing in a wave pool inside. The hotel is attached, so you never need to go outside between the park and your room. The kids had an absolute blast. Mike and I are waterlogged and totally worn out at this point.

We didn't have time to put together Matthew's new Star Wars lego set before we left, but he brought Darth Vader with him. He held him in his hand the whole car ride up to Mason (not far from our house at all....maybe an hour at the most.) On Sunday night after a full day of playing at the waterpark, this photo is what I found in his bed. Totally zonked.

I didn't get many pictures since I decided I'd be IN on the family stuff this time. Now for my awesomeness in being a mom, getting wet, being in public with a bathing suit and NO makeup, I am going to enjoy all of my Sunday night TV programming with the fireplace on. :) I hope everybody had a very nice Easter weekend!

Happy Easter!

I know, what do you do when you have the perfect place to put a little bunch of flowers....and you just can't resist? Especially when said person's rear end is stuck at eye level in the V of a tree? She'll hate me for this someday I'm sure. Or she can get me back when I'm old and unable to get around on my own and have no grounding power over her anymore.

Boys and sticks. We went to a park the other day where we spent hours playing in a little creek, and watching dandelion boats make their way down little waterfalls. I love simple and mindless fun like that.

Anyway... just popping in to say happy easter. I thought I had another week. Does Easter seem early this year or what? So I had to do a little more "Oh crap, I have to finish up some candy shopping for easter today."

Matthew reminded me that tomorrow is easter. I bought some stuff a couple of months ago, but put off the biggies like the chocolate because I knew if that was in my house I'd eat it! Cuz I'm lame like that. Chocolate is not safe.

My boys are each getting Darth Vadar mugs with candy in them. Then Matthew is getting a Star Wars lego set. I had to laugh at Ali's blog where it says that she's having a star wars easter too. Then Trevor is getting a Pokemon game for his DS, and Megan got a package in the mail earlier this week with a model horse set that she had been saving for that I found on ebay. The Easter Bunny ended up bidding on it for her. Sometimes not having to do all the 'magic' at Easter is easier when there is something specific they are wanting so I jumped on it. Here they are, the newest in her collection.

Happy Easter!

It's all good.

After 20+ hours on an airplane... Yemen to Paris, Paris to Cincinnati.....

All under one roof again. Yay!

Matthew is in there somewhere...he's just little.

See that kid? This is an email I got from his teacher on Friday. I had to share with the out of town fam.

Kerry,
I am so excited I wanted to share with you the great news. We just tested Matthew in reading and he is reading at a third grade third month level. I already shared the news with him because I couldn’t hold it in. We were both delighted and thought you should join in the celebration! I will try to run off the test scores and send them home with him today. Keep up the reading at home-it is definitely paying off. - I am so proud of this kid. :)

Also... guess who is on his way to Paris right now, and then on the way home from there?

Spring break day #1!

The kids have me worn out from today. See above layout. We went to the park for a picnic and did a lot of walking and playing. We were trying to squeeze in a picnic before it starts to rain and snow for the next couple of days. Luckily, two of our big spring break plans are indoors... so I'm not too worried about the weather. Hopefully it will clear up by the end of the week and we'll be outside again soon anyway.

We plan on going to the Cincinnati Aquarium at Newport On The Levee.... a very cool outdoor place with theaters and restaurants on the river. Last time Megan and Mike went over there, they parked on the Kentucky side and walked across the big bridge over the Ohio River. I hope to do that too..... weather permitting. Matthew is crossing his fingers to go to a Reds game, which opens this week too.

Then a big surprise for the kids at the end of the week! Yeeeee!

They won't win any photography awards.... but Matthew and I were out front for a bit and I finally got my camera back out. Looking at these though, I just thought his long skinny bright white legs were really cute.

- and Megan came home from school today with a recorder. Yay. Can you feel my excitement? Thank goodness they have another song this year. Last year in Arizona it was Three Blind Mice. Over..and over...and over....

5 more days until Mike gets home! I'm looking into good day road trips to keep us busy during spring break. Our big surprise for the kids is at the end of spring break, so we need some things to do before then. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for a lot of trips to parks and outdoor things!