Forever Spring !

The weather lately has just been crazy! Here it is the 2nd of June and it still feels like April with all of the rain and clouds along with cool temperatures. I am actually quite okay with it. Hopefully this year we won't have to hear complaints from all of the weathermen about drought and the grass and trees look absolutely beautiful and green!

I just wanted to share some pictures of flowers that I had bought with a gift card that my Mom-In-Law gave me for my birthday. Aahhhh - love the colors!

This year I found myself strangely pulled in the direction of the daisy family. . .

Mmmmm . . . carnations!

A very interesting type of geranium.

My favorite scarlet red good ol' fashioned hanging geranium!

Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

Spring Piano Festival

It's that time of year again! Time for the Spring Piano Festival!

Hailey played two long and fairly difficult pieces this year. I can't believe she has only been playing for about 3 years and she really does well on the piano.
Not sure if I mentioned it earlier but she got a "Superior" again at the National Junior Piano Festival again this year. I think that makes her eligible to go for the gold cup next time around.


To finish off the festival this year Hailey and her friend Bethany performed a duet - It was quite a difficult piece also and very powerful.

There was also a competition amongst all the students to try to increase their practice times! Bethany took first place but Hailey was a close second by, I believe, one hour!

Hailey has really enjoyed playing the piano, but the sad thing is that the piano teacher has her house up for sale. We can only hope that she doesn't go too far away so that Hailey can still get instruction from her. She is a good teacher and a very sweet lady.

Moments With Madi !

Last Thursday was really great! Chris, who usually watches Madison, had some things that she had to do so I had the opportunity to get to watch my niece Erica's little girl. I guess that would make her my great niece? I can never remember how the relative thing all works but, we had a nice time!
She is very cute. She also has this very soft, wispy voice that is fun to listen to.

She loved playing with the Little Tykes car! I think she put gas in it every time she moved two feet. She claimed it got the same gas mileage as her mom's car. Wow - time for mom to look for a new car! :)

After watching an Arthur video and riding in the car we took some time to make Madi's mom a "I Miss You" card. She LOVED using the scissors! After that we had a little R & R and Madison had a popsicle or "popicle" as she calls them.

After that was a little playtime with some Fisher-Price toys and then I thought she might enjoy helping me wash the dishes! She had a lot of fun!

What a sweetheart! We had a good time and I hope in the future she will get to come and spend some more time at Aunt Dora's place!

The Permit Has Been Acquired!

First of all I would like to apologize that the pictures on this post are so small. For some reason it wouldn't download them bigger. It was like the download was stuck in mode and wouldn't print them onto the post . . . I hope that you can see them well enough.

*************************************************************************************
The day has finally arrived! Hailey has met all of her requirements to obtain her driver's permit. She has gone to all of her classes, passed all of her exams and drove well on her driving days. So naturally she wanted to drive home from her last Driver's Training Class. Kurt had picked her up . . . She is sooooo excited!


Kurt, on the other hand, not so much!!!


Kurt thought this was a great idea! Hailey, not so much. . .

All puns aside, we are very happy for Hailey and know this is a big change in her life where she has opened the door to more opportunities and independence!

Congratulations Hailey!

Where Have I Been?

I just happened to log on here and found out my last entry was for my Anniversary back in April! Where in the world have I been????
Many things have happened since then, things that even included pictures - it has just been so busy that I haven't taken the time to get on here! For some reason I am in "wait" mode, just waiting for school to get out so that life will slow down a little bit! Well, maybe a little for me but not for Kurt. Things will start revving up for him now with the outdoor music season starting!

So, just a quick note to say sorry. I didn't mean to disappear but life just kept on happening and somehow I have been stuck in the center of it all!

Hopefully some fun and interesting posts will be coming! Thanks for visiting my site!

Terra Cotta . . .

Yesterday was mine and Kurt's 22nd Anniversary. According to a card he gave me on our 11th anniversary that is what we were supposed to gift each other this year, Terra Cotta. This card always brings a smile to my face. It is not the traditional schedule of gifts mentioned on typical lists like china, lace, etc., it has things like:

Caulking

Duct Tape

Naugahyde

Spackle

Plexiglass
Soup

Burlap

Wood Grain, etc.

The only traditional ones it kept was at 1 year you give paper, 25 years Silver and 50 years Gold.

I did manage to find Kurt a cute plant pot but where I was shopping it wasn't the typical Terra Cotta so I improvised and filled it with Milky Ways so it would be accepted!

We did take a little time for a late lunch at a nearby restaurant called Ginos. And after we got home we got a great example of Kurt's cat-like reflexes in catching a candy bar

(you would had to have been there to understand it).

The Happiest Kid Ever !!!!

I can't tell you how long Tyler has been waiting for this day! I think he felt like he was doomed to keep his baby teeth forever, but after A LOT of wiggling, tongue pushing and eating hard foods his little front tooth gave up it's battle and relinquished it's home of around six + years!
I am so glad he lost his tooth before he turned eight. I think that would have been too much for him!

These are fairly hazy and kind of gross but those of us that blog really like to get in the details because we want you, the reader, to experience as much as we do!
His tooth could actually lay flat out across his lip . . .

A clearer shot before the removal.

The aftermath. Now (I think in his mind) he is just one step away from manhood!

Congratulations Tyler - you lost your first tooth

before *Arthur!

*In case you don't understand the Arthur part, to try to comfort him with his worry about never losing his baby teeth, we would remind him that the book character "Arthur" by Marc Brown didn't lose his first tooth until he was eight.