Some Time Off

A pretty rare thing for this guy.

I hadn't even realized until all his final grades were in that he managed 11 classes plus his part-time job this past tri, and somehow brought UP his gpa. And while he did have an entire week of no school or work back in March for "spring break," he was more or less a troll in a cave studying for, and then taking, Part I of his board exam. Yesterday (6 WEEKS LATER) he got the results back from the board, and he passed all six tests of Part I with flying colors! We are very proud of him, and he is verrrry happy and relieved!

And he's also happy and proud that he got his summer garden planted on his time off.

Big Concert

Maren performs in a strings concert each quarter of the school year, but the final concert each year is the biggie. The concert in which all the strings and orchestra students in the entire Shawnee Mission East area get together to perform their favorite works. The big concert was held this past week, and it was beautiful (and so was Maren)!

Battle Hymn

I promise you that Maren is somewhere in this group even if you never catch a glimpse of her! Posting this video because The Battle Hymn of the Republic is Cook's very favorite song!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Teeth Pics

I have had some questions from the grandparents lately regarding the teeth in our household, haha! Again, usually a photo says it all better than words.

So here's a funny shot I got of Alaire a couple days ago. She has a permanent upper central incisor that has already broken through the gums, yet her two baby ones are still hanging on. The lateral incisor beside that one has gradually been turning itself around so that it now looks like a canine to me. And the two centrals are being so accommodating by tilting off to the right that way, don't you think?

While I'm at it, here is a current pic of Ramsey and her progress!

The New Toy

This way cool new rocket-launching toy came in an Easter care package for the kids from Cook and Pop, and we had fun this afternoon testing it out!

Curran was very sweet and let everyone have their own turns at stomping the pedal and blasting the rocket off.

My heart melted when I noticed her little hand just randomly in the "I love you" sign here...

pretty Mamie-Lou

Curran in action--Curran up, rocket down

and Curran down, rocket up

Well then Mr. SmartyPants Daddy had to give it one last launch to show all the little kiddos just how high he could get it to fly, so Curran set it up--

Daddy stomped with all his might--

Wet flip flops plus slippery foot pedal caused SmartyPants Daddy's heel to slip and slam into the street--

And then this face had me running into the house so the whole neighborhood wouldn't see me pee my pants from laughing so hard!

(and um, you can see just how incredibly high he launched it, heehee)

Easter Morning

Birthday Boy

Good food, good cake with a whole lotta candles, and a darn cute family on your birthday is a pretty great day. Even better? Today marked the end of the 7-day finals fest the man has been enduring; he got awesome grades in everything thereby kissing the first two full years of chiropractic school goodbye!

Look at that smile of relief!

And here's his birthday present. He got it a few days early since it was a bargain too good to pass up... so this is what he did last Saturday while the kids and I were at the kite festival. He soaked up some sunshine studying on the back patio while cooking up some KC-style bbq.

Now he gets a little r&r for a couple weeks, and then he'll be ready to dive back in again in May!

Another Mamie Project

Her display for her religious ed class's open house. She worked with her friends Madeline and Caroline, and the sacrament they had to report on was Anointing of the Sick. I was trying to explain this to my mom by phone and then decided photos could say it all way better than my words.

The Squid Kites

Especially for Amelia with love from Rammy-doo.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Just a Really Great Day.

Earlier in the weekI read about a kite festival that was happening this weekend in Lee's Summit, and when the weather got stormy and cold towards the end of the week, I thought Saturday would turn out to be a bad day for an outdoor activity. Boy, was I wrong! It really couldn't have been a prettier day to be out or a better day for flying kites. So I took the kids out to the Flights of Fancy Festival just to see what it was all about.

There were lots of kites alright!

Big kites, little kites, pretty kites, trick kites, and let's not ever forget Ramsey and Maren's favorite--the squid kites!

The kids all got their faces painted there...

I'm thinking Ramsey was probably the first kid to ever ask for a face painting of a squid, but the artist happily complied!

They all took a turn running with this big... kite?...parachute?

Ramsey helped little Laila.

Maren managed just fine all on her own!

Curran got a little help from an event volunteer!

Such a fun, free community event! I even splurged and got them each a 50¢ Dollar Tree kite to try out for themselves back at the park in our own neighborhood. Luckily Ramsey and Maren were awesome with getting their own kites up in the air and helping me out with the little ones when they had a crash or a broken string or a kite in a tree. Thanks girls! :)

Curran and Ram

Maren and Alaire

And then they put the kites away and just played for a bit. They were so sweet and adorable together all day.

Not sure when this little monkey would ever agree to go home. She's always the one resisting until the last second, insisting she's not ready to go yet!

I had a fun, fun day with every one of my sweet babies.