Memorial Day Weekend

Grandpa Somers
Grandpa is telling Soph how great her "concert singing" was.
Lily hung out in the swing at watched everyone.
Emma and Olivia had a tea party for about 4 hours.
Nathan and Nicholas.

Memorial Weekend

Emma and Olivia
Cornhole
Grandma put together a great cookout meal for all of us!
Great Grandma Somers with the youngest great granddaughter.
Great Grandma Somers and Lily.

Dad's plane at Greensburg Airport

A tornado, hail and very high winds hit Greensburg last week. The doors along the entire side of dad's hangar were blown in. His plane was pushed back into the hangar which bent the flap on one side. One of the strobe light covers was broken as well. The prop wasn't damaged, though. It just cut through the door as you can see. Overall, it's all fixable. Thank goodness...and no one was hurt in Greensburg that night.

Friday

{Richie with his oldest daughter Erin}

This is a photo of Adam's and my baptism day. The guy in the rocking chair is my dad's best friend, Richie, who sadly passed away last Saturday after a long battle with cancer. I went to the visitation with my dad and it seemed to hit me harder than I expected it to. My parents and some of his U of Dayton college friends got together all the time when we were all babies. We would have cookouts, meet at a park for picnics & camp...no elaborate parties or babysitters, just good times with good friends. I really have no specific memories of those get togethers because I was so little, but every time I look at the photos I have an overwhelming sense of love and friendship that I hope to pass on to this generation. Richie was a great man who loved his family and friends passionately. He will be missed so much.
Not sure if they actually played the game. I think they just played with the little pieces for a while.
Tank
This baby loves her baths!

Sweet baby

Excited Jumper

Have you seen videos of dogs paddling their legs when they are just held over water? Lily does a similar thing by kicking her legs when she is just being put into her jumperoo. She loves it!

Emma, The Graduate

Emma had her very last day of preschool today and her graduation ceremony was this evening. We had kind of a rough day and I thought she was going to have to miss it. She started feeling bad after class today and it just got worse. She spiked a fever and looked like she just felt plain junky! Zipped her over to see Uncle Scott and where he said it wasn't strep, but put her on abx just in case something was brewing. After flying home and with Motrin (a miracle drug in my book) on board, she rallied and wanted to go. I know I broke the cardinal rule of sending a kid to school with a fever, but oh well. I told her not to cough on anyone :)

She wanted Mozzi's Pizza to celebrate so that's what we did to top the night off with their dessert pizza. I was just glad she felt well enough to eat it.

Kids are so resilient. She was flattened by her fever this afternoon, but then skipping up the sidewalk to the ceremony.

I can't believe how quickly her preschool years have gone! I asked her tonight at bedtime if she felt older, like a Kindergartener, and she said yes with a big smile on her face. We are so proud of her. Love you, Mim!

Lazy Day

Oh wow, were we all lazy today after school. Soph's last day of preschool was today and after that we just seemed to become big couch potatoes. At one time, I felt like I had so much to do and didn't know where to start so I made the mistake of sitting on the couch with the girls with a cup of hot tea. I have been cold for the last 4 days! This weather is ridiculous! They watched cartoons in a trance and I dozed off a bit while Lily slept in her swing.

Emma's big Preschool Graduation is tomorrow, so I'll post some pics of that. She's feeling like big stuff right now.

New Camera Fun

Dad got me a camera for my bday/Christmas gift this year and I am so excited about learning to use it. I'm glad to get it before my bday too so I can start taking photos right away of these little cuties.Lily looking up at Daddy who just walked in the room.
Soph, the photographer.
Emma put her "fairy house" outside in hope of catching a fairy. She has it all set up inside with furniture and everything. Even m&m's for a snack.
My Mom's Day gifts from the girls that they made at preschool.
Tanky boy

Art Institute Highlights

Monet
Seurat
Van Gogh
Tim with his arm around a sitting Buddha
Studying "American Gothic"

Chicago {May 14 & 15}

Tim & I headed up to Chicago for a long overdue "date weekend." Although it was rainy and cold, we still had a very fun and relaxing time. We slept like rocks Saturday night with no monitors to listen to or dogs waking us.

It was nice to have the 3 hrs together in the car to just talk without our thought processes being interrupted. I did catch myself having a feeling that I need to check on the girls in the back seat just out of habit :)

We walked around on Saturday shopping along Michigan Ave., went back to the hotel and dozed off for a bit and then gorged ourselves on italian food and wine.

Sunday morning after sleeping in, we had a great breakfast at our hotel and then went to Art Institute.

Then, we picked up some Starbucks and headed home...another relaxing drive.
This is the lobby of The Palmer House. Great place to stay.
Lunch at Rockit. This was the chef special that day. Angus beef, fried potatoes topped with a fried egg and cheese. Definitely a "guy's meal."

Tim took his first photo with our new camera. I might actually be in more photos soon :)

Tuesday

Soph actually took a nap!! I bought her a cot at Walmart this morning to take to the beach with us and then convinced her to put it in Lily's room to rest. After 45 minutes of laying there listening to music and just chillin', she fell asleep and took a great nap. Problem is that she probably won't go to sleep tonight...oh well.

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day today. I got to sleep in...at least stay in my cozy, warm bed while Tim got up with Lily. E & S slept until about 9:15. I hung around in my bed (fighting the urge to get coffee) because I could hear that they were crafting some cards for me.

We all got up and finally made it to our favorite place for breakfast, The Cow Palace, in Shelbyville. Nana was with us, too and Adam and Renee drove up to meet us. Good stuff!

After that, I went SHOPPING (by myself!) It was great! I did TJ Maxx, Trader Joes, Babies R Us, Whole Foods & Target. Just got to leisurely peruse anything I wanted.

To top it off, I came home to a picked up house! Impressive, huh?! (I did have to plant a lot of seeds for that one.) Glad I did, because that was the best gift ever!

Now, I just have to stay up to make sure the tooth fairy shows up :) As you can see in the photo, Emma is a little lighter tonight. She actually pulled it out herself! I think she was seeing how loose it really was and voila, it came out. She seemed a bit shocked that it happened. The funniest part about it was how grossed out Soph was. I didn't capture it at the right moment, but her reaction was classic!

Emma in the jumper

I found this photo of Emma in the jumper, too.

Soph again. I don't have any of Emma because they are all on my old computer upstairs. Rest assured, she loved it just as much as the rest of us!

Soph in the jumper

we love the jumper roo!

Here is Lily.
Here is me...

Soph is becoming a pretty good little photographer. She snapped this one this morning after we had picked her up from preschool.
Yesterday morning was a typical Monday. We were running late because it took all of us so long to get moving. These girls will probably end up being coffee drinkers like me and Daddy. They just need a little "pick me up" to get going.

Some mornings I just pluck Lily up from either her crib or swing, put her in her carseat and out we go. We she had peed through her clothes and I didn't have time to run upstairs for a new outfit and get her changed into it without making Emma late...so she rode in just her diaper.

As you can see she didn't mind because she could reach her toes which she loves to chew on these day.
Here is Daddy with his cake especially made for him by Grandma. (homemade buttercream frosting!) mmmmm!

I had a meeting to go to last night so Tim had a birthday date with the three little ladies. Spaghetti, salad and cake. Tim let Emma video record the singing and candles. It's pretty cute. I'll try to post that sometime. Her commentary behind the camera was great.

Happy Birthday, Tim! You really are the BEST! We love you!