Are you ready for some pictures?!?

Making tamales...with my helpers. Andy come home just as we were finishing and took a picture of us all. Ben did a surprisingly great job of putting the masa into wrappers! Emily handed us the dough, and Annie was the chicken girl! My best Mother's Day morning so far! They made me a fabulous breakfast, complete with lots of hugs and kisses and plenty of artwork and sweet notes to decorate my bulletin board!

Sweet Emily on the swing! She often has to do her tummy because Mommy just doesn't want to push anymore!

Annie and her friend Mia. This is after they had been making trains with Emily also, and Emily fell over onto the ground. So sad!

Ben has had the most fabulous teacher this year. We all just love her! They did an end of the year Poetry Celebration where the kids each recited a poem they learned throughout the year. Ben had Groundhog's Day. They were supposed to dress up accordingly.

A friend told us about a pick-your-own farm where they went to get asparagus. The kids and I decided to try it out while Dad was still in Dallas. We had so much fun!!! Actually, Emily didn't love it because she wouldn't put on real shoes and I think it was irritating. Ben and Annie had a blast! (Notice the little lines on Emily's face. What do you think she is trying to be???)

I never knew how asparagus grew! I was very surprised, it's just a random field that looks like a bunch of weeds! It is amazingly satisfying to snap off the stem!!!

My three sweeties! We thought we were doing so well and had picked a ton! When we went in to weigh it, we only had a little over two pounds, so we decided to pick some more. Ben and Annie went to town and quickly filled our buckets, so we brought home almost 6 pounds of asparagus! Good thing we all love it! AND - it will taste even better since I only paid $1.10 a pound!!!

Sunday we wiped down the chairs and cleaned the floors before our cute new home teachers came over. (They are 82 and 78, and the kids are amazed by how old they are!) Emily decided to be a train conductor, complete with cell phone, sun glasses, a tutu, and music! Ben and Annie had abandoned the game by this point!

The Next Dorothy

Little Annie has been asking and asking to learn to ice skate. We finally took the plunge, and she loved it, and she was REALLY good! She is confident on the ice, gets right back up after falling, and doesn't seem to tire out! Each week they would play a game where the teacher spreads stuffed animals all over the ice to get the kids to skate around, learned to bend down and stand back up, etc. Annie would get allllllll of the animals in the same amount of time the other little boy would tiptoe his way to get one. I think it kind of bugged the teacher a little bit, but, oh well!

Miss Morgan talking with Adam and Annie.

I love this picture of her feet; it shows how steady she feels.

This is the last day of class, after Annie learned that she passed Snowplow Sam 1 and can move on to the next level! We'll see, Bell! ;)

Grandparent Visit

Andy's dad and stepmom came for a long weekend visit, and we filled it with as many activities as we possibly could! We read books one morning. Then we headed to the Cleveland Zoo where I saw giraffes RUN - it was beautiful! Kids were exhausted by the end and slept in the car on the way to eat at Friendly's.

We splurged and bought the $1 bird food. The kids all LOVE to feed the birds. These weren't super-friendly and would only land on Andy.

We finished the night going to the Akron Aeros AA baseball game. Super fun, but VERY long as it was a double-header that went into extra innings. We HAD to stay for the fireworks, which really were amazing.

The boys all brought their baseball mitts, which paid off when Andy caught a foul ball! He kindly gave it Ben, who hasn't stopped playing with it since. He was even able to take it to school to show his class.

Saturday we slept in, care of a late Friday night. We went to Ben's t-ball game, then headed to the hotel for a few hours of swimming! The kids were in Heaven; it's been so long since they have been in a pool. They just love the water and all the people to play with!

Sunday we went to church then spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the yard. These $1 beach balls I bought for the pool have created hours and hours of enjoyment. They played volleyball for a long time!

Annie practiced closing her hands to catch a ball...
And there is always the stack-en-up game! We also played baseball and threw the frisbee for awhile. Such a beautiful day outside!
Ben wanted to take a little break to write letters, so Grandma Maas indulged him. Out came the bed trays, paper, envelopes and markers!
It was a great trip. Unfortunately, they left, Andy went out of town, and I was left to go back to everyday life, one where I actually had to make meals again!