Strawberry Picking!

Gymnastics and Kites

Lorén had her gymnastics performance this past week. We were so proud of her! She has all the grace of her mom and dad (cough-cough). She really did well though! She has always loved gymnastics. After the performance, mom, dad, Mike, Zach and I all went out for ice-cream at the local Fitzes (yum-o)! It brought me back to my Westminster Days. As we pulled up we saw 3 good friends there! It's fun to see your friends randomly like that!


Lorén and Ms. Viki


Yesterday we went to the St. Peter's Kite Festival. We drove around for 45 minutes trying to find the friggin park. Not only that, we got caught in a funeral procession for a soldier. We told the kids it was a parade because there had to be close to 150 Patriot Guard motorcyclists, 20 police motorcyclists, 2 Firetrucks and then the funeral procession. Anyway, the wait was definitely worth it though! By time we got there it was 12:30. The kids each made and flew their own kites for about an hour. Zachary wanted a green kite with green streamers. Lorén wanted a red kite with pink streamers! Thank goodness they were selling hot-dogs, sodas and chips for a buck! We ate a picnic lunch before heading home for family naps! Yesterday was a FANTASTIC family day!

These are a few of my favorite things. . .

So I know that most people only stop off here to see how the kids are doing! They are GRRRRREAT! Of course, Michael and the children are two of my most favorite things.
Therefore MOST posts are about them! Today, however, I decided to let you in on the inner-workings of Mommy. I thought I would share about some of my favorite things in the whole wide world. . .
1)

Fresh Herbs - Why would you cook with anything but? It's as easy as dig-plant-cut. Believe me, if the "black thumb of death Kimberly" (as Mike puts it) can grow them, anyone can!
2)

My Humming Bird Feeder - My Mother in Law bought me one years ago. I just loved having those tiny little birds around! When we moved to our new house, I broke my own rule: If you don't want it broken, put it up. Yeah, my muncherkins got ahold of it and broke it. I finally decided to get another one a month ago. Loren and I love making food for the birds every other week. I love the suprise of looking out of my kitchen window and seeing a visitor. Even more exciting is when I can share it with the kids. Loren loves Hummingbirds. Zach thinks every bird is now a hummingbird :)!
3)
Vintage Green Glass - Not just any green! It has to be avocado or olive. I don't know why, but I'm obsessed! I have pieces all over my kitchen. They are so beautiful! It just makes me. . .happy! This compote was my first piece. I saw it and HAD to have it. I even have a good friend hooked on the stuff now!

4)
Vintage Cook Books - Yes, another obsession. Michael just laughs when I come across them! I just pour over the pages! The pictures are so cute! And some of the "recommendations" are so adorable! Like "A congenial atmosphere must prevail if entertaining is to serve its purpose. The guest list must be chosen as carefully as you would choose the ingredients for a recipe. Combine the people that will "mix well." A surprise guest with some special talent or conversational skill can make a party more successful. Above all, the hostess must be able to enjoy her own party. The carefully prepared and executed plan, the short period of relaxation or rest before the guests arrive, and a few special pans to liven the part - these can make entertaining a joy and satisfaction." See. . .adorable!

5)
Vintage Aprons - At this point, you may get the distinct impression that I'm obsessed with vintage things. . .yeah, you're right. I love things with a history. I'm a romantic sucker for the stuff! BUT - I'm practical. All of my pieces must have a purpose in my home. For example: my aprons. Mike always used to laugh at me because he would come home and I would have flour hand prints on my butt. It's habit to wipe my hands on my pants! So he suggested I get an apron. I decided that I would hit up an antique mall and find one. I wasn't ready for the "LOVE" I felt for each one. How women had stitched them by hand and lovingly used them to serve their families. I wear my aprons almost all day long. I get them pretty grimy :) This one in particular is a favorite because it is terry-cloth. I think I own 15 now. I use each one! In fact, I now own 2 vintage children's aprons. Loren loves to wear them to cook with me!

6)
My Pantry - I know, I know, this is odd!!!! But look! It's so organized! It's so pretty! I have a place for everything and everything has a place! Besides, you can see my other favorite apron hanging on the door. . .and my vintage yellow tupperware canisters. Can I live in my pantry? It's one place that is ALWAYS clean and organized!

7)
Crazy Daisy Dishes - Okay, right now I bet you are saying, "My ______ had those dishes!" and that's why I love them! It's so much fun to see people come over, use my dishes and say, "This reminds me of my grandma and when I would ______ with her." I remember my childhood when I use these dishes!

8)
My Lamppost - Our work in progress. Houses that have these always seem so welcoming and inviting. All of our homes have had one. It's just so pretty at night when it's lit! If it EVER stops raining we can finish it (and mow!)

9)
My "Up/Down" Basket - Oh I love this thing! I have one upstairs and one downstairs! I load it up with stuff that needs to go upstairs throughout the day as I pick up. At the end of the day I bring it up! Same for the upstairs basket! Each morning I bring it downstairs and unload it.

10)
The Wall of Fame - Pictures I LOVE! Mike suggested this and I balked at the idea. Usually I hate things that don't match. I don't do well with "eclectic." It makes no sense to me so I can't do it without it looking like a garage sale. I digress. . .Mike opened up a Pottery Barn Catalog and showed me what he was talking about and VIOLA! One of my favorite things!

Well, there are 10 of my favorite things! There are more but this post is already a novel! Tomorrow, I will have stuff about Mike and the kids :)!

Snitch, snitch, fell in a ditch. . .

Today I have decided to snitch on my daughter. Lorén. . .the little SNEAK. The last few nights I have gone up to her room only to catch her in bed with her night-light on and a pile of books in her bed. At least she is reading quality literature! Last night she had SEVEN Strawberry Shortcake books in her bed! I can't be too mad at her for a few reasons. . .

1) She's reading! She loves to read! Books are among her favorite toys!
2) A certain woman writing this post repeatedly got caught under the covers with a flashlight and a good book.

I guess I will just have to remind her that there are times for reading and times FOR GETTING SLEEP SO YOU WON'T BE A CRAB AT MOMMY THE NEXT DAY. . .oops, was that out loud?

Now, for my snitching on my daughter part II. The last couple of days I've found something disturbing all around the house. Lorén has decided it is a great form of play to string up her dolls. Yesterday I found Cinderella tied to her dollhouse with a ribbon. Today, I found Sleeping Beauty tethered to the stool. At first I thought her brother-the-pest was doing it. When I asked Zach if he did it, he calmly replied, "No. Na-na tied up hers princesses." I asked Lorén if she had indeed done it. She confirmed it with a "no-duh" attitude. I asked her why and she told me that the princesses didn't want to get wet. Well. . .if that's all it is :)! Phew. I thought I had a Barbie killer on my hands.


Now to snitch on Zach. Okay. It's not necessarily a snitch. It's just adorable! My son loves a book called Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom. If you haven't heard of it. . .where have you been? :) Anyway, I swear I read this book to him at least 2 times a day and recite it to him in the car all ride long. Zachary doesn't even need me to read it to him, he has the whole thing memorized and can "read" it to himself. I love when he gets to "Skit,scat, scoodle, doot, flip, flop, flee" because he says, "Fwip,fwop, fwee." Man that boy can melt his mommy! Now, I will snitch on me. (((((Admission with my head hanging))))) I have hidden Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom countless times. Somehow, that booger-boy still ends up finding it. Oh well. . .this too shall pass. . .right?

Mother's Day

I had the best Mother's Day this year thanks to my two perfect muncherkins!


It's always sad when the best present you receive is sleeping in! But Mike knew that's something I really wanted and he gave that to me! He also gave me a dozen yellow and white roses (my favorite!) I also got a super zoom lens for my camera from Michael! I love that lens! I can take pictures that are 50 feet away and they turn out beautifully!! I was so excited to get it just in time for T-Ball!

The highlight of the day was going out to lunch at mom and dad's Golf Club! Their club is STUNNING! The course is one of the most beautiful that I've ever seen (and one of the most fun to play!) Kristopher, his new bride Yelena, Mom, Dad, Mike, the kids and I all had lunch together. Thank you so much Daddy!



You know though, two of my favorite presents came from Lorén and Zachary. These trinkets are things that I truly treasure. I'm grateful to their teachers for these perfect gifts!

(Zach told his teacher what to write)

The Better Blogger

I decided I have been really bad at blogging. I need to do better about it :)! I've had a lot of people give me trouble about not blogging about the kids so I think I had better buck up and do better :)

So the latest fun thing is that Loren began t-ball. It was such a blast to watch. She is on the same team as her best friend Celia. Loren, Celia, Zach and Charlie are the best of friends! They call each other brother and sister! Andrea (Celia and Charlie's Mom) and I are apparently BOTH of their mothers. My kids call Andrea mom and their kids call me mom! It's so much fun! The nice thing is that Celia and Loren are the same age and Zach and Charlie are the same age. Anyway, the "sisters" got to play their first t-ball game. They LOVED the dirt! Loren needs some practice hitting the ball off of a T. She closes her eyes tight and swings! :) They ended up having her try batting lefty. Well. . .she hit it! Then Celia came up to bat after Loren. Celia hit it backwards and just took off running! She lapped Loren! We were laughing so hard! The girls didn't care, they had so much fun! Loren decided at short-stop that running bases is stupid. If the goal is home plate, then she would just b-line there! No use going out of her way around bases :)! It was cute!

Zach and Charlie had so much fun tossing the ball to each other and kicking dirt at each other. Nasty boys! Mike and I ended up taking all 4 home. I gave the girls a bath and Mike gave the boys showers. Lets just say that I had an entire baseball field worth of dirt at the bottom of both my tub and shower :)! A small price to pay for a days worth of fun!