Cooper at the track meet

Middle School track meet competition is a little stiffer than Elementary School. Cooper was just happy that he got into at least one event. This meant that he didn't have to go to school for the day.
He did great in his race (2ooM), and he came in third. Ribbons are a little harder to come by though as they time the kids in all the races and just the top 8 get ribbons. He wasn't too bothered though and had a great time hanging out with his friends.


My photos weren't as great as Hudson's because when you're in grade 6 it's not that cool to have your Mom at the finish line with a camera. I had to get this one from behind the fence. But I was happy he still wanted me there and I was happy to be there.

Cooper and his best bud Daniel.

I was thinking after Hudson's track meet how lucky I am to able to be at all their events, especially seeing the kids that don't have any parents watching because they have to be at work.
Blessed.

Tell me

Will I miss these little footprints one day? These little reminders of the tiny feet that run around this house. Because right now, they just drive me crazy.
"What are you doing? Your feet are filthy. I just washed the floor!"

My Mom

My Mom has good days and bad days. Even on the good days it is hard to make her laugh or even smile.
Today she did both.
I brought her out of the home to spend an hour or two at our place with the kids.
It was a blessing.
She really enjoyed the kids and told me so over and over as I drove her back.
It was a blessing.
For her.
For the kids.
For me.

Hudson at the track meet

He was really excited for the day and also a little nervous. He had a great day. Four events and three ribbons. Two firsts and one seventh.



I like this one how Hudson is checking the finish line to be sure that he is the first one across.

Tag came after kindergarten to cheer him on.

So glad that I could be there to watch and cheer him on. So proud of him.

He.

He is almost finished his kindergarten year. Can't quite believe it

He loves listening to tunes on the iPod. Among his favorites are 'Eye of the Tiger', 'Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy', and 'I am a GummyBear'.

He asks for half an apple at least 5 times a day.

He asks to play with Nana every single day.

The worst thing you could possibly do to him is take away his bedtime story. Sometimes that has to be the threat though if he doesn't cooperate at bedtime.

His favorite bedtime story - the little comic book that came inside the shoe box of his new runners.

He would eat popcorn for lunch every day if I let him. Sometimes I do.

He has a really hard time getting into playing by himself, except in the morning time when he's supposed to be getting dressed for school. I've found him in his room, more than once, deep in play with cars or superheroes with only his underwear on. Sometimes still around his ankles.

He says really, really funny things. I wish I could remember them all and I wish I was better at writing them down.

He's really good with numbers, not so good with letters. But getting better all the time.

He is usually happiest just after dinner.

He is really good at ignoring me.

He loves to be outside more than anywhere else. We are really happy for the warm weather.

He is going to be missed a lot when he starts Grade One.

What you missed

Since the last blog post a whole lot has happened and like I've said before, if I don't blog it, did it really happen?
I can't possibly begin to give all the details here without posting a ridiculously long entry so I will attempt to run it down in a quick over view (with photos of course).

~another skipping competition (Kirkland, WA). Last one of the season.

~Tag started baseball. Loooooves it! Really fun to watch, especially when he runs with that big batting helmet on. Leni, you can appreciate that.

~Hudson is playing flag football. He loves it too but they still haven't won a game.

~Cooper is playing roller hockey again - they haven't won a game yet either. He's starting not to love it so much.

~Mother's Day. I got meals cooked for me, dessert made by Cooper and got to spend lots of time sitting in the yard in the sun. Quite perfect.

~I spent 5 days painting my house. All the main living areas, up the stairs and the upstairs hallway. All the little fingerprints,scratches, dents, and gouges are gone. Next on the list is painting all the trims and doors. It's got to to be done before summer holidays start. That gives me 6 weeks.

~Our second fridge broke and we had to buy a new one. Tony bought me a new computer for Mother's Day because our old one was just minutes away from blowing up. I'm quite certain.
We took our blinds in to be cleaned. After 8 years, I thought it was time. It definitely was, because when they came back I rediscovered that they are actually white. Those three things all happened in 3 days - it was kind of an expensive weekend.

~We are talking a lot about saving up for 'blueberries' around here. Somehow that became our code word for Disney Land. We want to go in the fall and trying to talk about it when the kids are not around seems to be impossible. Cooper has noticed that we are talking about blueberries a lot and can't figure it out. It's kind of funny.

~The weather has finally turned spring-like and it's fantastic. We actually had our first picnic at the beach. We met Tony one afternoon after work and went up the Woodwards tower where he had been working and then after a bit of walking around Gastown we headed to English Bay for burgers, football, wrestling in the sand and hanging out with the 'big Chinese guys' (Tag's words, not mine) .

~Arbor Day field trip with Reagan's class to learn about trees and watch the Mayor plant a tree and just generally hanging around the park.

~Lots and lots of learning things on my new Mac because I was a PC user and even though I wanted a Mac I am not very patient when it comes to learning how to use it. Rudy, I might have to give you a call every once in a while. And because I don't have PhotoShop (yet) for the Mac none of these photos could be edited. But please note their larger size. I've been trying to figure out how to do that for months. Apparently I needed a Mac. :)