Blog Blitzkrieg

Making up for lost time in the blog posting department.
My apologies for bombarding you with posts... ;)

Speaking of Buddy...

A couple of favs from April/May...

Learning about plumbing and sprinklers from Daddy.

Mohawk Man.

My two favorite guys. In their tie-dyed matchy-ness.

I had my back turned for less than thirty seconds, I swear, and this is what I came back to.
(He was just SO PLEASED with himself.)
Lesson learned: Always use the straps.

The Great Outdoors

Our little guy is a HUGE outdoors enthusiast. (I guess that's part of being a boy. :))
Needless to say, the backyard is his favorite spot.
Here he is in his element...






Here's to many more years of a boy playing in dirt!

Easter

We had a busy Easter Sunday around the Hughes Zoo.
Sunrise service at church.
Home for a quick egg hunt in our new backyard!
Brunch gathering for Easter with our Sunday School class. (and Egg Hunt #2 for the kids)
Home for a quick nap.
Lunch with family. (and Egg Hunt #3 for the kids)

Extreme Couponing

I took this picture WEEKS ago with the intent to post my own little 'bragging lounge'.
I'm afraid it has lost its proverbial punch in the interim as I can no longer remember the details of the transaction. :)

4 boxes of cereal
1 pack of Pull-ups
1 pack of diapers
1 box of Lipton tea
4 boxes of band-aids
1 bag of cough drops
1 bag of jelly beans
1 bottle of eye make-up remover
1 package of Claritin


I do know that it cost a total of $23. TWENTY-THREE dollars.

And the Claritin has a retail value of almost $20 (or more!) all by itself. Not that I would ever pay $20 for it, but...

Yay for coupons!

Home Improvement-- Backyard

For Valentine's Day this year, I only asked for one thing:
A usable backyard.
Yes, I am that romantic.

We knew it would take a lot of work to get it cleaned up, so we both planned to spend our upcoming Spring Break working out in the yard and getting it ready to go.

As it turned out, we hired contractors to save Bill's back.
(Best. Money. Ever. Spent.)
Bill did a ton of work on the sprinklers, and we spent most of yesterday laying the sod ourselves.... but we let the hired help do all the heavy lifting, so to speak. ;)

Here are a few slide shows that show the before, after and work-in-progress shots:

yard- view A - slideshow maker

yard view B - slideshows

yard view C - slideshows

yard view D - slideshows

Glue and Gum

Two funny Lexy stories from the past week:

First...

One day after school last week, Lexy casually mentions to me "I told Brooke she needed to take a bath tonight." I had that internal shudder-of-fear for what might come next. We often joke around the Hughes Zoo that someone needs to take a bath because they are a 'stinky, dirty bird.'
Thankfully, she continued by saying, "She had glue all over her hair, Mom. ALL OVER." I breathed a sigh of relief. And silently chuckled to think that Lexy has become a little mother hen of her friends.

Fast forward to Monday morning. I am waiting at the kindergarten drop off gate before school when Brooke's mom approaches me... She says,

"So, apparently Lexy decided that she needed to let me know what was going on with Brooke's hair. She sent me a note-- stuffed in Brooke's pocket. She drew a picture of a girl with long hair, pointed an arrow towards it and labeled it 'Brooke'. Then she drew another arrow to her hair and wrote 'Glue In Hair'. I asked Brooke about it, and she said, 'yeah, she wanted to make sure you knew what happened.'"

Oh My Word.
Mother Hen to to the nth degree.
And so cute. :)

Second,...

The kids and I surprised Daddy on Valentine's Day by bringing him lunch during his work day. We happened to arrive on campus at the end of the brunch passing period. As we were pulling into the parking place, I looked around and realized we were totally witnessing Valentine's Day gift exchanges between young loves... And all the other things that hormonally-charged teenagers are wont to do. But no matter; we were not deterred. The girls took the food to Daddy's classroom, Daddy was equally surprised and delighted, and we went on our way.

Later that night, as we were all going through the bedtime routine, Lexy says to Bill, "Daddy, today at your school, I saw this boy and girl... and they were kissing. I think they were switching gum, or something. I don't know. I think they were maybe boyfriend and girlfriend. I don't know though, don't ask me." Bill and I both had to bite our lips to keep from laughing.

"Switching Gum."

I love it.

And thankfully, it sparked a great conversation about kissing-- who kisses, when it's appropriate to kiss, etc.

Teachable Moments!