Camping in the back yard

One of Lamb 2's birthday presents was for the whole family, a tent. The Lambs insisted grandpa put it up in the backyard right away. The spent most of the afternoon playing in the tent and brought all kinds of toys and books and "camping necessities" out there. We told them they could bring their clean clothes inside and didn't need to bring them to the tent when it was in the backyard.

They were determined to sleep out there the first night they had a tent. We allowed them to. Lamb 2 didn't listen and wore a tank top. Lamb 3 wouldn't get inside his sleeping bag, just on top of it. So two mean parents made the decision to bring them all inside at midnight. It was 40 degrees when we made that decision. Lamb 1 could have stayed out there but we didn't think he would want to be out there by himself. Lamb 1 was angry in the morning when he woke up in his own bed. They are all young enough that they sleep right through being moved from a tent to their beds! The following day we took the tent down so Ram could mow the lawn. The Lambs sure enjoyed two days of playing in the tent!

We had planned on participating in National Backyard Campout Day, but I don't like the idea of camping out on a night before church, so we'll have to participate a few days before or after. I think I will love camping this way-we can make all our favorite foods and cook them on our grill, eat at the picnic table on our patio, and if someone (my back?) can't make it in the tent all night our beds are upstairs waiting for us! I especially like the idea of not packing and unpacking the car for a camping trip.

Aunt Hannah's birthday gifts for the Lambs

Aunt Hannah made piano bags for Lamb 1 and 2. After Lamb 2's birthday he was able to use it for a couple of lessons before summer break. They will have lessons just once a month during the summer.

His favorite color is variegated so his name was written in different colors.

Since Lamb 3 does not take piano lessons yet, he received a plastic shoebox decorated with his name and things he likes. I did not take a picture of it because the letters of his name that were glued on keep falling off. Lamb 3 loved the goodies inside the box (toy fire engine, magnifier, etc.)

10 years

Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. John 16:22

Planted Today

Hoping the danger of frost is finally gone...

* zucchini
* cucumber (Lamb 1's favorite!)
* 4 green pepper plants
* 2 tomato plants
* 1 eggplant
and 2 pumpkin plants are hanging in there and just might make it after our frost last week.

How much do you think will grow? I actually kept my promise of a small garden this year!

Lamb 2's birthday

Lamb 2 turned 7 on May 25. I didn't take very many photos. Poor middle child that was born during the busy month of May!
Ram's parents came to visit on May 23 and 24. Lamb 1 and 2 had some dental work done on May 23. For dinner on May 23 we had hamburgers at home as we thought something soft like that would be easiest for Lamb 1. It was more difficult to eat than he expected, but he made it through. We had paleo brownies/ice cream/homemade magic shell chocolate sauce that was easier to eat. Ram's dad appreciated all that paleo meal and dessert.
On May 24 we opened presents from Ram's parents. For dinner that night Lamb 2's choice was the sushi restaurant. It was busy on Friday night so there weren't as many choices as the first time we had gone. Afterwards we went out for frozen yogurt.
Lamb 2's birthday was on Saturday and Ram's parents left. We had monkey bread for breakfast.

Lamb 2 finished putting together his new Legos, the marina.

The rest of the day we had leftovers and didn't do anything special for Lamb 2's birthday.  Sunday we had church and a graduation party to attend. So we finished having Lamb 2's birthday choices for meals on Monday.
Lunch: Tuna pasta salad with raisins
Snack: Chicago Mix popcorn
Supper: Chicken noodle soup
Dessert: Tapioca pudding
Drinks: chocolate milk and white grape juice

Lamb 2 asked a few months ago for a number 7 candle for his cake. It was tricky to put it on pudding, but we did it!

It was different to celebrate his birthday over several days but much more relaxing for me to make the meals. He had a fun birthday!

May

May was very busy for us. I have a bunch of photos to blog about what we did during May. Most of what kept us busy had to do with our church preschool. I look forward to next year not being a school parent and having everyone at home for school. I'll still be involved with the preschool as it is at our church, but I won't be doing room parent type of activities nor will our schedule be interrupted for preschool field trips.

Here's a list of what I plan to blog about soon:
* Buying a book cart at a garage sale for our home library
* Mother's Day
* Greece and Rome festival
* Our play kitchen
* Field trip to see sheep
* What we planted in our yard this year
* Aunt Hannah's homemade birthday gifts for the Lambs
* Family "field trips" to places around our area
* Lamb 3's last speech class
* Strawberries and rhubarb
* Lamb 1 dental work
* Lamb 2 losing his first teeth
* Our new tent
* Ram's 10th anniversary as a pastor
* Lamb 2's birthday
* End of the year gifts for the teachers
* Homemade treats for preschool graduation
* Buying a refrigerator

...and by the time I blog about all that there will be more-preschool graduation, piano recital, and swim lessons. Hopefully this list will keep me on track to blog about all this.

So now I'll finish up the school year and I'll try to get started on blogging about this list in June!

Yesterday

Yesterday was not a very good day at our house. Lamb 2 woke up very grouchy and around lunch time refused to eat. I thought he was sick, then found out that he was about to lose a tooth. The tooth fairy might need to take a loan this week, but that's another post. He ate after his tooth came out and was in a better mood.

Yesterday I was so glad to have an entire day without anywhere to go. I was glad for a chance to get caught up on cleaning up the kitchen, do laundry, and clean the bathrooms before the inlaws get here to celebrate Lamb 2's birthday. While I was busy cleaning, one of the Lambs brought me the remote for the DVD player, soaking wet. Guess where it was before they brought it to me? The toilet. I'm not going to post who did that because it was really the fault of all the Lambs that it ended up there. (At least that was the first toilet that I cleaned so the remote was in clean water!) We let it dry out overnight and it still doesn't work even after replacing the batteries. We have a spare DVD player that I was getting ready to garage sale, but the remote is broken for the Blu Ray player. We do have a couple of Blu Rays that we can't play without it. Hopefully not watching The Magic School Bus until we get a replacement remote will be a good punishment. Ram said our generation didn't have the technology to get broken like the Lamb's generation. When we got in trouble for breaking things, it usually wasn't as expensive. Our Lambs just need to be thankful that they live in the Amazon.com generation and we can get a replacement for about $10.

After a busy day of cleaning the Lambs got to bed a little late and I was exhausted. I discussed going to bed when the Lambs did, but of course stayed up and did a few more things. Ram and I knew there was a frost warning, but decided all our plants were big enough now that if we just covered the boys pumpkins everything else should be ok. The boys got free pumpkin seeds from the garden center and we hope they make it to go back to be weighed in the fall. Ram was tired too and after discussing covering the pumpkins he didn't do it and I didn't remind him. Guess what we woke up to this morning? Pumpkin plants that probably aren't going to make it. I think it is too late to start over.

Now I'm getting ready to take Lamb 1 and 2 for some dental work, that's another post too. I'm hoping that the rest of the day goes better than yesterday!