Ugh! I am so upset. The darn squirrels keep destroying my garden. I only have two bean plants that got a chance to sprout...that is out of 3 rows that I planted. They ate the squash, cilantro, tomato and jalapeno seeds too. I got about 5 peas up, the rest are gone. Is it considered murder if I set squirrel traps? Steve bought a BB gun, but no one is out there consistently to keep them away. It is ALMOST worth getting a dog just to scare the squirrels away!

Proud of my sweetie!

Steve took some pics yesterday for a family in our ward. Their daughter is getting married in a few weeks, and they had scheduled a photographer to take some pics that they could have on display at the reception. The photographer cancelled at the last minute, so they called us. Steve went after work and did an AWESOME job for them! I stuck a few up on my dropshots in case you want to see just a tiny bit of what he did. I wish I could have been there too. I was helping in Jake's class though.

The pics are on my dropshots: www.dropshots.com/punkinmama

Rambling

Another week has gone by. Isn't it funny how while it is happening, it seems so slow, but when you get to Friday, you are like, "what happened to the week?" At least it is that way for me.

With Mother's Day coming up, I have been thinking about and missing my dad a lot. Kid of weird to be thinking of him at Mother's Day, right? I just remember how much he loved my mom and how he made sure that she had a really special day on Mom's Day every year. He always got her a corsage, and usually got me one too because I was gonna be a mom someday. I always thought it was so nice of him to go out of his way to make things so special.

This year, I am so stressed about gifts and such. I have been so bad about sending cards and such off to the kids' great- grandmas. We love and appreciate them so much, but I always procrastinate until it is too late. Someday I will be on the ball. I am planning a lunch here for my mom and Grammie on Sunday afternoon and wish that my dad was alive still so that he could be the one planning it instead of me. Steve is wonderful, but he doesn't show his appreciation by doing things like that. Plus he has so much going on with church and such that we are lucky to see him a few nights a week.

Today I don't know quite what to do with myself. Melissa took Rachel last night and kept her overnight so that I could help out in Jake's class this afternoon. I had a very relaxing morning...got Becka off to school and Jake and I were lazy bums. Watched Star Wars and wore our jammies until right before school started. Steve is picking Rachie up on his way home from work, so I am without a 2 year old for another few hours. I keep thinking she is napping, not gone. LOL!

Tonight, Steve is going on the father/son campout. He can't take Jake because I guess they are doing some hiking that the younger kids wouldn't be able to do. This stake is so weird...Steve has not ever gotten to take Jakey with him on the father/son campouts. Makes me kind of mad. Everywhere else we have lived, dads have brought little ones...even babies sometimes. Steve never took Jake when we lived in Hillsboro, and now poor Jake isn't allowed to go. The kids want me to take them to the school play tonight too. Tomorrow, Jake is supposed to be in the parade here in Hazel Dell. The whole little league is gonna be there. He also has a game at 2pm. Becka's game is at 11am. I am still trying to figure out how I am gonna get everyone where they need to be at the right times without Steve here to help me out. I think I am supposed to stay with Jake for the parade, maybe I can get my mom to take Becka to her game??? Ugh!

Tomorrow evening, Rachie and I are going to see Sesame Street Live with a friend and her son. My friend Kirsten's husband works for a local TV news channel and he gets free tickets to events sometimes. Wasn't it nice of her to invite us to go? I think it will be so fun! Rachie is gonna be super excited. She loves Elmo and Abby Cadabby so much!

In between all the craziness tomorrow, I somehow have to clean the house and get the food ready for Sunday. Plus, make Mother's Day cards and get pictures printed of the kids to give as gifts. I hate not having money for things like that. I am always going into my overdraft protection to just get by, and can never seem to get caught up. I want to get lovely wonderful gifts for people, but end up making stuff because there isn't any money left after all the bills and food and such. Oh well, someday, right??

Oh, really quick. I have Becka addicted to Anne of Green Gables! Hooray, someone to share my obsession with! We watched the movie over the past several days (it is 4+ hours long0 and today we have started Anne of Avonlea. Now I just have to get her to read the books. She has started a few times, but says she gets bored by the 2nd chapter. She might need to be a bit older, who knows. I figured if she can read the whole Harry Potter series, she can certainly read the Anne books. They aren't as fast paced as the HP books though. Speaking of HP, Becka's clock came today. It is an actual working clock! I hadn't realized that. She is gonna be so excited!!

cinco de mayo!

Es el cinco de mayo!!! Wahoo! Wish I could go downtown and visit the celebration at the waterfront. By the time we get there, pay for parking, entrance, dinner, etc...we would be blowing a TON of money. I might try and talk Steve into taking us out for mexican tonight though, lol!


The sun is shining and it is getting warm out there. I even turned on the a/c in the house! I am contemplating planting my fressia bulbs this afternoon, but lying on a blanket with a good book on the lawn sounds like a lot more fun, kwim?




I can't remember last time I posted...so I will give you a recap of our weekend. Friday night I went over to my mom's house and did a little bit of scrapping. I have got to get caught up on my paper albums. I am so ridiculously far behind. I get frustrated with paper scrapping though, because I am used to being able to change sizes, colors, etc on the digiscrapping I do. I hate not being able to change something so that it is perfect for me! :)

Saturday I didn't feel good. Really bad cramps. I took a percocet, not thinking that I would need to be able to drive Jake to tball. Well, it really wiped me out...I called my mom and asked her to take us to his game. Steve's mom came over and went with us too. I felt so horrible because my house is trashed from me not feeling well all last week. She came in and started cleaning for me. I really apprecitaed it, but was so embarrased at the same time. Steve's dad met us at Jake's game. It was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa there to cheer him on. He was grinning from ear to ear! I wish we lived close enough that they could come all the time. That is one of the things I don't like about being 45 minutes away from them. Especially with gas prices the way they are.

Saturday evening we went to the mall and looked for Mother's Day stuff. Didn't find anything wonderful though. I am out of ideas, and I am sure that our moms are tired of pictures of the kids and hanging baskets of flowers. That's probably what I will end up doing again...I should make some cards too. I am horrible about sending our grandmas something for Mother's Day and I really do want to be better about that.

It has been a fun weekend, just hanging out and being together as much as possible. Steve is tired of being gone so much. Rachie is so funny. You ask her where Daddy is and she says, "Daddy's at church...I miss him!" He had a funeral he was helping with on Saturday, and yesterday the usual stuff before and after church. Tonight we are hoping to do some geo-caching for Family Home Evening since the weather is so nice.

I am excited for Becka's birthday. She has been planning a Harry Potter themed party and we are like two giggly girls when we talk about it. I am excited because I bought her a clock like the one the Weasley's have in the book/movie. I know it isn't useful at all, but she will LOVE it, and it wasn't very expensive. I even got free shipping! In addition to that, we are going to give her $50.00 toward a new bike. She has been wanting one because she says hers is too "girly girl" for her. Geesh! She has her eye on a mountain bike at Walmart, but we are gonna make her look around at some other places before she decides. Steve is kind of a bike snob...he wants to get the ones that are better quality, so he will help her out.

I am including a few recent pics of the kiddos. Steve got one of his lights/flash units that he has been wanting, so he has been playing around a lot. Have a wonderful day everyone!





Becka posing

Jake cheesing it

Rachie






Here is the clock I am getting for Becka:

May Day!

Happy May Day everyone! I remember putting flowers on neighbor's doorsteps, ringing the bell and running away when I was little. It was so fun! The kids and I are gonna make paper flowers and do that after school.

Last night Jake had a game and it was the first time they did pitching. The coach would pitch three balls to each kid, and if they missed all three, then they brought out the tee to use. Jake hit his pitch every time! I got 2 of them on video, so as soon as I get a chance, I will load it here and at my dropshots so you can see it. :) I was so proud! He loved it too, but his favorite part was how muddy the field was and he enjoyed hopping around in the squishy muck. So did Rachel!

Nothing super wonderful to report. I am not feeling well again, so I have been trying to lay low. I went visiting teaching yesterday and other than that, stayed on the couch. I really need to get caught up at my message boards and also work on my CT stuff before Amanda fires me!