Spring Fling 2008

This past weekend, Casey had her annual gymnastics exhibition, aka "Spring Fling". She was very excited about it and looked great in her purple leo - after it took mom about an hour to get her hair in that bun! She has worked really hard this year on some advanced moves and got great scores - 9 and 9.5s - so she was very happy with her performance. And the best surprise was that her 5th grade teacher, Mr. Palmquist (aka "Mr. P"), came for the whole exhibition. He's been teaching for almost 20 years, and he's the kind of teacher that the students invite to their high school graduation. He saves their "what I want to be" papers and sends them to the kids their Sr. years. So Casey was very honored to have him there.

Nicole's Senior Prom

On Saturday, Nicole went to her Senior Prom, with her good friend Jarid. She looked very beautiful! Their prom was on a big dinner boat on the St. Croix river and the boat sailed out at 6:30 sharp. A group of about 30 of them had rented a "limo bus" thing and she called me at 6:30, a little upset because the bus had broke down and they were all on the side of the road! Fortunately, they got a hold of one of the teachers on the boat to let them know. A new bus was sent for them and all was fine. Never a dull moment!

Pretty, Pretty

Thank you Dad & Marion for these very pretty roses (and the chocolate too!) - and yes, it made me smile.

Oh, that Austin!

Yesterday, Cary and I were sitting in the front office, and Austin was doing one of his chores, which was to sweep off the front porch. Well, he glided by the window, doing a little dance and jig, and we were cracking up. That kept him going, of course, and he reminded us so much of the Dick vanDyke character in Mary Poppins. So when he finished sweeping, he moved out to the front yard and starting this balancing act. I snapped a quick picture because he's just so stinkin' cute!

A Few of My Favorite Peeps!!

On Friday, my girlfriends and I gathered for our ritual lunch to celebrate a few birthdays. I have such a blast with these women and have for the last 9 years (wow!). From the left is Ann who has a great honesty and is an amazing mom to 4 children who are very busy; Julia - such sweetness comes from her and boy, do we laugh everytime we talk, no matter the subject matter! Kathleen is our guide in all things fashionable (on our bodies and in our homes!) and has such a desire to be pleasing to the Lord; there's me, and I think I look like a frumpy nurse in that sweater - yuck; Wendy, who I've known now for 20? years - amazing. We have done life together and it gets sweeter as we add more years; Joy (behind Wendy) who seeks God's will first, and is raising a beautiful family; and Nancy, one of the first women I met when we moved here, who is someone who sees my heart without any words; she just knows. Heidi wasn't with us on Friday due to her hubby being in the hospital:( and we missed her. I am very thankful for these ladies and adore all of them.

Mother's Day

The tulips are from the kids & Cary, the bouquet on the right is from my sweet mother-in-law, and the roses on the left are from Nicole.

This was Austin's self-made poem and I just could melt at how sweet he is.

I don't know if you can read this, but Casey, with her old-soul ways, wrote a beautiful poem for me. I am always in awe at where this comes from within her, and I treasure her insightfulness. Nicole's card was very heartfelt and personal, and I will read it over and over.

No, we have not lost our minds (well, almost...). This was my mothers day present - very, very requested by me, so much so that Casey & Austin started repeating my words "you don't always get what you want Mom", trying to trick me! I got DDR (for those of you who don't know - it's Dance Dance Revolution for the playstation). I am hooked on it and have a blast with my whole family, so thank you!

On a personal note, there were times this weekend that were very difficult for me and this morning, after a sweet friend reminded me of a book that was collecting dust on my shelf, I sat for a while reading and praying. I am once again reminded that as a parent, and as a child of God who is a recipient of his forgiveness daily, I am to offer the same, especially to my children. Every discipline and decision is to be paired with love, because without it, it just becomes shame and a burden to them. I can very subtly leave love out of it and make it about right and wrong. It is so different than parenting younger children in so many ways, and once again, I am in new waters and it can feel lonely and scary. Today, I sat with my loving Father and allowed his love to melt the places in my heart that had started to become closed and cold. Forgiveness can feel like acceptance of the choices, and God reminded me this morning in His gentle way that it is not. If I harbor in my heart anger and hurt, and try to control things through them, it will be very destructive. There were times over the last few days that I was in the "dark night of the soul" and the light began to seep through again this morning.

P.S. the book was "Feathers from my Nest" by Beth Moore - it will become a daily reading for me for a while.

Music & Racing (sound like the Ryan family??)

Casey had her band concert and we were really impressed! It was the 5th grade bands from 4 different elementary schools. They had all practiced the same music, but never played together until the concert. I was shocked at how good they were! It is very fun to see Casey playing the flute - I hope she stays with it for a while.




The moment finally came! Speedracer was a hit with the boys and we had a great time going with Grant and Roger & Wendy. The boys (including the big one) were so cute in their t-shirts!

Time for Baseball

Austin had his first baseball game last night - and I love the pictures I can finally get of him in sports with my camera. There is such a difference this year with the boys and how much more mature they are and in tune with the game. This is also the first year that it's kid pitch so it gets very interesting! So far, the pitchers were awesome - Austin plays 2nd base and he got a runner out last night!



I love this picture of the boys hanging out, chatting and watching the game.


Enough pictures Mom!!

Go Speedracer!

Austin is just about to come out of his own skin because he is soooooo excited about the new Speedracer movie opening tomorrow! Actually, I think Daddy is just as excited; Wendy and I were laughing at the thought of Cary squeezing into a size 14 boys t-shirt just so he can wear the Speedracer shirt to the movie! Cary and Austin have been watching a DVD about the making of the movie, the history of the racing family, etc., etc., etc. Cary watched the Speedracer cartoon as a little boy, and Austin has the DVDs of all the old episodes, and they've been watched a hundred times! Even last night (Wed. night), he prayed that tomorrow would be Friday so the movie would be out - so cute! So just one more day, boys, and all your dreams come true!

Warm Weather

Casey & Austin biking to school and enjoying the warm weather!



Finally able to start the gardening and planting flowers.