Memorial Day Weekend 2010

Having a little BBQ after some hard-core slip-n-sliding. I love these faces!!!

I gave these two matching buzz cuts. Amos had to be just like his dad. Sorry Tish, they wanted to go super bald just to annoy you.

Lyra has really taken a liking to her Papa Lee. Or as she calls him, "Pa-lee."

Kolby enjoyed his time in the sun. The hat was a must. That bald head hasn't seen the sun for months!

June may be wearing her water wings in this picture, but she's getting pretty serious about learning to swim without them this summer. She's got the underwater motions down, it's just difficult for her to realize she can come up and take a breath of air between strokes.

Winn is our little fish, as usual. Her number one complaint of the summer: Having her dirty, chlorine-soaked hair brushed when she gets out.

Sporting our Sunday best. It looks like I'm hiding walnuts in my cheeks. Thanks Klive.

The girls look so cute in these dresses. And Kolby is always my most handsome!

Hello Summer!!!

This girl is happy. For the past 10 months, we have passed by the community pool on our way to drop June off for school. And every, I mean EVERY day, she has sweetly asked me, "Mom, someday, can we go to that pool???"

Pelican Bay opens this weekend!!!! And even though Winnie can't be exposed to much sun this summer due to her kidney medication, I think we will finally be able to make her swimming dreams come true!

This girl is also happy! She graduated from Kindergarten today!!! And I might add, she had a PERFECT report card. It has been an awesome school year and June has really blossomed. She has loved her teacher, Mrs. McDonald, and so she wanted to take this special picture to remind her of the best first year of school ever!

This girl (the one packing the big boy) is putting on a happy face despite her true feelings. I know at some point I told Kolby I would NEVER have another summer pregnancy. I don't know what happened. Here we are at day one of our summer vacation, and I am so hot, I could set this chair on fire!

But you know what I do love? This little Winn. She is so loving to her baby brother, and he's not even out yet. Every time I come into the room, she runs up and gives my belly a kiss, or a little rub, and she whispers through my belly button to Klive and tells him all kinds of secrets. The cool thing is that Klive totally loves Winnie the best. He knows her voice and goes crazy in my guts when he hears her. I think they have a very special bond.

Let's hope Klive is a fan of cool swimming pools, because that's where we are going to be every day from here on out!

Waiting for the Tooth Fairy!

In a world where every other kindergartner enjoyed mouth full of gaping holes and pockets bursting with change, June Johnson, with her grin full of baby pearly whites, was a complete social outcast. But everything changed one bright sunny day in May!

As she lounged lazily on a Sunday afternoon, she was inspired by Dad's latest movie rental, The Tooth Fairy. So she mustered up the necessary bravery, tied on the dental floss and went to work. Just a little tug here, and a yank there, and voala! The tooth popped right out!

It feels so good to be back in the in-crowd! Let's hope the tooth fairy got some cash back at the grocery store yesterday so she doesn't have shop on Sunday to make this little girl's wildest dreams come true!

9 Year Anniversary

Kolby and I enjoyed our 9-year wedding anniversary this week. We celebrated on the weekend in the typical manner, dinner and a movie with some friends to mark the occasion. Then we got the girls in on the action and had a pizza picnic at the park and flew kites. I know, super romantic. And this year, Kolby decided to give me the gift that keeps on giving - a nasty chest cold. He was extremely apologetic.

So as I've been spending my days laying on the couch coughing myself into the loss of bladder control, I've been thinking about how much we've gotten done together over the past 9 years:

Finishing school, serving at church, sponging off of relatives to keep us out of debt, sprouting children and trying not to screw them up too badly, moving away, buying a house, hanging on for dear life in med school, living off of loans, gaining weight, loosing hair and growing up. It's a good thing we are best friends, because life sure works you over. And the one thing that keeps me going every day is the tingle I still get in the pit of my currently enormous gut when I hear the front door open at the end of the day. In the words of Sachko, our Japanese friend, it's true love shicks.

Happy 9 years Kolby, June, Winnie and Klive!!! Let's keep up the good work!

The big yellow bus

June had her very first school field trip on Thursday. And I, being possessed by a case of my normal motherhood paranoia, had to tag along. The big event was an educational country-western concert put on by a dude named Stephen Fite, followed by lunch at the park.

And the kindergartners were all too happy to dress up for the occasion.

I have to send a special thank you to Hailey's mom, Carla, for taking all of these wonderful pictures. In my defense, I did remember my camera. I just forgot to charge the battery before I left home. Carla saved the day!

Here's June and Hailey. BFF's.

Hailey, Thomas and June. This posse is all about play-dates after the long, hard, two-and a half hours they spend with their noses in the books at kindergarten.

When I was a little tyke, my favorite part of field trips was the special lunch my mom always packed for me. Field trip food was always processed, packed with sugar, and put together with extra love.

June, on the other hand, could not get over how cool it was to ride on the big yellow bus. She counted down the days until her first big ride, and then enjoyed every second of the bumpy, seat belt-free crawl to the concert.

The smell of rubber seats combined with the lack of windshield visuals brought that nostalgic, queasy feeling back in a hurry. The school bus is definitely not designed for fat, pregnant ladies.

The concert was a rootin' tootin' good time. Mr. Fite sang a song about beavers and counting that had us all rolling on the floor. We quickly worked up an appetite with all of our dancing, hootin' and hollerin'.

I'm swallowing my pride here to include this picture of June and Me. What can I say, pregnancy is never kind. But June was sure cute, and I want to remember our very special trip together.

Easter 2010

It's a good thing the girls got their room cleaned by Saturday night, because the bunny almost had to pass right by this house. The girls and I had a fun Easter morning - Daddy was on call at the children's hospital so we hurried and ate all the good treats before he got home.

I guess the bunny found out how much June and Winnie loved the new movie, How to Train Your Dragon, because he hooked them up with dragon capes and giant eggs that hatched baby dragons in warm water.

Aunt Becky invited us to the annual Easter brunch, and it was scrumptious. So began the over- indulgence for the day. I think I set a new record for number french-toasts consumed in under 10 minutes. I'm blaming this baby boy. He has turned into the biggest eater. Is that a boy thing? Because I have never been this hungry in my life!

The girls got to hunt eggs with all the cousins. And the treats just kept on coming.

I waited until the last minute to hunt for cute Easter dresses and missed all the good ones. So we went with plan B. The girls wore these cute, frilly shirts and their new matching church sandals. It is blowing my mind this year that my girls are practically wearing the same size. Even in shoes! June is in an 11 and Winn is right behind her in a 10. In a way, it is driving me crazy that Winn won't get the hand-me-downs anymore, but I've decided to just buy 1 wardrobe from now on and they can trade back and forth.

Following the fun festivities, we hurried home to start Easter dinner. You know, because we hadn't stuffed our faces in over an hour. Plus, we had to get home to welcome Papa to Oklahoma. He finally made the long drive; the kids were waiting by the door.

Kolby made his famous brine turkey with all the delicious sides and we celebrated Thanksgiving-style.

I asked June to pitch in and make some stuffed celery. She seemed excited to do part of the cooking, but here's the face I got when I begged for a smile:

Only 6, and already rolling her eyes at chores. No wonder Winnie prayed all on her own for June to "lose the attitude."

Looks like the long drive and turkey dinner may have been too much for little Papa. He had to take a nap to recover. He's probably going to be needing a few more of these now that he's surrounded by busy grand kids with big plans for fun in the sun!

A Very Merry Un-Birthday . . . to June!

June's Alice in Wonderland tea party finally came to pass. I really wanted to make this a special birthday party for June. It's her first year in school so she was dying to invite her new friends over. Plus, I've struggled so much with morning sickness lately that June has had to take on many new jobs and really pull some weight around here. I wanted her to have a special day and show her how much her dad and I love and appreciate the good girl she is.

We had big plans to party outside on the back porch, but we should have known better. Oklahoma weather can never be trusted! So after a week of working like a dog and a morning filled with chaos trying to pull it all together, we celebrated high tea with the un-birthday girl inside.

Nana Deb and Audra painted all of these characters from the movie and shared them with us. Winnie had to have her picture taken with all of them!

June looked even more beautiful than the real Alice in her dainty costume. We got it on clearance after Halloween, so she's been waiting an awfully long time to try it out.

June has made some wonderful friends in her kindergarten class this year. I think they had a great time helping June celebrate turning 6.

Some snacks and decorations . . .

We enjoyed "lime sherbet tea," Eat/Drink me sweets to help us shrink and grow, and heart-shaped pizzas, thanks to Dad's sweet baking skills.

Leave it to Sofie to show up dressed as the Cheshire cat. This girl always knows how to party in style!

Hailey told me that she may be a little girl, but she had a big smile to share. June loves this gal.

We let the kids paint their own tea cups. Here they are hard at work.

Then we braved the ominous clouds for a bit to enjoy a golf game in the back yard. It was our version of Alice in Wonderland croquet.

We finished up with presents, singing and cake.

We sure love our June Bug. Happy birthday little lady! Can't believe you've been making us smile for 6 years!