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Tyler's Preschool Party...

Today we went to the OV Community Center for a picnic to celebrate the end of the preschool year. All three of the preschool classes sang songs and then all the kids were given a certificate and a book.

On stage, ready to sing...

During the performance...

Getting his certificate & book from Ms. Suzanne & Ms. Amanda...

Cheesy...

Here are videos of a couple of their songs and dancing...

Rants and Raves for the week...

Rave: After the weekend I was still at my latest goal weight.
Rant: After the week, some bad food choices, and girly things I'm back up 2 lbs.

Rave: Wed was the Teacher/Staff Appreciation lunch at Cody's school sponsored by the PTA. It went well, the teachers were delighted with the food and festivities, and I can't wait until next year.

Rave: Open house at Cody's school was also Wednesday. We were able to walk around the classroom, see the critters that live there and check out some projects. Here's what we came home with...

Farm diorama that he built with his 4th grade buddy.

The bowl is made from newspaper and tissues papers, he constructed it by himself.

Rant: Cats. We don't have cats. We also don't have a dog, which is why the cats hang out at our house. We've gotten used to them prowling our back yard, even leaving us things to pick up. They have messed with one of my new barrel planters, fixed the problem with marigolds.

Now they have gone to far...

We have a boat living at our house that belongs to a friend of Keith's. This is the cover on the boat...

This is a 12" bucket for reference...

There was a small hole in the cover, maybe a 2" square or so, it got a little worse over the winter, progressing to a fist size hole. We opened the garage this morning to see a cat coming out of the the boat. Another one came out later. I'm pissed, Keith is livid. I think it's time to call the human society and get some traps.

Rave: Today was Ty's last day of preschool.
Rant: Today was Ty's last day of preschool.

Getting ready to go for the last day...

We took these to his awesome teachers...

The rain held back and they got to play on the new track.

Sweet....

Rave: Took Belle out for a spin on the bike trail for 5.7 miles. I nice little shake down to see how things would go.

Rant: My bike shorts suck. I have to go online to find some that will fit properly.

Rant: The weather. Come on, it's May!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Fun at the parade...

Last Saturday we walked around the corner from the house to watch the Pow Wow Days parade. It was fun, the boys got lots of candy and it was something a little different to add to our normal weekend routine.

Before the parade, just dripping with cute...

The typical start of most parades around here: the fire truck, and the boys covering their ears.

Next was the parade of cars from the Capuchino Cruisers car club.
Grampa would be proud of this ooh & aah...

Our favorite fire truck of the parade...

Seriously, what's not to love?

The boys did a lot of this; waving at the people and waiting for the candy to drop.

Oh boy, another fire truck...

The Shriner's were out with their go-karts of awesome. They had formations and everything, very fun to watch.

I have a feeling this is in my near future
(Pershing Choir)

Big Todd pulling the Boy Scouts; kudos to Niello for the lend...

We didn't end up going to any of the other events for the weekend, but they had a full carnival with games and rides, along with different local bands. Maybe next year...

Pretty, Pretty Barrels...

The front of the house is soooo close to being finished! Today was spent planting flowers and bushes.

Flowers up the walk way...

Love petunias...

The new barrel planters...

These are all different, and hoping a bit of Miracle Grow will help to get things bigger by the end of the summer. For this year, I planted some annuals in the front of the barrels to fill them in.

The last step is getting some water to all the pots and barrels through the sprinkler system and setting them on the timer. For now, I'll just go out and water by hand.

So happy to have a bit of color again.

Little of this and that...

We had a busy, but not very taxing week, which was nice and needed!
Monday started off with our 7th wedding anniversary. Sheesh, that's flying by!

Tues night we headed over to the skating rink for the last skate night of the year with Cody's school. It was a lot of fun. Cody hardly came off the rink! Tyler wasn't as excited this time, did a few rounds on rolling skates before switching back to walkers. Luckily Keith was able to come for a bit, so he could hang on the side with Ty while I skated with Cody.


Wednesday was my 29th Birthday, one more year until the big 3-0. AHHH! I'm not ready for this. I have a lot of things to do this year before getting to that age. Wishes of luck!

Thursday night we headed out to Orangevale's Pow Wow Days opening ceremony to watch Orion dance. The boys had a good time, getting to see a of few of their friends from school.

The drum circle...

Getting ready to start...

He did an awesome job! Really cool to see him dance in front of the crowd. You can probably expect to see more of this in the future as Keith has an outfit in the works, and I'm sure my summer project will be to get some ready for the boys for Labor day.

Friday is a good breathing day and a Happy Birthday to Mom!

Looking forward to more Pow Wow days stuff this weekend, like the parade that's just around the corner from the house, we get to walk over and walk home, so awesome.

We have grass!!!

Today was another long day with wonderful results. Around 10:45 this guy showed up...

and left this...

Once home from picking up the boys from school, we got to work. FIL was already going with a row down and getting a feel for what we had to do. I worked with him, getting about 3/4 of the yard done until 2ish when we had to get ready for a party for one of Ty's friends. We came home to find it 98% finished! After a filling a few holes, we now have this...

YAY! We watered it a bit and then wanted to roll it to make sure the seams were together and to give it good contact with the soil. The boys had fun while Grandpa was filling the barrel.

He loured Cody clear up the drive, then got him...

So glad that we are done! So happy with how it looks. Now we get to water, water and more water for the next 14 days. So if your in the neighborhood, drive by with oohs and ahhs.

More rocks moved....

and with all hope, the last of the rock moving! Taking advantage of the afternoon, I was able to get the bed cleared out, rose bush holes filled and rocks added in to finish off the beds. My arms hurt, kinda a lot.

Now comes the debate on whether it's cost effective to drive 1 1/2+ hours to get wine barrels for $20-22 each, or drive the 40 min to Elk Grove to buy them for $35. Although driving around Napa Valley isn't rough on the eyes, so it might be worth the day trip. Ponder, ponder...
Still hoping a deal pops up in the area.

Thursday is Sod day, Yay!

Simple things...

Simple crafty going on: http://acraftychristmas.blogspot.com/2010/05/teacher-appreciation-cards.html


Ahh, yes. Once again the simple things have made me smile. This morning it was a trip to the Starbucks in Safeway. After ordering my drink, we browsed around and discovered they had the insulated cup I've been lusting over for the last month. Yay!

Thanks for the last Birthday gift Mom & Dad!

If I hadn't been in a store full of people, I probably would have done a happy dance right there.

Rolling, Sprinklers and More Sprinklers...

Monday was spent installing the new sprinkler heads and getting the dirt rolled for the sod.

The boys getting the roller going, they were a big help!

Cody working on his circus routine.

Waiting for the water to pop up and clear the system out.

Glorious sprinklers, doing what they are supposed to do!

After a good days work, the boys wanted to play in their new backyard sprinkler for a bit.

Phew! Thursday is sod day!!!

Now if I can get someone to take my kids to a B-day party I forgot about so I can get to work!