Baa Baa Ball

Last night, as Henry was drifting off to sleep, he was chattering, "Dada, baa baa ball, Dada, baa baa ball." Baa baa ball means "basketball". Could anything be more adorable than a 1 year old doing that? Nope! ;-)

This morning as I was putting something away in the fridge, Henry quickly grabbed a bottle of his formula from the pantry (he has to have a special, ready-to-feed formula) and laid it down on its side on the bottom shelf of the fridge. He was as pleased as punch with himself. ;-)

This morning I took Henry on a long walk/run. He absolutely loves the outdoors and has even come to enjoy stroller rides just so he can be outside. He used to hate being in the stroller and would cry every time I put him in it. We live a nice, hilly neighborhood which is at the base of some mountains, so it's a good work out to walk/run around. Plus, it is a growing neighborhood with lots of construction. The only thing Henry likes more than being outside is watching trucks and cars and construction vehicles. So he was a happy boy this morning. I walked 2 miles and ran 2 miles, so a total of 4 miles. The sun was out, but it was slightly cool. Perfect weather! Henry fell asleep once I started running, so he was able to get his morning nap in at the same time.

Today was Sahara and Beth's last day of school. I picked them up from school and took them out to lunch to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant. Yummy! When the other kids found out about it after school, they said, "No fair!" We all love Ethiopian food. If you haven't ever tried it, you really should. It's delicious.

We're finally winding down with school. As I mentioned, Beth & Sahara are now finished and my junior high and elementary kiddos only have the rest of this week and all next week and then they will also be done! Hooray! I am so excited to have them at home where we can hang out together all day long and just enjoy each other's company. The kids are most excited about being able to sleep in. Getting up at 6 am every morning has taken its toll, I suppose. Talley and Esther will actually have summer school to help them keep up with their learning (they both receive special resources and have IEPs). They will have a class twice a week for one hour. Not too bad, though Talley feels like she is being punished. I think she will like it once she gets going.

This summer I am hoping to get our house totally organized. I'd also like to finish a couple of painting projects and some work in the basement. Our hope is to finish one or two bedrooms and a bathroom down there at some point (my dream is this summer, but we'll see). Plus we still need to finish our cold storage room and start our food/necessities storage. Tim has some money put aside to do our extra driveway/basketball hoop for sure. Ryland is beyond excited about that. Lots of plans to accomplish! ;-)

The younger kids (8 and under) want me to teach them how to cook this summer. They know some easy, basic things, but they're hoping for "real cooking", as they call it. That should be an adventure. ;-)

My nephew is getting married in June, so we'll get to go to that. The kids have various activities and camp-outs, etc. Sahara will be doing summer cross country and I hope Ryland will as well. It's just going to be a full, but fun summer. We want to get the very most out of the next three months.

Talley has a play at school tomorrow. She is very excited about it. She has been practicing the songs at home and gets to go to the play dressed up as me. ;-) I can't wait to see it. Tomorrow night two of our nephews are graduating high school, so we'll be doing that. Luckily they are graduating from the same high school (one is from my side of the family and the other is from Tim's side of the family), so we only have one graduation ceremony to attend.

More soon ...

Happily Ever After

Kate & Eric's wedding was beautiful! And so much fun. They were a gorgeous couple and it is obvious that they are very much in love.

I took 277 photos and weeded them down to these: