The end of an era (Goodbye St. Pauls)

A Little Epistle no more... Little Miss is growing up despite my protests.
Natalie made a plate with her 'spider monster' on it... who doesn't want to dine on that?!

They sang a very sweet, tear inducing song about saying goodbye (the boy next to Natalie is her best friend at school, Lorenzo. DO NOT suggest that he is her boyfriend!)

Aunt Tracy and the two-boy pileup.

Ashi had no interest in riding in the stroller until his Mama saw him pushing around another kid, then it was gameon. Luckily Natalie likes to snuggle, and has extreme love for her surrogate baby brother.

Waiting in the drizzle for the parade (why does Snoop Dogg always carry around an umbrella? for Drizzle!)

Natalie graduated from St. Pauls on Friday. I only teared up, ok, maybe a tear or two fell, but the real waterworks are saved for the book the teachers put together of her photographs, art, and writing that timelines her progress through the school year. And the words of a teacher that tell you how special your child is (not that you need to hear it from others, but it's wonderful to hear regardless).

We also braved the questionable weather for the Grand Ski to Sea Parade, worth it even if I couldn't feel my hands afterwards, it got a little chilly!

Surprises

Friday's mail had a fun little surprise from my bff Jackie

It's a wine cozy... I'm so bringing it to Book club night so that my Sangria stays cold...

Jackie and I share the same sophisticated tastes... reason 16 I love her.

Junior Ski to Sea

The parade from end to beginning (because I really put a lot of thought into how I loaded my photos onto Blogger today...)

Brady after the parade... sometimes being his mom is a very tough job. And that's all I have to say about that right now.

Brady's favorite part of the parade (they even started it up and gave us a close up demonstration, those guys were super nice).

This lovely creature got gussied up for the big event (it's not the half assed effort of cross-dressing, it was more the chain-smoking around children and his nasty rotten teeth, then passing his smoldering cig to the babymama so she could puff away while she held the kid that caught my attention)

Waiting and waiting for the show to start...

This is what's known as a "big V" in the cheer world...

She can see the finish line... YAWN

Gettin a little funky (listening to the marching band in front of us play the opening rif to Blister in the Sun by The Violent Femmmes... middle school appropriate song?)

"YM! clap clap CA! clap clap YMCA! clap clap clap"

This mom belongs on one of those reality shows like Toddlers and Tiaras or something... seriously woman, we live in BELLINGHAM! And this is YMCA cheerleading... "Get up to the front, march on the end of the line, and remember to kick high!" Then everytime the kid would cheer or jump, she'd look back for moms approval. ugh.

Team huddle.

I think I made the same joke last year... "I'll have the junior ski to sea parade..." channelling Tenacious D.

Buttercups

Radish took full advantage of the gorgeous weather we had this weekend and took a nap out in the grass with his two favorite ladies. We pampered him with celery and freshly picked buttercups. He's a happy little pig. He'd be even happier if I would entertain Natalie's new idea that Radish needs a girlfriend. "She will be white and we will call her Princess." 1. white rodents creep me out. 2. If there were to ever be another guinea pig in our home, it ain't gonna be a female because, 3. I don't want to be birthin no babies in my living room.

One of my favorite movies is So I married An Axe Murderer. Loved that movie. Anyway the opening scene is a shot watching a GIANT cappuccino making it's way through a cafe to it's customer. When it arrives, Charlie (played by Mike Meyers) says "Excuse me, I believe I ordered the LARGE cappuccino... Hello!" and the movie just gets better from there... Anyway, this bag of shavings I got for Radish reminds me of that line. "I believe I ordered the small animal shavings!"

I made her and they made me...

A MOM

My best friend in the whole world until I was 8. Grace Alice Jeppesen. Grandma Alice. My mom's mom.

My dad's mom: Iva Mae Borton. "Eat your roughage!"


My mom and me about 1977-78? Mendocino or Green Horn?

The one who made me: Brady William.


And who completes me: Natalie Susan.

And I apologize for the ghetto 'photos of photos' but I tried to install my printer-fax-scanner-copier and discovered that it's too old and won't work with my computer. So... I decided that my Mothers day gift to myself would be NOT having to purchase a new printer and install it today.

Oh and for a smile and maybe a tear, go check out List Of The Day today... Cary over there posts pics of all the mommy readers he has, and it's just a great post. I'm even there.

Lovely Lynden

We headed up to City Park in Lynden today and had a great time playing on the fantastic playground and throwing sticks in the river. We rounded out the evening with a BBQ and sprinkler dash before roasting marshmallows (well we each got one since I only had 5 left) with the Campbell's.

Natalie spent a good 45 minutes on the tire swing... the only time today (well until this evening when she finally had a "movement") she wasn't whining and moping around... I was so dizzy from watching her (and about a half dozen various children that would join her on the swing) spin, and my arms are pooped from pushing so many kids!

This was her face most of the day... so much fun to be around.

Brady loved tracking the sticks that he'd throw in upriver...

Almost a super nice picture... don't you love Natalie's natural smile?

Whatcom county is known for it's organic marshmallow farms...

This and Hiccups is what you get after 45 minutes on a tire swing...

Did you know it's really hard to get a picture of kids swinging with your iphone? I gave up and got a posed one.

This wasn't the complete outfit. Add my powder blue bike helmet and then it would be complete. Yes, those are his snowboots.

Mothers Day Tea

It was my last Mothers Day Tea at St. Pauls. I teared up, but am saving the waterworks for graduation at the end of the month. The kids really spoiled us with a concert (5 green and speckled frogs (a song I sang in preschool), A rum-sum-sum, and Mommy is her name-o) and they served us tea and cookies and showered with gifts.


Natalie modeling the bonnet she made for me, that now sits proudly in my cubicle...

Me and my girl...

Natalie got interviewed by her teacher:

My mom is 25 years old.

My mom is prettiest when: she dresses up for a party

My mom likes to make: strawberry cake

My mom always says: I love you

My mom is funny when she: is on stage or doing puppet shows

(That is a portrait of me that Natalie drew... later she informed me that the black is my beard. Thanks, kid)

And... my mom made me this awesome quilt just because. She asked me a couple of weeks ago what my favorite color was and I said orange, and this is what I got! Thank you mom, I love it so much!

The weekend of "what should we do?"

The weather just wouldn't let us make real plans this weekend. Yesterday I had planned on going to the farmers market and screwing around downtown and getting some strawberry starts for my Topsy Turvy strawberry planter. The weather said "really? you wanna head downtown outside with your children. Go ahead. I dare ya." So I chickened out and instead we met a friend down south for lunch and got our errands accomplished down there (Costco and the Co-Op). Back home in time for sunshine and the Procession Of the Species... and it was just as it sounds.... Bellingham hippies in their element. Along with a few fetish folks called "Furries" I'm sure too. Oh, and a handful of college students still exhaling, if you catch my drift. But, who am I to turn down a parade, right? So we went happily and I'm sure I'll go again next year. And the kids will happily go too because while mommy had her Black Drop mocha, they got powdered sugar donuts from Rocket. And Gort came to life while we were at Rocket, which has never happened before so that was super cool. Well I missed it, but the kids were beyond thrilled to have witnessed his animation.

Sunday rolled around slowly too... I finally couldn't stand the sound of my children anymore so we headed out to find mischief. First stop: Cenex (or Whatcom Farmers Co-Op, I call it Cenex) where we were disappointed in the lack of baby farm animals to pet. As I was checking out, I also said "I need a bag of small-animal shavings" (for Radish) so she said OK and rung me up $6.99, not to shabby I'm thinking. She calls the guy in the warehouse and instructs me to pull around back to pick it up (totally a normal thing at Cenex). So I do, but the bag of shavings that arrives is as tall as Natalie and twice as wide! Ello? I live in a townhouse, thanks. And I just know that this thing is going to get knocked over and create the worlds biggest mess in my garage. But hey, it was only $6.99 so I guess I should just buck up right? But come on, it's ridiculously large for one little guinea pig.

Afterwards we headed to MindPort which the kids love and it's only $6 for all of us to go to (vs. oh the say $19 we'd spend at the FIG, had I not bought an annual pass sight unseen). It was a super way to kill a couple of hours before heading home.

Brady's favorite part: the make-your-own tornado.
Natalie and Chocolate. That is my bear that I've had since I was 2. And now she drags it everywhere which both makes me nervous as hell (that's MY bear) and warms my heart (that's my bear). I think I've talked about Chocolate on here before... that Chocolate is real. If you didn't know that, take a look at Chocolate in this picture and you'll see what I'm talking about. That bear is loved.

Love this shot of Little Miss...

Brady brought me over ("close your eyes mom!") to show me what he wrote in the inverted chalkboard... super sweet. Then I wrote him some love notes and you know what? I'm a frigging rockstar at writing inverted. And we all know what a useful skill that can be.

Where the kids always end up: the water feature. Natalie had collected all of the wooden "boats" to send down the river...

My son connecting with his roots, after a quick lesson in washtub bass from yours truly.

Natalie made me a driftwood&rock 'H' for 'Heather'... hey kids save the sweet for next Sunday, get the most bang for your buck!

And a good night group hug. My mad photography skillz return.

On the way home, Natalie found the needle nose pliers I had forgotten in the van while trying to fix something. She proceeded to pinch Brady's side with them which created the most shocking noise I've heard in a very long time. I pulled over to the side of the road out of shock, and hopped out to console Brady who is now NOT breathing he is so upset and then to console Natalie who you could tell she had no idea that she knew what she was up to and was wide eyed with tears spilling over gushing "I'm sorry, I'm sorry". This from the girl who not 5 minutes earlier was telling B "I'm smiling because I love you." Thank god we were just blocks from being home. Good grief!