What a Weekend

It was a slap back to reality when I realized that Landon still had school after our carefree summer fun weekend. It started with fun days at school for both kids. Lucy had her year end party at pdo which marked her official end of the school year. I dropped her off as usual in car pool and headed back up there around 11 for the big "partay"! Lucy has a great year of school and had the best teachers ever! She constantly talks about Ms Lisa and Ms Morgan and I couldn't have asked for better teachers this year!






She made lots of friends one of which she just loves...Miss Evey! These girls are a mess and we got notes every day about her playing dolls, or kitchen or playing on the playground with Evey. I also heard lots of stories about these girls and their wild ways! :) They would sit in the circle tunnel thingy on the playground and take their shoes off and throw them through the holes. And since they have both been potty trained lately, they would go potty together...all day! When one would go, the other would go, and vice versa. I think Ms. Morgan told me for the past couple of weeks they pretty much have spent their days in the bathroom! ha! We hope to have lots of play dates this summer with Evey!



Next year, Lynlee will have Ms. Lisa and Ms. Morgan, along with about half of the other siblings of Lucy's class, one of which is Evey's little brother. So, these little blue eyed babies got aquanited during the party. :)





After, Lucy's party, I dropped the girls off at Ash's office and made my way over to Landon's school for May Day Play Day! This is a play day on steroids!







I manned the sponge race, which was super duper easy. I pretty much chatted with the other volunteer moms and snapped pictures....Landon's class won!














So, this is how our weekend started. That night we ended up having an impromptu get together with some of our favorite friends, made a stop at Yogurt Lab (yum) and then enjoyed a few beverages into the late night. Saturday morning came and went and we just piddled around the house. By mid afternoon, we were all antsy and decided to drive up to the Gardendale splash pad. This was our first visit and I can tell you it won't be the last. The kids had a blast...

















even Lynlee...











and just as we were leaving the ice cream truck showed up. My kids were in pure bliss! So, for all my birmingham area friends, its a quick drive up 65 to Feildstown Road exit, take a left and the park will be on your right...can't miss it! We will be making several trips up over the summer.

On Sunday, our sweet friends invited us to their lake house for the day at Highlands Lake. So after church the kids and I made our way up. It was a pretty drive and just under an hour. And the weather could not have been more beautiful! We all changed into our swimming suits and enjoyed the day...

















laying out, swimming, grilling, fishing, feeding the fish, riding the seadoo. My little dare devil, didn't hesitate a bit on the seadoo riding and kept asking to "go again"





And Lynlee was good as gold playing in her pack n play in the shade.



She had plenty of company...



It was a perfect start to our summer almost summer. Landon has just 3 more days of school and we can't wait for all our days to be lazy, care free and fun filled!

End of Year Teacher Gifts

As the end of the school year approaches, the busier my calendar gets. Between various feild trips, May Day Play Day, End of Year Parties, teacher gifts, etc, etc I'm am stressed with all the various "events" going on. Anyhow, I know that each of my children's teachers will be getting a generous gift card that every family pitched in for, but I like to give a little extra something to show my appreciation for everything they have done throughout the year. I am the first to admit, I am not the most active mother at school, in fact, I'm really quite detatched from the hustle and bustle of school activities. I'll help out for the major things, but the rest of it, flies under my radar. Anyhow, I have been brainstorming for a cute gift that our teachers could actually enjoy and get some use out of and while I was filling a prescription, I found it, at none other than Wal-Greens.

Now, you may have heard me go on about Wal-Greens but I swear to goodness, they have everything you could ever need. I'll go in looking for the most random of things, and sure enough, I'll find it at Wal-Greens. Anyhow, I came upon these towels for only $8.



They are actually big towels and really soft. So, I monogrammed it with our teachers last name (so the whole family could use it) and rolled it back up...



and stuck these cute flip flips on top priced between $1.99 - $2.99, and perfect for the pool...



and I rolled up an In Touch Magazine for its pure trashy gossipy goodness (and a People for Landon's teacher, since she's a little bit older :) ...



and tied it all up with some cute ribbon.



I had Landon write a note and Lucy drew a picture to stick with it, and thats it...a really cute personalized gift for our favorite teachers this year.








And all for under $15. If it's in your budget you could also include a gift certificate for a pedicure, manicure, or both :)




I'm not a teacher nor do I ever have the desire to be one. So, I am most sincere when I say thank you to all the teachers out there, thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do!

LAX

Our first season of Lacrosse came to an end this weekend and what a season it was.  For starters, it was Landon's first time to play lacrosse.  I'm not sure what made him want to play, but he came home right before I was going to sign him up for baseball and told me "baseball's boring, I wanna play Lacrosse".  I was caught off guard since Landon has loved baseball every season he has played but I was rather excited too, because baseball can be so boring.  Anyhow, I gave it a few days just to be sure but he insisted on lacrosse, so we signed him up.



Now, I know I'm not the only one in the south who doesn't didn't have a clue about this game.  I had to call a cousin to get lessons on what equipment to buy, ha!  But, I picked up the basics of the game and quickly learned how awesome this sport is!  For starters, the clock runs continuosly, doesn't stop unless there's an injury, which is nice with a two year old and a baby on the sideline.  :)  And secondly, the larosse practice feilds are down the street from us.  Now, you have to be familiar with Birmingham to know how miserable it is to live in my area and have to drive all the way to Liberty Park for all the sports facilities for Vestavia Hills.  This year I caught a break, because sure enough, they just finished building brand new lacrosse feilds way out there.  And in all honestly, drive or no drive, those feilds are freakin nice!  :)



Anyhow, in his usual sports obsessed athlete self, Landon picked up the sport and had the rules down within a couple of weeks of practice.  His position was middie and he was pretty darn good at it.









That's the only position that can go all over the feild.   And thats the only position that can play defense and offense.  Perfect for my boy that loves to tackle but also likes the glory of scoring.  :)





It took him a few games to get the hang of shooting the ball, 4 games to be exact, but once he had it, he had it. 



When the regular season was over he was asked along with 2 other teammates to join a team representing Alabama for a lacrosse tournament in Georgia.  Unfortunately, I brought my camera but forgot my camera card and didn't get a single picture from the tournament...boo!  But, the team did great and had a blast.  They lost all 4 games, but were up against new rules, much smaller feilds, and older teams.  And their improvement from the first game to the last game was remarkable.  The tournament marked the end of our spring season and Landon is already asking for more.  So, I'm off to research lacrosse camps!

A Loss For Words

Its been over a week now since the tornado outbreak, but I am still in shock and disbelief over the destruction in this area and throughout the state.  It is devastating and so so sad.  A girlfriend and I went to Tuscaloosa last Friday to volunteer.  Nothing could have prepared us for what we were going to see.

(A Chevron off of 15th Sreet)

(The Krispy Kreme building off McFarland)

(A metal billboard pole bent at the bottom)


(15th Street sign, found 5 blocks over)

We ended up  walking right into my friends cousin who was helping his friend, a UA student rumage through what was left of her house and belongings.  We joined the effort.






Her neighbors who survived were doing the same thing and the neighbors stories who did not survive were told.  This is the house of a neighbor right across the street from where we were helping.  She ws hunkered down in her bathroom tub with her dog and 2 cats and was able to walk out after it passed...amazing!




This is the house of the neighbor right next door, he and his wife hunkered down in a closet and were completely fine.





Sadly, not all stories have good endings.  This is a lot where a house once stood. 




It was lifted completely off its foundation and thrown across the street...



Sadly, four students were in the house, three perished (two UA students and a freind that was visiting) and one walked away with minor injuries.  Its really quite amazing that there aren't more unfortunate stories such as that one. It's hard to believe that anyone could survive this...















However, seeing how so many people have stepped up in one way or another is amazing.  In Tuscaloosa their were dozens of indivuduals, students, and small groups walking or driving around handing out bottled water and sack lunches or simply asking if you needed help to those in the clean up effort. 







There were hundreds at St. Mattheis Episcopal Church, the volunteer headquarters in Tuscaloosa, who just showed up asking what they could do.  One young man, a colleger student from Ole Miss, drove down by himself and signed up to help for the day.  In fact, by mid day they had too many people volunteering, if you can believe that.  On Saturday morning, here in Birmingham, the traffic was insane due to all the people on there way to volunteer.  And the churches response has been unbelievable, immediate and continuous from the very beginning.   Amid all the destruction and ruin, there is still is so much good!

(A rainbow over Tuscaloos after the storm)

Here are two great links on ways to volunteer for tornado disaster relief, Hands on Birmingham and Christian Service Mission. I have heard numerous people have great expereinces through them both.


"Praise be to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all of our troubles,
so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 
For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives,
so also through Christ our comfort overflows"

2 Corinthians 1:3-5