March 23-26

March 23 Spring Break is finally over. It was great to have Lance home, but boy was I ready for him to go back to school! The two of them together can be a hand full. Allie and I spent the day at home, not doing much of anything. I had purchased some flowers for the party and this daisy was so pretty. Thought it needed a picture taken of it.

March 24 We have been bad about waiting until the last minute to do homework lately, so I made Lance get on the ball and start it today. I think he is starting to come around to believing me that if we do a little bit each night, it will be a whole lot easier than waiting until Thursday night to have to do it all. I think the "4" (perfect) on his last spelling test helped me out. He was very proud and realized that we worked on it early in the week. Hopefully we can keep it up and he will have more 4s in his future!

March 25 Lance got out the Lincoln Logs he got for his birthday for the first time today. I think he thought they were pretty cool. It took him a minute to figure out how to make them "work", but I have a feeling there will be many forts built over time.

March 26 I really don't take that many fish pics, but this is one of our newest ones that spent the whole weekend hiding so our visitors didn't really get to see her (him??). She is a Parrot fish and I think she is so pretty! She finally came out of hiding once everyone left (figures, just like a kid huh?).

March 26 Not sure these will be the "official" pics of the day, but I had to show them off. Allie got this tutu from our old neighbors who came to the party. We had a mini photo session this afternoon (right before it down poured). We are going to Family BINGO Night this evening at Lance's school, so I hope to get some pics tonight too. If I do, I will add them later.

March 20-22

March 20 Last day of Spring Break and family in town! We went to a new park in Frisco with the mom's club. Lance and Allie had a great time playing with everyone. They thought it was the coolest park ever. It was HUGE and all wood. Their favorite was the sand box. They had so much fun burying each other. At least until another kid accidentally threw a bunch of sand up Allie's nose. Then it was time to go! We picked up Jeff for lunch and went home to wait on Gapga and Juju. While we waited, we invited one of Lance's friends over and the boys (along with another neighbor boy - all about 7) played together outside. They were so good, but I got a good picture of my summer and I am in for a lot of sweaty boy!! They both left when Gapga and Juju got to the house and then we went to dinner with them and Jeff's sister and her family. We had a great time and the kids loved seeing each other.

March 21 One of the reason's family was in town was to go to a wedding of a cousin. They are so cute and the wedding was very "them". This is how they drove off.

March 22 The other reason the family was in town was for the joint family birthday party for the kids. We decided that instead of having two family parties two months apart, we would have one in the middle of the two. All the grandparents made it, along with Jeff's sister and her family, and our neighbors from OKC who have a little girl Lance's age. It was great to have everyone here. Hope it happens more often!!

Oh, I forgot to answer bentonflocke's question about the soccer picture on March 7. All I did was duplicate the layer, applied a big gaussian blur (like 50) and then used a soft brush to erase the parts I wanted kept in focus. I did it mainly because I don't want to post pics of people I don't have permission to post pics of. Although it does give it a cool effect!

March 12-19

March 12 Lance decided to take his lunch for the last day before spring break. He always fixes peanut butter and jelly. Doesn't matter what else is available, that is what he chooses. He is very good about making it though (other than picking up, but what almost seven year old is good at picking up?). He puts all sorts of things in his lunch box. Unfortunately for him, he forgot to take it. He wanted to save it for next week when he goes back, but was told no. Much to his dissapointment!

March 13 We went to the mall for a craft playdate today. I took lots of great pics and loaded them to Jeff's computer and then deleted them from the camera. What I didn't put together until later was that he dumped everything off his computer (along with the pics) and his last back up was before I put the pics on. So, no pics for today. But, I did take them!

March 14 We went to Oklahoma City for a wedding shower and spent today visiting with my parents and Jeff's parents. We had a fun day, but as for the pics... well, see the post above.

March 15 We went with my parents and the kids and the dogs to their neighborhood park to let the kids blow off some energy. Jeff and I took pics of ourselves. Love how this one turned out even though we are not looking our best. LOL

March 16 Well what is spring break for if not for working in the backyard?? We decided to put in a paved patio for the grill and a couple of flower beds along the back of the house. The kids were very helpful and I think we were all sore by the end of the day.
March 17 And here is the final product! LOVE IT! We still have another bed on the other side, but we are still tyring to decide what to do with it. It is nice looking out the bedroom window and seeing pretty color and not just grass.

March 18 We had a treasure hunt playdate today and the kids had a great time! One of the mom's club moms had a bunch of goodies thrown out in the park across from her house. The kids all hunted for treasures and then had snacks. Lance had fun, but was a little dissapointed that there weren't more kids his age. Hopefully he won't gripe as much when we talk about our playdates.

March 19 We got some tulips today and I had to take some pictures of them. They are so pretty.

March 4-11

March 4 Lance started soccer last week. He is doing so much better this season than last. He is starting to get back into his old form. Running with the ball and in the mix rather than behind it. I am so glad he finally decided to play again!

March 5 I noticed that my plant had a flower on it today and grabbed the camera. Then I noticed the strange beads of liquid on it. I still don't know exactly what it is. Kind of like a sap of some kind. Made for a pretty pic though! Hopefully it won't turn into bugs. That would be my luck. LOL

March 6 We went to the park today with the McKinney Mom's Meetup Group. Allie had a blast and found this little lady bug. We have been seeing them all over lately. They are so cute and she loves to watch them.

March 7 The first soccer game of the season! We won!! Not that you keep score in U7, but... Lance had a couple of chances to score, but wasn't quite so lucky. The best one was when a little boy on the other team picked up the ball with his hands in order to prevent a goal. The refs (high-school students) didn't know what to do, so they put the ball at the edge of the goal box and Lance kicked it. The other team blocked it, he kicked it again, but it went out. So close!! I think he was very confused about what on earth was going on and why he was getting a free kick!

March 8 We tried a new Mexican restaurant today. The kids are not huge fans of Mexican and usually grumble about it the whole time. But, we walked in the door and saw the ice cream machine and they were sold. They even told us we could go back! Quite the compliment coming from these two!

March 9 Allie woke up on Friday complaining of leg pain. Being a mom, I worried about it, but figured she slept wrong or something. I watched her all weekend and when she woke up in tears Monday morning, I called the doc. We ended up going to get x-rays and to a lab for blood work (the nurse in the office tried twice to get blood, but couldn't get it, so she sent us to the lab). We stopped by the house to pick up Pinky the Dog to go with us. She was so brave. I asked the x-ray tech if I could take a picture of her laying on the bed. She said it was OK and said it wasn't uncommon for parents to ask! So, when we got to the "place that takes my bleeds" (aka lab), she had to have her pic taken. LOL Both the x-ray techs and the lab techs commented on how good she was. She of course cried with the blood draw, but luckily the lab got it on the first try. We found out the next day that all of her tests came back perfect and that she more than likely has a virus that has attacked the joint. It should go away in the next few days with no lasting side effects. Whew! It was a rough 24 hours for mom and dad, but we are so glad she is OK!!

March 10 Today was open house at school. Lance was so excited about it! He came home talking about it and basically counted down the minutes until it was time to go. He showed off his work in his room and around the school and we went to the book fair and got a couple of books. I took a pic of him next to the research project his group did on Jesse Owens for Black History Month. His part is the top right corner - In high school Jesse won many races. He is pretty proud of himself and so are we. Growing up too fast!!!

March 11 Lance came home from school today and wanted to read his new books so he went to his room and locked the door to keep Allie out. This is what followed. About 30 minutes of screaming. I have no idea how he read anything. I think he might have just done it to get away from her. He finally came down and they spent the rest of the evening playing. She was much happier!

March 1st and 3rd

Well, I did it again and missed a day. ugg!! We have been pretty lazy lately and haven't been out of the house much. Other than taking pics of laundry, which I feel like I do ALL the time, I just haven't had much inspiration. That on top of the feeling like this is the Allie picture blog...Well, let's just say that I am ready for warmer weather so we can at least go to the backyard or maybe take a walk down to the pond. Anyway, here are the pics from Sunday and Tuesday!

I was cleaning up today and decided it was time for the Valentine's Day roses to make their exit. Since I knew how much they cost, I couldn't just throw them away. I have been keeping the flowers from special arrangements since late last year when my grandmother passed. I have them all in a little glass candle holder. Well, it has gotten pretty full and these weren't going to fit if I just threw them in, so I decided to arrange them at the top. It looks really pretty from the side, with all of the different flowers. I love the purple roses on top. It is pretty special to me.


Miss Allie staying up way too late, watching the Ok State Cowboys play basketball. She loves to yell "Go Pokes" with me. Even though she has NO idea what is going on, she gets pretty excited and keeps me company since I am the big basketball fan and hubbie is usually off doing something else. LOL

February 27 and 28

February 27 Allie and Jeff playing Wii Fit. Allie loves to play, but she is so little, it doesn't really recognize her and she really has no clue what to do. So, Jeff, being the good daddy, gets on the floor with her and helps out. She loves it!

February 28 Jeff and I were working together on the computer and had all three of them on the desk and going at the same time. It was ridiculous. I had to get a pic of it.