Saturday, May 23, 2009

Ice Cream Social












Tonight while playing in the backyard I yelled out, "who wants to have an ice cream party?" Everyone was in. I came out with three flavors of ice cream, waffle cones and an ice cream scooper. As I was dishing up the cones, William changed our whole plan. "Mom I think this would be so much more fun if we called it an ice cream social." Genius. And you know what? It was the best ice cream social we have ever had.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Crazy Day...Perfect Night


Summer...well, Spring nights. Babies in swings. Innocent and perfect.



And brothers in a hammock. Best moments in life are the little ones.




Today was Jake's last day of preschool. Like all other good moms, I was "suppossed" to pick him up early, cry, carry on about how much we are going to miss everyone, etc, etc, etc... To sum it up, Naomi and I missed our freeway exit, shocking, considering Ohio has the poorest marked freeways in the history of America. I arrived to pick up Jake 20 minutes late, all children gone, and two teachers waiting for me on the playground. Strike ONE.

I went to pick up William from school a few hours later. En route to his school, I realized that I had forgotten his snack day...today. Five hours ago. O.K. I forgot snack, big deal. Well, this is the FOURTH time this year that I have forgotten snack. I was so worried I was going to forget snack this week, I put it out on the counter on MONDAY. Today was Friday, snack day. Every day I have reminded myself.
There I was. Standing outside the doors of the school, holding two boxes of individually wrapped cheez-its. Five hours too late. Strike TWO.
We got in the car. I asked William if he was mad that I forgot snack...again. His response:
"I am really mad mom. I don't know if I can forgive you."
Strike THREE.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Naomi Turns 1, ONE, UNO...

All day today I was singing to my baby girl. "It's your birthday baby. Nomsi is so big."
Nomsi is another nickname for our 1 year old. So far, she has a plethora of nicknames. She is probably a very confused little toddler.
Her names include:
Naomi
Nomsi
Scout
Ne Ne (pronounced Nay Nay. Yes, like a horse. It's brazillian for baby)
Nomi
Noms
And the great thing is...she responds to all of them. She already knows who she is at such a young age. We are so proud!

I call Nomsi Scout, and James calls her Ne Ne. Since I made the cake, I wrote Scout on it. James, trying to get his two sense in, wrote Ne Ne in sprinkles (it is in sprinkle parentheses right after her name). If you look closely, you can see the work of her loving father, adding his touch to her first birthday cake. We love you Noms.












Thursday, May 14, 2009

We Have a Six Year Old!

On May 7, 2009 William James Ford turned 6. In leau of a birthday cake, William requested Ice Cream only. Scary. He is too much like me. I have never had a birthday cake in my life. I hate cake. Apparently my 6 year old does too. I had to have something to put the candles in, so I made an "ice cream...um..I'm not allowed to use the word cake, so it is called an ummm, ummm an "ice cream surprise."
In the shape of a rocket. I was actually pretty proud of myself. I came up with it all on my own. Chocalate, vanilla and orange sherbet for the fire. It was awesome.

Yeah for good friends to share his birthday with. I am so grateful that we have made such great friends here in Ohio.



Here is William opening up a present. LAMINATED Maps. He already has the cheap paper wall maps, (one of the U.S. and one of the World) but they were in pretty pathetic condition. For turning 6, he was instantly upgraded to the Laminated ones. Yeah for being 6!

Side Note: William Loves Geography. In fact, when I went to pick William up early from school one day, all the kids said, "Bye Map King. Good Bye King of Maps." It was hilarious.



Grandma Cheryl couldn't let William open up all of the presents, so she had to have one for Jake. They each got a new video game for their Leapster/Didj. Can you see the excitement? They were very happy and would have been fine with nothing else the rest of the day.


Yeah for Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Clyde for being here. It was the Best. We love you.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day

I am lucky enoughy to have my mother-in-law here with me. What a great Mother's Day. Not only did I, but all of us got presents. That's what grandmas are for.
Cheryl was nice enough to help me haul the kids away yesterday to take these pictures. We drove for an hour looking for this perfect spot. I got lost. Every time Cheryl visits, I get lost. I am sure that every time she gets in the car with me she just prays that we get back home. She's the best mother-in-law ever. SHe just goes along for the ride and never complains.

I miss my mom. So I am posting our latest pictures for her to remember us. Some days I just wish I could sit on top of the counter in her kitchen and laugh our heads off. Some moms don't let their kids sit on the counter. Morons. Some of the best memories I have ever made are with my mom in the kitchen...sitting on the counter...at midnight. She may not have nice countertops anymore. They probably need to be replaced. But the memories we made talking on the countertops until the darkest hours of the night are worth more than nice things. I hope my countertops are worn out some day. And the memories are the only thing that's left.