Horses!

After our 13 holes of golf we spent some time walking around the farm looking at sculptures, feeding horses and chasing goats....

This was an awesome fire pit that you can rent for $20 and you get 3 hours of firewood... how fun would that be?

This is a sweet wooden boat, Dad loved this thing.

This was my favorite sculpture by far, it moved with the wind, the circles go around and it turns... really cool.

A little put-put with the Grandparents

The girls and I spent a few days in Minnesota visiting Grandma and Grandpa Divine while Daddy was in Madison for his dad's surgery.  Grandma found a sculpture garden miniatue golf course and there was a hobby farm there as well... goats, horses and even a few chickens running around.  The place could use a little sprucing up but we had fun and the sculptures were really cool.  Somebody has put a lot of time and money into these sculptures, now if they just used a little round-up, it would be beautiful!

Inside the boat.. hole number 7.

The baby goats were so cute and would just roam around the golf course.

This was a metal "plinko" the golf balls would come down.

I loved this table, the umbrella was so cool.

The Last Day of School

It is May 18th and today is the last day of school. I complained in the beginning of the year when we started school on August 15th but now that it's mid-May and the weather is fabulous, I am glad we are done. I am ready for lazy days (or busy, but only if we choose it) and no schedules.

Elise is now by big 2nd Grader!

My "baby" Lauren is movin' on to First Grade... sniff sniff.

The girls were all so excited because "us parents" haven't let the kids wear flip flops to school for safety reasons but today, we let them and they were so excited.  It's the little things in life that keep them happy.

Giada and Gabbi Grimes, Jayden Davis, Geanie and Gia Bruschetta, Ella Murphy, and the Hubbard girls at the bus stop.  (Nathan Davis was there but he doesn't like his picture taken)

Getting the sillies out... the poor teachers on the last day... it is utter chaos I am sure.

A little love from my girls

So my girls worked really hard on their Mother's Day gifts and on Sunday morning as we are getting ready for church I hear this from downstairs..."MOM, DON'T COME DOWN HERE".  So I smiled and said no problem and to let me know when it was safe to come down.  Once I got the okay, this is what I found.....

Elise had made me a bouquet of flowers.  And the best part is these will never die.  She worked really hard and I love it.  Then the girls handed me the rest of their beautiful artwork.  The next few photos are from Elise.

And when you flip it upside down it says "WOW"


Miss Lauren made the next few photos...

On Mother's Day I was a little tearful in church for various reasons, first being, Pastor Burcham's daughter sang a song to her mom called " A Mother's Blessing" which was beautiful... and yes, I am a sap.  Then the message went on about how our mothers leave a legacy without even trying and how they teach us things just by doing, not necessarily by sitting us down and saying "you need to do this".  We just watch them and learn from them and then we find ourselves doing those things when we are older because that's what we did when WE were kids.  It was an amazing message and really hit home with me because I only had a short 15 years with my mom and I find myself doing things that she did or my Aunt Joyce did (her identical twin) and I realize that she had a bigger impact on me that I think I realize.  The last thing that really made me lose it was yesterday morning before school Elise was asking me how my mom died.  I tried to explain what an aneurysm and stroke were in 7 year old language like " her brain had an owie and the brain tells the rest of our body how to work so when the brain doesn't work, nothing else can work."  She seemed to understand and then she went on to say with tears in her eyes.  "Did you get to hug her and hold her hand and say good-bye?"  As tears are falling from my eyes in sadness and AMAZEMENT from this little 7 year old brain, I replied with "Yes I did get to say good-bye and for that I thankful, and I know that she is watching us from Heaven and she can't wait for the day to meet you and your sister and your Daddy too."

Of course we ended the conversation with "How can she see through the roof in the house? Maybe the roof comes off and she can see us but it doesn't REALLY come off because that would be weird."  I love this kid!

Happy Mothers Day

Another fun Mothers Day.  We started our day going to church and the day turned out beautiful, so the kids were outside all afternoon, I was in the house with PEACE and QUIET!  I even snuck a little cat nap in, can't remember the last time I did that.  Eric told me I was snoring, but I don't snore so not sure what that was all about.  We ended our day over at Roger and Sharon's.  Eric and Roger were in charge of making us dinner so we had grilled pork tenderloin (yummy), strawberries, green beans and chips and dip.  It was great.  We also had a small birthday party for Lauren since Grandma and Grandpa were in Florida on her birthday.  It was a really nice and relaxing day.

The girls are all about making funny faces.

Eric and his mom, Sharon.  Look how tan she still is from Florida... jealous!