Last Day of School (Play Ball!)

Last week on Thursday the boys had the last day of school. They always let out before lunch on the last day so we then go have our last day of school lunch! My only rule is the boys have to agree on where we eat. This is the first year I've had the rule because it's always been just Daryl before.

We sat in the car for a bit and they finally decided on Wendy's. Fine choice by me, I love to dip fries in my chocolate frosty!

The boys have each had two ballgames now. Both of them have great teams and coaches. I'm so happy about how much they are learning! Daryl's team has tied once and lost once. They play kid pitch so the games are very interesting. So far he has played catcher and first base. He is doing great!

Alex is playing his second year of Tee Ball. They don't keep score but he is pretty sure they have won both games. LOL

Ok, I'm off to Manhattan for the rest of the week with some of my 4-H'ers. I will miss the boys' Wednesday games and that makes me sad, but I know they are in good hands with Grandma! Alex said he is going to have Grandma record the game on her phone so I can watch on Facebook. I told him he will have to show her how to do that! :-)

End of School Celebration Lunch! 

We will miss Ms. C.but will see her next year! 

Alex's team is the Dirt Devils! 

Daryl's team is the Blue Jays

My Last Kindergarten Graduation 😢

This year has flown by for my little Alberto. He has been ready to go to school for years, and he loved it! The comment most put in his planner by Ms. Smith was, "Very Chatty today." I think that is teacher code for, "Does your kid ever stop talking? I'm trying to teach here!"

He learned that he loves numbers. He is always adding everything, and he has gotten recognition for his math skills. He does good in his other subjects as well, he can spell bad words very well! If you say a bad word he will say, "You just said H-E-L-L!" He can spell them all....

Having them both in the same school was everything I dreamed it would be. I get two more precious years of one drop off and one pick up. I will cherish that time!

For his graduation question number one was, "Do I get presents?"
Me-"Nope, you get a cake."
Alex-"Can I have a Star Wars cake?"
Me-"Sure"
Alex-"Can it have Darth Vader on it?"
Me-"Maybe but you are getting pretty picky!"

Turns out the only Star Wars cake you can get at Dillons is a Darth Vader cake! Win!! The other thing he was so excited about was getting to Floss in front of everyone. This is a new dance move and has nothing to do with your teeth. He did do that, and he was spectacular! I think he should Floss at every graduation from here on out!

Ok, I'm out to a tee ball game. Mommin' never stops!

He loved his cake! 

My boys in the McCarter purple! Yes, I dress them matching for everything.
I'm the mom and that is my right! 

Tour De Beir 2018

I'm fairly new to biking so when asked if I wanted to do a 15 mile ride with beer stops I said, "Heck Ya!"

Then I started to doubt myself when I was reminded that Kansas City has a lot of hills. My doubt was not helped by the fact that is was raining hard when we got to the starting point. However, since a registration was paid, and food and drinks were waiting, I did it!

It actually stopped raining around the second of five breweries so it turned out to be a really fun ride. I definetly want to do this one again!

Last week I also tried to get back in the running grove. I'm positive this will take more than a week to accomplish. However, I did get out four mornings and logged a little over 10 miles for the week! I  made it out the door this morning too. The weather has been great for morning runs. I'm not concerened with mileage at this point. I just want to get out the door and go!

Yay for Spring weather and getting outside to do all the things! I need to find a race to sign up for to keep my motivation up!

This was the weather when we arrived. Boooooo
Thankfully there was a bridge that we waited under to start! 

My favorite brewery in Kansas City is Emperial.
I was so glad it was one of our stops! I already knew my order here. 

All done! I sent this picture to my mom to let her know I had finished.
She replied "You don't look drunk." Thanks Mom, you do realize we still had to ride a bike?! 

Meal at the finish line. They ran out of burgers so the chicken sandwich had to do. 

My run this morning. It's a start! 

World's Okayest Mom

I saw a shirt once that read, "World's Okayest Mom." I should have bought it. I need it! It sums up my parenting style of wanting them to be happy and healthy, but not really monitoring their vegetable intake. It also relates to how I want them to have many friends, but we can rarely make a play date.

I am happy living in the land of my kids are bathed, teeth are brushed 90% of the time and they have been fed. It may have been breakfast cereal, but they are not hungry. I think that makes me an Okay mom.

So I LOVE when I get the letters they write on Mother's day. Because above is how I see myself, it is so much fun to read how they see me.

My favorite line of Daryl's letter was, "I love you even when I say you are mean, because you are helping me learn life." (Dang straight I'm teaching you life!)

My favorite line of Alex's paper was, "My mom is good at Doing Laundry!" I actually folded the next basket with pride, because dang it, I'm good at it!

I love my D and Alberto. I'm glad that I am their mom. I'm not the best mom, but I think I'm doing Okay! :-)

You are not missing anything, he only had 5 things! LOL 

My letter From Daryl

More From Alex 

I've been waiting for mother's day because that means I kept last year's plant alive!
For an entire year! It even grew a little!

Bikes, Bride and Baptism (A Meerpohl Weekend)

It seems these days our weekends go one of two ways. First, we have nothing, and we play catch up on house stuff. This type of weekend is becoming rarer. Second, we do all of the things! We go and go, school and work on Monday morning seems like a break! LOL 

This past weekend was the second kind. Thankfully, everything on the docket was lots of fun. Mom and I split the house on Friday after school. She took Alex and Purl to my sister's and Daryl and I stayed behind. We needed something to fill our Friday night, so we went to Lawrence to ride bikes! Daryl had so much fun, it will have to happen again. He does need a new bike though, he has outgrown his. 

On Saturday, Daryl and I headed southwest to attend my friend Lindsey's wedding. It was an outdoor ceremony, and everything was just perfect! Daryl was my wedding date and a very dapper one at that. He was impressing the 4-H Agents at our table with his political aspirations. While they were not all democrats they promised him their votes. So, he was pretty happy about that! 

After the wedding we drove one more hour to meet mom and Alex at my sister's house. Sunday morning, we all went to church to see my niece Cadence be baptized. I'm glad that I could be there for her, and both boys thought it looked pretty fun to be dunked in a pool! Cadence might have a different story because the water was cold! I told mom that was my church visit for the year. But now that I think about it, that service was two hours long. So, I'm good till 2020! 

All the cousins  that were at church!

Dunked! 

Alex has his ornery grin on! 

My wedding date! 

Thumbs up for riding bikes! He was ready to hit the trails with Jeff,
but mom made his stay on the levee. Moms can be the worst!

Here we come May!

School is still in session, but we are in full summer mode! I've mowed the lawn for the first time of the year, the boys are playing baseball and work is ramping up. This time is hard work, but it is also a lot of fun! 

School is also having a lot of activities including field trips and fun days. Alex had a pajama day last Friday. That alwasy makes me giggle because the boys have one pair of pajamas that they both use for pajama day. Their real pajamas are underwear, and I'm sure the school appreciates I don't send them in that for pajama day! 

Alex's field trip was awhile ago to the Kansas History Museum, Daryl went to Yaegar stadium at Washburn last week for his trip. He loved it, they even got shirts from Hy-Vee. More pillow material! Speaking of that we need to make a to do list for his 4-H projects. I do not want to be stressing out the week of the fair this year! 

I was playing with livestock all weekend at our annual 4-H Spring Show. It is a long weekend, but worth it to see the youth with their animals. Next big 4-H project is camp in June, I can't wait! 

Spring Show! We had a great beef show this year. 

The pajamas we only wear on pajama day at school! 

My new favorite beer. It is soooo good if you have been outside all day.