No More School...No More Books...No More Teacher's Dirty Looks...

We went out to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Jonathan's completion of his first year of pre-school. Afterwards, we headed to the school for a program. I don't have any pictures from the program because Jonathan was in a bad mood the whole time. It turns out that Jonathan doesn't like to be in front of a crowd...

Jonathan and Mrs. Murphy

Leah and Jonathan

Jonathan made two very good friends (both of whom are moving out of state). You have seen Leah, but I failed to get any pictures of A.J. What a terrible mother. His teacher, Mrs. Murphy, was wonderful. He'll be attending the same school next year, getting ready for kindergarten the following year. Unfortunately Mrs. Murphy is retiring. I hope he will enjoy his next teacher as much as Mrs. Murphy.

He's such a smart boy...I am so proud of him.

Superheros

The boys love pretending to be superheros. Our friend Clay made their dream a reality when he began drawing masks on their faces. They feel very spiffy with their "masks" on.

Can you guess who the boys are? Drew is "Thing" and Jonathan is "Wolverine."

Thanks Clay!

Tuttle Mall

Our family headed down to Marysville to attend a graduation party the end of May. Afterwards, we decided to pay Dublin a visit. We ate at Chipotle and hung out at Tuttle Mall for a while.

Whoever was the first to design a mall with a children's play area needs to be commended. I miss that here. Although, if there were play areas in the malls up here I would probably spend more money...

We topped off the night with a trip to the candy store. The boys were in heaven. Whoever thought of putting a candy store right next to the children's play area should be commended as well. Hmm, there's also a Build-A-Bear workshop right there...Do those marketeers think we parents are stupid??? Wait a second, don't answer that...

Dedicated Baby-Sitters

Abby and Hannah came up from Marysville to watch the boys while we helped move the Jones Family. They were life-savers! The boys truly enjoy their company and were so sad to say good-bye. Thanks guys!

The Great Outdoors

It's always great to spend time with family, especially enjoying the nice weather...

Careful...don't fall in!


The boys enjoyed playing with the lily pads in Nina Tripp's pond. We celebrated Memorial day with Chris's family this year. Ralph fried a bunch of Walleye that he caught in Lake Erie. The boys loved it!



Playing on the water slide is as fun as ever. The boys make my hands sweat sometimes because of how high they jump off the top. I'm afraid they'll not land on the ground, not the slide.



There's nothing quite like being pampered by your grandparents.


Drew decided he needed to rest for a while. I wonder if he would have fallen asleep if left alone?



Weeding is not my favorite job (that would be obvious if you came to my house) so needless to say Mom and I didn't get very far. Dad and Chris (Bobby helped a little, too) ended up power-washing our fence and eventually staining it, all within a week (impressive). It was a dirty job, but it looks great!

What a great brother! Those boys love their jeep. They also love ramming it into the fence. It's a good thing that each 4x4 is cemented in!

The Columbus Zoo

To all of my friends who were about to write my blog off...again...

I was struggling to get the pictures downloaded. Fortunately, I figured it out. Enjoy!

The boys and I had a great day with Beth and the kids at the zoo. Jonathan and Brooklyn hit it off right away (again) and became inseparable (is that the right word??). Drew and Xavier are teetering on the verge of best friendom...they just need to spend more time together.

The weather was beautiful and the company was even better. We would love to do that again soon...What do you think Beth?

Goodbye My Friends

We recently said goodbye to our very close friends, the Jones family. Sam got a job closer to both of their families. I can't fault them for wanting to be closer to family but that didn't make saying goodbye any easier.

We had a farewell party for them at the church, then a couple of days later just our two families went to Chuck E. Cheese's. What an experience! While there we ran into our mutual friend Stacy. It's such a small world.









After helping them pack Chris and I remembered how much we hate moving. I have decided if we ever have to move again I'll insist the new employer pay for a moving company to do it all for us (Chris rolls his eyes every time I tell him this fact).

The Jones' move stirred up some old feelings I thought I had dealt with...Chris and I have always been the ones doing the moving, so I never realized how difficult it was to stay behind. Not only am I dealing with the Jones (and Heim) family moving, but I now realize what we put our friends in Marysville through. I am mourning the loss of my Alliance friends and my Marysville (Columbus) friends all at the same time. I am so sorry friends (my friend...).

On a lighter note...
I guess it's a good thing we are traveling friends. Get ready, Jones family...we're headed your way soon! Canada or bust, eh?

Hanging with the Franks

We recently spent an afternoon with Hunter and Emmerson. We enjoyed a healthy lunch at McDonald's then drove over to one of the city's parks to expend some energy before nap time.




The boys never want to leave after playing with Hunter. We had a great time that day!

Tree Huggers

On the same day that I decided Ohio was an OK place to live we went over to my parents' home to help plant a tree (I had to tell you it was the same day or you would have thought we all only have one outfit). Jonathan had a great time digging for worms while Drew watched a movie inside (can you believe it???). Although he did peel away from the boob tube long enough to look like he helped a bit...



See the house across the street? That's where my sister lives.

Drew loves playing in Papa's truck.


I forget the name of the tree...some kind of flowering plum. That sucker was heavy!

For those of you that don't know, this was my childhood home. I would have never guessed I would be living right behind my parents someday. We have a great yard and I love being so close. I truly think Chris likes it too!

Just call us the "Everybody Loves Raymond" family.

Great Wolf Lodge

We decided to take a quick trip to Great Wolf Lodge this past week. The boys had a fantastic time! Jonathan was incredible. He was able to ride every water slide there (and loved every minute of it). Drew enjoyed the toddler area and was finally convinced to slide down without someone there to catch him. I think Drew's favorite place was the "hot water" (the family hot tub). Thank goodness for chlorine.






My digital camera died half-way through our mini-vacation, so I didn't get some shots that I would have liked to. Needless to say I am in the market for a new camera, so it might be a while before I am able to post a new blog. So long for now, my friends!