Bits and Bobs

Down to the final stages of getting the backsplash in...

 Our view doesn't suck this time of year (or ever)

 Did you really think I could get through the update without a track photo?

 All those days taking photos on the track have left me with permanent "socks"...

 We visited the Temple of Time.  Built to help heal the city of Parkland after last years massacre it was opened on the first anniversary of the shooting.  It is built entirely of wood and over the past 3 months, people have covered it in messages of healing and hope.  This past Saturday, it was burned to the ground (this was always the intention) to release the anger and pain that has haunted many since that day.

 She tried to give the tooth fairy a break.  And then set a pretty rigid schedule :)

 Papa came home for the week!!!

We have a large open floorplan to our house.  It is fantastic - except when trying to watch tv.  There are two tv's on the same wall, one upstairs and one downstairs.  With a two-story entry and a two-story living room both with no solid walls, it makes soundproofing difficult.  So we enclosed the arches to solve the problem.  Now if we could just get our furniture so we could sit upstairs...

Seems a bit dangerous to me but thankfully I didn't have to do it.

 So. Much. Better.

 A bit of cleaning out of my plant beds out back.  This is only 2 plants!  They were choking my gardenia plants and not allowing them to bloom.  Amazingly, we had new blooms the very next day!

 She has been going to school early every Friday for months to prepare for this!  We were so happy Papa was in town to catch the show!

 He also got to watch MadHatter at her track meet!  And win a medal.

 Isn't this how we all watch movies?

 My smiley, happy Dulce.

 And my silly Dulce thanks to MadHatter.

Happy Mother's Day

 First and Foremost - Happy Mother's Day to mine!

They let me sleep in.  They let me laze around all day.  They made me dinner and they bought me my favorite cake (red velvet).  But most of all they took time to make some pretty incredible gifts that I will treasure forever!  I love being a mom to these two!

 My favorite may be the one she underlined!  It makes me realize I am doing ok at the job of mine.

 This one makes me smile.

 This one makes me laugh...

Hoppy Easter EveryBunny

It was a whirlwind of an Easter.  Nana and Grampa were visiting and we were in the middle of putting up a backsplash in the kitchen.  MadHatter was trying to recover from being sick for the past 10 days and still compete in a track meet.  We needed to dye eggs.  We were busy to say the least.  But we got it all done.  And I snapped a picture or 5.  Literally - it is all I took.  So here is a look at our first Easter in our new house.  The first one in the U.S. in 8 years.  And the first one without a hotel room egg hunt in many moons (which made the Easter Bunny very happy!)

Bits and Bobs

Mostly what we have going on around here lately is track practice, gymnastics, track meets and more practice.  Rinse and repeat.  But every once in a while something new pops into that schedule.  And here is proof...

We not only have the giant lizards but we also get the tiny gekkos that hang out on our back deck.

Told me she found her parking spot, now she just needs a car :)

We spend a lot of time here watching the sun set...

School Spring pictures.  Why?  Just Why?  And on top of that their cheapest package was $25.  I'd be willing to pay it if...

1. They took two seconds to make sure that my kids looked even halfway decent and not scary (or with a totally forced smile)
2. We didn't just have almost the exact same pictures taken of them at the beginning of the year.
3. I wasn't a photographer who could take better pictures than these with my cell phone.  

We spend a lot of time at track meets - like 9-10 hours every Saturday so no compilation of photos depicting our month would be complete without at least one shot of MadHatter doing her thing.  She won 1st place here with a jump of 14' 1". 

 Someone was picked by her teachers as Student of the Month!

We had an invasion of dragonflies.  There were thousands of them all over the trees and the lawns in our neighborhood. 

DIY project.  I bought all of the supplies to do this about 5 months ago and then just could never find a full weekend that I wanted to devote to it.  When Nana and Grampa came for Easter, they finally said it must be done so we got to work.  I am still not finished though as I need to find the time to seal and caulk it...Maybe in 5 more months :)

Bits and Bobs

Some random goings on in late March...

This disaster has been driving me nuts for months!  I clean it up and yet it always looks like this 5 minutes later.  Finally, I did something about it...

So. Much. Better.

This one had to have a tooth removed because she is not smart enough to not chew on rocks that will crack her teeth.  After the surgery, they gave her laser treatments to speed healing.  She looked fancy in her glasses.

Stinkerbell had to create a pizza for the fractions math unit at school.  I think it turned out fantastic.

The little one was sick after coming back from Breck.  I prescribed some sunshine by the pool.  Neither of them complained.  And if you wonder what MadHatter is doing - she is cleaning the pool.  With her own personal pool skimmer.  She is a fanatic about a clean pool.

 This one got a new look (an older one if I do say so myself)

 Thank you for the cool diamond painting kits A!!!