Soccer friends ...

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boating ..

jeff and cash couldn't stand it any longer .. they had been outside in the sun

working in the yard and listening to "boat music" ..

next thing i know they are pulling thru the gate with the boat .. 

we have to clean it first mom cash says .. 

we can't go out in a dirty boat .. 

so he used a whole brand new can of plexus ..

the boat is clean .. and slippery .. 

i picked ellie up from school just a bit early .. 

note to self .. next time don't wear your swim suit .. 

i am pretty sure everyone knew just where we were going .. 

we packed up the orange pop and goldfish and headed out .. 

we swung by the house and picked up granny .. grandpa and uncle richie to .. 

cash .. watch where you are going .. 

it was a bit windy but still a pretty afternoon  

the plan was to swim .. it changed to just put in our toes .. 

granny and grandpa left on wednesday to ride rangers in arkansas ..

this was our last night with them for awhile ..

eternity if you ask ellie ..

5 days if you ask me .. 

so little ellie was taking it all in .. 

i so hope it stays this way .. forever ..

spring means ..

spring brings lots of things out at our house ..

things besides the singular .. kleenex and snot from our noses .. 

it brings out afternoons laying around the pool with either a 

grape pop or beer .. depending on which kid you are .. the big one or the little ones .. 

weed eaters that never make their way back into the garage .. 

instead they lay around the pool to ..

tree branches trimmed from the red bud ..

thank you uncle richie for putting them into the burn pile for us .. 

dirty mowing clothes from both jeff .. and cash .. 

big hopper mowers and little tricycles .. 

and birthdays with cake  ..

spring is good .. especially the cake part .. 

a top secret note .. from the teacher ..

when i got home last night ellie's first words to me were: 

mom you got an envelope with your name on it from mrs. byrd ..

am i in trouble .. i ask her .. 

i don't think so .. she says .. 

did you do something bad she asks .. 

no i say .. 

then your not in trouble .. she says ..

just open it mom ..

but .. she says

you can't tell me what it says ..

oh .. so it is like a top secret note then i ask ..

i guess so .. 

so i opened the top secret envelope in the other room .. 

mrs. byrd is always thinking of neat ways to encourage her students to do their best ..

she simply asked that we .. the parents of the test takers .. write our test taker a short

sweet and encouraging note on the enclosed 3.5x5.5 index card .. 

below is my sweet note to my test taker .. 

yes i know .. it is more than 1 note card .. and yes it is bigger than a 3.5x5.5 note card ..

actually it is the size of the No. 10 envelope that the top secret note came in .. 

my directions were to put my note back into the envelope and then she would

pass the notes out to the kiddos before they took their test this morning  ..

and no .. all the pages of my note were not just loose in the envelope .. 

they were attached with a brad .. so it was like a book ..

a sweet little encouraging book of a note ..

testing ..

ellie is taking the standardized tests this year .. 

this brings back horrible memories .. i did not like to take these when i was in school ..

coloring in all those bubbles .. listening to the teacher repeat herself over and over again

because roger adams couldn't seem to follow directions .. 

the sitting still and quiet until everyone was done ..

ugh .. it gives me a stomach ache just to think about it .. 

anyway ..

ellie is so excited about these tests .. she can hardly stand it .. 

i am pretty sure that she won't be able to sleep tonight .. 

she has told me that i have to make her a healthy breakfast so she has brain power .. 

because i don't make her a healthy breakfast on all the other days ?????

i so do .. she had a vanilla yogurt smoothie with fresh strawberries and flax seed this morning .. 

what do you call that !!!

anyway .. again .. she is ready for tomorrow ..

 she took a shower right before church class tonight so she wouldn't have to take one when she gets home .. saving us at least 30 minutes .. 

she has laid out her clothes for tomorrow .. comfortable testing taking clothes ..

and her shoes .. 

her bed is all pulled back and ready to go .. 

her night gown and fresh undies are laid out .. ready for her to slip into when she gets home .. 

allie is all ready to help her go to sleep .. 

and her water is fresh and filled .. 

she is so ready !!!

now .. i have to go to bed early because we have standardized testing tomorrow .. 

and i am not ready !!

easter eggs ..

 last friday i dropped the kids off at moms ..

they were going to dye their ester eggs .. 

cash was so excited .. 

evidently you need to wear your overalls when you dye eggs .. 

candy and eggs ..

babies and cows ..

after grammy and pop meet the bird we played with the sweet sweet babies .. 

this in lynleigh .. 

she found aunt diane's bird bath .. 

she was doing just fine with the water until her daddy showed her how to splash 

and then she was all wet .. 

this is wyatt .. and oh my .. 

he stole my heart .. and i am pretty sure that he kept it ..

 i am going to have to find a way to see him again .. 

uncle randy took cash and i on his ranger out to the pasture to see the baby cows ..

i was thinking that we could love on the babies .. like puppies ..

this is not the case .. 

he got one look at me with my camera and this is the look that i got ..

i am pretty sure this is a stay far far away from me lady look .. 

i do not want you to rub my ears ..

i do not have sweet puppy breath ..

stay away ..

what you can't see .. is his very big momma .. and the

reason that you don't see his really big momma was that she started to stroll my way ..

so i moved out of her way ..

very quickly .. that is why there is no picture of her .. 

i get it i told her .. i will stay away from your baby .. 

look pop .. she's all done ..

jeff's aunt nancy from connecticut was in town a few

 weekends ago so aunt diane had everyone over to her place in adiar ..

including grammy and pop ..

they have not seen the t-bird since it has been finished .. not even pictures .. i wouldn't let anyone show them .. jeff and i wanted them to see her in person .. 

so that is what we did .. we left work a bit early and drove her over to adiar .. 

i made jeff ask randy if we were going to go down any dirt roads .. she was all clean ..

and .. bq birds don't go down dirt roads .. not to mention the fact that we had just had about 8 inches of rain and the roads were more muddy than anything else .. 

i will have to say i saw a sparkle in pops eye when he saw her .. 

that of course made him remember all kinds of stories about his mother .. nanny .. and the t-bird 

about how she bought it because her grandson, john liked it the best .. it seems he was the one that picked it out ..

the story about how pop got it up to 101 mph one time was cash's favorite .. 

5 generations of spielmanns have been in the t-bird .. 

nanny .. pop spielmann .. hank .. jeff .. cash and ellie .. 

if that doesn't give you goosebumps ..