SaM iS seVeN!!!

I can't believe I have a seven year old! It is crazy how fast Samuel T. is growing up and starting to use phrases like, Totally Awesome, the coolest and all of his friends are now named Dude.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Sam was so "Ack"cited to turn 7! He counted down forever and then the morning that it actually happened he came bursting into our room before 6 a.m. to ask if he could "cuddle in" and if we were, '"ack"cited that I am now actually 7.' Later that morning he joined me outside to do yardwork and ran down the driveway with his hands in the air and yelled, "Hip-hip-hooray! I'm seven today!"
How did I get so lucky to be his momma?

Call Me Mr. Pickles. . .

Today has been very long! I haven't been feeling well so I went to a Dr. appointment instead of taking my kids to swimming lessons. They were excited to spend that time at Danny's office with him. Danny works in an office full of all kinds of toys and crazy contraptions so my kids are in heaven when they get to visit him.
Afterwards I met my friend Christi at her country club to let the kids swim for a little while. When we were done there we decided to go back to Christi's house and eat Subway sandwiches for dinner. This is where our day really took a turn. . .

I took Emi, Becca and Sierra and Alexis Gervasi home to Christi's house and Sam opted to go with Christi to pick up her daughter Sarah from fencing camp. She was ready to leave ahead of us and when she asked about Sam's booster seat I just waved her on and said he would be fine.
The girl's and I were at the house for probably 30 minutes when my cellphone rang and I noticed that Christi's name was on the caller I.D. I thought she was going to ask what kind of sandwiches my kids would eat but as soon as I heard her I knew something was wrong.
She said, "Sarah, we have been in a really bad car accident". . . and then emotional silence. My mind flashed with images of my broken Sam and it screamed, "He didn't have his car seat. What about Sam? She can't tell me. She can't tell me. Is he okay?"
The only thing I actually said is "What?" And she repeated that they had been in a car accident and then she let me know that Sam was fine and that I needed to come and get them. She told me where they were and I was instantly grateful but so, so emotional and all I wanted to do was see my Sam.
I told the girls what had happened, managing to not be too emotional, and then I left them to race to the accident scene. I was a mess! I called Danny on the way. I didn't want him to have even those few seconds I had just experienced when I thought we might have lost our Sam so I started out letting him know that he was okay but that there had been an accident. He was on his way to play laser tag with his team from work but rerouted to meet me to get Sam.
When I got to the accident there was a firetruck, ambulance and several police cars. I saw a maroon CRV slammed into the side of Christi's CRV and it was bad. A 17 year old girl had made a left turn right into the side of Christi when she was just crossing through the intersection with a green light. I didn't even know where to go because the intersection was so crowded. I turned down a side street and drove right into the accident scene. I saw Sam sitting on the grass by the sidewalk with Sarah and a firefighter and motioned that he was mine so they let me park right along side it all. Christi was being evaluated in the ambulance. She only had a burn on one of her thumbs and a sore chest from the airbag. Later she started getting really sore but is doing well.
Sam ran up to me and said, "Here I am. Aren't you glad I'm not dead?" I couldn't help but laugh at him and then hug, and cuddle and love him to pieces. He was really hyper and telling me about all the smoke that was in the car and how he got a burn on his neck from the seat belt but that it was now all healed. He then said, "You know if I wouldn't have gone with Christi, I wouldn't have gotten in a car accident. Maybe that would have been a good idea." Silly boy.
We had to hang around for awhile and finish making accident reports as they decided to take the 17 year old to the hospital to treat the burns the airbag left on her arms.
It was very comforting that the officer processing the scene was actually Greg Kerr who just recently moved out of our ward. He told me that Sam had been able to give him all of his information. Right before we left Christi and Sarah told be about that interview. When he asked Sam his name he said, "Samuel T., but I like Sam or if you want you can call me Mr. Pickles."
Silly boy :-) I think I need to go give him another hug!!!

Goody Goody Gumdrops!

So, I started a new blog. Not that I post on this one enough, but I got inspired by someone else's baking blog and wanted to start one of my own. I love, love, love to make food that looks and tastes good and serve it to people who love to eat it. Hopefully it will be just as fun sharing digitally. So all interested parties check out:
Cuppycakesandmilkshakes.blogspot.com

Super Busy!

If you continue reading you will probably see why I haven't posted for awhile. We have been super busy!!! I still have super cute pictures and stories about baseball and hope to share those soon! For some reason all of the pictures we took sideways but rotated in our files appear sideways in all of the slides. Hopefully you all don't get a crick in your neck! :-)

Family Fun Day...Hip,Hip,Hooray!!!

Soccer this year was fun but crazy! We hardly ever had a warm or dry day until the last game. The kids were signed up for baseball also and for some reason this year they overlapped, making our schedule very full. Murphy's law would have it that Sam's baseball and soccer practices were scheduled for the exact same time on the same nights and that would be ditto for Emily. It would have worked if they would have had opposite practices on opposite nights and Danny and I would have just ran in two directions, but alas, we just had to go every other practice. So to say the least it is kind of a relief that it is over.

We really liked Emi's coaches this season. Celest Lee was super energetic, taught them a lot and ran all over the field with them, all while being quite pregnant and the assistant coach had a cool English accent! (The accent made it all seem a little more legit.) It was also so cute to see all of these little five year old girls play together.

Preschool at the Park

On Wednesday, May 30th, I got to go on a Field Trip with Emily's Preschool class to a really cool Park, Prestin's Hope. It is totally handicap accessible and was built after the wish of a little boy who wanted to play with the other children at the park. You could imagine how hard that would be on most playgrounds if you are in a wheelchair. Anyway, It is incredible. Emily was so excited to go on a school bus. She also loved the little stage area that looks like a castle and had to perform, "A Dream Come True," an original impromptu screenplay by Emily Parks. It is hard to hear but she is singing about being beautiful and marrying a prince "tonight!"
She also enjoyed just spending time with her little friends.

Memorial Day 08

I LOVE Memorial Day weekend! I grew up rising with the sun and going to a reunion of families and friends and long lost neighbors that took place at the Fairview cemetery just up the hill. I loved going and looking at all of the interesting headstones that told stories of people from the past. I loved hearing taps and the 21 gun salute performed by the local vets. I loved hearing the stories of grandparents and great grandparents, my great-uncle, Big Bal, who was killed at 24 in WWII just days before it ended. I loved visiting my Daddy...(Thanks Katie, for visiting this year and sharing pictures.

I loved how my life felt connected to the past. And...
I loved that it meant SUMMER!!! We were always out of school before Memorial Day. (None of this having to go back for another week and a half of hot classrooms.)
Needless to say I was giddy all weekend, despite the fact that I missed the reunion this year and my kids had school on Tuesday.
We started out the weekend planning and planting a little garden plot. You have to plant something on Memorial Day weekend or it is just not Memorial Day.

If you are interested in the commentary make sure you put your cursor on each picture.

Saturday we had two yards of topsoil delivered and the kids literally embraced the experience. When our neighbor Janine came over we laughed at Sam who was laying across the top of the pile hugging the dirt. They did a good job of helping us haul it to various parts of the yard and of trampling it down and giggling as it tickled their bare feet. We ended the day soaping up in a full tub of clean water.

Sunday we went to a neighborhood cookout and the kids played and of course got filthy.

Monday morning started with the South Euclid parade. Both Sam and Emily got to march with their baseball teams and were sooooooooo excited to finally get to throw candy at all of the parade watchers. We bought a giant Costco bag of Tootsie rolls and Laughy Taffies and it was gone before the parade was half over. Danny stayed with the kids and I walked on my own passing out Pampered Chef recipe cards with my info on them. I made 300 and also ran out before I had finished half of the parade. It must run in the family.
We ended the day at our house with a small cookout and a few friends and then again soaked our pigs in a warm soapy tub. I love SUMMER!!!

Camouflage, Armor and Stuff

Last week after church Sam decided to get out his MACHINE NERF GUN that shoots ten repeated rounds and that Emily was his natural enemy that he should battle. He told her, "Emi get that dress off, this battle is only for Camouflage, Armor and Stuff."

The cute and obliging sister that she is obediently went up to change and I guess the pterodactyl suit was the closest thing she could find to camouflage.


Sam made sure that they both had on safety goggles, stored all of his extra ammo on the back of his vest and then they had the following conversation.


Emi: "What about me? I need some bullets!"
Sam: "Okay but just one."
Emi: "Cool!"
Mom: ;-( "Sam if you are going to battle your little sister you have to do a better job at sharing."
(Did I actually say that? I have never been one to stifle their imaginations but when I actually see it in black and white it looks like one more mother of the year moment to add to me resume ((And now I am speaking with an Irish accent)) :-)
I think she ended up with 3 rounds compared to his 17.

They ended up spending a lot more time preparing for the battle then on the actual battle itself. Emily was a little too smart to stick around after the first ten rounds went off.