A rare day

Today was one of those rare days where I found my children enchanting and adorable and just plain fun!! It doesn't happen everyday, though I wish that it would.
So when it happens, like today, I want to document it.

Alex cracked me up when we were outside sitting on the porch blowing bubbles.
I can't even remember what he said, but it made me laugh.

Samantha colored a beautiful picture of a house and hung it on the fridge. She also did some awesome summer homework with Grammy.

Both of them threw up "I Love You" signs for me and Andy while we were on the stand in church today. Samantha even pumped her fist at me while I was at the podium as if to say, "You go girl!"

Alex was a super awesome helper for daddy and Grampy outside working on the waterfall. He looked like such a big boy crouching beside Grampy making sure everything worked (I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture). He gladly ran back and forth getting everything the big boys asked him to get. Rarely do we find such obedience in that little boy!!

While the boys worked Samantha had games planned for the girls. First, we played freeze tag. Then, musical chairs. And last, hide and seek. For every game of musical chairs that we won we were rewarded with a rock, picked especially by Samantha. She was being so lively and fun!!

Both kids just made me happy to be a mom today! If every day could be like this.......it would be about as close to heaven as I could imagine!
I adore you, Samantha and Alex!!!

What we've been up to.....

We will start with this adorable face: Alex.
Alex has been ROCKIN' his speech therapy and his teacher thinks after June we may be able to take a break and see how he does! I'm still going to enroll him in therapy at the new school in August and if they seem to do a good job I won't have him go back to Paige. She has been wonderful, but she's also very expensive!!
Alex has just been so determined and focused and I couldn't be more proud of him! His stutter is 99% gone, his 's' sounds are almost 100%, and the only sound that really is still a struggle is 'th'. But apparently that is a harder sound for these kids and age just might take care of that. We are still going to practice though.
Alex loves his Razor Scooter and can't wait to be outside playing for the summer. He finished his first year of preschool last week and he did just awesome.

Samantha and her best friend, Lamby.
Samantha graduates from Kindergarten tomorrow! She is so excited to be done and for their little party. She is right on track for starting 1st grade! Unfortunately, she doesn't really enjoy reading, but when you can get her in the mood, she really can do a good job. She is also doing great at math and writing. I can tell already that she is more of the artsy type. She would rather sing and dance and color and draw than just about anything else. And oh boy, you should see this girl dance!!!!
Samantha is super excited for the summer and spending a lot of time at the park with her cousins. She has also made one friend in the neighborhood and I'm sure they will have plenty of playdates. I am going to sign the kids up for another round of swimming lessons sometime soon and then our plan is to sneak back into our townhome pool in Pleasant Grove!! We were the only ones there in the mornings anyways.......and I kept my key!!! Shhhhhh, don't tell!

The above pictures illustrate what I've been up to. Painting! I think it turned out great. It seems that all of my time is used up by this dern house! It's a good thing I love it or I'd been in quite the state! The yard is coming along and we plan to chop a few more trees down this weekend. I'm having to mow the lawn twice a week because the grass is so healthy and pretty and grows like mad! Oh.....and it could be this crazy spring weather full of rain and SNOW! My bird feeder has many, many, many visitors and just yesterday Andy bought me a bird book so I can track what kind of birds visit. I enjoy having the same interests as my grandma and mom. My grandma could tell you about every kind of bird and with just a simple explanation of what color they are she could tell you their name. My mom is the same way. Maybe I will be too, someday.

This is Andy's pizza oven! Every Saturday since we moved in has been pizza night. I think Andy has it figured out now! The pizzas cook quickly and are quite tasty! It's been a lot of fun.
Andy hasn't had to travel too much lately, but now we are going to pay for it. He is going to be gone half of the month of June! First to London, then to Philly, then to NYC. I so totally wish the kids and I could go with him. I'm not even going to mention the fact that the CEO brought up the issue of us moving to London again. It likely won't even get past the talking whimsically phase, so no worries. But it would have to happen now.....after we bought a terrific home in a terrific area. Of course!

Overall, we are happy, healthy, and ready for the summer!!! We are so blessed to be in a home we love with great neighbors. We LOVE our ward! We LOVE our family and plan on spending a lot of time with them this summer! BRING ON BEAR LAKE!!!!
Life rocks!

Morning in the garden

I spent the morning in the yard. My goal was to get the front and back yard mowed. I got the front done. Took forever because the grass was too long and wet (that's what she said) and the mower kept getting clogged. I finally finished it and went for the edger. It broke. I tried and tried to fix it but it kept breaking. So, what does any normal person do when their edger is broken?? Of course! They pick up a hatchet and chop down 3 trees!! I got a blister, but it was a really good workout.
Then I remembered that the 3 trees in front needed to have some branches trimmed, so I did that. I then tried to haul the lawn mower up the side stairs to the backyard. I'm strong, but not that strong. So, needless to say, I didn't finish everything I had set out to do this morning, but I'm sweaty and tired so I must have done some good.

Happy with and proud of the Loveridge family

Today was a good day. Mother's Day is always nice. Andy and the kids treat me pretty great every day, but today they really showed me how much they love me. Andy is even cleaning the kitchen and doing dishes while I rest my sore back in bed and blog.

We got together with my family for dinner at Richele's house to celebrate Mother's Day and my dad's birthday. I got thinking about my family after we got home and how proud I am of everyone. My dad served as a faithful and wonderful bishop of a single's ward for the past 3 years and was released today. He is going to miss those kids so much! And, of course, I know they will miss him because I know he showed them so much love. I am just really proud of my dad!

I'm proud of the wonderful mother's my sisters are as well. I adore their children soooooooo much and it would break my heart if they didn't have mothers who treated them like they deserve. But they do! We love each other's children like our own and I can honestly say that my sisters are my best friends.

And of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to say how lucky I am to have the mom that I have!! She is the best! She is always there for me and my family and my children know, without a doubt, that Grammy adores them and will do anything for them. It's funny how I'm "a grown woman" but still sometimes miss being at home with my mom and having her take care of me. I am so lucky to not only have 2 sisters who I love to be around, but a mom who I love to be around. We talk on the phone probably more than is necessary, but I don't care! There is no one else I'd rather chat with. I love you mom!!!

See???? Don't I have the best family?? And did I mention how cute we all are??? We are one handsome family! I'd post a family picture to prove it if we had a current one!!

We need to put that on our to-do list.

Simply to embarass Andy

In his defense though, he was being sweet and playing dress-up with the kids. I just happened to catch the fun.