T-ball and the Terrells

A friend of ours and I decided to sign our daughters up for t-ball this year. We wanted to see how it would go. It went. Elena did a good job when she was in the mood, the rest of the time was either spent digging in the dirt on the infield or hunting for snacks in the dugout. I didn't actually get to watch a lot of the games because Lucas was insistent upon being next to the stream where he could spend the entire hour throwing rocks. I must add, I was impressed by his throwing abilities.

I think Elena was most excited by the end where they would line up to give high-5's and then huddle for the team cheer. Can you imagine 12 little 3 and 4 year olds chanting "1, 2, 3 Maniacs." Yes, that was their appropriate team name. The Li'l Maniacs.

Renovation Realities

Well, it won't make a very interesting episode of "Renovation Realities" on HGTV, but hopefully it would qualify for "Bang for your Buck." I'm referring to our recent kitchen undertaking, or rather overhaul. The story: basically, we scrimped and saved our change in a special jar (Huntington Bank) and called in our oh so useful family members, and this week we accomplished our goal of remodeling our outdated and almost dilapidated kitchen. There were some re-plumbing and re-wiring issues, but I left that to the pros (i.e. my dad and his friend), and other than a few manageable glitches the project went very smoothly. Here are some befores and afters (hopefully you will be able to differentiate between the two):

(I even included the "before" mess)

The pics don't do the job justice, but I'm really happy with the way the project turned out. With the exception of a few finishing details and a new stove (keeping fingers crossed that the jar has a little left in it), our kitchen is done. We were able to get it all done in about a week. Thank heavens! I'm ready to cook up a storm and have you all over.

Preschool wrap-up

Elena loved preschool, I loved preschool, all around it was a great situation. The kids were all great friends (we've even set up a weekly play group for the summer), the teachers were saints sent straight from heaven. Here are a few pictures from their end-of-year party.

Lucas enjoying the sandbox.
Parachute game (Elena prancing around the perimeter)

The card I made for each of the teachers

Bowling
The swings

Each t-shirt has the hand print of every kid in the class.

A few of the kids with Miss Stefanie

A few cards

Here are a few cards I have made recently. The aren't fancy, but maybe that will inspire someone. The first I made for my niece's birthday, and the others I put together as a gift for my "secret sister" at church.