Week of April 21-27

I'm doing a fundraiser on behalf of a deprived little boy. He's 3 years old and quite active and healthy. The problem is that he doesn't have his own scooter. He must use the hand-me-down princess scooter that once belonged to his sisters. I've attached a picture so you can see the problem. Isn't it upsetting to see such a cute youngster, as himself, riding a pink girl's scooter? To make matters worse, his safety helmet no longer fits. Since getting it last Fall, his head has grown too much.
This situation has just gotten out of hand and we must do something to help! I think it's affecting his ability to identify himself. Look at the next set of pictures... can you say crisis?? He doesn't know if he's acting out Superman or Batman. The poor child :)No, really, he attended a birthday party and I suppose the face painter didn't know how to enhance Superman. And he has asked for a Spiderman scooter for his birthday because an unknown boy in our neighborhood pointed at him and yelled, "Look, that little boy is riding a girl's scooter!". So, he has begun to realize the stereotype of a princess scooter. To finish up my weekly report on Preston, I'll end with the quote he gave me after he cleaned up a mess in the bathroom and I complimented his job: "Yeah, I'm good... so good I scare myself sometimes."

Other news this week: We found out that a little boy will be joining my brother and his wife at the end of August. We're so excited for them! We're on the lookout for Snoopy nursery items.

Other than that excitement, it was a gently flowing, easy week until Saturday. That was one exhausting day. We attended our church picnic on Saturday morning at a lake we've never been before, and it's just minutes away. Very nice- can't wait to go back and hike some of the trails. That's one of the nice things about living here is all of the outdoor things to enjoy just miles from our home. The above picture was added. So after filling our tummies with all the fixins of the cookout, we played in the beautiful 80 degree weather. Preston cried because "It's too hot!", but he must not remember what summer feels like!

The Hallmark store's Webkinz Extravanganza was next on our list. (Spend $10 in the store and you get a free Webkinz.) If you know what Webkinz are, then you'll understand what a powerful motivator it was for 3 young kids to know they might get some more of these little stuffed animals. The girls got their piano recital songs memorized in order to earn a Webkinz that I would buy, and then they'd get to pick one of the selected freebies, too. They also did extra chores to save up their tickets, which they redeemed for money to buy another one. We actually went Friday right after school because the free ones were limited quanitites, but went back on Saturday because the store had games from 2-6, like spinning a wheel for prizes and digging for a gold stone. Haylee found the gold stone and won ANOTHER free Webkinz! We walked out of there buying a total of 6 and receiving 9 free. Yes, ridiculous, I know. But all of the free ones went into the closet and will be brought down one at a time as I see fit and some used as birthday gifts for their friends. I'm just relieved that the girls are ready for the upcoming recital:)

Then after all that excitement, we spent the rest of the day working: We planted a garden! The soil in our yard is terrible and we don't have a huge amount of good space in but we got some free plants and decided to go for it. Darrin spent about $100 at Lowe's getting all the soil and wood to make a raised area (plus I bought some herbs as I LOVE to cook with fresh herbs). We worked all Saturday afternoon with no complaining from the kids. They helped me with yard work while Darrin built the garden. They had fun putting the plants in the ground. We have yellow squash, cucumber, cantalope, zuchinni, tomato, basil, rosemary, oregano and some flowers. I'll keep you posted on how it grows, I mean goes!

We were so tired and dirty on Saturday night. We quickly took baths and crashed on the couch to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's important to educate our kids on Indiana Jones, ya know. We're excited about the new movie coming out.

Our sore bodies are recovering and we're receiving some needed rain today. Grow garden, grow!