Getting back to NORMAL.......

AAAWWWW...........breathe a sigh of relief. Birthday's are over. Last year, when E2 was born I could have never imagined what Memorial Day weekend would be like for us. It's Damn chaotic. Between E1's 5th Birthday celebration on the 24th and E2's 1st birthday on the 25th and then celebration on the 27th I was exhausted by Monday. The girls had a great weekend though......even with Elise catching a cold and getting a double ear infection, they managed to have a good time. Lots of friends and family to celebrate. I already have plans for next year.........keeping it simple!! Maybe a combined birthday celebration with just the four of us? Ha-ha!! No party for Elise and maybe a simple 2 person slumber party for Emi? Doesn't that sound nice? On top of our girls' birthday's, we have several friends and family whose birthday's also fall in May. I'm ready for June.

Weather has been fabulous the last couple of days and the forecasters are promising the same through the end of the week. High 80's, Low 90's. I'm loving it. We took the girls down to the river on Monday for some family time, just the four of us. Tried to teach Emi how to skip rocks, let Elise play in the rocks and throw a few in. It was nice. Went on a 2 mile walk through a little town called Gladstone, near here. I think we've decided we'd like to move there someday, if we ever move. (We will, it just seems so hopeless w/o me working). It's a nice little town with sidewalks and a huge park/playground right in the middle of town. Everyone seemed so nice and cheery, unlike this hell-hole of a neighborhood we live in now.

I'm gearing up for Summer. I'll have 3, potentially 4 extra kids here this summer. Just enough to fill every seat in the mini-van. Ha-ha!! I've got lots of plans for us....swimming, outings, hiking, library time, etc......got to keep the kids busy. I don't have a whole lot of room here, so we'll be heading out a lot. The challenge is finding activities that all will enjoy. The age's are 11, 10, 7, 5 and then my 5 year old and my 1 year old. Think I can do it? During the summer, the local movie theaters have free movies on Tuesday & Wednesday mornings. Maybe we'll catch a few flicks. I'm going to be exhausted but I'm excited for the challenge. And if I'm honest, I'm excited for the extra $$.

Emi's dance recital is this Saturday. We're looking forward to that. Her little class this year is really cute. They will perform two routines. A jazz and a tap. Emi is nervous, but excited. My sister is getting gigantic. Ha-ha! So glad it's not me. She's got about 8 weeks or so left to go, and is finally getting to the "o.k., now I'm uncomfortable" stage. She still looks adorable though, I don't think she's grown an inch anywhere but her belly. It's just not fair. Still no idea on what sex the baby will be. I'm guessing girl, but some people are convinced it's a boy. If it's a boy, his name will be Sims Leland Cronen. "Sims" after Kiley's Maternal Grandfather and "Leland" after my Father, whose middle name is also Leland. If they have a girl her name will be June. June Mable. I love it. I am pretty sure that June and Mable are not from anyone specific, but I could be wrong. I love the old fashioned names........