He still has two more days of school before he is officially done but the light at the end of this very dark tunnel is getting brighter. He didn’t get to stand on the square he wanted to while on stage and even though he folded his arms and pouted there was no fit and he snapped out of it relatively quickly.

Progress people.  We are moving in the right direction. Two months ago I would have had to pull him off the stage kicking and screaming. He has come far. I am so proud of him. I am grateful for his teachers. And damn it, I am proud of TIm and me too. This has been the hardest few months of parenting we have experienced and we made it through.

Cue the Alleluia Chorus.

He was one of the most animated kids on that stage. He knew his lyrics and choreography well enough that he was able to look out into the audience instead of just watching his teacher.

Patrick, we love you more than you will ever know. You have taught us patience and resilience. You light up the room and bring so much joy  to our family.  You have gone from refusing to hold scissors to cutting and pasting like it is your job. You still only sign your name PJ but that is okay. I have to admire that you were clever enough to recognise that PJ is easier and  faster to write than Patrick.

You are a charmer and a ham but you are also quiet and shy. That unique combination of traits makes anyone that you show the slightest bit of interest in feel like a million bucks. You have a rare gift. You can make someone feel like the most important person in the world. I hope you use your powers for good and don’t take advantage of your Mommy’s soft spot for you mischievousness smile.

Congrats buddy. You did it. Next year Kindergarten. I say bring it on. You will do great. You are a wonderful kid and there is nowhere else to go but up. I love you.

more pics here

I know… PANELING?! but really it is the most cost-effective option for us. The drywall is in horrible condition with bad patch jobs and nicks everywhere so instead of ripping out all the drywall and replacing it, mudding it, sanding it, mudding it again and then priming and painting we have opted to put up some wainscotting/paneling which will be easily wipeable (seriously – boys pee EVERYWHERE!) and much more durable in the long run.

Now that the contractor is booked we have some decisions to make. I have been pinning every half bath with wainscotting I came across and every style of mudroom bench imaginable.

I am doing my best to respect Tim’s opinions but lets be honest, I get final say. Here are some of the inspiration photos I have pinned.

I like this one even though it is more beachy than I would ever decorate.

I love the idea of this entryway. The kids would hang up their stuff if they had hooks!

Today ‘s  job is to choose a tile. The contractor gets a discount at The Tile Shop so we will be shopping from there.  I hate having to think about resale because I want what I want but eventually we will be selling whether it is because of Tim’s work or to move to a different home in the Twin Cities. Would you buy a house with either of these tiles?

Rox Taupe

Rox Grigio

And yes they are different tile. I love the second but I think it might be too grey for the next owners who may not love my “grey is the new taupe” theory.

I didn’t doubt my decision until she took the first snip…

And there was no turning back after that.

She sat so nicely the whole time.

She earned that sucker and a trip to the park (you know it was so I could take photos but she thinks it is because she sat so nice. win win.)

I love the hair cut. It is so sweet and it will be so nice for all the sand box time and swimming that comes with summer.

Today is a cloudy overcast day with no sun shining at all. We will get rain this afternoon. The low light made catching a clear shot tough and I am so bummed this shot came out fuzzy and that the focus is just a little too far to the right.

She was done smiling at the camera at this point. I had my window of opportunity of happy, smiley Elise and missed the good shot. Oh well, I guess I will just try again some other time.

a couple more photos here. 

update:

Here are a few more I overlooked when I originally uploaded photos. The rest you can find at the link above.

We had a picnic. Elise and Patrick played while my friend and I reminisced. I will miss our play dates.

Patrick picked the seasoned, olive oiled tomatoes off his gourmet sandwich. Elise had so much sand falling out of her hair that I think she ate more sand than sandwich. But it doesn’t matter that I threw most of those sandwiches away. That wasn’t what today was about.

I have really got to make some friends with women that don’t work with or have husbands that work with Tim. I have said far to many goodbyes lately. Maybe we should just move back to ND so I can be closer to my BFFs!

Today we are spending the day building a sand box. I get to do a project, the kids are helping out and when it is done (in theory) the kids will play nicely in the sandbox with little supervision  It is a Mother’s Day project that keeps on giving.

We are using cedar so we don’t have to deal with sealing, staining or painting it for years to come. Also, pressure treated wood isn’t ideal for kids because of all the chemicals that are used to… well, pressure treat it. The downside to using cedar is that it is spendy. We priced out the wood needed for the sandbox with cedar boards and it was $150.We were not going to compromise on the cedar so we looked for another option. Just so happens the same amount of 1×6 6 foot boards of cedar fence posts cost only $34. The only difference it that the fence posts would need some sanding. We bought a couple of packs of 80 grit sandpaper for $3 a piece and got to work. By taking the extra step of sanding we were able to save $110 and when you have 54 square feet of sandbox to fill with sand every extra dollar saved helps fill the sandbox a few square feet deeper.

 Patrick help sand too but he required more supervision so I wasn’t able to snap any photos. Patrick and power tools, even cheap, low voltage power tools without sharp points, is a scary concept. He did do great work with the mallet though. Smashing things is his forte.

Look at that almost smirk. He really does love to smash.

Tim helped with the last few hits.

Elise wasn’t very helpful with the building process. She did however get the rocks mowed, so that is one chore I can take off my to do list.

We bought 20 bags of sand from Menards where they were selling them for 2 for $3. We bought 20 knowing it wouldn’t be enough to fill the sandbox but it would be enough to turn our van into a low rider. 20 bags of sand is heavy!

SAND! This expression is why we did this on Mother’s Day. Nothing could make me happier after the last few very challenging months weeks with Patrick than to see this kind of pure joy radiating from him.

Tim used the wheelbarrow that we bought back when we did our first yard project 5 springs ago. We bought our home in the middle of winter. This mound is what was under the snow in the backyard. There was also a 15 inch dug out drop off that spanned the back of the yard (you can see some of the ledge in the upper right hand corner of the photo. This weekend’s project was much more fun and we were able to complete it in one weekend.

This is now the view from our basement office window. I can blog, Pinterest, edit photos or sew while my kids play just a few yards from me. Tim and I both have very fond memories of giant sandboxes in our respective backyards. We both remember playing for hours building little cities and giant castles. Nothing is sweeter than seeing your child play like you did as a child.

This has been my favorite Mother’s Day yet. I slept in until 9. I got to play in the sun. I built something with my kids and husband. I took a long, long, long hot shower and no one banged on the bathroom once. I didn’t do dishes but the kitchen is clean. The kids went to bed without a fuss and I got to drink a beer and eat some pizza while watching one of Tim and my favorite shows. Thank you Tim for the perfect day. I feel loved. I am blessed.

a few more pics here.

Patrick asked me to take photos of him riding down the hill on his truck so I walked over to do that and Elise got mad because I wasn’t giving her 100% of my attention. What did Elise do when she felt slighted by mom? She expressed her will.

When she saw this photo she said, “That’s Elise! Elise is ANGRY. Elise looks grumpy!”

This major garage sale weekend happens every year and most of the people who are selling stuff register with the local Lions Club as a fundraisers. I am not quite sure how the fundraiser works but   there are hundreds of garage sales in one town on one weekend. It is a big event. I assume a lot of money is raised. Last year I went to a few of the garage sales and was able to find a Columbia snow suit for Elise that she wore this past winter with matching Kamik boots for under $25.

I got sucked into the hype again this year with hopes of finding an extra pair of snow boots for the kids for next winter. You can never have enough winter gear. We stopped by a few garage sales yesterday afternoon and this morning. I didn’t buy a single thing today even though some Mom was selling all of her son’s Imaginext toys (Patrick’s go to and favorite toys) for $40. I know that the pile of toys she had was worth over $200 new so it was tempting but I also knew I wouldn’t have  a husband any more if I brought home a box of Imaginext toys to our son who has yet to earn back everything that was taken away from him last week. (He was in serious trouble people.)

Yesterday I did buy two things though. Don’t tell Tim but I bought Patrick a little transformer for 75 cents that he picked out when I was paying for a purple dress up costume for Elise.

Tim if you want to pick a fight about the transformer, please look at these photos first…. then try and be mad!

Look at the twirl radius of that skirt.

Here are a few of Patrick. He is saying thank you Dad. I love you Dad.

And the reason we were in the front yard… His bus driver is getting a very big gift card to Starbucks on the last day of school. He is so good with Michael.

I wrote yesterday that my favorite day is coming up. It wasn’t today but judging by the buds, I am guessing it will be tomorrow.

I won’t write too much about these photos beyond the mentioning I was on AV mode with my aperture or “F-stop” at F/4.5 on this photo.

Our front yard tree is beautiful in the fall but I love it most in the spring.

Here the camera is set at F/32 and the clouds look great

And here the you can really get the feel for why I love this tree. See what I mean by little neon green balls of life?

AV mode F/5

And now onto what Beth and my Mom really want to see. Elise in a sundress.

I don’t know why I never thought of this before. Michael has spent hours and hours with OTs who have all, at one time or another, recommended sitting on a stability ball to help him sit still. Elise sat on this ball (not a stability ball just a $2 ball from Target that Michael got for his 2nd birthday) and asked me to take a photo.

There is something about sitting on a ball that takes just the right amount of “work” to stay stable to keep their brain and body occupied enough to not want to make them run around but not too distracted that they can’t (or won’t) listen to you.

Of course she didn’t sit still the whole time. She asked me to take pictures of her kicking the ball and bouncing on the ball too.

Balls are my new favorite portrait prop.

Here is my favorite. Is it just me or did she just grow up? I see more preschooler than toddler in her every day.

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