A great day off work in the Middle of the Week:)

     Due to low numbers at the childcare center, I get a day off per pay period.  Nevermind the loss of money-- we wanna have some FUN!!  I got up early (7am) so I could make the most of this precious time off.  It was actually cool enough outside for me to finally unload the canned goods from my car I bought last weekend! Yay!  Then I scooped Deacan up from his dad's and took time to play with my camera snapping photos of his garden..

                                           This is my favorite one..  A simple green bean..

                                                     Deacan with his tomato plants

While I was taking pictures, Deac made me this lovely salad with produce from the garden.  He even washed the veggies.  He swears he did not use a knife to cut the okra... Hmmmm... ?

     Then we were on our way to Shelby Farms in a race to beat the heat!  We were able to squeeze in a little time on the slides before they were blazing, although they were well on the way to being.  Poor Deacan did get a pretty bad burn on his back from another slide later on in the day.. Nothing a little Neosporin and TLC couldn't fix, though..

Then we were off to Sand and Water, still his favorite..  I managed to find some shade so he was able to get in a couple of hours of "serious work" in. :)

     Next stop, Hawaiian Ice truck (and Neosporin retrieval).  Nothing like a watermelon/ pineapple icee to cool you down on a hot day.  Deacan wanted to take a few silly photos with the spoon, as well, to share with our many blog followers. Ha!

 
      Then it we were off on a bug hunt!  It would not surprise me one bit if Deacan turned out to be an entomologist-- the boy is crazy about bugs!!  He was very sweet to let the creatures go after a minimal amount of torture.  He told a frog, "Now go have a lifetime".  Later he tells a  HUGE beetle, "Go find your mother"  after trying to find the exact place he found it.  So sweet!  Only one casualty was had and that was due to mommy leaving a baby frog on the hood of the car in a glass to roast.. Whoops!!

 
     It was also neat working together to turn big logs over in the quest for bugs.  My baby said, "Remember, we are a team!".  Awww!!  The best team I've ever been in, D-Nanner!!  He did show his muscles off turning one log, and proudly announced, "No team needed!":

       By this time, it was scorching hot.  I was talked into going to the swings, in spite of the sweat slowly encompassing my clothing and my longing for our pool.  Glad we did it!

     At this point in the day (12:30ish), the pool never looked so good!!

    
     We had to head back home to rest up for swimming lessons.  We did manage to cram as much fun as possible into our Wednesday outside of our normal routine.  I am blessed to have such wonderful company.  How I love summertime!!  :)

Memphis Fire Museum-- A Super Fun Time!!

We took a day off to get Deacan's long form birth certificate (needed for Belize). We decided to check out the Fire Museum while we were downtown with this precious time off. I am so glad we did!! The Fire Museum is an undisclosed place of fun for kids of ages (including me).. It is a shame it is not more heard of... Anyhow, here are some photos we snapped along the way: We got to play an interactive game in which you hold a hose and put out a virtual fire on a screen. The player is lifted by crane to play. Deacan's favorite part was the talking horse at the end.. Mommy was amazed at the fact in the olden days horses came to the rescue lugging fire equipment. It is interesting to think of a time before fire trucks when we counted on the equestrian to relinquish our fires. On the way out we happened to read the metal sign on the building. The posting dedicated the Fire Museum sign to Jerome Hanover, which is Deacan's Uncle Jerry!! How cool is that!?! God bless Jerry for putting money into a facility that is not as popular as it should be. At the end of the day, we had so much fun at the Fire Museum of Memphis. I am putting it on the list of "must return" places.. :)

Deacan graduated Pre-Kindergarten!!

My baby is growing up, in spite of my petition to keep him at this adorable age forever. Deacan graduated Pre*K recently. Here are a few photos of the ceremony. Yet, the first order of business was to polish his ever-present cowboy boots! Deacan did an amazing job participating in the ceremony. He sang "If I was a Butterfly". When called upon to walk up front and say what he wanted to be when he grew up, he walked proudly and declared "the Hulk" as his answer. I am in disbelief that my sweet D-Nanner is about to start Kindergarten. I believe I will continue to stick my head in the sand until registration!! ****A special "thank you" to Ms. Crystal (photo above) for doing such an amazing job with Deacan and preparing him for Kindergarten (both socially and academically). You are a blessing!!! :)

Summmer Drive*In Movie-- Just as Cool as I remembered it as a Kid!! :)

Wow!! I wanted to take Deacan to experience a drive-in movie, a bit ambivalent, myself. Boy, was I in for a treat!! The nostalgia of the Summer Drive In was so neat, and so reminiscent of fun times had there as a child. For starters, NOTHING has changed (other than sound through radio vs. the crumpety sound box). The concessions inside the pilot building were just the same (grab a tray and stroll for your fancies, pay at the end). The prices were more than reasonable. We got a medium popcorn (which was huge), corn dog, hot dog, nachos/cheese with jalapenos, and a very large drink for $17.00. The coolest part of this "adventure" was discovering we could prop open the back of my CR-V and kick it "open space style"! The thought didn't occur to me until after we were there. The entire way I was worried about how spongy my front windshield was! Once we got there, I used my noggin and propped open our swinging rear door with his stroller and bike and wah-lah*** we had a hatch*back!! So awesome!!! I backed that baby up so that we were front row and center and the good times began!! It was so much fun watching the movie in open air and open space!! Although we did get a bit chilly around 10:30ish. And the funnest part was that we did this on a school night;) Next time we go, we will bring more blankets and a couple of pillows. Other than that-- it was an absolute perfect time and even though the movie was lacking our attention (Avengers).. And we will most certainly go again on a school night!! What rebels we are!! ;)

Summer Fun

We are having lots of fun this summer-- no wonder the lack of post.. We have spending mucho time at the pool, also Incredible Pizza, and working/preschooling 40 hrs per week.. That being said, I do have a few photos of the fun we have been having when we are not "punching the clock"...

Hope all of our loved ones have a fun, safe summer.. As you may have noticed I do not have my usual flat-ironed, inverted hair.. It is funky and fun-- just like summer should be:) (note to reader: I am back to the flat iron but the fun is still abundant!! :) )

Closet Mayhem!! Wow!!

So, I've been putting off organizing my closets for awhile and throwing items on the floor at random. I decided to blog this to give myself accountability and incentive to actually fight this BEAST! When you see the photos, you will understand why this is understandably called "the beast". It is actually quite embarrassing! That being said, here is a photo of my closet at 2:00 today:

Wow! What a mess!! I took everything that was on my closet floors and moved it to my bedroom floor. What a pretty sight:

I started hanging things up, put winter clothes in 2 bins and a suitcase, and placed all purses in a bin. I also made a "curb*alert bin (which 10 minutes upon posting a little Mexican man walked along and took). I bagged a couple of winter blankets (why were they in my closet?!) into a plastic comforter bag and put in storage. After all was done my closet now looks like this (4:00pm) :

I took all off my purses and placed them in a plastic bin, winter bags on the bottom:

Now I have a nice, orderly closets. I didn't post pics of my other closet, although I did neatly place all my winter clothes in it. I am so happy I have finally organized my ridiculous mess of a closet!! Now, if only I can make my way to Deacan's closet mayhem!! :)

Family fun Saturday!! :)

What a nice way to spend a Saturday! Chloe, Kylee, and I played hot potato (a fav!). Deacan had fun wrestling and rough housing with Uncle Murf while we were doing more civilized (female) activities. haha!! We also played a little Hang Man before venturing outside for a fun game of kick ball-- lots of fun!! I was the resident pitcher (thanx, knees!). The ball got kicked over the fence a few times (always fun sneaking into the neighbor's yard- haha). I almost got blasted in the head with a kick from Uncle Murf (thanx, ducking skills- although I did attempt to catch it before I came to my senses!). The next kick nailed Deacan in the behind as he was digging up worms. Too funny!! I was actually crying from laughter at this point! Chloe and Kylee are both awesome kickers, too.
Afterwards, we went out to eat a yummy meal followed by TCBY (Yogurt Mountain style now). We all got a kick out of Deacan saying "real crab?" when I ordered his crab cakes. My, he is a quite a foodie for his wee age!! :)
We capped off the day with fun on the bikes, a heart to heart with Chloe, and a cartwheel/ flipping extravaganza. I wish every day was a Saturday. :)