Well today Lauren turns in her uniforms...I thought I would dread this day but surprisingly I am excited. I had no idea what was in store for her and why this was happening but I am a firm believer in EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON.

I can tell you that the opportunities that are flying at her are WONDERFUL. I have watched her become excited about her Summer plans, life and her Senior year. This has changed her dramatically and she has had so many friends that have graduated tell her they wish they had taken their Senior year off or that it was the best thing they ever did taking off Senior year. Thinking back to her Freshman year she has always talked about not cheering her Senior year. I would always laugh it off and push her to keep her head up. I know she has a teacher she really looks up to and she just so happened to be a Cheerleader...she didn't cheer her Senior year and never regretted a moment. I guess as a parent you get so consumed with it all. I can say I will miss a few little things (mainly coaches) but for the most part I am ready to enjoy her LAST YEAR at home and be involved with as much as we can.

So last night I went to get a few last pictures....

All of those flowers are on one plant! THAT IS AMAZING!

I am super excited today.....

One reason is last week I told Terry I wanted an outdoor shower with a drain. I know that is a weird request BUT I just want it. So by Sunday afternoon he had one made and the entire thing only cost $6.00. Of course that made me even happier! I had described this thing to him and really we were in no big hurry. Sunday as we pulled in from camping here comes the neighbor hauling out his outdoor shower pipes. OMG YES I SENT MY HUSBAND AFTER IT! So this is it.....


Now yesterday after he finished it we sat and ran it over and over. My main reason behind this is we are in the pool 7 months out of the year. We always rinse off and rinse our suits. Well perfect! I let all the kids play in the sprinkler yesterday afternoon and after about 45 minutes they decided to turn into baby pigs and roll in the mud. GUESS WHAT I DID....I had each one stand in the shower and rinse off. Lots of giggles and as you can imagine back to the mud they ran just so they could come rinse off.




NOW remember our garden? Nick,Ashlynn,Lindsey,Zoe and Krew have a garden they care for. It has been a few days over 30 days and LOOK AT THE TOMATOES! Right now we have about 15 (or more) that are showing but we have a ton more about to come out. We also have jalapenos that are starting to flower and their squash and cucumbers are looking like we may have enough to feed an army. I am so excited because they actually did put work into this. I love that they are all able to see the growing process and can enjoy the vegetables. Did I mention this is an organic garden? Oh yes it is. If I see one bird trying out our vegetables I swear to you I will be sitting next to this darn thing with a bb gun until the last vegetable is picked.

We went camping this past weekend and I have to say it was one of our best trips! We laughed so much and had a blast. For the first time EVER Ashlynn slept for 2 nights in our travel trailer thru the night. Normally she wakes about 5 times a night. We have no idea why other than its not her own bed. That has been our biggest reason for not camping lately. The weather was perfect!
We seriously laid on the beach all day Saturday and we were all just fine with that.





My Dad's (Doug) birthday was Saturday and we kept having lady bugs land on us. I felt like it was just a little way to make us all smile.


The kids had fun flying kites on the beach. I had told Nick the only was he could fly the kite is if he ran non stop up and down the beach, so for the first hour he just ran non stop with Ashlynn right behind him.

I find myself taking longer and longer to blog....I swear I will pick this up and do it more. I think I go into spurts.

UPDATE on Natalie's leg!
We went into the doctor today for a check up. I had her take of her boot this weekend at the beach..1. so sand wouldn't get into it 2. because I wanted her to try and use her leg/foot. She was able to walk short distances with a little pain and we had her stop and rest. Sounds a little crazy but I can tell she is fed up and has had enuff. So today I just knew he was going to tell her no more boot(so did she. NOPE he said if she was walking even with the tiniest bit of pain then we could quickly fall back to the beginning and have to start over. UGH! So he wants her to wait a week and rest then in about a week try to walk in the boot. As long as she has no pain. The problem we are now faced with is he is worried she is over working the "good" leg. He mentioned if she starts to get shin splints then that is the start of what could possibly be a stress fracture. I nearly fell over because during the weekend she was complaining about her leg feeling like it had shin splints. So everyday after school she has to come home and sit. VERY HARD FOR A GIRL ON THE GO.
So for the next week she WILL be coming home to sit.
She is very worried because she has Cheer tryouts in 2 weeks.

I couldn't sleep last night and I layed there thinking of all kinds of things.

1. Nick will be starting Kinder this year.

2. Natalie will have her last first day of school in Jr. High.

3. Lauren will have her last first day of High school.

What has happened to time? It all goes so fast.

Update on Natalie

UGH my poor Natalie. She is now going on her 2nd week in a boot. She still has swelling,pain and seems to slowly be getting better. I noticed last night she has lost all the muscle in that leg. She will most likely be on crutches thru May. I know she will be ready to be "back to normal" and so will I! She has fallen down the stairs, fallen at school and last night her crutch when sliding sideways thru the kitchen which sent her flying.

Remember the garden the kids are growing? WOW I am so excited to say it is growing like crazy! I have counted about 50 flowers on the squash. Our tomatoes are also getting flowers.

This is what happens when you leave a 2 year old to play for 10 mins while you vac. your room. I walked in and there was no point in stopping her so I had to snap a few pictures. She was very proud.