our last week of school

no more school!! i feel like I'm more excited about the fact that i don't have to go to school than Clay is. ha ha ha! no more yard-dutying for this mama... now its time for summer!

Clay performed in his class play this week. he was an Iroquois (notice the Indians hat?) ha ha! He had one line: "Of course I'm upset! Look what these European fools are doing." It was awesome.

there's my little Indian

she was very proud of her "Bubba"

random, i know... but definitely picture-worthy. U KNOW!!!!this night was awesome... out on the ranch on a hot summer night. I hope to have lots more nights like these : )

Clay found a lizard

a girl and her goat

YES!!

extreme makeover: cupcake edition

i have no idea why my cupcakes turned out retarded... they were all disformed and weird...

so i had a little fun
and did sort of an "extreme makover" with them...

before:

after:

ha ha ha ha
: )

catchin critters

the kids and i went out to sycamore grove. we brought nets and jars and caught tons of little creatures... pollywogs, tiny fish, lizards, and a little crab-thing that wanted to "eat chloe." ha ha ha. it was rad!
i love that place!

this article is awesome!!

i found a great article in the paper today. it was all about visiting Alaska and, more specifically, visiting the Kenia peninsula which is exactly where Clay's grandparents live!! The article talks about Soldotna... which is the town they live in, and about Homer... which is where we go halibut fishing. I just thought it was a great coincidence that someone from our local newspaper went there and wrote about how truly amazing the place its. Alaska is my second home and I give major kudos to the author of the article.. yay Alaska!!

click here to read it

it was a sad morning today

he calls about once every couple of months. he lives in Finland. he doesn't write or send them anything. he doesn't help to support them financially. he's my ex-husband and Chloe's father. he just happen to call this morning and Chloe talked to him. she put the phone on speaker (which was seriously not my idea), and i caught parts of their conversation...

not all of the conversation was upsetting: Chloe told him how we built a pond for our turtle, Jack; and she informed her daddy that Swisher got traded to the white sox and doesn't play for the A's anymore (which was devastating news here at our house); and other important news according to our almost 5-year old daughter.

But then Chloe started to ask him why she "can't see him" and "when can he come over to play?" he tried to explain to her that he doesn't live here and he's "working" in Finland right now. Then Chloe said something to him that broke my heart. still unable to understand why her father is absent in her life, she said, "Why don't you live in my world, daddy?"

i wanted to grab her and hug her and tell her how much everyone loves her... but i didn't. i let him continue to try to explain his "situation" to her. he promised that he would come and see her this summer. but he's made those promises before... when Chloe got done talking with her dad she hung up the phone and said to me, "I really miss my daddy."

and this happens every time he calls... it seems like a cycle, really: Chloe doesn't usually talk about her dad or say she misses him- but whenever he calls she gets really upset : (

Clay didn't talk to him at all on the phone. I asked him if he wanted to and he just said, "no." He knows that my ex is not his biological father but was still raised by him for 3 years of his life.

I'm just not quite sure what I should do about the whole situation... Do I continue to encourage Chloe's father to be a part of her life? He is such a small part of her life as it is and seems to just upset her when he does contact her... OR do I ask him to please stop calling every couple of months? I could continue to send him pictures and updates on the kids?... I don't know. I'm trying to be the best mom I can possibly be and I just don't know what to do about this.

windows

what is it with people and their car windows...?

today i was sitting at a stop light and i looked around at the cars beside me... now, its a pretty warm day out and it gets stuffy in the car so it was definitely one of those days when you either have your windows open or you have the A/C on in your car. anyways, as i was sitting there i saw quite a variety of people and their "windows".

there was an old-timer next to me with his windows rolled all the way down and his arm hanging over the side. he had a relatively old car but i think he might have had A/C... he just chose not to use it. either way, this old man was enjoying the nice breeze that the wind was providing as a means to keep cool...

then there was an obvious mom from the valley. a "soccer mom", if you will. she even had a "proud parent of an honor roll student" bumper sticker ordained on the back of her black escalade. i could see some kids in the backseat and kids are ALWAYS hot so i assume she had the A/C blasting. maybe she can afford all the gas it must cost her to fill her tank and thats why she was wasting the gas by using the A/C... who knows?

i looked over to see another car with a "generic male" as the driver. he was driving a civic with the back windows down but the front ones up. hmm... obviously he likes his air from behind. that, in itself, told me enough about that guy. ha ha ha. . kidding. just kidding : )

as for me? well, anyone who has ridden in my car knows that the A/C tends to malfunction and blow out super hot air rather than cold. seriously, on really hot days when i have to use it, I have to beat the shit outta the thing to get it to work! so... i like to keep 3 windows down while i'm out driving around and i need a little cooling off. why don't i have all 4 rolled down? well... cause the 4th one is busted and i'm not too handy at fixin cars.

mini indy!!

chloe's last day of school was celebrated with the traditional "mini indy" put on by the staff of gingerbread preschool. the kids got to bring their bikes, pick out a racing number, decorate their ride, and race thru an awesome course!! it was really fun and i was WAY impressed by the whole thing.. kudos to the wonderful staff of gingerbread... i know at least 3 little kiddos that had an awesome time!!!

ready to rock!
here's avery going thru the car wash!!

waiting in line to "get gas"
clear the way... chloe's coming! ahh!!after the race we enjoyed some nachos and sno cones with our buddiesshowin off her "winning" ribbon : )