Tractor and fishing

I don't think this post could get anymore redneck........
A week or so ago I was at a garage sale where someone was selling a John Deere riding lawn mower....which I refer to as a riding lawn mower, although aficionados tell me it's really a lawn "tractor"....whatever. Anyway, they were selling it for $75. We'd been wanting one since our lot is kind of large by my standards and takes quite some time to mow with the push mower. So after researching new riding lawn mowers and gasping at the price of John Deere, $75 at a yard sale was sounding mighty nice. So after about $40 in parts and a new seat....here is the final, actually working, product:



Yesterday, Memorial day, Rob wanted to take the kids fishing. So we did, even though there is almost anything I'd rather do. Emma was the only one to catch anything but it fell off the hook right as she was reeling it in. We were teasing Kyle that if there were a contest for most weeds caught, he'd win. Although Rob was giving him a run for his money. Then it started to rain, so were were soggy by the time we got back to the car.

Milestones

This week has been full of milestones. Kyle completed 3rd grade, Emma completed preschool and as of yesterday we've been in our house for one year. Wow, time flies.
Yesterday I spent the day scrapbooking and here are some of pages that I completed. A leftover St. Patty's Day, Emma's gymnastics, a farm themed birthday party and SSL.

Emma

Today was Emma's last day of preschool. She wasn't sad because she doesn't really know that she won't be going back there. We've signed her up for a three day per week preschool in Ankeny next year to save money, time, and driving. We loved Meredith Drive, but it just didn't make sense to continue. They had a short presentation where the kids sang a song and lets just say it's a good thing that Emma is a girl because she is extraordinarily flamboyant. She used jazz hands when no one else was moving and then curtsied at the end. Oh Lord, what a ham.
She also had her final tumbling class last week. It was nothing but a bunch of kids doing somersaults and jumping on trampolines, so it was a good thing it only cost $20. Lesson learned on that one.

$3.29

Gas here in Ankeny is $3.29 per gallon. I have a compact, tiny car and it cost $40 to fill it up this morning. That is fucking ridiculous. I can't even imagine how much people with SUVs are paying. Rob's work van cost $80 the other day when it was still $3.09. Thank God we don't have to pay for that one!
On another topic, our neighbors behind us, the ones with the fucked up fence, are finally fixing it. I noticed yesterday that the fence guys were back and were taking down all the chain link. Rob talked to the fence guy and apparently that was just temporary and they are re-doing the wooden slats because they were crooked. I'm still wondering why they would have gone to the trouble of the whole temporary chain link for two months, when they obviously could fix it in one day. Who knows? My ass wouldn't be paying for such a dumb ass waste of money, that's for sure. I couldn't afford it anyway...I've got gas to buy!!!! ;)

Sesame Street Live

I took Emma to SSL this past Saturday. Aside from disliking the venue, it was a good show. She enjoyed herself, but was pissed that I wouldn't buy her an $8 Elmo balloon. Yeah fucking right.

Uppercase Living

Check out this cool little wall saying I got:



It wasn't nearly the piece of cake that the sales person said it was going to be to put up, but still, I like it and think it was worth the effort.
If you are interested the website is www.uppercaseliving.com

Last week

One of my favorite Emma-isms is "last week". Everything in Emma's life happened "last week" according to her. Regardless if it was really 10 minutes ago, or a year ago, when Emma tells the story it will have happened last week.

Stigmata

This is how I found Emma in bed last night:

Baseball, Dad, and flowers

Kyle has been non-stop baseball-ing lately. They play and then games get cancelled because of rain, so then they play make-up games. Woo, it's wearing him out.

"Run, Forrest, Run"


Last night my dad got into town from Arizona. It was chilly too and he was complaining about his old, thin, Arizona blood not keeping him warm. Bring a jacket, dumb ass. ;) We went out for pizza and then back to our place for strawberry shortcakes (which Emma couldn't wrap her head around that we were going to have dessert and not watch a cartoon). He was staying at the Heartland Inn, so we took advantage of the indoor pool and went swimming at 9:00 last night. The kids sure slept well after that.

Yesterday Kyle came home with flowers for me. It was so sweet as he even knew what kinds they were.