Busy, busy, busy

Aunt Leslie

On May 21st my sweet Aunt Leslie passed away.  She has always dealt with health issues since she was born and for the past decade has pretty much been confined to a bed.  She was unable to bear children, but was blessed with six adopted children from all over the world.  It was one of those bitter/sweet moments when she passed away.  Unlike us, all of her children and family were there when she took her last breath and they got to say 'good bye'.  Here she is holding her newest grand-baby the night she died.

My Aunt Leslie was also my mom's college roommate.  She was dating my Uncle Doug at the time and lined my mom up with Doug's older brother, Kent.  Obviously they fell in love and both couples had a double wedding on May 30th (which was a sad day for both brothers this year).  Here is a picture of them at the time they got married.  (My parents on the left, Doug & Leslie on the right).

I was actually excited for her funeral.  Maybe excited isn't the right word, but I was looking forward to re-living the day of my mom's funeral.  I wanted to just go and cry.  It was such a good funeral and I really felt close to my mom that day.

We joke that these two beautiful women are now roommates again up in heaven!

Sitting Up and Baby Food

Sophie is now sitting up on her own!  She still topples after a few minutes, but is doing really well to play and not fall most of the time.

I always dread the baby food stage.  It's so  messy and time consuming.  However, I knew I couldn't put it off forever and so a week after she turned five months we tried her first cereal. 

She had no idea what was going on, didn't know how to open her mouth or swallow.  However, the next time we tried it, she did much better.  She's still pretty messy, but is getting the hang of it.

Last Week of School

Last week was the last week of school for both my preschool and the kids elementary.  Usually they don't line up like that, and I am glad.  It was a hard, busy week.

On the same day I had preschool in the morning, than Lily's class put on a play of "The Frog Prince Continues".  She was one of the narrators.

Here's Lily with her teacher.  Every year on the last day of school Lily is so sad.  She really grows close to her teachers and it's hard for her to leave that chapter of her life.

Later that afternoon Jefferson had his Nursery Rhyme performance and awards ceremony.  He performed 'Jack Be Nimble' and got an award for best reader.

Here he is with his teacher.  

Preschool Graduation

Last Friday was my preschool graduation.  It went really well and it was so nice to have shade in my backyard!  My old house had no shade and it was so hot some years.

I really missed my mom that day.  Mom was always so proud of me and my preschool.  She was always so helpful when it came to my preschool graduations.  I really thought a lot about her that day.  Everything ended up going good though.
Now summer is officially on!  We've already gone to the new library where the older kids got their own library cards, swimming, out to lunch to try the 'futuristic' soda fountain, to the park and Lily even went to Lagoon today with a friend!  I try to stay busy to not go insane so I'm sure we'll have many more stories to tell the next few months.