Jessie's Jammie Day at School

On Jessie's last day of school the kids and their teachers all wore their pajamas. They got to wear their slippers and take their favorite stuffed animal with them. They read the book, "Llama Llama Red Pajama" and had all red foods for their snack time. The parents were invited to go for snack and story time and a little awards ceremony.

Here is a picture of Jessie's class during singing time. They all look so cute in their pajamas.

Jessie wanted to wear some really hot pajamas that she got for Christmas, but since they went missing in our move I told her we'd buy her some new ones for her special day at school. There were sooooo many cute pajamas to choose from, but she picked Curious George, not that he isn't cute, but......

This is a close up of snack. There was red jell-o, watermelon, apples, strawberries, red rice krispie treats, cherry tomatoes, and red juice. WOW!!! The rice krispie treat...GONE, the tomato....TRASH!! I couldn't have predicted that one!Here is Jessie with her teacher receiving her preschool diploma. The teachers made each child a darling scrapbook page with photos from different events throughout the year.

If you look in Jessie's hand you'll see that she is holding her stuffed animal. It is a stuffed pig (that is Janie's) with a belt fastened around it's neck. Poor pig! Jessie wants a pet so badly that she has to pretend that her belt is a leash!

What a fun day and a great end to the school year!!!

Joseph's Field Day at School

The second to the last day of school was field day at Joseph's School. We were glad we were able to be there and to cheer the kids on as they were having such a great time.

The sack race was a blast. The kids tried to hop so fast that they were falling all over the place. We did manage to get a good shot of the teams.

Here the kids are setting up for their tug o' war. There were 5 kindergarten classes and they all had to compete against the others until the best one won. Joseph's class came in second place. Joseph's teacher is in the blue.

I love this picture because the kids are all pulling so hard. You might not be able to see their faces, but it was definitely hard work for them.

Kids say the Craziet Things!

I have two things I have to post just real quick. I don't want to forget the funny things my kids say so I'm putting them on the blog. I think this might have to be my new journal. Can you imagine my grandkids reading this instead of my real journal? They would probably think we had a perfect life and that I was the most mellow, coolest mom ever!! I'm beginning to think it might not be such a bad idea.

Ok, so when I want to express strong feelings about something positive I'll often add the phrase "I can't stand it" to the end of my sentence. Ex. "I love you so much I can't stand it!" or "You are so cute I can't stand it!" The other day Jessie and I were at Wal-Mart (did I mention that Wal-Mart is just about the only store here in Altus?) and I saw this cute little patriotic dress that I just loved. I was looking through them to see if there was one in Jessie's size and I guess I kept making comments about how cute this dress was and how much I loved it when Jessie said, "Can you stand it, Mommy?" I guess they really do hear and take in much of what we say!

Last night we were putting the kids to bed and Joseph asked Jeremy if he would sleep on his bed for a little bit. Jeremy said that he couldn't for some reason. Jeremy is much nicer at bedtime than I am (the kids don't even ask me to sleep with them, they know they'll hear a whole list of everything I still have to do) but Jeremy will often lay in there for a few minutes with them.
I was in the office and I kind of heard Joseph fussing a little but didn't think much of it. When I went into the family room he came out of his room with tears in his eyes and said, "Mommy, Daddy kind of broke my heart a little bit." I asked him why and and then he proceeded to tell me that he wouldn't sleep with him. Ok, so that wasn't at all dramatic right? I still ended up in bed with him and in five minutes he was out. Maybe he was a little too tired!

Janie's Latest Fashions

So, lately Janie has been very interested in dressing herself. She really can't quite yet, but she has started by trying to put on the kids' underwear. Iguess it just kind of happened one day while I was folding the laundry, she got a hold of Jessie's underwear and put it on over her skirt. It was pretty funny. Ever since then she grabs any article of clothing she can find and it all goes on her legs. I don't do much folding of laundry with her awake anymore because she unfolds it all just as fast or faster than I can fold it!!

The other night after the bath she grabbed Joseph's clothes (before he was out of the tub) and started putting them on and I got a few shots of her. Joseph thinks they are hilarious!

Here she is making an attempt to put Joseph's pajama pants on, but it was a little difficult for her so....

...she tried his underwear next. She almost got it all the way on before trying his shirt, on her legs of course. She is very into layering of late! :D

I caved! I had to help her a little in the end. I'm sure one day she'll wonder what I was thinking by posting this picture anywhere, but for now it is just cute! We love you Janie, you funny bug!

Happy Memorial Day!

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend here at home. We bought a swing set/ jungle gym for the kids and this was our chance to put it up. We started it and worked for about 10 hours on Saturday and then we (Jeremy) spent two or three hours this morning. We have nice tans from being outside all day in the 100 degree weather. We did decide that 100 degree weather here is nothing like Okinawa, even with the humidity here it is still cooler than the Okinawan heat.

Joseph decided today that he wanted to help out with the (nearly completed play set) so we let him hammer some stuff and put a couple of screws in. What a hard worker.

Here is my bug (I don't know how that name stuck, but it really has. Poor girl probably thinks her name is 'Bug.') She just loves climbing up the ladder and hanging out in the fort. She fell off the slide this morning and hasn't quite decided to attempt going down again yet.

Joseph and Jessie played outside today for at least two hours without interruption! This is a major breakthrough in the Boyd household. They always need new things to do, one of us to play with them, snacks, or something of the sort, but NOT today!!! They had more fun than I have seen them have together in a while. I hope it lasts for at least a week.

We had to go to Wal-Mart this afternoon to pick up a few things and Joseph said he wanted to go with us becuase he wanted a new toy....Jeremy and I looked at each other and could hardly believe our ears. After all of our hard work and many hours of labor he wanted a new toy???!!!! HELLO!!!!! You have a play set outside! I'm sure we had a small glimpse of what our parents felt time and time again when we were growing up. I had one of those moments where I said exactly what my mom used to say to me that I swore I would NEVER say to my children! R-I-G-H-T!!!!

Here is a picture of our Memorial Day picnic! The kids eating granola bars at the little picnic table. Growing up we always had wonderful picnics with everything you could imagine (except the salt because someone always forgot it) so it is funny to me that my poor children are eating just a little granola bar with no tablecloth, no drinks or anything else for that matter. Look how much fun they are having though, they think this is the best picnic ever! That is why I love children.

The last shot of this entry. The finished product. Come to Altus and we'll let you swing on it!!

Turning over a new leaf!

Well, now that we are mostly settled in BEAUTIFUL Altus, Oklahoma (it is important to think positive!!!!) I thought I had better stop making excuses and get started on this blog thing. I'm pretty sure Jeremy won't leave me alone until I do!! Actually, I have been having so much fun reading the Otis, Brown, Anderson, Draper and Gardner blogs (and others) that I've decided to turn over a new leaf and join the blogging generation.

My goal is to put some photos on here of our trip. That will be my next entry because it is already midnight and I've spend like two hours going through ALL of Jeremy's photos trying to pick out just a few to put on here. AAAGGGHHH!!! Talk about sensory overload:)

So, moving is such a pain. We didn't take too many pictures the first little while here, but the two that I did get are classic! You know, the kids look like they have been pretty much ignored for a few days. They had fun upacking boxes, playing in them, and creating new messes to be cleaned up every time we turned around.

It also seems like everyone gets sick for a few weeks or months when moving from one country to the next. Well, we are no different from everyone else. The only difference might be that daddy is such a softy that he lets his kids eat whole candy bars when they aren't feeling well. In this picture he and Janie were sitting on the floor in the kitchen hiding from me. The chocolate DEFINITELY did the job and Janie DEFINITELY has daddy wrapped around her little finger!!

Soccer

I have been on the road for some time now and finally had a chance to make it home and to one of Joseph's soccer pratices. I of course took the camera. What father would not? Ok, none of the other fathers had their cameras, but that didn't bother me. But then again things like that don't.

The real question is, what DOES bother Jeremy?

So, Jessie and Janie and I have been going to Joseph's practices without Jeremy for the last month and it has been such fun to watch him and the team play. Joseph is enjoying soccer more than he enjoyed baseball.

Now that Jeremy is here we have some fun photos of Joseph in action.

This first shot isn't really Joseph in action, but it is VERY important to document that he does have moments when he TRULY listens and pays attention to the person in charge!

The next couple of shots are pretty self explanatory, but fun to see him with both feet off of the ground. I really like this next shot the best. The coach was trying to teach the kids about what happens when the ball is off sides and for some reason Joseph got to throw the ball in (I wasn't really watching that part of the practice because I still have Jessica to keep in line and she was following a big caterpillar, which she informed me, was going to turn into a cockroach!).

Today was team picture day. Everyone showed up early, in uniform, and had their photos taken. It was so cute to see the girls on the team with their hair all done and their big smiles. Jeremy took the photos so I have a couple of Joseph's individual shots to put on here.

This first one is the ONLY one of about 30 where Joseph wasn't making some crazy face. Kind of reminds me of his Uncle Cam:) I can't believe how grown up he looks. What a cute little man.

This next picture, and the last one for this entry, is one of Joseph being his typical self. Just a goofy, fun-loving kid. I'm only putting it on here because I think it is funny. There are more that Jeremy has taken that he'll probably put up on the website in a few days.

Anyway, the weather here in the evenings is pretty nice. It is in the 80's with a fairly nice breeze most of the time. I am reminded of why we love it here and it makes me a little sad to know that we are leaving right now when the weather is so perfect. I remember going to Allison's soccer practices and games growing up and everyone freezing, with blankets, hot chocolate etc... and I am glad that we are here in Okinawa at least for this soccer season.