Take me out to the ballgame...

We had a great time yesterday at the MN Twins baseball game.  Although we lost 3-0, it still was neat to see the new stadium!  Rich took these photos on his cell phone and they were so nice and clear but for some reason, when he forwarded them to my computer, we lost something in the resolution!

Lil Helper

Peter is always such a nice little helper for everyone...so when his daddy started mowing the lawn, he was right there to help with his lawn mower too!  With all the spring rain we have had, our lawn is long and lush!

Looks like I will have a million apples this year with all the blooms on my apple tree...

It's been so cold this spring so I am really late getting my vegetable garden planted but I finally got it done...hopefully we have a long enough growing season for everything to ripen.  Peter helped me plant carrots, onions, corn, peas, beans, beets, basil, tomatoes, peppers, spinach and lettuce!!  Here is the garden after we added rich new composted black dirt before we planted...

We will need to re-inforce the netting around the garden as we have frequent visitors in deer and rabbits!

One of my flower beds promises to have lots of color and blooms soon!

That's how my garden grows...

Ricky

This past weekend, Ricky competed in a regional meet for Special Olympics track and field.  Although the weather was ONCE AGAIN cold and rainy, we all managed to have a great time!  The thing that struck me about Special Olympics when we first began participating is that it is for ALL ages starting at age 8.  You see some pretty old athletes competing which is great for them.  Ricky always seems to get placed in competitions with much older and bigger athletes as they use their qualifying times to place them.  He is quite a little runner and has a great arm for the softball throw so he is paired up with much older people to compete against...see the size of his competition! Ricky is in lane one all the way to the right. It was raining and he wouldn't take his Buzz Lightyear rain jacket off!

He took 5th place out of 8 in this race...the 50 meter dash!

He also competed in the 100 meter dash where he took 3rd place!  In the softball throw, he did amazing too!  We left before they determined the winners in that competition so we will find out tonight at practice.

They had the local fire department there to allow the athletes to tour the fire engines...Ricky LOVES fireman and wants to be one when he grows up so this was a treat for him!

We also had FOUR extra children with us this weekend!  I am often asked to take foster children on a respite basis so we had 3 adorable...but very busy...children from one family over the weekend.  Then our little princess, Miss S, who we cared for over the first 6 months of her life, came for an overnight visit too!  We love and adore her and are so happy that she is back with her mommy and daddy and doing really well!  We are blessed that they allow us to stay in her life and get to see her at least once a month!  It's fun for us to see her grow up and it gives her parents a little break too.

The sun has been out for TWO days now and today promises to be beautiful too!  What a difference the sun makes in one's disposition after weeks of cold and rainy weather!  Enjoy today...

FFF

I haven't posted photos for Friday Favorite Foto in a while...here are a few from this week.  Peter recently started swim lessons and he has just taken to the water like a little fish!  All 4 of my other children were very hesitant swimmers and I spend a FORTUNE on lessons before any of them advanced to the next level.  With Peter, it's such a nice change to have a child who actually liked the water right away and he has already been moved up to the next level!  Having him swimming this summer will be nice as we spend so much time at our lake home!

Ricky loves to see himself featured on this blog and asked me to take a picture of him in this silly pose!  My flexible little man will be competing in a regional meet for Special Olympics tomorrow so I will be sure to post an update once that is done.  The weather is supposed to be cold and rainy all day...no surprise with the cool wet spring we have has so far!

My Crew

We had a beautiful day and a great time for Mother's Day yesterday. We all were squinting with the sun in our eyes but at least we HAD SUN!!! Spent the day with my sister and her family as well as my parents.  I don't often post pictures of my whole crew but here we are.  One member of this crowd was especially crabby and refusing to smile!

There are very few pictures of my mom and I as we both dislike having our pictures taken but I took the opportunity yesterday to have one taken of us.

This next one was taken on Mother's Day last year...my kids are growing up and changing....They are truly wonderful children and I am so blessed to be their mom!!

PETER

My sweet little man, Peter, turned 4 the other day!  He wanted a Sponge Bob birthday cake as that is one of his favorite TV shows!  He is growing up so fast and turning into such a nice young man! We celebrated his special day by him going to a movie with his Daddy, "HOP", and then having a bar-b-q with my sister and her family.

We recently spent a weekend in Duluth staying at a great hotel right on Lake Superior.  They have bonfires each night and hotel guests can roast marshmallows and make s'mores...yum!

We also got to meet my newest niece, Alivia...what a beautiful LITTLE one she is.  She was born very early but is doing so well...

 I couldn't resist taking this picture of her by a margarita which was bigger than her little head!

Of course, we got up early last week to watch the royal wedding.  We were invited to watch it with our friends who are from England and they treated us to a wonderful English breakfast and tea!  Greta will always remember getting up at 4am to see a real princess marrying her prince!  The wedding was especially fun for us as we visited all those places while in England a few years ago!

I just want to say Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the other wonderful moms out there!  Hope you have a special day!