Not a bad mantra.

Perfect day for running through the sprinkler.

Oh yay. New neighbors building their house next to my den window.

We went to the Wright Museum of WWII History in Wolfboro, NH today. I'm not exactly a history buff (well okay, maybe a little), and definitely NOT a war buff, but wow-- what an amazing collection of artifacts. We learned so much both about the war, but also about popular culture of the time. If you're ever in the area, it's worth a visit! There's also a great nature trail along the river and several ice cream shops!

We had a quiet, stay home kind of day. Lots of reading, board games, and snuggling with the kitties. (It was a shame to stay inside on such a beautiful day though.)

Kindergarten carnival (where this year's senior class from the high school gave these cute t-shirts to the kindergarteners), class playdate at the park, swimming lesson.

School, swimming lesson, scootering around the cul de sac, hunting for caterpillars (found this dragonfly instead.)

I love seeing the school projects that come home from Kindergarten.

I went out to lunch today with Lori and Amanda to a place in Derry called How's Your Onion. I ordered their "spiked potatoes" as my side. I'm still not sure whether I liked them or not-

the menu described them as "a combination of mashed potatoes, bacon, cheese and peppers rolled in beer batter, smothered in BBQ chips, fried and served with creamy bacon-ranch dressing." It was definitely an interesting dish!

Memorial Day Parade

Started out on what we thought would be a very short nature walk on the Hampstead Trail System. Ended up taking a very long nature walk instead. We definitely earned the ice cream we ate at Moo's afterward.

We ran some errands and took the kid to play miniature golf. It should have been much more fun than it was. Too much whining and complaining.

I gave up on getting the kitchen floor cleaned today. Instead, I took the boy to 7-11 for a Slurpee, came home and turned on the Wii for him, and now I am relaxing with my People maagzine while he plays MarioKart.

Guess whose tooth finally came out? Now I just need to figure out how this tooth fairy thing works...

Have you ever had one of those days? I left the house at 9 to go to the grocery store and run a few other quick errands in a neighboring town. At the latest, I would have been home by 10. Instead, I was still stuck in my car at that time due to detours and road resurfacing. When I finally made it to the grocery store and gathered the few essentials that we needed, I somehow managed to miss the conveyer belt and dropped a container of yogurt on the floor of the checkout lane. How embarrassing and what a mess! The bagger was so gracious-- she grabbed paper towels to clean it up while I apologized profusely.

It's hard to get mad at a kid for taking your label maker when he uses it to put things like this all over the house.

We took the kid to his six year check-up at the pediatrician's office. I don't know why he still enjoys playing with the toddler toys, but it passed the time while we waited for his appointment. He gained three pounds and grew three inches over the last year. We have been so fortunate to have such a healthy child.

I made $30 at the toy swap yesterday, which sort of almost balances out the $75 that I spent. We are now in possession of some more big kid toys and games, so that's a good thing. This expandable ball is one of the favorites. The kid has spent hours playing with it. Not bad for two bucks!

We had so much fun at the bowling fundraiser this afternoon!

I almost forgot to post today! This morning I went to pick up Andy's sixth birthday pictures and now I am getting his scrapbook caught up.

Another day of off and on showers. We had a few friends over for a playdate this afternoon, and now the kid is waiting for his dad to get home from his business trip.

I'd rather be posting a picture of the new computer that I've been sitting at home waiting for for two days, but Staples can't seem to get its act together to deliver it, so instead, I'll share how I plan on spending my evening.

It's just me and the kid for tonight, so we stopped at Pizza World to pick up dinner. He'd wanted to go there for quite some time, because he thought it might be like Pizza Planet from Toy Story. It's wasn't. (But it WAS really good pizza, and we will definitely order from there again!)

Turning six means getting his own library card!

Beautify Londonderry- we helped move 25 cubic yards of mulch to fill in the low spots on our town playground, then rushed home for a visit from Grammie and Grandpa for Andy's birthday.

Birthday #6

The birthday party was a success! Hard to believe he turns 6 tomorrow!

We hosted a "things with wheels" playdate at our house today. It was an absolutely beautiful New England day. The big kids rode their bikes around the cul de sac while the little kids rode on other ride on toys and the moms sat and chatted. Hopefully the weather holds up for tonight's t-ball game!

If I had a box of Calgon, I'd take a picture of it, because that's the kind of day I've had. Instead, I'll share this picture of the invitations for our MOMS Club end of year dinner invitations that went out today.

I took the boy to the dollar store and let him spend part of his allowance. He's such a boy! (Although he did point to the princess balloons and asked me to get them for the girls who are coming to his birthday party.)

One sign that your kid has read too many pirate books is when he asks you to make hardtack. One sign that you'll do anything to avoid housework is when you actually look up the recipe online and make it for him.

Mother's Day 2011

T-ball this morning and a family game of Payday on a rainy afternoon.

I'm going to miss our Friday lunches out when the kid goes to school full time next year.

Another successful Cinco de Mayo party!

So remember how I said I wasn't going to do any more post-holiday shopping? Yeah, me neither. (I completely bypassed the candy sections and just picked out a few toys for the boy's Easter basket next year.)

First playground visit of the season.

Allergies. Bleh.

We played another game of Monopoly today. The kid won. He ended up with Boardwalk and Park Place very early in the game and built houses whenever he could. It was the first time he'd ever won!

We stopped for a visit to the Dr. Seuss Memorial Sculpture Garden in Springfield, MA on our way home today.

Guess where we stopped for lunch on our trip back north?

Baltimore Museum of Industry

Or maybe I just have really good eyesight!! LOL! This was on the back of a truck that I followed this morning. The picture was taken while completely stopped in traffic on 95 south on today's trip into DC.

This Mayan calendar is hanging in my parents' kitchen. They bought it when we were visiting Juarez, Mexico in 1976. I've always thought it was really cool.

We stopped in Norwalk, CT today to visit the Steppingstone Museum. What a neat place for kids!

I first saw these camouflaged eggs when Andy was a baby, so I bought them and put them in the attic to save for a day when it would be fun (and not frustrating) for him to hunt for them. He had a blast this morning!

We introduced Andy to "grown-up Monopoly" last weekend, and we've ended up playing a game just about every day since then. It's so nice to be at the stage where we're getting away from the little kid games. I don't think I could tolerate another game of Candyland.