I wanted to post these over a month ago, but I thought I was going to drive around now that it’s dry and take comparison pics. I’ve been busy so that never happened.

Overnight on Wednesday April 17th -  Thursday, April 18th, it rained like crazy! On the morning of the 18th, reports of total rainfall for the previous 24 hours showed that we got about 6.5 inches of rain. Many of our neighbors had basement flooding, streets were impassable, and most of the local school districts cancelled. Our school district didn't close, but that proved to be a pretty big mistake. Around 9am, our students and teachers were basically trapped inside of our subdivision! The main road leading from the “front” and “back” exits was flooded, as was the main road out the front. We all got a call around 11am to come and get our kids. The teachers and “outside subdivision” kids got out (somehow) around 2 I think.

To this day (May 25th), the road directly outside of our subdivision is closed in one direction because a bridge washed out…it will be closed until Mid-June. Unfortunately, that’s my easy-access to Walgreen’s. Needless to say, our wallets are much fatter since I can’t make it to my (overly priced compared to the grocery store) favorite shopping spot. Brady and I visiting the park down by the Fox River last week and there are PILES of river rocks all over the place where there used to be a grassy bank.

Here are pictures that Brian and I took with Brady driving around on Thursday morning. This is a picture of the fields behind our subdivision – normally, this is all farmland.

another picture of the field (dashboard of my car in the fore-ground with our “sticky man” on it…inside weird joke)

This is the playground at our school

That’s a goose swimming around in a field

This is the path the kids use to walk to school (see the start of it off in the distance?)

That’s a road

 

I got a text from Brady this morning while I was working on some email replies and soccer scheduling stuff. I had asked him to please give me 10 minutes to concentrate. He wrote:

kenipleshvapsuvpapr

I laughed and thought it was just something random he typed out. No, he informed me, it said something:

Can (ken) I please (ples) have (hv) a piece (ps) of (uv) paper (papr)

I was really impressed since this is how most of the kindergarten kids are still writing. I call it “license plate writing” where most of the word is there…enough to make out what it’s supposed to say if you concentrate ;)

By the way, this is what he drew:

He wrote the word God upside down, but he told me that this is a picture of the star that led the wise men to Jesus, the stick figure is God.

This was by far my best mother’s day ever. Why? Don’t know. We didn’t do anything special, but the sun was out and everyone was extra special lovey! Aiden had a soccer game at 9 (and he scored a goal!!) that morning. I was bundled in my winter coat it was so cold! Afterwards, we got coffees, drove around a bit, went to the French Market in Geneva and then came home to chill for the rest of the day. The boys all made projects at school so I opened them either as they came home (Aiden) or on mother’s day (Logan) or let the giver open them for me per their request (Brady). I recently had my engagement ring fixed and reset since I had been wearing it for at least 3 years with 13 tiny stones missing from the sides of the setting (we went with something bigger on the sides so they won’t fall out this time – it’s so purty!!!) Anyway, that counted for Brian’s gift ;)

Bri made the boys pizza for dinner and my two favorite things for the two of us: caprese salad (this one was made with chocolate tomatoes, burrata cheese which is similar to mozzarella and came from the French market, fresh basil and arugula) and “anything Benedict”. My benedict was: fresh bread from the market that morning, flank steak, thin asparagus and poached eggs with hollandaise.

Here is the little frame Brady made for me at school.

Here is what Brady says about his mom: she is 10 years old (he claims he never said this…but he called me a teenager at school one day), she likes to go to the pool, the best thing she cooks is waffles, her favorite food is salad, she reads on her nook to relax and is really good at yoga. She is special because she “gives me hugs and kisses”. 

Logan’s class made watermelon magnets – very cute!! 

10 Reasons Why Logan Loves his Mom:

she reads him words he can’t read, she helps him get places on time, makes him laugh by “tickling me to death”, she taught him how to read and write, he loves to hear her sing “the songs she likes”, she finds time to “play”, helps him a lot, helps him learn things (lots of learning and helping going on I guess) and because she works so hard to “keeping me healthy”

Aiden’s class made recipe holders out of popsicle sticks.  

There was a cute recipe for a mother and then the kids dictated their favorite recipe that mom makes. Aiden apparently digs my smoothies! 

On a different day, Aiden made this note for me   

This is the basil plant Brian brought home from the store (after I demanded that he start fixing my awesome dinner)…I laughed and asked him if this was in lieu of flowers…more useful for sure! I think I might plant it on the side of the house.

Last week was teacher appreciation week. The elementary boys had something special they were supposed to do each day (like Monday was “you’ve got the write stuff, bring in a fun pen or pencil”). It was quite a busy week for mommy since we needed to coordinate some last-minute volunteers for a Tuesday-morning breakfast (I found myself ordering 6 boxes of Panera coffee at 11pm Monday night via the internet and rushed the boys out for a McDonald’s breakfast the next day so I could pick them up and deliver them before school started). We have such a great school though, I’m honored to help out!

Friday was take in flowers day. Everyone at the school, from the lunch ladies to the office and maintenance staff, got a flower vase and all the kids brought in bunches of flowers to hand out. I happened to be working in Aiden’s classroom that afternoon and WOW – so many flowers every where! Mrs Dunn’s desk was literally covered in them!

Brady had teacher appreciation week as well, but we were simply asked to donate $$ and a committee provided treats throughout the week. Brady, however, really wanted to take in some flowers to Miss Mary. So he picked some out and gave them to her on Thursday. I think she was really tickled…especially because it was 100% his idea.

Pics of Aiden and Logan before they left for school on Friday. By the way, this is the way they walk to school now – out our back door and between the yards behind us. Sometimes I run up to the catwalk area of the stairs and watch them through the windows as walk between the houses. They are practically at the school and cross-walk where teachers are waiting by the time they reach the sidewalk so I’m OK with it. They also walk themselves home from school now. It saves me at least an hour a day not walking them to and from the school!!

 

The weekend before last, on Saturday, April 27th, we had our first real “spring” day. Brian and I were so pumped about the weather that we decided we should have an impromptu get-together with any friends who were available! Everyone brought something to share: watermelon, dessert, side dishes, more dessert etc. Brian made some coffee-crusted flank steak and a roasted zucchini and corn with cotija cheese – so yum!!

As always, good times were had, kids made messes, friends shared stories…and yet…it was so much more awesome than usual because this is what happened after dinner:

Girls hanging around talking in dining room

Boys in kitchen cleaning (ok…like 2 of them…I think I saw Brian limping around helping out as well). What lovely husbands! My kitchen was virtually spotless the next morning.

best. party. ever.