May slide show

(Just FYI, I had most of this post done last night and would have posted it then, except for the ginormous amount of projectile vomit that was sprayed right outside the computer room. After I hosed off the walls and the carpet, I was simply not motivated to do anything but fall into my bed after placing Jake on our bedroom floor with a large bowl next to him. He seems to be fine today, as is my carpet.)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's been FOR-E-VER since I've blogged. I sincerely apologize...wait, not really. If anyone has been checking this multiple times every day (besides you, Ann) you really need to get out more. No apology here, I've been enjoying the month of May more than my computer. Sometimes I wish I could be that person who blogs every day and genuinely has something interesting to say (MARLA) but I'm just not. So let's ditch the coulda shoulda woulda's and get to the update.

May has been a good month for us Stumps. Nothing too incredibly exciting, but plenty of days filled with lots of good things. Like for instance...SUN. I've never really been a huge fan of musicals (my sisters-in-law are wondering if they ever should have let me share their last name) but these sunny Oregon days just make me want to burst out in song. Or...take a trip to the zoo with my good friends Natalie and Heather!

I'll let Natalie share as much of the story as she wishes to disclose, but after a bit of a hitch in our morning, we made it into the zoo and the kids pretty much wanted to stay there the rest of their lives. Unfortunately they're making tons of "improvements" to the zoo, which until they are finished in 2030, are not so tremendous. A few of the coolest exhibits were closed down for a few days (of course we were there on one of those days), so we didn't see the lions or tigers. We did see bears, so the overused Wizard of Oz quotation is just not going to happen, I'm sorry. Let's see some pictures shall we?

Caleb and Josh, perfectly safe in Natalie's car

Jake, Josh and Ty (whose favorite zoo animal was a large fish)

random child, Jake, polar bear, Josh and Ty

Heather's little Ella and the remnants of some delish PB&J on those adorable cheeks

The best photo I got of all the bigger kids together. We were minus Caleb who was trying desperately not to zonk out in his stroller...and minus the little no-name boy in Heather's tummy (anybody have any good suggestions for her, he'll be here soon!)

speaking of babies...cute wittle baby elephant

The leader of the pack making sure his crew followed his every move

Exactly how I felt on the way home

The next momentous day for the Stump family came when Jake graduated from preschool last week. What's great about this is that Jake is "graduating" back into the same class. And he's super pumped about it. We've decided, since his birthday is in August, to have him be the oldest in his class instead of the youngest. He'll be in the same classroom with his cuz Matty next year, and he thinks that's just about the coolest thing he could imagine. Anyway, graduation...

Jake walking down the aisle, taking the whole thing about as seriously as he took his homework this year. We had just a few battles over homework. Alright, I couldn't have gotten the message more clearly if God had spoken to me from a burning bush..."Angela Stump, you shall not be a homeschool mom. You do not have a hundredth of the patience that it requires."

Ty sitting next to me, obviously grasping the seriousness of the occasion about as much as his brother

Jake's teacher, Mrs. Weber. God bless that woman.

Well, there you have it. May. Come on back next month and we'll see what I can do for you.

Good to know

Quote of the day:

We were getting ready to leave the house today, and Ty (as is typical) was not wearing any pants. I reminded him (between 5 and 175 times) to get some jeans on. I was in our bedroom putting away some laundry (happens a few times a year when the pile on my dresser looks like the leaning tower of Pisa). I was getting mildly irritated (ok, maybe a wee bit hostile) and said once again that he'd need to get pants on if he wanted to come with us (to IKEA...who wouldn't get pants on for that?). He said the following: (and I quote)

"So if I don't get pants on, then you're going to throw a clothe at me?" A what? He pointed at a shirt I was holding. "A clothe." As in a singular item of clothing. Right. Actually until he said that (and I burst out laughing) I was considering strangling him with a clothe.

Next post I'm going to do entirely in parentheses, wouldn't that be awesome? (Or maybe I'll just do one parenthe.)

Mother's Day and Memories

August 3, 2004

March 10, 2006

May 10, 2009

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

Boo Swine Flu

Has anyone out there heard the words swine and flu mentioned recently? Just curious. It has come up a few times at work lately. OH WAIT, a few gazillion times. I walked into work the other night to find our waiting room bursting at the seams with people convinced they are knocking on death's door beause they had traveled to Mexico within the last 29 years and now have a runny nose. I'm just going to take a moment to tell you about all the other emergency departments in the Portland area you can go to if you're thinking about getting yourself tested. Great, great hospitals ready willing and able to stick a swab up your nose and send you home with a wad of Kleenex and a pat on the back after a mere 5 hour wait.

My educated opinion on the swine flu? Wash your hands, don't sneeze in other people's faces, and I'm personally encouraging my children to avoid the following...