::summer's on::

We like to keep pretty busy in the summer; so the kids are doing a few activities...

cheer
Chloe's doing cheer. She got an invitation to do competitive cheer (you have to try out for it, and you compete), but she'd never done it before, and I wasn't ready for rejection if she didn't make the team, so we thought we'd try just a recreational cheer. So far, she loves it! She comes home and practices and shows me all her moves and her cheers with her own poms. She's got a couple of little friends from school in her class, so that's fun too :)

gym
Port-Port's doing a gym class. He goes once a week (same as Chloe's cheer), and gets to do flips and jumps and all kinds of things. He loves it! We did the parent/child class last summer, and he was totally bored in it, but couldn't go to the big gym 'cause he wasn't 4 yet...well now he's in the big gym, and he thinks it's just awesome!



piano
Chloe takes a group piano class twice a week. She wasn't terribly excited about it, but I kind of told her she had to take the class. She likes it better now that she's been a few times. She has to practice at Grandma Snowman's or on her little keyboard 'cause we don't have a piano, and she usually forgets what she learned by the time we get home; BUT at least she's trying!


(Papa Guitar got to come to one of her lessons-he played puppets with the little boys too)

story hour
All the kids go to story hour once a week. They've only been once (it started later than the others), but they loved it! They listened to a few stories, sang a duck song, and then did a little activity afterwards (they made paper plate ducks).




Our schedule is little crazy, but we like it that way. We like being busy. We're excited to add swimming lessons to the mix in a week.
:)

::when Papa Guitar came to visit, we...::

...went to the Cheesecake Factory!!
We had the best food and cheesecake, as always. Papa brought the grandkids some little gifties from the dollar store (his favorite).

(Chloe, Liam, & Tristan)


(Portie & Papa)


(Coopie & Da-da)


(beautiful Mia)

...went to the T.P. farm to see the animals.
We saw lots of smelly cows, pigs, horses, and we saw some "kackacks" (quack-quacks). Bubb was so excited to see the "kackacks." He liked the cows too "meooo." We went for a carriage ride, and saw the biggest kite ever. AND, all the big kids rode ponies! I was SO surprised mine rode 'em. They've never wanted to ride any other time, but for some reason, they were feeling brave. They liked it too! Chloe rode twice, and Port rode 3 times!





...worked in the garden. a lot.
Papa loves to work in the garden/yard, and so do I! So the last few years, when he comes in the summer/spring, we've done this kind of work together. He helped us with flowers and our vegetable garden (which we needed lots of help with!) He got us a tree for the front yard too. He planted it for us, and said that he likes to think that when we look out at it, we'll think of him. Of course we will.


Our vegetable garden is lookin' like a real garden now! We planted some tomatoes, green peppers, onions, & crookneck squash (sometimes I feel like it's cheating when you plant an actual plant, but Dad says some things you have to, or they'll never grow). We replanted some of the other veggies that weren't sprouting too. It was so helpful to have him here to show us kind of where to plant stuff and how it'll grow and all that. I appreciate so much that he comes to visit, and that he's willing to spend the time & energy to help us with our gardens. We love you so much Papa, thanks for visiting!

::no more teachers, no more books...::

This last week was Chloe's last week of school. It was a busy one! They had Monday off (Memorial day), and I was there 3 out of the next 4 days.

Tuesday-Field Day

I volunteered to help with field day, but when we were getting ready for school, it was freezing cold and pouring rain! I called the school, and they said they were still planning on doing it. Everything got moved inside. I (and another mom) were in charge of hall skating. The kids strapped on some slippery plastic "skates" and raaaaan the whole length of the school (which is pretty long), sliding, slipping, falling, and smashing into eachother. It was pretty funny. Chloe kinda played it safe.

(Chloe's class listening to Lisa's instructions "don't pull eachother down & don't smack into the brick walls")

Wednesday-Literacy Awards

On Wednesday, they had their literacy awards program. The little boys and I went to watch. The school keeps track of how many minutes each child reads at home (we fill out papers every week), and the whole school read just under 1 million minutes this year! Chloe's class read around 81,000! She got a few prizes, and a certificate for being the top reader in her class.

(Portie wanted to sit with her)

(her awards-including some pretty nasty Shasta-mango)

Thursday was beach day. She dressed in some bright colors, a Miami Beach shirt, sunglasses, and flip-flops. They were allowed to bring some sand toys too.

Friday-Last day of school!!!!

And a crazy day it was! I asked Chloe's teacher on Wednesday if I could come help her on Friday, and she said that YESSSS! she'd love some help. So I went again. They had the morning and afternoon classes together-so around 45 kids!! They colored a picture, did a little writing, sang a few songs, and got out at 10:15! I'm glad I got to go for the last day.

(Leo the Late Bloomer story. She always reads this story to her students on the last day)

(Chloe & her teacher)

And just for fun, I thought I'd throw in a photo from her first day and her last day. It's fun to see how she's changed.

(first day of kindergarten)

(last day of kindergarten-holding her gift for her teacher)

It's been a pretty great year. She's learned a lot, and is excited and not excited for 1st grade. She doesn't think she's going to like the whole all-day thing. I just keep telling her it'll be fun, and trying to talk about the fun things about being there all day. We'll see how that goes in August. In the mean time, we're all WAAAY excited to have a little break.

::diy::

We've (by we, I mostly mean Matt) done a couple of home projects...

Project #1...

A garden/trampoline & sandbox area in the back yard. We finished it probably about a month ago, and I forgot I had taken pictures along the way...

Matt tilled up a pretty big area in the corner of our backyard. We had to make a more permanent spot to put the trampoline (because it's a heavy duty one-too heavy to move when we mow), and we wanted a bigger sandbox for the kids. We thought we better add on a garden area too-this is our first year to ever do a garden...

(the beginning of the tilling)

(after lots of tilling and digging, ready for the landscaping bricks)

(almost done-need some bark, sandbox frame, sand, and a few more bricks-(oops) )

(the kids enjoyed the whole project. Portie liked taking dirt away in his dump truck, and they all liked climbing on Papa's trailer)

Ta-Daaaaaa!!

(finished! complete with a new spicket for watering)



Project #2

a new front door.

We've lived in our house for 4 years, and I've hated our front door since the day we looked at the house. It's just a plain ol' white 6 panel (which doesn't even match any of our interior doors). No windows, no pretty handle, no nothin'! I could go on for days about why I hate that door, but I wont :) So we finally got a new one. I picked it out and painted it, Matt did all the hard stuff...

(The kids liked the painting/taping process. They thought they'd tape up parts of the outside of the house so I don't get paint on it.)

(Matt & Coopie worked on installing the hardware)

(J came over to help with the hanging-thanks, J!!)

Ta-Daaaaaa!!!!

I think it turned out pretty nice. It's pretty nice having some light come through that side of the house too.

::memorial day::

Memorial Day 2010

cemetary.4 wheeler ride.basketball.swings.watermelon.

hamburgers.hotdogs.s'mores.boots.

bikes.scooters.cousins.fire.outside.family.