Splash Around

Hurray the splash park is open! We love going to the spash parks at fairhaven and cornwall parks. The opening of the parks really starts the summer season for us, even though school isn't out yet.

Awana Luau

Our End of Year Leader Appreciation for Awana this year was a Hawaiian Theme. Walking into the room you were trasported into the tropics where a luau awaited you on the beach. We had a great time doing the limbo, carving spam sculptures (I guess they love spam in hawaii?), and eating from a delicious buffet that included sweet and sour chicken with rice, and mac-n-cheese with spam. Notice my girls sipping on their favorite beat the heat treat, a starbucks frap!

It's Official. Philip has graduated from Preschool. He's a big boy now. Philip loved his teacher and all his classmates. It was a nice friendly well behaved class and we know Philip will miss his friends. He is a little nervous about the next stage of life --KINDERGARTEN-- so we decided to focus on how cool it is to graduate from preschool. We got all the kids in his class these cute smiley face grad balloons. He remembered Elissa having a cool party for graduating from Highschool last year and he wanted to be cool like his big cuz. So we celebrated with some special chocolate cookies he picked out decorated with little graduation cap picks. He was happy.

Philip's Final Preschool Fieldtrip

Philip's preschool teacher has a tradition of taking the kids to her in-laws house on the bay for their last field trip. Sadie went both years that she was in her class and this year it is Philip's turn. It is the perfect spot for a group of preschoolers to explore. They have a private little beach that the kids get to play on. A tall tree that grows leaning out towards the bay holds a large bouy on a rope that swings out over the water. The kids love to ride on it. There are also great rocks to climb around on and view the tide pools. Tons of little crabs hide under rocks on the beach waiting for the kids to find them and then collect them in buckets as pets for the day. It's a great way to end the year and create a lasting memory.

Addie-tude

It's a nickname she earned early on because she was more than a little tempermental. I mean this girl knows how to "sport a 'tude"! She also knows how to melt your heart with a little smile and some sweet words. She is just constantly running at 200% and I love it-- when I'm not hating it. Luckily these days I'm loving it more often than it's driving me crazy. She's learning to tame her temper and settle things with her words and not shrill screams. At least she tries the word approach first and if that doesn't do the trick she works her way up to shrill screams... and if that still fails then watch out because her fists are flying and her teeth are chomping. But at least she's trying out some problem solving techniques. Maybe by the time she gets to kindergarten she will be an expert!

Getting Mom

Philip didn't just throw the ball back and forth with Daddy. No he had to secretly plot and plan how he could end up "accidently" hitting Mommy in the head with the ball. How could I get mad when he looked so cute doing it?

Coocoo for Carter

Carter is a goof. It's all I have to say. This boy cracks me up. He is giggly and goofy. He loves to be the clown. He is great at getting everyone wound up, breaking the tension with laughter, or distracting everyone with his silliness. Yeah, it can be frustrating, but most of the time he's just a silly little monkey that I can't help but laugh along with!

Swinging to and fro

Addie has loved the swings since she was a little a baby. She just can't get enough of them. It's always the first thing she runs to when we get to any park, and she wouldn't mind staying on them the entire time. She loves to go super high and fast. She even loves to swing during her therapy sessions. Its just something she craves. Its calming and organizing for her. Which I love. What I don't love is standing by the swings all day pushing her. So imagine my delight when she learned to pump her legs all by herself. Now she can swing to hearts content and I'm free to enjoy playing with the other kids as well. No longer a slave to the swing!

Girl's Best Friend

Sadie just loves Princess... ok we all just love her. She has a great personality. She's playful when you want to play chase, tug-o-war, or fetch (although she isn't so great at bringing the toy back to you she does retirieve it and then come wave it around about 5 feet in front og you). She is also soft and snuggly whe you just want someone to curl up and cuddle with. She still escapse from the yard once in awhile if you aren't paying attention, but she comes right away when you call her. We can take her to the park off leash and she loves to go for car rides. I was skeptical at first how a dog would fit into our busy family and into our tiny home, but she has been a great addition and a wonderful blessing to all of us. We just love her.

Writers Workshop

Sadie was selected as one of four students in her school to go down to the young authors conference. Of course I wanted to join them, I hate to miss out on any of her activities. We were supposed to ride the school bus down with all the other kids in the city going, but when she got on the school bus she started to feel a little sick. She still wanted to go but I was afraid she would get car sick on the school packed with kids so I decided to drive her down. With a little more room and a little fresh air she was just fine. Driving our own car ended up being a blessing because the school bus broke down in Mt Vernon and the other kids all had to wait for a chartered bus to come pick them up and their weren't room for all the parents. Thank goodness i had my car. We even had time to stop and celebrate her wonderful story with ice cream from Big Scoop an old fashioned ice cream parlor just like the one in the story she wrote about a magical tornado.