School's Out!!!

Here is a picture of Ains on her first day of school...

She decided to go out with style and wear the exact same outfit on the last day of school as the first. What a clever lady!
And then we had to get in some celebrating before the weather turned bad. So we headed over to grandma and grandpa's for some swimming and a BBQ. I think the kids swam for at least 4 hours. They were exhausted when they got home. I love it when kids get exhausted!

Check out Emmie's tongue! She has a new found love for sticking out her tongue...
And Ains hopped in the pool and didn't miss a beat. She was swimming around and jumping off the diving board within minutes. I was worried we would need a bit of practice, but apparently swimming is like riding a bike, once you learn you never forget. Except somehow Ains did manage to forget how to ride her bike. Hmmmm.

John gave ribs another go, and I must say this time they were delicious! He made his own rub and BBQ sauce, trimmed the fat and smoked them for a long time. They were awesome! He also smoked a pork roast with some of his rub and it was way good too.

And last but not least, the kids convinced grandpa to start a fire so we could roast some marshmallows before heading home. He obliged and the kids got to cram in a bit more sugar, to make up for all that was lost while swimming.

A pretty fun after school party I'd say!

Coming to an End

Yesterday was Ainsley's kindergarten graduation. It was really cute. Ains has been talking about the songs they would be singing for weeks! Their performance was entitled "Rumble in the Jungle" and included classics such as, "In the Jungle" and "5 Little Monkeys." In fact Ains got to be one of the monkey's that got snapped out of the tree. I'd post more pictures of the program, but they all look about the same!

And here is Ainsley getting her certificate of completion from her teacher.

Here she is with her teacher Mrs. Perry.

And with her proud parents!
Ains had a great time. She felt pretty special when she got her graduation presents. A Borders gift card and new Junie B. Jones book from grandma (she's already almost done with the book) and a Jonas brothers mp3 player from her parents (I found it on pinching your pennies a few months ago for a few dollars and just couldn't resist...so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it to her!)

On the way home from school I told her she could choose anything she wanted for lunch that day, thinking she would choose McDonald's or something. But she chose quesadillas (how do you spell that? :o)....this girl is easy to please!

Pictures I Found on my Camera

I found a picture that showed off Emmie's teeth. And since I know several of you have lost sleep wondering what she looked like with teeth, I thought I would go ahead and post a picture so you could have more restful nights!

I also found these next three pictures. I have no idea where I was when they were taken...so they caught me by surprise and I thought they were hilarious!
I still can't figure out what they were trying to be.

I also found these 2 of Emmie. This girl is desperate to be on the move! She rolls and scoots and gets up on her hands and knees but has yet to figure out how to crawl. She'll be into EVERYTHING soon, I'm sure of it!!!

When I first looked at this picture I thought John took it to show Emmie rolling around on the floor. Then I remembered that one night while I was at a meeting Emmie just fell asleep on the floor while John was with her. I still can't believe she did that. She is one that needs to be laid in her bed or wrestled with for an hour to go asleep...she NEVER just goes to sleep in random places!

Still cute though!




And here we have Owen's self bandaging. He scraped his knee and has been caring for it himself (I don't think he could be more independent if he tried). Quite the bandage, huh?!

And lastly a picture that just makes me chuckle. I think it's because somehow they were all caught at slightly off moments so they almost look a little scared mid smile. Definitely frame worthy!

I can't believe I forgot to post this!

A few weeks ago Owen and John headed out on their second father/son's outing. And this time they even made it overnight! (Probably because they stayed in someone's camper, which might have been a one time occurrence for them because I heard John won the snoring award!)

I'm sure they did all sorts of manly things. They came home dirty and tired, so I'm assuming a good time was had by all.

This is a picture of Owen with his little friend Jaron.

And this picture just cracks me up because of the look on Owen's face. Maybe he didn't have a good time! :o)

While the boys were away the girls had a cleaner sort of fun. Although I have no photographic proof because John had the camera so I have no pictures.

Ains was in charge of the night. She chose to go to dinner at Cafe Ole'. Then we dropped in for a visit at a girl party that our friends were having. Then we came home and ate ice cream from the carton while we watched "The Princess and the Frog." The next morning we slept in and then gave ourselves manicures and pedicures. We actually had a lot of fun!

Change of Plans

Right now I should be posting pictures of the fun we had at Bruneau Sand Dunes with the kids. Pictures of the kids climbing and sliding down the dunes. Maybe a few shots of kids covered in sand or playing with their friends. Perhaps a family picture. Maybe a shot of the yummy food we packed for a picnic.

But instead I'll spare you and not post a picture of what we did instead today. Poor Ains woke up at 6:30 throwing up and didn't stop until 2:30. I think we were all a little disappointed that we were home bound with sickness instead of out on a fun day trip.


But we'll have to take a rain check and head out to the dunes another day. And next time I might not invite anyone to go with us so I don't feel so lame when we have to cancel. And I'll post the pictures then.


On the other hand, we have managed to cram A LOT of wii and 2 movies into the day so far. Just as fun, right?

For Documentation Sake

Last night John noticed Emmie had 2 little teeth poking through on the bottom of her mouth. I would say that this officially makes her a third child whose milestones go unnoticed. However, I remember the same thing happening with Ainsley when she was about 10 or 11 months. All the sudden one day I looked in her mouth and there was a tooth. At least I was the one to notice Ainsley's first tooth. Instead of having someone else point it out to me.

The funny thing is that in the past 2 weeks I've had two complete strangers look at Emmie drooling and chewing away who said, "Oh, she must be teething!" I dismissed them immediately in my head thinking, "Whatever, my kids don't get teeth this young." And what do ya know? They were right!

I would post a cute picture of Emmie's new teeth, but I'm lazy, and I'm sure even if I did try I wouldn't get a picture of them anyways.

Ains has yet to see the teeth due to Emmie's gift for keeping them hidden. So she just likes to feel them. In fact, tonight as Ains was putting off going to bed she asked if she could feel Emmie's teeth one more time. Kind of weird.

And since I'm too lazy to take and post a new picture, here's an old one that was sitting in our picture folder....

Maybe in this picture she's thinking, "Hey Mom! Why won't you just feel the teeth in my mouth already?!"

Conversation in the car

Owen: "Mom, I'm in charge of myself."

Me: "Well guess who I'm in charge of?"

Owen: "Who?"

Me: "You!"

Owen: "No, I'm in charge of myself!"

Me: "How about I'll be in charge of you until you're 18, and then you can be in charge of yourself? Does that sound fair?"

Owen: "Ya! How old is 18?"

Me: "Too late Owen, the deal's already been made."



*****I just had to add to this that 2 days later while Owen was doing his best at avoiding going to bed he informed us that we weren't in charge of him, Jesus was. Because Jesus made him. Clever kid...