Summer. The first of many installments.

School ended and summer had us hitting the ground running.  Our end of school pool party ended late and Owen was up at the crack of dawn the next morning for day camp. We are only a week and a half into summer and we've already had a yard sale, with accompanying snow cone stand, scout camp for Owen, friends galore, days spent swimming, parties with friends, sleepovers alone in the living room (that's how Emmie prefers to do it anyways) a trip to the river, kids trip to Eagle Island (without me...hallelujah!) father and son's campout, and a whole lot of crazy!  The kids have yet to be in bed before 10:00.  And just to clarify I mean 10:00 pm.   I think it's going to be an awesome summer.

 



School's Out for Summer!

Actually it was out 2 weeks ago....I'm just getting around to writing about it now.  The last few weeks of school flew by like a whirl wind. they were jam packed.  So much so that when Ains came home 5 days before the last day of school telling us that they had a new project assigned where she had to make a model of a person from Idaho history John and I both asked her what would happen if she just didn't do it.  Our daughter isn't as lazy as we are and she did the project on her own. Both of my kids once again tried out for the talent show this year.  What is it with my kids and talent shows!?  I mean, I love talent shows and all, but every year?

Owen did a great job.  He played Mission Impossible on the piano.  He was originally going to play that while his friend did kung Fu moves, but his friend bailed so he was on his own.  He was a huge hit!  And it was a much welcomed break from the 8 Frozen musical numbers we also enjoyed during the first and second grade talent show.

Ains and her friends danced again this year.  They danced to "Happy".  Although you wouldn't have guessed that by the look on Ainsley's face :). She actually did a great job too. The girls came up with all of their moves all by themselves and did a great job.  

You never would have guess that these three lovelies were in the fight of their lives during this picture.  We had a bit of drama the last 2 days of school and Ains came home in tears when she and her friend were followed and yelled at by a mob.  She stood up for a girl being attacked and boy did she pay for it.  I was proud of her for standing up for what she thought was right.  She was still in tears though.  So in an attempt to have a good last day of school we did what anyone would do to quickly end a fight.  We gave all the kids involved a little treat on the last day of school.  I explained to Ains that while we wouldn't be solving any problems, everyone would magically get along on the last day of school.  And they did.

Preschool Graduation

Emmie had her preschool graduation yesterday.  She really has learned so much this year.  Her teacher, Mrs. B,  is wonderful. She is so low-key and patient.  She has taught Emmie so much.  Emmie has loved going to preschool.  And at this point I'm happy I have another year of preschool to look forward to because I'm not sure I'm ready for her to grow up.

Dance Recital

Emmie also finished up her dance class this month.  She actually had 2 performances at retirement homes and then her big recital.  Her performances at her recital were two of my favorite things ever.  She was so animated and dedicated to her dance it was awesome!  I laughed so hard I cried.  If I recall I cried at Ainsley's first dance recital too but for different reasons.  I was just sad she was growing up.  Emmie brought me to tears through sheer entertainment.   I love that girl!

 

 

(Her dance files are too big to upload here so if you want to watch them you'll have to go to facebook :)

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's day.  John's meetings were shortened in the morning (he's the ward clerk now) and even though he had to take care of tithing after church the kids were (for the most part) helpful and we all had a nice day.  The kids gave me awesome cards and gifts.  But I think the thing I will always most remember about this mothers day was how Emmie stole my gift. 

She came home from preschool one day with a wrapped package and a card for me.  She told me she was going to save it for me for  mother's day.  You can imagine the anticipation I felt.  And then one day Emmie started wearing this new necklace.  She loved it.  The blue beads on it were her favorite.  I had to retie the necklace many times that week and search for last beads.  Then on Mother's day I realized that Emmie had given me her card, but not her gift.  Upon investigation we learned she had unwrapped my gift and kept it for herself because she loved it so much.  Too cute.

The Kids

The kids have been pretty neglected for the past couple of months.  But they have had some major happenings as well.  Ains got contacts.  She's doing great with them!  She has been swimming twice and loves that she can now see in the water.  Unfortunately for us she has to have one semi custom lense.  I'll will forever hate paying for new boxes of those.  But it's worth it.

She also finished reading all 7 Harry Potter books.  There has been a lot of Harry Potter talk around here lately.  Now she's excited to watch the movies.  If I have my way she won't get to see the last few for a few years.  We'll see who wins this battle.

Owen completed his big habitat project for second grade.  If it looks a little sparse it might be because Ainsley got nominated to help him make animals (yes they have to make animals for heavens sake!) and by the end of the evening we had a cactus, a snake, a broken bat, a frog, and an Easter Bunny.  As far as I know he will still be allowed to move on to the third grade.  We are all relieved. 

Owen has actually been doing really well in school lately.  Last week he was awarded "Pop Star" in his class and got to go eat popcorn with the principal.  He also was honored at breakfast of the champions for his first time ever.  Our school holds special breakfasts monthly to honor kids who have made accomplishments.  Teachers choose kids from their class to be honored each month.  And Owen go to go for his first time this year!

Emmie has been working really hard too.

I think she has spent the majority of her time with friends this month.  Either at her friends houses supervised, or at our house mostly unsupervised.  But all neighborhood children are alive and well.

Emmie also got to go to the zoo on a field trip.  (Technically Owen went to the zoo too, but I have a strict yearly zoo attendance policy so I didn't go with him).

This was however my most favorite trip to the zoo ever.  For two reasons.  The  monkeys were playing and going crazy in their cage and one of the monkeys peed from the top of the cage out onto the walkway.  It was a moment I will never forget.  And then the giraffes were fighting.  I don't know if they were actually fighting, but it sure looked like it!  They would swing their heads around and hit each other in the back with their heads.  It appeared to be very hard.  It was awesome.   The end.

The Trailer

Another really smart thing to do while in the middle of big projects is to make a big purchase.  I have wanted a tent trailer for a long time now.  Because while I love camping, I do not love camping in a tent.  And we don't have a vehicle big enough to get all of our gear to a camping spot.  We usually camp with friends that have large trailers and trucks and make them take stuff for us. 

So one night when talking to Kort and Dan we decided that we might like to buy a tent trailer together.  Because neither of us would use it more than 2-3 times a year and then we wouldn't feel guilty about the expense if we didn't end up using it much any given year.  So we started searching.  And we found one.  And we bought it.  And we love it!  Although it hasn't been camped in other than in the garage by the kids.  But we plan to fix that soon.  We've fixed it all up, cleaned it out, and it's ready to go.  And now we have a heater and a fridge while we camp!  Yay!