father's day pics

Knowing we'd be on the road during father's day, we celebrated it the weekend before. We started it with breakfast in bed - eggs, sausage biscuits, and OJ. A gifted M with a sprig of flowers to decorate his had with (and M's such a good sport about it! - he's awesome!)





We did church in the mid-day, and then came home for our early supper: venison and vegetable red curry.








For desert (i do enjoy an excuse to bake!) we had carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I LOVE my dear hubby, and he's a wonderful father! Happy Father's day, babe!!

My daughters... the rockers.

A and D have had these cheap play guitars for a while. They bring them out every now and again to play and goof off. The strings were beyond cheap, and so i had to replace them - but it'll at least make sounds (even if it isn't really in-tune) so the munchkins just love playing with them.


I think A is going to be my main acoustic flower-child girl.



C, however, is destined to be a radical punk-rocker, leaping and head-thrashing across the stage.... naked ;->

Family Get-together pics

We had a family get-together at Dave's house last month, here are some pics from the festivities!

At the end of the slip-n-slide.

my bro. D's fast moving munchkin wanting to get in on the action.

One of the many biff-sessions.

D really enjoyed playing with his uncles - he ran after EVERYTHING!!

It always seems like i'm playing catch-up

We had a wonderful trip out to Utah and a reunion with everyone out there; it was awesome to have an opportunity to see some of my own siblings out there also. We don't get together very regularly, and so i loved the chance to see and spend time with them.

I'm going to back-track a bit and toss out the pics that i'd meant to get out there back when summer started:

A really enjoyed her dance class this past year. She had her recital right before school ended. She's been in the Latin and Ballroom class which she has enjoyed more than the ballet/tap combo. Her class did a jive number to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." She wants to take a musical theatre class next year. Being the little drama-queen that she is, i think she'll do an awesome job!





This would be my little E-munchkin. His hair is getting a little scraggly, but i haven't bothered to get out my clippers and scissors. Cousin L wants me to not cut it and just let it grow. Hmmm... we'll see. :-)










This is C reading her book to A's dog, Tiny. C really loves stuffed animals, and will borrow everyone's whenever the opportunity arises. She loves reading books on her own even more than she enjoys us reading to her (apparently we don't flip the pages fast enough for her ;-)




These are some pics of the kids when they went to the free fishing derby up in Richmond. Only one tiny fish was caught, but there was still fun to be had by all. A was the brave one to hold the fish and then throw it back.

end of school and random pic

A couple of weeks ago i took E and C up on a hike and picnic on the trail behind our house. They had an awesome time, and particularly enjoyed the hike, and trying to feed raisins and cheerios to the ants. If you look closely, you'll notice my loving munchkins dressed themselves quite without help on this day. They did great except when it came to the shoes - C is sporting 2 of a kind, and E's shoes are on the wrong feet - but, HEY,... they did it 'THEMSELVES!' (very important in their lives right now ;-)



This is A on her last day with her teacher. Mrs. Miller is having a baby in august, and A is afraid she won't see her again for a while - amazing how attached they can become in one short year.







This is D and his teacher; she and I worked quite closely together with D this year. He enjoyed her and is looking forward to 4th grade!



I am looking forward to summer - i've got a whole LIST of things we are going to work on, and now need to schedule it all in, and make sure it happens before school starts again. Summer may seem like forever to the kids (A's complained already about being bored ;-), but it'll really zoom by.

fun with cardboard boxes

I love my kids' imagination! They are so adept at making something out of the simplest things and then playing with it for hours. Case and point - this is a box i happened to pick up at Lowe's last time i was there - just a basic free-bee box that had been left next to the cart carrel. First it became a bus.




After the kids had played with that for about a day or two, and it was falling apart around their ears, they modified it into 'storm-trooper wear.' Complete with guns, swords, and armor.









And then we also had to include antennas and jet packs on the back :-)


They're cool kids; i think i'll keep 'em.

More Scintilating conversation...

We were in the front room, just having finished scripture reading and family prayer:

A: I smell something like dirty socks

Me (having smelled the same thing and KNOWING what it was): C, do you have a messy diaper?

C: Nope!

Me: E, do you have tracks in you underwear?

E (resignedly and with big sigh): Yes.




We all just crack up laughing, he is just SO honest and straightforward! even when he doesn't want to be,... and he's such a cute little kid!