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!

Field Day

Wednesday was field day for the oldest two munchkins, so our morning time was spent out and about, hitting school at two different times for their field day, and going to the park in-between them, and having a small picnic to keep the hunger at bay.

Lest you forget my loving oldest (who has been avoiding my camera recently) I got to see his 'bat-spin' relay race; he maintained his balance quite well!
C was VERY happy to see A, and about tackled her to the ground with her enthusiasm! I got to see A's three-legged sack race with her friend - they only biffed it about 3 times in the whole 25 feet out and back ;-)

Louisville zoo fieldtrip

A was SO excited to go on her field trip. It was all she talked about for weeks before it finally happened. We bought her a cheap one-time camera to take with her, and she took along a pad of paper and pencil to 'take notes' on the animals.



It was a drizzly day, but rather than cancel, they just had all the kids bring those cheap emergency ponchos. Despite the weather, she had a wonderful time, and wants to go again,... like TOMORROW!


When we finally got the pictures back she was so stoked! Half of her pictures didn't turn out (she'd forgotten how to use the flash for indoor stuff,) and so they gave her a photo album along with the 10 pictures (outside ones) that had turned out well. She immediately borrowed my collection of permanent markers and made the album completely 'hers.' I thought she did an amazing job free-handing all the animals!

little mice.

So, we've got a minor mice problem we've been working on for a while. My dear hubby had bought some big 50 Lb. bags of rice, with the intention of putting it into 5 gallon buckets, but we never quite got that far. Well, we had a small family of mice move in to start in on the rice bags,... and we set out traps. Well, i guess the mice family invited all their friends, and they've all gotten trap savy. So, we are still setting out (and re-setting the sprung) traps. I've been researching other types of mice traps, and i'm leaning seriously toward the electric ones that just fry the mice to death. (yes,.. i'm THAT sick of mice!!)

I came into the kitchen the other day to find i've got a MUCH larger mouse than what i expected, who has gotten fridge savy and will steadfastly and innocently say, "I didn't do that." Never mind the cheese leavings all over her face, and the evidence in front of her. (take a GANDER at those bite marks - crazy!!)

fun in the sun!

The little kids have been doing a lot of backyard swimming lately. They had a friend over the other day, and they ended up swimming in the morning, going to the park for a picnic lunch, and then swimming again in the afternoon with D and A.

It was a pretty hefty dosing of sun and fun. I made sure to coat the kids with sunscreen, but i think it was still a little much for C. She didn't get sunburned, but she woke up that night at 4AM throwing up with a temperature of 103degrees! Poor girl, i think she has that same sensitivity to the sun and heat that i have. If i'm in the sun too long, and don't stay hydrated, i get headaches and am just miserable through the night and the next day.

I got sun poisoning once while living in Arizona, and had the same stuff - nausea, vomitting, fever, headache, etc. I'll have to be cautious this summer to make sure she stays hydrated. Still, they definately had a blast, and she seemed to be feeling fine the next day ('course i did keep her inside the whole day - paranoid mommy that i am ;-)