Another Summer Birthday, The Silly Sisters, & Father's Day

Scott turned NINE earlier this month.

Are you serious?

Where has the time gone?

Grandpa & Grandma took Scott for a special day of hiking.  He loved it, and felt very official with the walking stick. (Happy Father's Day, Dad!!  I love you!)

Scott is definitely an outdoor, nature guy- like his dad. 

 Speaking of special dads on Father's Day, here's one below! :) 

Sweet sisters

Soaked sisters

Squashed Sisters (and yes, we buy "chicken fries" in bulk...Kate LOVES her chicken fries.  Sadly, it's one of the only foods Kate loves.  They say the shortcomings you have as parents can be seen magnified in your children.  Picky parents= Extremely picky children   :(  Over time, Scott and Natalie have gotten better, so I am REALLY hoping that Kate will broaden her food selections in the coming years.  For now, if you ever have an extra coupon for chicken fries, please send it my way.  Eek!)

Church Skating Party Fun

Secrets, secrets,
Are no fun,
This is getting too long,
My post is done.

Hello Summer Break!

So long, Second Grade!

 Farewell, First Grade!

Welcome Home, Playmates!!!

Both kiddos got all A's this year and earned special reading awards.  They ended the year with fun field trips to the zoo and museum, so Kate and I had to venture out to Chuck E. Cheese for an end of the year "homeschool" field trip.  I sure hope she outgrows that place soon. 

The kids have been SO excited about swim lessons, but unfortunately it hasn't happened yet.  We keep showing up- all suited up to swim- only to find out that they are cancelled for one reason or another.  One day, the disappointed swimmers came home and did this instead.  Not my idea, but hey...desperate times call for desperate measures. 

 There ARE other fun things to do besides swim lessons, such as playgrounds...

and bubbles...

and free coupons to redeem at Monkey Joe's...just to name a few!:) 

So far, so good!  (Minus the summer learning packets that their teachers sent home for completion throughout the summer.  One child is NOT a fan of summer learning.  He has asked/instructed me several times to leave the packet at home when we go on our vacation!  Fair enough.  Although I may slip some flashcards in his suitcase.)  

Catch Up Time!

Now that the end of the school year projects are completed, it's time to catch up on the blog.  Let's see how many posts I can crank out this week. 

Reoccurring conversation with Kate over the past few weeks...
Kate: What does "a-t-y-m-i-e-o" (insert any jumble of letters) spell?
Me:  That's not a word.
Kate:  Does it spell goodest?  (Since I've told her that's "not a word")
Me:  No, it spells...(attempt to phonetically sound out whatever fake word she has spelled)

Repeat.

AHHHHHHH!!!

A blue marlin mask for his blue marlin report- Scott was quite proud of his creation!

This boy is really into his bike.  Look closely and you can see that he made it to 100 miles on his odometer.  That's a lot of trips up and down the driveway so far this summer.  His goal for summer break is 250. 

Last year, my loud garage sale find was a drum set.  This year, a karaoke machine.  :)  
Jon:  "Can you take that thing DOWNSTAIRS?!"

Kate (in attempting to describe someone to me):  I know this isn't nice to say, but she's (whispers)...fat.  Well, she kind of looks like you but maybe just a little fatter.  ?!?!?

The girlies had their dance recital in May.  Blurry pictures, but fun memories!  They both enjoyed being on stage.  :)

 And lest you think it's just the girls who have talent, check out what my boys can do...:)

Nifty Natalie turned SEVEN in May.  As usual, we talked about her birthday for much of the year, and she was so excited when the big day arrived. 

 How can my sweet baby Natalie be a big seven year old already? 

 I'm shocked too!

Mother's Day Gift- CANCELLED

*Natalie was being extra sweet yesterday afternoon.  She said, "Mommy, as part of your Mother's Day gift, I'm going to be nice and do everything I'm supposed to do for the rest of the month of May." 

Kate followed, "Me too!" 

Scott, the realist, burst their bubbles with, "That's impossible!"

A couple of hours later, Scott and Natalie were bickering back and forth and as the fight began to escalate, I asked what happened to my Mother's Day gift in which Natalie was going to be an angel for the rest of the month.  She steamed, "Well that all got cancelled BECAUSE OF SCOTT!"

Shucks.

They did surprise me with sweet homemade cards this morning, and Kate emptied her piggy bank coins into a gift bag along with a few pens and pencils from the pen drawer.  I love it!:) 

*Kate (and her random comments):  There is a girl in my BSF class and her hair looks like she is a zookeeper.

*Natalie used to be Dora fan...then is was Doc McStuffins, then Lalaloopsies, then Strawberry Shortcake, then Shopkins, and the latest is BEANIE BOOS!  Wonder what she will be into tomorrow?  It's ever changing!

*Ten more school days, then Scott's hoping for more gator time!

*I tried to stuff a book into Kate's bookcase one day, and it was too full.  I left Kate to go through her books and pull out ones that she didn't want anymore.  When I returned, ALL of her books were piled up, and she told me it was the KEEP pile.  :/  Better do the discarding of books one day when she is at Grammy's! 

*Duct Tape Day at School!  (We had one participant who would have put more duct tape all over herself if we would have had more time.  We had one non-participant who saw absolutely no point in wrapping himself in duct tape.)