Summertime Pals

Each year it seems our yard is the place to be. Most days I love it. I am a bit protective of my kids so I would rather have the friends here to play. So these days on average I have around 8 kids here. I often joke that I run a free daycare. Each summer it seems to change just a bit. With apartments in the area kids move in and move out so I try to snap some pics so the kids remember who they played with that year. Of course summer is in the final lap and I am already looking forward to quieter days....

A visit with our friend Michelle

Last week I got in the car and drove. A first for me. I have never honestly taken my kids by myself in a car more than an hour away. So we drove almost 3 1/2 hours to visit my friend Michelle, who moved a few years ago and I keep saying we will visit, so we finally did! And I am so glad that we spent time together. The kids really don't remember playing together, but were instant friends. We have 7 kids literally they are ages 8,7,6,5,4,3 and 0 but for the most part they played so well together you never would of known. We caught up, I got to meet some of her girlfriends and we had a girls night in which was so nice. We went to the movies and a block party and a park, and it went to fast. But it was so nice to catch up and it will be nice when we get to see them again even if briefly here the beginning of August when they come up to visit.
So now when we get in the car if I haven't told Natalie where we are going she asks if we are going back to miss Michelle's. She had such a blast. Thanks Michelle!

Gymnastics

I attempted to put Elena in Gymnastics when she was younger, but she was a little bit stubborn. I cannot believe this post was over 3 years ago! When I just started blogging. So when I signed Natalie up for Gymnastics, Elena wanted to also. They did great! Natalie is a natural. She was nervous at first as she is my quiet observer. She doesn't jump into anything, but once she saw one of her friends from cubbies was with her, she had a great time. The bar is her favorite, she has turned everything she comes into contact with a pull-up bar. The counter, the table, the racks at the store, coat racks in waiting rooms, oh do I have a monkey on my hands!Elena had her class immediately after Natalie's and was always so hot and worked up by time it was her class. She quickly made friends with a daughter of her dad's high school friends, so that was great. Bonus, a new friend that we already know the parents! YAY! We don't have many school friends that I trust that she go play with yet.She is a natural flipper and jumper. Such a strong little girl, this was a great way to get her energy out.

Last Day of School - Time for Summer!

Of course I am behind with this post. The last day of school was June 4th. We are almost 2 weeks into summer vacation, it seems like we have just had one obstacle after another and haven't really begun to enjoy summer yet. Hopefully this week will bring changes to that and we can start having some fun!

So now we have a preschooler, a first grader, a third grader and a sophomore in high school! AHH! No more babies at home. :(

Here are Ethan and Elena on the last day of school this year.

Art Show and Open House

The kids school had their annual art show and open house this year. My kids love art, so they were excited to go and show off their projects they have worked hard on this year. Elena absolutely loves school and even though she loves summer too, she is so sad to see the school year ending. We went into her classroom and she showed me EVERYTHING they do. She went through each station and gave a full and complete explanation of what they do at each. She is so clear in her explanations, she will make a good teacher some day. Ethan wanted to find his art work and go home. Here he is pointing to his which is the brick house at the top.Elena's first year for this, her pic is the kid with the bubbles.

Ethan's teacher also had a slide show to watch. They went to the museum of natural history for a field trip and they had the pics to share. I really like his teacher this year, I am sad to see her retire this next year, so I won't be able to request her for the girls.

Chuck E Cheese

Easter 2009

Star Student

Miss Elena has not so patiently waited for the whole school year to get her chance at being star student. Each week of the school year a child is picked and during that week they get important jobs and get to share some of their favorite things, bring in a show and tell and a snack for the class. Weeks passed and every week Elena would come home and say "so and so is star student this week." It got to the point that she was waking up in the middle of the night, sit up look at me and say " I think next week the letter of the week is E and I will be star student!" (She figured out that her teacher was matching up letter of the week with the students first initial) So I broke down and talked to her teacher. I told her I am not the kind of parent who says "Hey why isn't my kid being picked, but hey when is she going to get her turn? she's going crazy!: So her moment finally came,YAY! She brought her webkins in for show and tell and we looked on websites for a fun snack to make. We found these mini caramel apples on Family Fun

They were a little tricky to make, but they were good and we will for sure make them again.

Miss Elena's first lost tooth

Elena has been waiting not so patiently to loose her first tooth. She came home one day way back in January with a wiggly tooth. They had check ups with the dentist and he said to really try to loosen it up because the adult tooth was coming in and pushing it. Well she wiggled and wiggled it and it would NOT budge! This last week it was pretty much hanging there and we could not get the little bugger out. So Sunday night she went and got a mirror and was looking at it and Yank! out it came! Oh she was never more thrilled in her life! Here she is showing off her new smile. I still had my tooth pillow from when I was little, so she put her tooth in it. Checking to make sure all is goSo anxious to get a visit from the tooth fairy!

Unfortunately she came down with the flu that night and was so sick Monday she forgot all about her tooth until about halfway through the day and checked under her pillow.

She missed two days of school so when she went today she couldn't wait to show it off to her toothless grin to her class!

REC olympics

Last year Ethan participated and really enjoyed himself. You can click here to see that. He was so frustrated because he didn't place in anything. We explained to him that it was his first year and now he knows what to expect next year. Well he was ready! He placed in 3 of his events. First in Long Jump, Tied for second in all sport and third in Obstacle course. I was so proud, he really was giving it his all! This was Elena's first year and we were surprised to see our nephew was there! He was in Elena's group and so was one of our neighbors. She was just getting over being down sick for a few days, but she wanted so badly to participate. She did a great job! She did beat our neighbor when they had the races and after she was done, she tells me " I told him I was going to beat him! I'm a fast runner!"
Miss Natalie was old enough to be involved this year, but she is more of a quiet observer at this point, maybe after she starts preschool, she'll be ready for next year. Great Job Kids!

Just add Food Coloring!

We have had some fun snow days this year, The last one we had was a few weeks back and I am so behind on blogging, but we had a good day and I wanted to post about it! A lot of snow days we will kind of mix up our meals. Have dinner for breakfast, breakfast for lunch etc. well it was so cold and dreary out that I thought we could have some fun with food coloring. So for lunch we made some rainbow pancakes.(They look a little weird, but they were quite tasty!) Elena showing me her color of choice.

Open wide Ethan!Yummy, YummyAfter lunch we made up some play-doh and the kids were painting while it cooled.They played muffin shop. This game lasted most of the afternoon and into the next day. Natalie especially really loved "baking" all kinds of crazy flavored muffins.Ethan the artist hard at work on a painting.We ended our fun afternoon with early and extra long baths. Of course some food coloring was added to the bubble bath to make it more enjoyable.

The days of taking photographs in the tub are no longer. But trust me, they had a great time!

Happy 6th Birthday Elena Catherine!

Our Little girl is turning six years old today. They don't have school today so we get to spend a nice day together, which will include a trip to Toys R' US because she has money burning a hole in her pocket and a gift card to use. Funny the things they remember. So I am taking a stroll down memory lane. She is growing up so quickly. I love reliving what happened on the night she was born and the day she was born we had a big snowstorm and I don't believe it has snowed that much early in November and this year we have had snow already. Takes me back..

Me and Elena

Her 1st Christmas one month old. Look at those cheeks!

Six months old. Such squeezable chubbers! Sweet little girl. Two years old and full of smiles

I'm Three! She let everyone know! These were the HeffaLUMP( gotta make a popping noise when you say the "P" sound) days Four years old, a preschool beauty :)
The big FIVE can't believe that was a year ago already!

Happy Birthday Birdie!