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!

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.

Ethan's First Indians Game

On Memorial day we decided to take the boys to the ball field and Although Jason took an interest in ball at age 2, Ethan is just now getting into the game and we thought he was finally ready to go to the big league. The boysEthan was all smiles as he checks out the view of the field. So much excitement!Jason- who I cannot believe is finishing up his freshman year of high school!! What a handsome kid:)

Ethan anxiously waiting for nachos.He did good. For as antsy as my little man is, he stayed with what was going on with the game pretty good. Of course there were 1000 seagulls bombarding the place so he was easily distracted by them flying right in our face! (I was a bit distracted by them as well!)We didn't stay for the whole game, we left when the score was 10-2. Indians were not winning, of course we are bad luck so once we left they came back with a win! That is the story of our life.

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

OOPS he did it again....

Mr, Ethan for the second time this school year has broken a bone. Only this time he really banged it up and had to get a cast! So for the next six weeks he will be sporting this lovely green thing you see before you. He's smiling now... At least there are no sports he is missing out on, just no gym for 6 weeks. Poor Mrs H!!!

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!

Ethan's Christmas Program

This year Ethan's 2nd grade class had a Christmas program and it was as cute as ever! I had to snap a pic of him and his friends being silly before the program. I absolutely love watching these little kids sing their songs and dance. His music teacher was my music teacher when I was in elementary school :) She does such a good job with all the kids. She was one of my favorite teachers and I am glad that he gets to have her also.Their theme this year was a Holiday parade and they had some cute songs. He practiced them so much miss Elena walks around singing his songs. He had a speaking part again this year, He couldn't wait for that and he did a great job.

Flag Football

This year just briefly Ethan played Flag Football. Now I didn't see this one coming. I figured he would play basketball this winter, but he never really got into Football. Turns out he is an animal on the football field and is a natural, just like his daddy. He got to play in two games and actually after his first game he came home and fell off his bike and got a fractured elbow. We didn't realize it was fractured until about a week and a half after his injury. He played in his second game that way. Here's why- He only complained about the pain for a day or so and he babied his arm for a few days but he could move it and use it regularly. We went to the Dr two days after it happened and he didn't think there was a need to X-ray. So it was a week later when we took the boys to the Punt, Pass and Kick Competition our local rec was having at the High School football field and Ethan finally fessed that he couldn't throw the ball, it hurt to move his elbow. (He was afraid to have an X-ray so he kept saying things didn't hurt.) So we had an X-ray and sure enough the was a fracture in his elbow. Where it is it tends to heal quickly so he had to sling it for two weeks with weekly x-rays and a visit to the Dr now he only needs to wear the sling at school but there is no gym or football so he only got to participate in two games he was sooo upset. So was his coach. Ethan made at least 2 touchdowns at each game. He loved it! So here are some shots from his last game. They won too. Oh first is the cheerleader!

Then the team. One of his friends from preschool was on his team, so that was fun for him.

Waiting ever so patiently for his next turn in.

In action

Get that ball Ethan!

Grandpa and Pam came to watch The boys getting ready at the Punt, Pass and Kick competition. Getting ready to show their skills! Well at least we know next year he is game! I told Ethan we are taking the winter off from sports and hopefully injuries. Since I put him in baseball and he knocks out his tooth on a slip n slide, I put him in football, he falls off his bike. We need a break!