End of 1st Grade for CJ

This year in class the kids watched caterpillars grow and turn into butterflies. They learned about the cycle they go through to become beautiful butterflies.

On the 1st day of school the kids made a self portrait.

CJ made this beautiful butterfly (above his head)

One of the last projects the kids made was decorate a flower pot and put flowers in it to go with the card the kids made for their mothers for Mothers Day.

End of 4th Grade for Ashley

Ashley graduated 4th grade with flying colors! She had a great year with fun field trips and amazing science projects.

Ashley did a science project about growing crystals and created a cool poster board showing her results (thanks dad and liz for your help!)

It seems like in no time at all she will be sitting in the teachers chair for real!

Having fun at the park

Today we went to the park near Park West Place. We played in the playground after eating our picnic we bought at Sonic. The kids decided it was a great day to play in the water feature they have there (even though it was only a little warm and a little breezy) We ended up staying for 1 1/2 hours playing in the water!

The kids memorized the pattern of when the spray would come out of which nozzle in the floor...

and found that if they placed their empty cups from Sonic on top they acted as missiles!

CJ liked to fill his cup up and pretend he was drinking it.

The concrete was warm from the sun and when they got too cold to keep playing they would take a break and lay down for a little while.

I found that if i layed my little camera on the ground it took some cool pictures of the kids while they were resting.

mmmm... getting warm is nice...

Ashley and Addy would talk and talk and talk every time they took a break. They are such good friends.

Calin, Ashley, Aidan, Addison

Eating right out of the garden

Today we had Addy & Aidan over for play dates and after running through the sprinklers all the kids started poking around the garden and eating things. They didn't even bother to run the food into the house to wash. They just started popping food into their mouths! (its a good thing that i have an organic garden and don't use pesticides!)

Ash & Addy finding ripe strawberries to eat.

Grabbing sweet peas off the vine was definitely a hit! They stood there forever snapping off a pod, eating the peas inside then dropping the pod back into the planter. They stripped both plants of all their ripe pods!

Aidan loved to pop open the pods and count the individual peas as he ate them. He always commented when there were more/less in this one or how that one had bigger peas.


Today made all the time/work/sweat i have put into the garden worth it! It gave me much joy watching the kids eat things that i grew and love every bite!

CJ in a cop car...

This week's lesson at boy scouts included learning safety from a police officer. The kids got cool handouts and got to "play" in a police cruiser. They had the best time!

Right after i noticed how cute CJ was smiling i noticed the HUGE shotgun right next to him!

Goodbye Roxy

The kids and I decided to bury our dog Roxy under a tree at our house. The kids wanted to give her a headstone so we would always remember her. So we made this cement headstone with the diamond letters from her collar and her dog tags.

Roxy 13 years old

(Thank you Aunt Leslie for giving us a chance to love this little girl)

Ashley collects donations for Japan

Ashley learned about the disaster in Japan and decided that she wanted to help. She made a jar asking friends and family for their loose change to donate to help with whatever was needed.

She ended up collecting over $60! She is an amazing girl!

Ashley took the money to the LDS church so they could get it to where it needs to be. In primary the leaders had her stand up front and tell them what she had done and taught the kids where Japan was on a map and how even though they are kids they can make a difference.

Ashley is such a wonderful girl with a great big heart and I am so proud to be her mom!