Bruiser!

Dave and I are playing Jack and Jill softball on our church team. It's fun and usually pretty easy going and no one usually gets hurt......until today! A few years ago I hit a ball that came up and hit my friend Donna in the face and she had quite the shiner for a couple weeks! Well, paybacks are a (you fill in the blank). Tonight Dave was pitching and I was catching and a girl fouled one straight back at me and I didn't have time to think, let alone catch it! My first thought was, "that sounded like a watermelon cracking open on the cement. It should hurt, but it doesn't....that's not good." I felt my eye swelling in my hand at the plate. And, no, I don't have any eye makeup on! I'll let the picture speak for itself............

New Life

One day I was washing dishes and looked out our kitchen window and noticed this nest that magically appeared overnight. So, we've watched our momma bird sit on her nest. About two weeks ago she started getting up and looking at the eggs and within a week we saw a tiny beak appear. We have been eagerly watching our new residents every day. The tiny bird has grown and now the momma is feeding it worms. Yesterday I watched her feed her baby a live wiggling worm! :) It's been our entertainment lately....."You guys, come here quick, look at the baby bird!" Today JD asked if he could try to shoot the baby with his airsoft gun when he/she starts to fly. "NO! You may not!!" I think he's around the hunters too much...you know who you are. We do have one problem though....the momma is a bit slow or something because she keeps flying into the windows, leaving bird poop on the patio. So, if she's not careful, she'll be getting shot! Just kidding............

Too much time on their hands!

Here's an example of what your children will do when you're at work and they're bored! They took pictures of it and left them for me to find.

Summer fun!

Here are some more summer fun photos. Jenna and Lily in their matching dresses and playing in Lily's pool.

JD tried out the Surf simulator at the Moses Lake Aquatic Center. :)

Josie's new dresser & nightstand

Aunt Katie and Lily came last week to stay with us and while they were here, Josie and Katie refinished Josie's dresser. We purchased a great nightstand from our favorite furniture store, "The Pine Shop", so they finished it the same. It turned out great!!! Here Katie is hard at work while Josie teaches Lily how to play RockBand!

Kindergarten Graduation!!

Tuesday night our Jenna graduated from Kindergarten. (The dress she is wearing was Josie's. This is her teacher, Mrs. Lund.) It seems like it was only yesterday when we were home together every day and she was taking naps, coloring, going to bible study with me and being my 'little helper' every day!! My little helper is now a first grader and she's fiercely independent. No longer does she need my help getting dressed or deciding what to wear. Those days are LONG gone. She would love to stay home by herself and doesn't even want to go on errands with me anymore. How did she grow up so fast? You girls with little ones at home, here's a warning. One day you, like me, will wake up and your dependent children will be independent and be off to friends for the day, playing soccer, creating/crafting, READING and you will wonder and be tearful as you try to think how those days went by so fast. Jenna is now asking for sleepovers, reading in her bed before lights are out, playing with her big brother and sister and is anxiously looking forward to her first grade class at The River Academy. I can't wait for all three kids to be in one school. I will be working there full-time in the fall and am so excited to know I can go eat lunch with them and see them every day. Dave and I count it as a huge gift from God for the job at TRA so we can send all three kids there. We are extremely blessed!

Okay, enough for today. We have a picnic lunch to pack and we're off to the park to play for the day! Trying to create memories that will last knowing we only have 4 years left before we're celebrating Josie's HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION!! I'm not going to go there for today, that might bring me to tears or give me a heart attack! One graduation at a time.....

Skidamarink

Isn't she so cute?! :)

'Mom Brag' about JD

So, humor me........let me brag about our son! JD won 3 awards at the Sunnyslope Elementary School Awards ceremony yesterday!!!

• The 'Flashlight Award'-given by the Librarian to the students who have developed a LOVE for reading. She awarded them with a cool flashlight and encouraged them to read under the cover.


• The President's Achievement Award-for his achievement this year.


• Most Improved Student Award-given to one boy and one girl in the school. (I have the report cards to show it!)

We are so very proud of JD and his accomplishments and his diligence to persevere with his dyslexia. He has worked very hard these last two years. He has had a terrific tutor and outstanding teachers and one encouraging principal. We are encouraged and hopeful that he will continue to grow and learn more about his learning challenges. He has a great attitude and never gives up! We are indeed very proud parents and it is so awesome to see the benefits of changing schools two years ago.

Anyway, I was a bawling mom at the assembly and couldn't get a photo of him receiving his 'most improved student' trophy, but here's one of him and his buddy Kaleb with their trophies. Kaleb won the Outstanding Student Award! Way to go, Kaleb!

Soiree' in Yakima

Katie said if I didn't update my blog, she was going to get rid of my link of her blog. So, I'm being guilted into this. Guilt, peer pressure, whatever it takes, I need to update. So, here's some photos of the soiree' down in Yakima. What a great time we had. It was so much fun to get dressed up and have a night on the town. Katie did a spectacular job on the food (with the help of her slaves--me and Josie). :) Way to go Sabari's for organizing this. Looking forward to next year! The photo above is Katie's artistic side coming through. I told her it was a waste of time to do a 'beautiful design' on the plate and then place the appetizers on top. But, she felt much better knowing it was artistic and gorgeous. Now if it had been me I would have just dumped it on the plate. That's one of the differences in us..............she takes the time to do things beautifully and spends time on whatever she is creating, cooking, sewing, crafting..........and I just want it done. The world without 'Katie's' would be a boring place, non-creative place! ps Please don't delete my blog. I'll try to be better...please?