Graduations, Awards, Memorial Day, and School is Out! Whew!

Last Friday was Curtis's graduation from preschool.

Here are some highlights from the morning.










This will be a fun one to look back on thirteen years from now when they're all graduating from high school.






Preschool Graduate!


Bella's Science Fair Project: Paper Airplane Flight Test.  She made several different paper airplanes, measured the distance that her top three flew, and determined if shape affected the distance of a paper airplane.


She came home from school that day very inspired to do some science experiments.




Here's a little more progress on our side landscaping project.


Andy put the pavers in, planted the hydrangeas and then mulched the area.  I guess I don't have a current photo, but here is another progress shot.  


We still need to plant grass and eventually want to put a path in that will lead to the front door.  But that is like Phase 10 of our landscaping project and probably won't get done this summer.  Once the grass gets planted, we want to add some landscaping to the front of the house.

On the Saturday before Memorial Day, we got invited to spend the day on the boat of some church friends.  Graydon was so excited to go fishing!








Bella caught the first fish!


Curtis's boating hair.




We tied up the boat for lunch time and cooked some hotdogs over a fire.




And did some more fishing!  Check out Graydon's excitement!  He caught TWO fish!




Curtis needed help reeling his fish in.


Biggest catch of the day!


Bella was the winner with the most catches of about 5 (I lost count!)


Being on a boat is so relaxing.


And there was tubing.




Graydon initially fell in as we were figuring out how everything worked.  He was really scared to go back on the tube, but he did it!  He's a brave boy.


Bella and Sam (our friend's son) went for a super fast wild ride!  There were a few times when I was afraid she was going to fall off, but she held on without a problem.


Tuesday morning was Graydon's Kindergarted graduation.  Here are some highlights from that.








The Kindergarten Graduate!








Later that day was Bella's Awards Assembly.  I just realized that the videos from that one are on Andy's phone; but it was basically her getting several awards.  Super proud of our little achiever.


She got the physical education award, Class Citizenship award, Straight A's all year award, Art Award, and was the top girl reader in her class (that's what the medal is for).


Thursday was the last day of school.  We were ready and waiting for them to get off that bus!




Bella's class had pajama day for the last day - which is why she's wearing her jammies.


We walked to the local ice cream stand.






And then finished up at the park across the street.


We let the kids stay up late that night and watch a show.


And now we're off to New Jersey next week! SUPER excited!

Hello Summer!

Lots of May!

I think I really need to get back in the habit of blogging every week.  I take so many pictures sometimes, which makes for really long blog posts!

Let's jump back to Mother's Day.

Bella and I attended a Mother's Day dinner at church the Friday before.

Here we are after church on Mother's Day. Bella made me the blue necklace that I am wearing. I love it!

A rare photo of just the two of us.


We went out to lunch with our neighbors and then relaxed the afternoon away before our evening church service.

The following Tuesday, Andy and Graydon had a "date" to see the movie "Home".


They rode in "Black Beauty", which is a treat since the kids usually just ride in the van.


I forgot to mention in the last post about how he lost another bottom tooth while my mom was here.  It came out while he was brushing his teeth and fell down the drain!  Since the tooth fairy still came, he didn't seem to mind (literally) losing his tooth.


On Wednesday afternoon, the boys and I went with our neighbor to a greenhouse that is owned by a member of our church.  She had so many cute, creative details all over the property.

The water in this faucet was actually running!


Tree stump picnic table.

An old tree stump turned into a little house.


It even had a little door.


A tea party ready and waiting.






Lots of fun things to look at.




China plate flower bed border.


Garden lady made from terra cotta pots.


Laundry room






One Saturday morning, the kids participated in an Elementary School Fun Run.


This was the boys' race.  I searched and searched and could not find them.  So I just snapped a photo of the kids running and hoped I'd catch them somewhere.  When I later zoomed in on the photo, I saw Curtis in the back right; but couldn't find Graydon.


Andy ran with Curtis, but Graydon got too far ahead.




The boys ran 1/4 mile.  It wasn't timed, but they finished somewhere in the middle of the group.

Bella and her friends getting ready for their race.


Off they go!  Find the girl who is wearing all green.  Bella is to the left of her.


Bella's group ran a mile.  She did awesome!  Out of 102 girls, she finished in 12th place with a mile run time of 8 minutes 7 seconds.  Nine of the girls who finished ahead of her were 4th graders.  I was super impressed with her time, especially with half of the race taking place on grass.

Three great runners!


We have this chain-link fenced-in area on the side of our house that was put there for previous pastors who had dogs.  Since we had no need of it, we've been making plans to remove it and landscape the side of the house.  One day our neighbor showed up with some equipment and started taking it out.  Have I mentioned how we have the best neighbors!  Graydon got to join in and help.




I forgot to take any before and after pics.  Right now, it's just an open space that we need to add some soil and grass seed to.  We also got some pavers for making a little garden bed and we're looking at some perennials to plant.  This will be Phase 1 or our landscaping project.

This is Bella as a blonde.  I needed her assistance while making an Elsa hat.  It's much easier to braid "hair" when it's actually on a head.


Another field trip for Curtis.  We went to an old farmstead and learned about life in the 1800s and early 1900s.






Bella's class spent the day in the one-room schoolhouse that is located behind the elementary school.  All of the kids dressed up for the experience.  Later that evening, Andy had a retreat for the confirmation kids from church.  The retreat was held at a cabin that is owned by a family in church.  Although the drive was about five minutes, you wouldn't know it once you're there.  The kids and I came along in the early part of the evening to see the area.


The pond forms a horseshoe around the house.  It's beautiful.


The kids and I had a movie night that evening while Andy was away.  It was still light outside when the movie was over and I soon found Graydon outside, in his pajamas, doing some sort of building project.  This kids LOVES to create things.


And it looks like he might need a haircut.


This is Curtis's last week of school and since he has a summer birthday, they celebrated him today.  He brought in "dirt" pudding cups with gummy worms and everyone sang to him.  They also made slime.  Can't get much better than that!