Last Day Celebration

 Today was finally the last day of school (I think summer break in the States is only 2 weeks longer, but it sure feels like a month longer!).  The kids gave their teachers gifts cards for Booster Juice with thank you cards that said, "Thanks for boosting my creative juices!"

 The kids also received some gifts.  We use this time of year to be our Christmas in almost July.  They got new sandals, a new summer outfit, new pj's, bubble bath, body puffs, and squirt guns.  We also got a family gift-  all the Harry Potter movies on DVD.  We'll watch one each weekend and work our way through the summer.

 I also pulled out some fun "summery" scrapbook paper to make a paper chain with.

 Each link represents a day of summer and has a fun activity on it.  Our weekly routine will be:  Mon- Arts & Crafts Day, Tue- Swimming, Wed- Baking, Thu- Parks Group, Fri- Clean house/Do laundry, Sat- Library & Petrie Island, Sun- Church & FHE.  I think we're going to have some fun together!

 We surprised the kids and picked them up from school instead of having them ride the bus.  Gavin sure loved being in Mrs. N's class this year.  He had 2 fun Student teachers- Mr. P and Mrs. R.  He also loved his French teacher- Mme F.

 Noe and Kaleb started the year with Mrs. M.  Unfortunately, half-way through the year she had to take a leave of absence.  Mr. D took over and the kids enjoyed their time with him.  They also had an EA Ms. J, and their French teacher was Mme L.  After we took this picture with their teacher, the kids ran to get on the bus.  They wanted to see the teacher wave that they do each year.

 As soon as we got home, they tore into their gifts.  They immediately filled their squirt guns and ran outside to cool each other off.

 Hiram is 8 months old today.  He is ready to run!  Not only can he sit up on his own, but he pulls himself to standing.  Not only does he crawl everywhere, but he tries climbing up the stairs.  He's had a few spills already (see the bruise on his forehead- poor baby!), and keeps us on our toes!

 He told me he's ready to start school in the fall, so he can be a reader too.  Please don't grow up too fast baby!

We ended the celebration with our traditional ice cream for dinner.  This year the kids got to choose from: waffle bowls; vanilla, chocolate, and mint chip ice cream; butterscotch, marshmallow creme, and chocolate sauces; whip cream; sprinkles; cherries; or all of the above!

Now tomorrow we're off camping, and I've still got to pack!

Hey Alex,

Have a happy birthday!  And a yummy ice cream cone too!

Little Boys

 Len & I have so much fun with our 3 little boys in the afternoons.  Gavin got to bring Fuzzy Little Dragon home with him one more time.  I took a picture of them after Gavin read FLD a Ready Freddy book.  Gavin is a READING MACHINE and is reading at Level 8 (whatever that means) and he is only in JUNIOR Kindergarten.  So proud!

 Lately, Gavin has really been into playing Super Mario Bros. on the Wii.  The other day he went back to his "roots" and made this awesome train track, so we had to record it.

 Hiram, our newest little baby boy has developed his own love of trains lately.

 I love his sweet smile!

 Teague loves babies!  His favorite is Hiram (although Hiram might think Teague loves him too much sometimes, ha ha!), but he also loves all the babies he encounters at our various play groups.  Lately, he's been carrying around Noe's baby doll, Ashley.

He takes such good care of her and even took her shopping with him at Walmart.  He loved strapping her in the cart in the seat next to him.  He's going to be such a good daddy!

Spirit Week

The kids' school was raising money for the "Free the Children" charity.  For $0.25 they could participate in crazy hair/hat day and for another quarter they could wear their PJ's to school.

 Kaleb had purple and orange spikes.  They were doing their french play and his hair worked great for his alien character.

 Noe had orange and purple braid/twists.  Five in total!

 Gavin is Mr. Conservative and did not want crazy hair.  I tried to get him to wear one of our jester hats, but he vetoed that as well.  He just loves his Train/Mario hat too much!

 When I see Gavin next to his siblings, I realize how little he still is.

 Comfy PJ's and stuffies.

These two have a lot of spirit too!

Father's Day

 We're so lucky that Leonard is such a wonderful father. 

He had great examples from Arlie, Joe, and Steve.

 We took some stair step pics.

 Noe and Bunny too.

 This was Len's main gift.  He also got a TV remote holder from Noe, barbeque sauce from Gavin, cards from Kaleb, Noe, and Gavin, as well as one from all of us that made him cry.  It said, "Dad- a son's first hero, a daughter's first love."

 I wanted to get gifts for all the future dad's in our family.  At first, I thought of tie tacks, but since we live FAR from a Deseret Book I nixed that idea.  Then I thought of Sugar Daddy suckers, but they don't sell those here.  I also thought of Dad's Rootbeer for some floats, but they don't sell that here either.  I finally found some Dad's oatmeal cookies, so we made ice cream sandwiches with these.  My sister-in-law, Suzi got her boys some nerf guns.  I'll have to use that idea next year!

We love having the missionaries over and Elder Christensen and Elder McLean enjoyed the ice cream sandwiches too!  (Gavin and Teague crashed out though and had some later.)  We love Dads!

Tie Guys

I had to get a shot of these two handsome men in their coordinating shirts and ties!

Backyardigans

 As soon as school gets out we're going camping with 14 families.  We're so excited, but I am not really the camper girl.  We wanted to do a little test run, so Len set up the tents in the yard and we had a mini camp out with the kids.

 In the big tent, Len shared a bed with Kaleb, while Noe, Teague, and Gavin shared the other.

I shared the little tent with Hiram.  Everyone slept great, except for me.  We chose to sleep out the night of the Relay for Life held at a nearby high school (actually about 5 miles away).  I heard the music blaring from it ALL. NIGHT. LONG!  Luckily, they were playing good music.

Who doesn't love Dexy's Midnight Runners' "Come on Eileen"?

Fully Loaded

 Sienna has been a part of our family for 5 years now.  When we first got her, Kaleb predicted that one day all of her seatbelts would be full with our family.  He was right!

In honor of that, I got some cute family stickers to decorate her up with.

And this goes out to all you mini-van lovers out there.  For those of you that are currently haters, don't worry you can get the swagger!

Baby Bird

 Our neighbor, Kelsey saved a baby robin from being eaten by our other neighbor's dog.

 She brought him over to show the kids.

 Gavin and Teague were fascinated.

He was a sweet little guy!

Mr. Blue Belt

 Kaleb has worked hard for the past three years in Taekwondo.  He started out with a white belt and has earned his yellow stripe, yellow belt, green stripe, green belt, blue stripe and now blue belt.  Next year he will work hard to earn his red, then the year after that his black- whoa!

 He's got some skills- Nunchuck skills,

 Sparring skills,

 He's even got some bow & arrow skills,

but those he acquired from Cub Scouts!

Chapel Hill

Back in April, we had pictures taken of our Chapel Hill Family. 
We love this Ward!