last day of school...

It's a day that is highly anticipated by some and dreaded by others.  For me?  Both.  I made some really cute gifts for the teachers as a thank you gift and then totally forgot to make them cards.  Sometimes I am completely absent minded (my husband would agree).

Here is Sunshine with Mrs. C.  Sunshine loved school this year but is happy that it is summer so she can spend time with her family.

Here is Buddy with Ms. C.  He enjoyed learning so much this year.  He talked so much about bones and what goes on inside our bodies, that I felt I was back in biology.  That just shows how much he loves to learn. 

I decided to make the end of school fun with a special treat of books for the kids.  (Thanks Uncle Ben!)  After I took this picture, the kids opened their books and started reading immediately.  It was so cute to see them, and yes, I should have taken a picture of that too, but I didn't think about it until Turtle was up and running.

creating colors...

What seems like a million years ago, but was really only a few months ago, Sunshine was given this really awesome gift.  You take broken crayon pieces (because if you are anything like me or my kids, you can't color with broken crayons) and stick them in this handy-dandy melter and in a short amount of time you get new crayons!  The kids had fun experimenting with lots of different colors.

world book night...

Turn off the TV week is difficult.  However, the kids school did something different this year.  Every night there was a something fun to do, including gardening at the school's community garden, a nature walk and square dancing (we weren't able to attend all of them).  Monday happened to be "World Book Night."  We decided to make that our FHE activity because they wanted families, and not just kids, included.  We got to school and every kid got a new book, as well as one adult per family.  The gym was set up with little reading areas everywhere.  We shared our spots with our good friends, the Olsen's.  It was fun and something different to do.

Here are the kids with their librarian, Mrs. Jones.

sunbathing...

We got a lovely day of sunshine and so I sent the kids outside to enjoy it.  They didn't want to play, they only wanted to soak up some lovely vitamin D.  I don't blame them at all.

tubular...

A couple of years ago Turtle got this from Grandma Hill.  He wasn't able to play with it very often before we moved.  Now it is out quite often and is played with a lot.  Turtle loves to use it to make forts and hideouts.  He is so adorable.  It's also nice when Sunshine gets to use it too.  On one particular day, one would climb inside and the other would drag the tube around the house as a "ride" so to speak.  They would switch and do it again and again and again.  I think you get the picture.

turtle turns four...

Turtle turned four today and he was so excited for his big day.  He was telling everyone that it was his birthday and he was so cute about it.  We had an extremely low-key day because Dad, Buddy and Sunshine were all sick, again.  So I took Turtle out to pick out a cake and got him a Happy Meal for dinner.  He was thrilled!  He was happy about his presents as well.  Thanks to grandparents for the fun presents.  Turtle, along with Buddy and Sunshine, played with his new toys for awhile before going to bed.

playing ballet...

The kids had quiet time after church.  Sunshine and Turtle were being super quiet upstairs and then all of a sudden I heard the words, "Can we come down?"  Sure.  Sunshine was in her tutu and Turtle was dressed in, well he wasn't in his pajamas that he was in earlier.  Silly boy, that one.  Those two decided to put on a show for us and I thought they were so funny.  However, they do need to learn more about ballet before they go professional.

cub camp...

Last week Buddy was able to attend Cub Scout Camp for the first time. He loved it all. Camp was held at a local State Park and it ran from Monday through Thursday.One of the days Buddy was able to use his loud and clear voice to call the Color Guard for the beginning of camp. It was very neat to see that and watch the boys reverence the flag of our country.Buddy also worked on projects. He made a sun dial, drinking spectacles (straws attached to glasses that you wear) and he also made this wonderful stool. It is awesome. The beads on top of the stool were earned for doing things like swimming, fishing and cooking.Buddy also learned how to shoot a BB gun and arrows. He came home raving about those. Check out one of his targets from the BB gun shooting.He wanted to include this in the post. The theme of the week was Gizmo's, Games and Gadgets. He learned how to make a sun print and this leaf turned out really neat.Here is Den D. They had a Den yell that went like this:

We are the Dudes, marching proud.
Wherever we go, we're shouting loud.
Keep in mind, we are very cautious;
Don't get to close, or you might get nauseous.
Buddy is very much looking forward to Cub Camp again next year.

outings with grandma hill...

This post is of a couple of the activities we had with Grandma Hill.

It's not fun when you go bowling and a lady comes over and tells you that you aren't allowed to take pictures. What a kill joy. However, not one person had a problem with me taking pictures at the carousel. So I did.Grandma Hill had never had Golden Oreos before. So Turtle and Sunshine showed her how they are supposed to be eaten.And finally miniature golfing. We haven't done that in so long. We had fun, except for the little kid who stole Grandma Hill's red ball. The kids have actually never played before and it was funny to watch them figure out how to use the club. Buddy got it right away, but Sunshine and Turtle never did catch on.This is the kids really mad when I told them it was time to go. They did NOT want to leave.And saying good-bye to Grandma Hill. It was sad for the kids because they won't see her for over a year.

swimming at grandma's...