Claire's Fourth Grade Award Ceremony

Claire loved having Ms. Katz this year - she was a fun but strict teacher, a good combo. Claire received highest honors and had the highest reading level in her class. Math is not her favorite but she is getting better at it - we just need to practice this summer cause I hear fifth grade math starts to get pretty difficult. 

Penelope's Done with Preschool!

Penelope wanted to make sure we knew that she meant she wanted to be an animal doctor, a veterinarian. Penelope did great with with preschool this year, four days a week for about 2.5 hours a day. I think the main thing she learned was being part of a classroom and following the schedule - her letters and numbers were already strong, but she is already starting to read and knows quite a few sight words. She is definitely ready for kinder!

Another Birthday

Oh, 39 - you're way too close to 40 for comfort!

Playing Don't Break the Ice with Aunt Jonelle - Henry was actually pretty good!

Documenting the Everyday

I read about an idea on a photography blog to take a regular day and just take photos of everyday things that would normally not be considered "photo worthy moments." The idea was to show real life, not the posed life or special occasion life.  After doing this a few times a year you could really get a complete picture of our family and after time passes and gives perspective, the little everyday things become special.

The day started out with the kids' jobs - feeding Oogway and the fish, getting ready for school, then going to Sam's Club for groceries, food prep for meals later in the week and then kids doing after school snacks and homework. Nothing special - just a regular ole day. We are done with soccer and Singers Company and it's a nice break before summer activities and swim lessons start up again.

Mom, I'm melting! 

Bank lollipops 

Activity Days Play: The Seven Day Forecast

The Activity Day girls wrote and performed a play called the Seven Day Forecast for their activities the last month and a half. The topic was The Creation and they decided to do a forecast of the seven days - it was based on an idea Claire and I had brainstormed about. BIG news to hit the world with light, land, animals and more. Claire was a news anchor/narrator and did a great job!

Miles Man Date

As part of our efforts to have a date night with the kids each month, we made a chart that rotates for dates with me and Matt, and a family outing. This month it was my turn to take Miles on a date. He chose burgers, so we tried a new place called The Habit. It was really good - cheeseburgers with green bean fries. It was so good that we took the girls with us the very next night to eat there again. 

Then we went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul. Miles likes to read the Wimpy Kid books and was excited to see the movie - it was actually pretty funny. We stopped for movie treats first - Miles was very interested to know the consequences for being discovered sneaking food into the movies. I said in all my days, I've never been caught! So I'm not really sure what they would do... 

I like this date night tradition a lot - but I find it only works if we really plan it out. Having the chart on the fridge helps reminds us, and the kids of course don't let us forget either. 

Miles and I talked about school and the kids that bug him in his class, his feelings about switching schools next year, and about his sisters. Miles is a good boy - sensitive and kind. His teacher told me recently that he is being more of a leader and not a follower in class, something we have been working on and talking about a lot. I hope he can continue to stand up and be an example in his class. 

Last Soccer Game

Miles had his last soccer game on Saturday, and though the team had a tough time coming together they ended the season with a win! Miles had fun and made a new friend - the son of two friends from the singles ward days who we reconnected with through the team. Beau and Miles just clicked - and it was good to catch up with Thad and Summer. Their family timeline is very similar to us - they were married one month after us and most of our kids are born within a month or two of each other. 

Trophies for everyone. Like, everyone. There is a life lesson here somewhere, right? 

And after a long season, we finally got to go to the ice cream truck! Soccer is all about the snacks, right? These kids get HALFTIME snacks and end of the game snacks now. When did that start being a thing?