Break Time

Yesterday after Aaron worked so hard loading up the trailer, we looked over to see Madelyn and Naomi taking a well deserved break eating their popsicles. Dad does all of the work and they get the reward. I guess when you're cute and this young you can get away with it. We closed on our house today and are in full blown moving mode. Pictures of our new house to come soon.

New Chapter

We were planning on moving Naomi into a twin size bed when we move next week. However, she started climbing out of her crib last week so we decided it couldn't wait. We just put her crib mattress on the floor for these few days until we move. She has been doing great and is so happy to be a big girl now. This crib has been up most of the past twelve and a half years. Now if we can just do something about the diapers...

Strawberry picking

I always forget to bring my camera when we go to pick strawberries, blueberries, or apples. I finally remembered this year! Justin and Elizabeth were my best pickers. Justin is competitive and likes to outpick everyone. This works for me as it just means we have MORE strawberries!
We went picking with our good friends, the Tippetts. The weather was even beautiful...not too hot or humid!
Bruce was very serious about his strawberry picking and Gracelyn is just happy to pose for the camera.
Our kids pack lunches for school almost everyday and eat peanut butter and jelly most of the time. I know this looks like a lot of jam and I'll probably even make more, but I know we'll use it all. This year we ran out in March and I had to buy strawberries to hold us over for a few months until the strawberries were ready to pick. We don't have a garden, but the kids like knowing they picked the berries and helped make the jam.

Happy Camper

Will attended his first Cub Scout Day Camp this week. Despite all of the rain and mud, he had a great time. He hasn't officially begun Cub Scouts yet because he won't be eight until next month, but they let him attend camp and he is now so excited for Cub Scouts. We bought him his book after and he is eager to begin this new adventure. I'm excited too because I remember how fun it was going through these activities with Justin.
Will with a few of his friends. He's really not that short. They were standing on the side of a little hill and the other boys are also older than him.

Clothes napper

Naomi loves wearing everyone's shoes. She is constantly bringing mine down from my closet and wears them around the house or she puts on any flip flops that are left at the front door. I was folding laundry a few days ago and she put on Elizabeth's pajamas. She insisted on wearing them to bed and was so proud to wear them. As much as I hate to admit it, our baby is growing up! If you come visit us, I suggest you keep track of your clothes and shoes or you might go home with a little less.

Dance Recital

Yesterday was Elizabeth's annual dance recital. This year she took tap for her first year. It was her sixth year in ballet. There are four shows that they do each year and unfortunately, her ballet class performed in the show on Sunday this year so she chose not to participate. She had a fun number for tap and still learned the dance for ballet. Next year Madelyn is hoping to join her and take some dance classes too.
Elizabeth's favorite part of dance has to be getting all dressed up in her costume and getting to wear make-up. Isn't she cute?

School's out!

This was Justin's final year at Harrison Elementary. There was a breakfast with the 6th graders and their parents and a slideshow to commemorate this big event. It was fun to go with just the two of us and I might have even shed a tear or two thinking about our boy being all grown up! When did this happen?
Justin with two of his best buddies from school: Aaron and Luke
Have you ever seen a more proud Kindergarten graduate? Bruce has loved kindergarten and I can't believe how well he has done. He is eager to read and loves to practice writing whenever he gets the chance.
We had an end of the school year party at our house. Our good friends, the Ousleys, brought their fun waterslide over. Ours got a hole in it a couple of years ago so our kids were so excited to get to play on one again. What a fun celebration to a super fun school year!
Elizabeth has the best group of friends at school. This has made it extra hard for her to leave. She came home from school on Friday in tears, along with two of her friends AND one of the mom's! These girls are amazing!
Aaron brought home a bunch of shaving cream for the kids to play with and they loved it! Elizabeth got her friend's dad and thought she was pretty funny...until he retaliated. She refused to look at the camera for a picture, but I think you can see that he got her pretty good. Just a sidenote...notice that Heather is drinking her Root Beer out of an Ohio State cup. We won't tell any of your Kentucky loving family (wink, wink)!

We don't have any pictures to post, but Justin had his end of the year party on Saturday. Aaron took them to the park for a shaving cream fight and then they swam in the lake after so we didn't have any mess to clean up at our house! School is officially over and now we are in full moving mode. I am trying to balance preparing to move with letting our kids be kids. They are in swim lessons right now and next week Will has Cub Scout day camp.

Lunch dates

I would love to be able to spend more time with the kids at school, but it just isn't possible with the little ones at home. Yesterday I made arrangements for the girls so that I could eat lunch with Justin, Elizabeth, and Will at school. I picked Bruce up from morning Kindergarten and he came along with me. Will and Bruce chose McDonalds (no picture), Elizabeth chose Subway, and Justin chose Taco Bell. After all of the running around to get their food, I'm realizing why I don't do this more often!

Bruce loved being able to hang out with the older kids and Justin begged me to leave him for the afternoon. I know Bruce would have loved it, but I don't know that the 6th grade teachers would have loved it. It was fun to sit with the kids and hang out with them amidst the chaos in the cafeteria. In a few more days, I'll be eating lunch everyday with these kiddos at home!