Reading Award #4

We went to the library today to pick up Lexi's trophy for reading 20 books.  She has read a lot more than that this summer, but I only let her count the big chapter books that kids in fourth or fifth grade read.  She is doing very well.   Of course, getting a trophy helped with the motivation.  We're still going to keep this up.  For every 20 books, the kids get their names into a drawing that happens at the end of the summer.  They will be giving away gift certificates to different stores.

Family Night at VBS

It was family night at VBS, which was the perfect way to wrap up the experience.  I got to be part of the rally like they did every day this week.  They sang songs with the actions and recited a scripture.  We even heard about the Zabbaleen, which are the trash collectors in Egypt.  The kids have been donating $ all week to help them build a school.  VBS has been great for Jordan and Lexi.  They wish they could do this every week.  After the rally, we went to the main hall to have a little hot dog dinner with my good friend, Amy, and her family.

Week of VBS

Lexi and Jordan are attending VBS this week at a local Baptist church.  One of my good friends goes there and helps with the VBS program every year.  It is a big undertaking. They have about 1500 kids.  It goes from Monday to Friday starting at 9 am an ends at noon.  My kids had been dreading it and complaining until Monday morning when we pulled up in the parking lot and saw bouncy castles and jump ropes.  Apparently, they thought it would only be about reading the Bible.  Immediately, their attitudes changed and they have been loving every minute of it.  

Swimming Again

Lexi's leg has finally healed enough to go swimming.  The kids loved being back to our normal summer activity.

Father's Day

It is Father's Day today.  Since we went to the ballet last night, Lexi slept here.  Jordan stayed with his dad last night.  I got Lexi ready and took a few pictures before dropping her off to join them.

Girl's Night at the Houston Ballet

A very kind neighbor has season tickets to the ballet.  He and his wife offered the Peter Pan ones to Lexi and me because they were not going to be able to use them.  I knew it would be an amazing experience and Lexi was thrilled.  She acted so mature the whole evening.  I was very impressed with her.  The ballet was amazing.  

Too late for this sleeping beauty

Snow Cone Day

I finished my huge proposal that is due today and decided that we needed to celebrate a little.  We definitely needed to get out of the house.  I am avoiding the pools until Lexi's burn gets better, so we went to the mall to walk around in the A/C.  It is very hot here.  On the way back, we stopped at a snow cone stand.  Lexi ordered a mix of wedding cake and vanilla flavors.  Jordan had root beer flavored.  I had cream soda.  Surprisingly, Lexi's tasted the best.  

Little Buddies

We have had to chill out this week.  I have a HUGE deadline coming up (300 page proposal).  The kids have been entertaining themselves for the most part.  They have been playmates and even put on matching clothes this morning. 

They decided that they wanted to have a picnic for lunch.  I laughed because it is crazy hot outside.  I made their lunches while they set up the blanket and lawn chairs in the back yard.  I don't even think they were out there with their picnic for 2 minutes before the heat got to them.  I told them that they could move it inside.  

Later in the afternoon, they were looking for something to do.  I made a little joke that they could clean the house.  I guess it sounded fun to them.  They vacuumed the downstairs and then I heard them struggling on the stairs.  I had to snap a picture.  What teamwork!  

Reading Awards 1 & 2

I signed the kids up for the local library summer reading program.  Lexi received the first two awards today.  She had to read 5 books to get the bookmark and another 5 for the certificate.  I have been logging the books into the website.

Free Summer Movies

The free summer movies series started today in a new theater near our house.  We were excited to get a peak at the fancy place.  It was impressive.  The kids loved the leather seats that didn't fold up on them like a lot of theater seats do.  We got to see The Lorax. We invited Aunt Emilie, Hailey, Kara and Abby to join us.  I had my phone put away before they showed up, so I didn't get a picture with them.

Motorcycle Burn

Lexi and Jordan spent the weekend with their dad.  Lexi came back with this burn on her leg.  They went to a park yesterday with Sarah and her kids (Savannah and Aaron).  One of Sarah's friends rode his motorcycle and met them there.  Lexi was curious and got too close.  Now, Lexi knows to stay back.  I put some medicine on it and bandaged it up.  I hope it heals soon.       

Celebrating First Grade Champ

 Lexi had a great year.  Not only were her grades all in the mid to high A's, but she is officially reading on a 5th grade level.  I told her that we would celebrate by going out to dinner.  My boss had given me a gift card to Applebee's a while ago and this was the perfect excuse to use it.  Yeah Lexi!!!

Summer Swimming

We celebrated the first day of summer at the Lake House pool.  

Last Day of 1st Grade

It is the last day of school and it is only a half day.  We are all excited and looking forward to swimming, library time, play dates, and all of that.  Jordan and I walked Lexi to school like we usually do.  

Second to the last day of 1st Grade

Tomorrow is the last day of school for Lexi.  I didn't really plan on taking a picture today until I noticed that she happened to have on the same outfit that she wore on the first day of school.  I thought it would be neat to do a post with both pictures.  

The picture above with the braid is from today.  The picture below with the pig tails is from the first day of school.  Looking at the pictures, I see that the biggest difference is that she hasn't been in the sun much lately.  Her hair was lighter and she had a tan back in August. She will be back to that soon enough since summer is here.  No matter how much sun block I use, she'll look like the below picture soon. 

This just reminds me that the year certainly flew by.  I'm willing to bet that summer will be over too quickly too.

Cousins' Weekend

My brother, Clayton, and his family came for the weekend.  They have been in Tallahassee for the last few months.  My brother agreed to work in Mobile, AL wrapping up a lot of the insurance claims for Staten Island.  His wife, Katie, decided to spend the time with her family.  She enrolled the kids in school there.  We were lucky enough to be a pit stop on their way back home to Montana.

They came in late on Friday night.  We planned to go swimming on Saturday, but the pools don't open until 10 am, so I took all the kids to Lexi's school.  They have a great map of the US and I thought it would be interesting to take a picture of the kids on their birth state.  You can see that Florida has been popular.  Zak, Ammon, Miriam and Lexi were all born there.  Jordan was born in Texas.  Kaylie was born in Colorado.  Rachel was born in Montana.  If my other two brothers were here, we'd have 2 more in Colorado (Alma's kids) and 2 more in Montana (Chris' twins).  Jordan is a lone wolf in Texas.

We had a great weekend.  We went swimming twice on Saturday - once at the community pool and once at a church pool party.  Fortunately, Clayton called my dad's wife (widow) and told her they were going to be in town.  She drove from San Antonio to see us.  She seems to be doing well.  Even though we only live about 3 hours apart, I haven't seen her for about 5 years.  She went to the pool with us and chatted for a while and then went to see some other friends in Houston.

On Sunday, we went to church and then out to see the model homes in a new community near us.  It is called Cross Creek Ranch. I like to take visitors out to see the new homes.  It is neat plus they just might decide they want to move here.  Texas is great.  The economy is strong and the cost of living is low.  Who wouldn't love it?  ....no I am not paid to convince people.

The cousins left on Monday morning after we walked Lexi to school.  My kids will definitely miss them. The girls all slept in Lexi's room and the boys were in Jordan's room. It was one big sleepover.

Miriam, Lexi, Kaylie, Rachel, Zak, Jordan, & Ammon

Clayton & I with Angie (my dad's widow)