Pretty View

Here are some views we saw on our last ride

Lizard run

Ooop! I accidentally made 2 different posts while I was adding the slideshow. I'm too lazy to fix it, so this post is the pictures and the next post is the expalanation of the pictures!

The Lizard Run

When we went on our last ATV ride, Rob spotted a horny toad and got off and caught it. The kids thought it was pretty cool. Here are some pictures. Jake was not afraid of it at all!

That's My Brother!

Jake was so cute at Max's graduation the other night. Those kids looked like they were having so much fun up there, he couldn't help but join them. He finally got brave enough to go up and stand by Max and try to sing with him. There was even a cap from the previous graduation (I think) left on the stage that he tried to put on. At one point one little boy told Jake, "You can't be up, here, Leave!" Max went up to the little boy and said "That's my brother, leave him alone!" Rob told me that afterwards. So cute!!

A boy and his dog

This is what I found when I got home from work last night. It was so sweet, I had to take a picture!

My job

I just wanted to take a minute and write something about my job. Well, my paying job, that is. I work at the front desk of a local motel. It may not sound like much, but I really do love my job. It's good for me. I'm a pretty social person and I get to meet lots of new people every day. I try to find out where they are going and why. I also like talking to the regulars and making friends with them. I also really like my co workers. Everyone here is nice and friendly. There is no drama like my last job. That was Drama Central!! Plus, the pay is pretty good, especially for the type of work I'm in. Hopefully one day I'll go back to school and be doing something else, but for the time being, my job works for our family and helps pay the bills. I work the swing shift so we only pay minimal day care. The kids are with a sitter who comes to our house Wed, Thurs, and Fridays from about 2:30-2:45 til about 5:30 when Rob gets home.

You don't see that every day!

We found these cars out in the middle of nowhere on one of our 4 wheeler rides. Definitely something you don't see everyday!!

There was quite a line of them, at least 6 or 7, all in a row. How strange!

That kid'll sleep anywhere!

A few weeks ago on one of our 4 wheeler rides I noticed Max had fallen asleep behind Rob on the bike. I bet he stayed asleep for a good half hour to 45 minutes!

The Big Hill

There is a big hill here in town that we drive over every once in a while and Jake just loves it. I think he thinks it's a roller coaster or something. Everytime we even get near it he gets all excited and points and says "that way!! That way, Mom!" When we start to climb the hill he puts his arms in the air and says Weeeeeee, weeeeee!!! all the way up it and all the way down.

The day we went to lunch with Dad, we drove right past the hill and didn't go up and over it. Jake was so dissappointed and cried all the way to Dad's work. It was so disappointing!

Here is where Jake starts to get excited, cuz he can see the hill in the distance

Going up the hill

Coming down the hill

First boat trip of the season!

Last Sunday we loaded the boat and the kids and headed off to the lake for a few hours of fun in the sun. We had a ton of fun! The kids had been begging for a long time to go to the lake and it had finally gotten warm enough to go. (we were gonna go again this weekend, but the weather tuned cold and nasty, so we'll go on a 4 wheeler ride, instead) Even though the air was nice and warm, I knew the water would still be really cold, so I dressed the kids in shorts and wouldn't let them wear their suits. They were very upset with me about that. Rob kept telling me to let them put on their suits, that they wouldn't care how cold the water was, they'd still get in. I guess I should've listened to him, cuz they did get in! They didn't stay in very long, though!!

I just love this last photo

I think it sums up a day on the boat perfectly.

Summer officially begins

Well, today was the last day of school. It is officially summer! Yay! I guess I need to sit down and plan out the kids summer activities. I'm not going to schedule every second, but I want to have a general outline of stuff I want to take the kids to do this summer. There are some museums and points of interest in our town that we have not seen yet and I plan on doing that this year. In the years past I have always had kids too young to go do stuff like that with just me and the kids, but now that Jake is getting bigger and can walk a significant way by himself, I think we are going to attempt some more adventurous things. I also want to take part in the summer reading programs the library puts on, as well as swimming, visiting the awesome parks we have in the area and also going to the splash pads. There is a neat new one over by the library that we haven't gone to, yet.

Hopefully we'll have lots of fun this summer!!

Parade

A few weeks ago Jordyn was invited to walk a parade with the rest of the 1st and 2nd graders in her school. She was so excited about it that we couldn't tell her no. So we loaded up the kids at 8 am and took her to meet her group so she could get all dressed up and walk in the parade. Everyone had a good time, I think.

After we dropped Jordyn off we ran into someone that Rob knows and he invited Si to sit on his float and throw candy. Si jumped at the chance.

Here is the only decent picture I got of her in her flower costume

Here is Si watching the rest of the parade with us.

Doesn't he look thrilled?

After the parade there was a tractor pull in the lot next to where we parked, so we went and looked at all the cool old tractors they had.

Here is Jake standing next to a wheel of a John Deere

Jake had a ball once he figured out the whole point of parades...

CANDY!!!

Candy inspections...

All tuckered out....

I couldn't resist the opportunity for a group shot.

It's hard with my 4!

Max's Preschool Graduation

Here's another picture-heavy blog post from Amy. I know, your all stunned, right? LOL. I can't help it, I'm sorry, my kids are just so danged cute!

Max's preschool graduation was Wednesday night and it was lots of fun. Short and sweet and the kids had a ball! I think it only lasted about 45 minutes, which is long enough for preschoolers. There are 2 different teachers in his little school and each teacher's classes had combined their graduations, so there were 16 kids in Max's *graduating class*

The teacher did a very short talk, then each child did a solo performance, with the other kids singing in the background. They were so cute. Max's solo was London Bridges. They also sang the ABC's, Days of the Week, and Months of the Year all together. After the *premieres* as Max kept calling them, the teacher handed out the diplomas/certificates. The kids got to keep their cap and tassles (real nice ones, too!) but had to turn in their gowns. If they turned in their gowns they got to pick a prize from the basket. Max choose a recorder, of course!! I'm about ready to throw it away already. It's already cracked and starting to break, so it won't last too much longer, thank goodness!!

Here are the pictures

In his cap and gown

Backdrop

During the performance...

Dancing to I'm a Little TeaPot

Starting to get bored....

REALLY starting to get bored....

Hmmmm, I wonder what's under here?
With his diploma
Max and Mrs. Chase. We're gonna miss her!

All in all I think Max had a wonderful year at preschool. He is definitely ready for Kindergarten and looking forward to moving on to Elementary School and going 5 days a week. Today coming home from the store he did ask me in a worried voice if he would ever see his preschool teacher again and I told him that I thought so. (I'm hoping to put Jake in after this next school year). He also let out a big sigh and said, Oh, I am going to miss my Teacher!! It made me sad to hear that. Then he asked if I missed any of my old teachers and I told him yes, of course!

End of Year Activities

It is almost the end of the school year! Yay! I'm excited, but I bet my kids are even more excited. As you can guess we have been very busy with all the school programs and activities that have been going on.


Yesterday was Si's 5th grade program. It was a patriotic theme and lots of fun. The first 3 photos are from yesterday's program. I had a hard time getting a picture of him without his hands in front of his face!


The 4th picture is of Si at his class graduation that was held Tuesday night. It was a very nice ceremony. His teacher talked for a minute, then the room mom talked about what a great time she had with all the kids that year. They also did a cute little slideshow of pictures of all the kids throughout the year. The room mom, Mrs. Brown, also made cd's for each family of the slideshow. How thoughtful! There were also 2 talks given by 2 boys about what they learned that year. Then a girl played the violin. The teacher also announced the winners of the student of the month throughout the year. Si was included in that honor! I was so proud of him!


We are looking forward to Max's preschool graduation tonight.

This morning

I saw Jake sitting in Dad's chair this morning watching Dora and reading the paper. I thought it was so cute I had to get a picture. Since I took one of Jake I HAD to take on of Max.

Mother Daughter Luncheon

The Saturday before Mother's Day the Elks Lodge in our town has their annual Mother's Day Luncheon. We have made it a tradition to attend every year. My inlaws are active members of the Elks. Jan is a past LOE (Lady of Elk) President and Dave is a past Exalted Ruler. I usually have a very good time at these functions. Jordyn and I go together and we meet Jan, Jana and Ruth. We have a good time catching up with each other. This years theme was Pinewood Derby. Jan thought she wasn't going to be able to make it this year, so we didn't buy a Derby car, but we still had fun watching the other kids race.

Mother and Daughter

Sisters

Jordyn

All of Us

Our cute table decorations

The boys had fun with these when we got home.

Mother's Day Part 2

I had so many pictures that I wanted to post about the bbq at Jan's house, so I thought I'd do another post with just mostly pictures of my kids from that day. There are some pretty cute ones.