The Award Ceremony

School is finally winding down for Trevin and McKade. Yesterday was the Award Ceremony for "C" Track. Trevin was a little down when I dropped him off for school because he was convinced that he hadn't passed off enough to get his Coyote Pride award and didn't think he was going to get any award at all. I am so proud of both of my boys. The both earned the Coyote Pride award. There is a list of things that each grade has to pass off to earn this award. For Trevin, this meant that he passed off all his multiplication facts from 1-12. This is huge for him because he has struggled so much in school. There were only a handful of kids from each of their classes that earned this award. Trevin's face lit up when the Principal called his name and that was Priceless. They also both earned the Principal's Honor Roll for being on the honor roll three times during the school year as well as an award for Outstanding Attendance. I am so proud of all their hard work. They are getting really excited about their new school and I love to see the excitement on their faces when we drive by and see the progress and how quickly it is being built. Only 7 1/2 weeks until they start school again. Hopefully this will be a good change!!!!

The Park

After all the rain that we have had the weather finally cleared up for a couple of days and the temp's got pretty hot. I was sick and tired of sitting in the house so we stopped for lunch and headed over to the park. Harlee absolutely loved the slide and kept climbing up and sliding down-all by herself. None of the other kids have ever been that daring. Brynlee runs around and tries to convince Harlee to run around with her but Harlee wouldn't budge. She only wanted to slide. I sat back and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and watched my girls!!!

Happy Father's Day

Today we had a chance to celebrate our Dads. We started out with a yummy breakfast at my dad's house that he slaved over all morning. Crazy that he had to cook on Father's Day but I think he loved it. Unfortunately, Brett is on a very strict diet and wasn't able to enjoy any of the yummy food. I think we just tortured him with the smell but he was a good sport. After my dad's we went to Church and then had to hurry to Denice's house for dinner that night. Brett was able to eat something for dinner thanks to Denice who is on the same strict diet. We got Brett a Chicago Cubs Jersey so he can proudly show off his favorite team. I am so thankful for all the dads in my life and especially my husband who is an amazing dad to his kids. He is always willing to throw the ball around or play "hoops" with the boys and he always has some hugs for his two little princesses. He works so hard so that we can have all the things that we need and I love him for that. Happy Father's Day.

Ward Carnival

Last night was our ward/neighborhood carnvial and our ward goes all out. It's an activity that the Primary puts together with the help from the activities committee. They have a BBQ and games galore including a waterslide and a couple of bounce houses for the kids. Last night they also did the Raingutter Regatta for the Scouts. We had a couple of extra kiddos in tow last night. Our cute neighbors, The Johnson's, weren't able to be there so we volunteered to take their kids and also inherited a friend of McKade's while we were there. 8 kids is a lot of work but the kids had a blast and I had fun chasing the two little ones around. We ended up staying for 3 hours. The boys were soaking wet from several trips to the dunk tank and then a little sticky from the cotton candy machine but they haven't stopped talking about it. Full of sugar and worn out from all the fun they came home really wet but with lots of stories to tell. I love being a mom!!!

Native American Stories

It was finally's Trevin's class' turn to perform their play. They had been practicing extra hard all week and after a dress rehearsal on Thursday they were finally ready. I was so impressed by the kids and all the work that went into this play. Trevin's teacher wrote the play by combining several Native American stories. They have been learning Native American History all year and it was fitting that this was the sort of play they would put on. Trevin had small but important parts. I am proud of all his hard work!!! Well Done!!!

Rain, Rain Go Away

That's how I feel right about now. There is no fun to be had because it won't stop raining. We were finally able to finish up the baseball season three weeks after it was officially supposed to be over. Trevin was able to squeeze in a day long baseball camp with the Utah Bucks, Utah Marshalls and a Scout for the Chicago White Sox. He had a blast and came home a little sunburned and a whole lot tired. McKade finished up soccer on Saturday by scoring a record 4 goals. My bubba got his first hat trick and I missed it because I was worried about rain and trying to get the girls ready for family pictures later that afternoon. He is already looking forward to soccer in September and we are gearing up for Football which starts is just a little over a month. Trevin can't stop talking about it and is going to be mowing Pa's grass to earn some extra money to go towards the costs. If any of you need Trevin to do any odd jobs for some extra money to help pay for football let us know. The kids keep asking if they can go swimming and when do the pools open? The pools are open but the rain just won't stop. At this rate it will be September and summer will be over. We need the sun so rain, rain please go away!

Brynlee

I know, I know, the last post was about her too. Since I pretty much use my blog as a journal and a scrapbook I have to post these cute things when they happen or I will forget about them. We have these little books that are pretty much a paper folded into four squares and then folded like a book. They consist of a lot of sight words and some really simple, easy to sound out words. These were the books we used when McKade was learning how to read. I got them out a few months ago but Brynlee was really disinterested so I put them away and we have't looked at them since. Last night Brynlee pulled them off of the bookshelf and said, "Tomorrow I want you to teach me how to read." Sure enough, we read those books 6 or 7 times today. There are about 10 books. By tonight, she had memorized almost every sight word in them. She was so proud of herself and couldn't wait to show whoever walked by. She kept telling Trevin and McKade in her matter of fact voice, "I know how to read." When you're the little sister, little things like that matter a lot. I will never forget the smile on her face after we finish each book. If we keep working at it I might actually have a little girl that knows how to read before she starts Kindergarten in August.

Brynlee's End of Year Show

Tonight was Brynlee's End of Year Show for the dance studio that she goes too. She did a jazz and a ballet number tonight. I have to admit that I think she has caught the dancing bug. She was so cute up on the stage tonight and she absolutely loves to dance. I am so proud of how well she did tonight. She is so determined and she can pretty much do anything she sets her mind to. I was going to post a little video that we took with our camera but I couldn't get it to load on here. I will have to "borrow" the videos that my dad took and the pictures that my father-in-law took with his awesome camera and put those on here too. For now, here are a few pictures from our camera that actually turned out.

The Chicago Cubs

Last week Brett had to travel to Cincinnati, Ohio for a week long training for Cintas. In preparing to travel he happened to check out the schedule for the Cincinnati Reds and to his surprise the Chicago Cubs happened to be in town that week. His dream is to see the Cubs play at Wrigley Field but this was a pretty close second. He sat with several Cubs fans who traveled to see the game. He found out that it is only a 5 hour drive from Cincinnati to Chicago and suggested we move there in the near future. I don't think is going to happen! I am glad he had the opportunity to be able to do something like this. Next time we are all going!!!

Lunch on the Lawn

It is June 10 and today was supposed to be "Lunch on the Lawn" at the boys' school. It has done nothing but rain for the last week so "Lunch on the Lawn" had to be moved inside. It was now "Lunch on the Cafeteria Floor". I packed up a lunch and brought a blanket like the kids asked. It's not quite so fun having it inside and the kids were more concerned about getting out to recess but we went anyway. I am glad that I am able to make these kinds of memories with my kiddos-soon enough they won't want to be seen with mom anyway I'm sure. I am going to hold onto them as long as I possibly can. I had the Principal take a picture but I was a little slow in thinking about it and Trevin had already made a beeline for recess. Oh well! I sure wish the rain would go away. We are ready for the swimming pool!!

Bringing the Rain

The kids were lucky enough this year to have a full-time theater teacher at school this year. The school received a grant and a wonderful theater teacher to go along with it. Each and every class has been working on a play all year long. Yesterday was McKade's class turn to perform their play. On Monday they had almost half of their class out sick so they had to scramble to make a few things work. The play was wonderful. Nobody had their own speaking part but the whole class memorized and recited a 15 minute play about the rain. The costumes were wonderful and the kids did an amazing job. It takes a lot of work to get that many kids to memorize that much information. Ironic that it has done nothing but rain on us for the last week. Maybe we can blame it on Ms. Curran's 2nd grade class for "Bringing the Rain".

She's Growing Up

As hard as it is for me to admit, my baby is growing up. She is 2 going on 12. She wants to be just like the older kids and trys to be every chance she gets. We have put the high chair away for the last time and it makes me a little sad. She won't sit in it anymore-she wants to sit at the counter with her "Binee". She makes a huge mess every time that she eats but she is happy as you can see from these pictures!

Ice Cream and Dancing

What more could a girl ask for than a little ice cream and a little dancing. Bryn's dance studio had an ice cream party on Saturday. The girl's worked all year long to earn their ice cream party. It's an incentive for them to work hard in class. Bryn said they danced to Shrek and ate some ice cream. She was allowed to bring a friend but was satisfied with having Erin there and didn't want to bring anyone else. Here is a picture of the younger girls that earned the party as well.

Harlee's 1st Haircut

I am a total slacker and forgot my camera but I wanted to blog about this before I forgot. We are getting family pictures taken with Brett's whole family next weekend so I wanted Brynlee to have her hair trimmed and see if there was any hope for Harlee's hair. Lisa did wonders. Brynlee was in heaven and I think she is hooked for life now, shampoo and everything. Her hair is the prettiest color and I hope for her sake it stays that way. She is so patient to sit and get her hair cut and then styled. Harlee on the other hand wasn't too sure but we had to get rid of the curly mullet before pictures. I ended up with her on my lap and she was okay as long as she wasn't being sprayed by the spray bottle or having her bangs cut. Her hair looks so much better-almost like a little girl with curls. Lisa cut some layers into her curls so it blended better and we got rid of most of the mullet of curls in the back. The curls are there still just not the mullet. Harlee kept pointing to her hair the rest of the day. She was so cute! I wish I would have taken my camera to capture some of her faces but hopefully reading this will jog my memory. Thanks to Lisa for being so patient while Harlee was squirming and screaming!

Dance & Gymnastics

We got the summer dance schedule from our dance studio today. I thought Brynlee might get a break for the summer but the dancing continues. I talked to her teacher today because I was a little concerned about sticking her back in the 4 year old class when she is going to be turning 5 in a little over a month. She quickly dispelled any concerns I might have and said that Brynlee is very ready to move up to the next class and that the 3 hours of dance a week would be very beneficial for her. Tryouts for the team are at the end of July and with the way they have switched things up for next year it looks like the little girls may actually have a chance to travel to Nationals. It seems so crazy that all of a sudden dance and gymnastics have become our life. I am glad that for now there is no conflict in scheduling so that she can do both for the summer. We may have to take another look at things once school starts. Her summer recital is coming up on June 12 and after that we have a 2 week break before summer classes start, from there, it's straight into auditions and then the teams will be made and practices begin. I absolutely love that she has caught the bug and can't wait to be a crazy, busy dance mom. Oh wait, we might have to squeeze football and soccer in there too. It's a good thing Harlee is happy tagging along-for now!!!