Good-Bye Neighbors/ Babysitting Balloon Fight!

I have had this post in draft state for a little while. Haven't had the time to sit and work on it but wanted to get it out there!

Our neighbors of 5 years have moved away and I have to admit, I miss them. They were really good neighbors, you know, the "borrow flour and sugar" kind. I remember times when Christina would call me because she was at the store and remembered something we had talked about and asked if she could pick it up while she was there! She was fun and nice and it felt good knowing she was next door.

The kids also got along most of the time too! :)

They are now in Washington, starting a new chapter in their lives and I hope everything goes really well for them!


Hailey and Christina - Hailey loves Christina. . .

Hayden, Landon, Hayden and Tyler!

I always thought it was remarkable that our neighbors had a son who was named Hayden also and that they had the same birthday!

On to the next group of pictures! These were taken on a Monday night during one of my Monday Night Church baby sittings! It was a hot day out and after a small bible lesson I thought it would be a blast to have a balloon fight, a little trampoline action and some ice cold sno cones!

The kids agreed!

Hailey and Emmett - getting ready!

Let the games begin!

We can't think for the life of us WHY Tyler chose to wear gloves . . . he doesn't really like to get wet. . . still, strange!

I think we ran out of balloons!

War isn't pretty! (well, the colors are nice!)

Now time for the ol' sprinkler under the tramp time.

Hailey and Ingrid trying to fill up more balloons.

Jayden eating his home made sno cone and freezing to death! His teeth were practically chattering but as a true trooper he kept right on eating!

My boys are really into Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield right now. Must be a boy thing! Well, I have to admit I really like Calvin and Hobbes also.

The kids really had a lot of fun. We will have to do this again sometime this summer!

Last Day of School!

Tyler loved his teacher this year! She was a truly wonderful person and someone that really knew how to read Tyler and help when she needed and step back when Ty needed to learn something on his own. Tyler now says he wants to be a 2nd grade teacher!

Hailey and I went to have lunch with Tyler on the last day of school. Normally I usually take my kids home after the lunch to get a little bit of an early start on summer but Tyler wanted to stay. The teacher had brought in a sno cone machine and had popcorn and all kinds of great things and she really gave them a fun time on their last day.

Here are just a few shots at his school.
Mrs. Knight -

Tyler with our next door neighbor boy, Landon. Landon and his family have since moved to Washington.

This little girl has a horrible crush on Tyler. Her name is Maddie and she is soooo cute. But, I am not ready for the boyfriend/girlfriend drama quite yet!

1/3 of Hailey's face, Landon and Tyler.

This is one of Tyler's best friends . . . Noah.

(Hailey kept messing with Tyler's hat - he doesn't normally wear it like that)

I tried to tell Tyler that the bill of the hat is for a reason . . . why does "being cool" always outweigh logic! Notice the horrible squinting!

This is Tyler's friend Erica - yes, they are the same age but she is really tall. They have been friends since they met each other at kindergarten sign up. She is adorable. Her family lives in the same subdivision as we do but they will be moving to Arizona in July. Her Dad got a job with the Railroad and is being transferred there. Really nice people, we will miss them!

Yup, Maddie again!

One of the last games of Pepsi he will play for awhile. Welcome Summer!

Things will be much different at the start of the next school year. I am trying my hand at home schooling both the boys come this fall. We are all pretty excited about it and hope to learn many new things about ourselves and each other. I am sure you will experience it all along with us on the blog!

Woo Hoo Summer is Finally Here!

Forever Spring !

The weather lately has just been crazy! Here it is the 2nd of June and it still feels like April with all of the rain and clouds along with cool temperatures. I am actually quite okay with it. Hopefully this year we won't have to hear complaints from all of the weathermen about drought and the grass and trees look absolutely beautiful and green!

I just wanted to share some pictures of flowers that I had bought with a gift card that my Mom-In-Law gave me for my birthday. Aahhhh - love the colors!

This year I found myself strangely pulled in the direction of the daisy family. . .

Mmmmm . . . carnations!

A very interesting type of geranium.

My favorite scarlet red good ol' fashioned hanging geranium!

Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

Spring Piano Festival

It's that time of year again! Time for the Spring Piano Festival!

Hailey played two long and fairly difficult pieces this year. I can't believe she has only been playing for about 3 years and she really does well on the piano.
Not sure if I mentioned it earlier but she got a "Superior" again at the National Junior Piano Festival again this year. I think that makes her eligible to go for the gold cup next time around.


To finish off the festival this year Hailey and her friend Bethany performed a duet - It was quite a difficult piece also and very powerful.

There was also a competition amongst all the students to try to increase their practice times! Bethany took first place but Hailey was a close second by, I believe, one hour!

Hailey has really enjoyed playing the piano, but the sad thing is that the piano teacher has her house up for sale. We can only hope that she doesn't go too far away so that Hailey can still get instruction from her. She is a good teacher and a very sweet lady.

Moments With Madi !

Last Thursday was really great! Chris, who usually watches Madison, had some things that she had to do so I had the opportunity to get to watch my niece Erica's little girl. I guess that would make her my great niece? I can never remember how the relative thing all works but, we had a nice time!
She is very cute. She also has this very soft, wispy voice that is fun to listen to.

She loved playing with the Little Tykes car! I think she put gas in it every time she moved two feet. She claimed it got the same gas mileage as her mom's car. Wow - time for mom to look for a new car! :)

After watching an Arthur video and riding in the car we took some time to make Madi's mom a "I Miss You" card. She LOVED using the scissors! After that we had a little R & R and Madison had a popsicle or "popicle" as she calls them.

After that was a little playtime with some Fisher-Price toys and then I thought she might enjoy helping me wash the dishes! She had a lot of fun!

What a sweetheart! We had a good time and I hope in the future she will get to come and spend some more time at Aunt Dora's place!

The Permit Has Been Acquired!

First of all I would like to apologize that the pictures on this post are so small. For some reason it wouldn't download them bigger. It was like the download was stuck in mode and wouldn't print them onto the post . . . I hope that you can see them well enough.

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The day has finally arrived! Hailey has met all of her requirements to obtain her driver's permit. She has gone to all of her classes, passed all of her exams and drove well on her driving days. So naturally she wanted to drive home from her last Driver's Training Class. Kurt had picked her up . . . She is sooooo excited!


Kurt, on the other hand, not so much!!!


Kurt thought this was a great idea! Hailey, not so much. . .

All puns aside, we are very happy for Hailey and know this is a big change in her life where she has opened the door to more opportunities and independence!

Congratulations Hailey!