Announcement

Our kids would like to share a message with you. 

In case you can't tell-
Claire's says, "I'm going to be a big sister -in November"
Lily's says, "It's a girl!"
Ollie's says, "I'm totally out numbered!"

Summer Fun- Week 1

This summer we are not going on vacation to Utah.  It's our first summer not going back.  When we usually go back we are gone for several weeks and it makes summer just fly by.  I was not sure how to entertain three darling children all summer!  After some thought I created a summer fun bag.  Each Sunday we get out our summer fun bag and pick activities for the next week.  Each week we do one activity from each of the following categories:
Field Trip- going somewhere fun
Scripture Story- focusing on one story a week to really help the kids learn it
Extra Chore- something that I've noticed needs to be done but haven't done yet
Ollie- an activity geared for a 7 year old
Lily- an activity geared for a 4 year old
Claire- an activity geared for a toddler
So over the coming weeks you will get to see what fun things we are doing to keep ourselves busy.  :)

Week 1

Claire- Musical Feet Socks
We used fabric marker on some old socks to make smiley faces and then hot glued on some wiggly eyes.  Then we put on our socks and some music and our "happy feet" danced.  The kids LOVED this!

Ollie- Praise Box
We got an old shoe box and he cut a hole in the top.  We decorated it with stickers and coloring.  Now, if we notice someone doing something good then we write it down and put it in the praise box.  We read the comments in the praise box on Sunday afternoon as a family.  We are going to use this box all summer to encourage praiseworthy behavior.

Lily- Water painting
Self explanatory...

Field Trip- Waco Lake
We did this activity on Saturday when Papa was able to come.  The lake is not really someplace I want to go by myself.  :)

Scripture Story- Nephi getting the Brass plates
No pictures... sorry!

Extra Chore- Buy a file cabinet and organize papers
This was a bigger chore than I planned... it took me week one and most of week two.  Now I'm done and my papers are all organized!  No more piles of papers around the house and it should be easy to keep it organized.  :)  The day that I shredded old papers the kids loved!  They had lots of fun playing with the old paper.  Ollie even got to help with the shredding.  It made a HUGE mess and I learned that it's something to only do once in a blue moon or at night after bedtime.  :)
It's hard to see but in the last picture Lily has buried Claire under the paper.
I didn't take and after picture but I now have a two drawer file cabinet that is all organized.

Kid Quotes

Lily asked "When my gum is done does it go right here (pointing to her gums)?"

Claire is learning to talk. She calls her belly button her "belly butt".

 We were talking about trying to Skype with Grandpa on Father's day. Ollie overhead us and asked if we were talking about e-mail. We said, "No, this is different than e-mail but it is on the computer." He said, "Oh! I know, it's called blackmail." I guess e-mail and blackmail both end in mail. And thanks to Harry Potter book number 4 for teaching our son about blackmail. :)

Hair

I know that "Hair" is a weird title for a post but it fits. I recently donated my hair to Lock of Love. Here is the braid before I mailed it off. Claire's hair is finally long enough to do cute little pig tails. Spencer calls them her horns because she is kind of our little devil child. She's super cute and sweet but she is also crazy! She is into everything! She also hits, bites, and scratches. We are working with her and she is getting better. She is very curious and has absolutely no fear. She requires constant watching! :) Ollie was getting his hair cut by Spencer. As a joke Spencer cut all the hair in the middle and left the sides. Ollie thought it was very funny. I laughed and took some pictures then said that he had to have all of it cut. :)

Lily's preschool graduation

Lily did a joyschool preschool group this year. She loved it! She loved going to everyone's houses and learning new things. She loved seeing her friends more! I loved seeing her learn and grow. I can't believe how big she is getting! She still has one more year before school so one more year of preschool. She had a fun graduations ceremony and loved the little hat she got. She still has it and likes to wear it around the house. :)

Ollie's 1st Grade Field Day

For all my non-Texas friends and family, you must be informed that sports are HUGE in Texas. Ollie's school has a field day at the end of the year. They have it at the nice track over at the High School complete with sound system for music and everything. It's a big deal. They practice for weeks to get ready. Ollie wanted to practice running every day on the way home from school. When the big day finally came I went with the two girls. Ollie loved it! He loved the running, the tug of war, and the relay races. His class came in first out of the first grade so he got an extra ribbon. He was thrilled and we girls enjoyed watching him!

Walker's Visit

It is definitely our year of visitors! We've loved having all the company. Spencer's sister and family came to visit at the end of May. We had never seen their beautiful little girl, Rebekah. Unfortunately, we got sick the first half of the time they were here so we tried to stay away from them but... we shared, and they were sick the second half of the time. Hopefully next time we see them we will all be healthy! I didn't take many pictures but Rebekah is a cutie and we all loved seeing her and her parents. :)

Beck's Visit

We had a visit from my brother, his wife, and their two darling boys. We had so much fun! They stayed with us for four days. They came when Ollie had a few days off of school so we got to do lots of playing. The pictures posted in random orders but... We played lots at home. We went swimming (it was the beginning of April so it was cold but fun!) We had yummy food. We went to the zoo. We had an Easter egg hunt. We finished off the vacation by going to Sea World in San Antonio. We loved having them come and getting to know them and their boys better. We have lived in Texas the entire time they have been married. We see them whenever we go to Utah to visit but it was fun to have them in our home and have them all to ourselves! The kids were super excited to play with cousins and they are the first cousins to ever visit us in Texas!