Summer Migration

Blogger is giving me fits tonight and won't let me do what I want.  I couldn't download some of the pictures, and it will not cooperate with some of the captions and spacing.  So my apologies for the weirdness that is going on with that.

I was going to say that the great summer migration has  begun.  3 states in 3 days for us!  Monday we were in Louisiana.  Tuesday it was Mississippi, and today it is Arkansas! Fortunately, we'll stay put for a bit.

Callie got her groove on and made me laugh as she "danced" to the music.

The kids were very good for the nearly 600 miles we covered.

This morning, Grandma took everyone Blueberry Picking!  I might have preferred to sleep in and as some children became increasingly cranky, I wished they had slept in later!  However, I was beyond delighted to enjoy the 60 degree morning weather.  6am wake up might have been worth it for that.

I had some very good berry pickers. Less whining than I expected as well. 

There was a lot of berry nibbling.  Yummy berry nibbling!

Rylee was awesome.  She was a very good berry picker.  The last 15 minutes, she realized that they were for eating and she stopped putting any in her bucket and just stuffed them into her mouth as fast as she could pick.  When she thought she could get away with it, she snagged them out of the buckets too.  You can see our bounty here.  Lots of berries!

This afternoon we busted out the slip-n-slide.  It was a mixed bag. Lots of fun in between lots of squabbling.  

They had a good time and were out most of the afternoon, when someone wasn't coming in to complain about someone else. But they were busy and that was good. 

Summer has Arrived!

At long last, school has ended.  Joy and rapture for the children.  Stress and angst for mom.  We went to the pool 3 times this week.  The kids love it.  We mostly went in the late afternoons, after nap time.  It has been fun.  Yesterday we went right when the pool opened and stayed till lunch.

Rylee is finally getting brave enough to let go and float on her own.  She has the "Puddle-jumper" floatation device and loves it.  But she still likes me nice and close. 

 Callie can touch the bottom and bobs very well.  She cracks me up in this mask.

Marian is awesome.  She can "swim" across the deep end.  She may lack finesse, but she gets the job done.

Poor Joshua has no body fat, so he sinks.  He's been working on his back float and its tough,  but he's sticking to it and he's improving.  He too can swim across the deep end, but you can tell he's doing the crawl stroke!

Delaney informed me that she knows how to swim now.  She bobs all over the pool, making friends with everyone.  

And check this out!  She can reach the bottom of the pool now!  All by herself!  She is quite proud of this accomplishment. 

And here I am.  Just for proof that I exist and I got in the pool with them! 

Poor Rylee got all tuckered out and asked to get out.  She was ready to go home.  No one else was, so I bundled her up on the chair and she sat there till the break- 20 minutes later.  And she went home and took a great nap!

Eight Toads

Callie spent her first day of summer catching Toads.

And then she brought them home for me to admire.  I am impressed, I admit! 

Can you count all the toads?! 

Rylee was thrilled to hold a toad.  She did a pretty good job..... mostly. 

She's showing me how carefully she pets it. 

I love this girl!  She is so funny! 

And yes, since Callie did it, Rylee must do it too.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I'm not allowed to plant a garden in my front yard, and I haven't got room in my minuscule back yard to plant anything, and I'm pretty sure the lawn guys would mow it down anyway.  So I felt very clever when I came up with a way to plant a little garden.  Delaney had broken her dresser a few weeks ago.  I used the remaining 2 drawers as planters and put them in the yard.  I got some tomato, zucchini, and cucumber plants to go in them, and found pumpkin and watermelon seeds for the kids to plant. It was all very exciting.

Here you can see how the zukes and cukes are thriving.  The pumpkin and watermelon seeds are sprouting and the kids are thrilled to see it happen.  I was disappointed in the tomatoes performance though.  They were not growing and looked rather sickly.  I wasn't sure if it was lack of sun or water or love. 

And then, yesterday, I discovered the culprit!  Do you see the gigantic caterpillar?!!  And do you see that my poor tomato plants have no leaves anymore?!! 

Yep, there's the fat little guy.  He was the hugest, roundest caterpillar I have ever seen!  Callie delivered it to the neighbor's dog, since none of us had the courage to squash such a monster!  I don't know if my tomatoes will recover, but I'll be more vigilant in caterpillar watching.

Why my Kids are Awesome!

Some days it is great to be the mom.  Some days, not so much.  But overall, I love being the mom!  Here is why:

 Joshua made this pig mask.   If you recognize it, you get extra bonus points.  Sadly, I did not get a picture of the matching "hooves" he put on his hands.  I think I was too busy laughing.

I got to go to the school awards ceremony.  Yep, this was the best shot I got of Joshua!  He's getting the medal for getting good grades.  He also got a gift certificate for $5 because he met his AR goals.  And he got some other thing.  He is a great kid.  Sharp too.  And a little odd. He wrote a letter to the principal, complaining about the lack of classroom instruction.  He wanted to be taught till the last day of school, not have lots of parties and play time.  I think he even handed the letter in! 

  I love this girl!  She has wanted to have pretty hair lately.  And she wants me to curl it.  Whew, that is time consuming!  But she is so cute!

This is her self portrait.  She did a pretty good job, mmmmm?  

I got to go to her class to hear her read an a biography that she'd written.  This is where she sits in her class now- it is her "Island" where no one else is near her.  She likes it.

She did a good job reading her biography.  It was on Dr Seuss.  I even learned some things I didn't know!  And I was really proud of her for getting up and doing it in front of the class. 

Callie is a hoot.  For the kid who had to be dragged into karate, she loves it now! 

She also had an awards ceremony. She got a bunch of lovely things and was quite pleased with herself. 

Callie's birthday isn't for another week.  She wanted to celebrate it while Dan was around though so we had a little party.  She wanted a lemon smiley face cake.  Marian decorated the cake.  Callie did her own pony tail.

The pool opened this weekend.  Yay!  We have been 3 times now.  The splash pad has been running only one of those times.  Much fun was had whether or not it was working.  Delaney is delighted that she can "swim" all by herself.

This was Delaney last night.  I had to take all the kids to the church while Joshua had Scouts.  She was fine until we got there, and then meandered around with her blanket and then fell asleep on this chair!  She was roasty toasty hot too.  She went straight to bed and to sleep when we got home and slept till I made her get up at 8 this morning.

And then she was fine!  This was he today.  She and Rylee spent half the award ceremony racing in circles in the back of the gym.  I'm sure the other parents loved us.

Rylee is a riot.  This is what she spent her time at the Preschool Program doing.  She's a funny funny girl!

This was Rylee when we visited Marian's class.  Rylee was not very quiet.  She likes to give a running commentary on everything. And she proceeded to talk about everything in the class, while the students were trying to give their oral presentations.  What a pickle!  

And while I'm not a fan of potty humor, I seem to be the only one in this family to feel that way.  Stop now if you are with me.  If you are amused by potty humor read on!  As I was changing Rylee's diaper the other day she giggled and said, "I'm going to make a noise!"  And she proceeded to make the promised noise from her bare, freshly wiped-but-not-yet-diapered bottom.  It put her siblings into hysterics, and even I have to agree it was a wee bit funny.