Evan turns 9

Father's Day

For father's day this year I made my dad this  four generation picture.  

I made this one for my grandma

I tried to take on with my kids holding the pictures but the small ones got too small

Elk Days

Every year our little community puts on a parade and has booths of food and games afterwards.  This year was cold and very wet, but we went and had fun.  Some of us even participated in the parade.

Cold and waiting for the parade to start.  Peter, Lex, and Ben

Gotta kill time somehow.  Let's make funny faces and take a picture. Daddy, Lex and Peter

All's good. Ev, Justin, with grandma and grandpa in back

Parade had started!  Elk Homemakers float

Mommy walking with Elk Homemakers

Ben's cake walk prize.  Most of the kids brought home a cake.  That was a lot of cake to eat!

Face painting fun:

Peter

Lex

Ev

Chris

Indians Baseball Game

We have a local minor league baseball team and occasionally we attend their games.  The kids love going and even though I find it boring at times it makes great memories.

Peter

We met some friends - Lex and Athena

Evan

Chris and his friend Anthony

Ben and daddy

As it happened we were lucky enough to go on a night with fireworks.

Select Choir

Chris loves to be in the spot light and he loves to sing.  Because of these traits select choir has been for him.  This is a choir of 25-50 children that have to try out for a spot and they practice before school once a week.  They have concerts, perform around town, enter festivals and at the end of the year put on a play.  It really is amazing how much they learn in such a short time.  This year Chris was Anansi the spider in their play.

Festival Award

Bicycle Helmet

Alexis so wanted a bicycle helmet so I finally got her one.  Now she won't take it off.  "Safety first," she says.  Even when making pizza.

Sun and Bugs

The weather has finally turned warm enough to play outside in swimsuits and of course catch bugs.

Short Skirt/Long Jacket

We love music in our house.  There is one song Doug plays often by Cake titled "Short Skirt/Long Jacket."  Lexie dressed for the part.

"I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnng jacket...."

Peter turns 4

My little baby is 4.  Time just needs to stop!

Piano Recital

It's coming to the end of the school year and that means piano recital time.  This year I had 3 boys in it and a bonus musical that included my husband.  The boys have come very far in their playing abilities.  Ben now plays for the men at church.  He has sure grown.

Ben

Chris

Evan

Singing trio - Chris, Ben and Doug

Pinewood Derby

Evan finally had a pinewood derby.  Chris finally got his Weeblo.  We finally had a blue and gold banquet sort of.  Evan was excited to race his car and it was one he did alone.

Chris getting his Weeblo

Car racing.  Evan's is the light blur in the middle.

What a happy boy.

Easter

Another Easter has come and gone.  Did we do all I had hoped to do?  Probably not but we did make some memories.

Egg coloring

Easter blockade.  This is how we try to keep the children from sneaking peeks at baskets and hidden eggs.

Just about time to hunt for those eggs.  The Easter Bunny can be tricky so look carefully.

Part of Evan's basket.  A big bag of angry bird fruit snacks.

Diva Lex showing off her basket bounty.

Chris with a little from his basket

Ben looking through his basket

Egg hunt at grandpa's.

VFW Egg Hunt

Every year our local VFW puts on an Easter egg hunt for the children.  Sometimes the weather is good and sometimes not so much.  This year was ok weather wise and the children love going.  Thankfully it's just down the road and easy to get to. Ben was too old this year but the rest enjoyed hunting.  

Evan and Justin

Peter and Lexie's haul

Peter gathered a special egg and was rewarded with a big basket of goodies.  It needed to buckle up and be safe too.

Visitors

While Doug was away his sister Kaytie had her baby blessed.  For the occasion Granny, Roy and his family came up.  We were lucky they had time to stop by and visit.

Camping Mommy Style

Doug has taken a work trip to New Zealand and Germany.  The kids wanted to go camping.  This was my compromise.  Even though our house is tiny and cramped, they can all put their tents up in it.

Sibling Play

Daddy caught Evan, Peter and Lexie playing in her room.

Pride

They say pride goes before the fall.  Maybe it should be pride goes before the car breaks down.  My van has been having issues and not nice easy fix ones.  I'm talking about going to the shop fixes and being without a car for days or more.  I wondered why this was happening to us.  We were trying to save money to move and these bills were not helping.  Then after listening to my children's remarks I figured it all out.  My children needed to be humbled.  We haven't lived the life of luxury but we've been comfortable and our children have never really wanted for anything.  Growing up my family wasn't so blessed and I've had to wear second hand clothes or ride in cars that weren't so nice or new.  Needless to say using my parent's extra car wasn't hard on me, but my children were forced into humility.  And since they didn't get it the first time we had a second bout of it.

The "rental"

As you can see it isn't pretty, but it got us around and I was grateful to borrow it instead of paying for a rental.  My children had different ideas.

Children's remarks:

"Did they have this when you were growing up?" - Nope

"What's that brown stuff on the window?" - I told them deer parts only to find out it was a patch.

"It smells funny."

"I can't buckle up.  The seat belt is broken." - It was missing some pieces but still worked.

"I'm glad I have to ride the bus to school and you aren't picking me up." - Said by the 5yo