Last Day of School

From Blog Favorites #3

Sarah and Natalie were excited to give their bus driver, Frank, a little treat the morning of their last day of school. Several mornings we would be eating toast, often with strawberry jam when he came to pick up the girls. Most mornings we chat just a bit and he learned that I made homemade strawberry jam, which he said sounded so good. So, we decided to share some with him for a little end of year gift. He was always so friendly and took good care of the kids. He would notice when one of the girls was sick and would ask how they were. He is retiring so this was his last day of work. Look at that big smile! (O:

From Blog Favorites #3

From Blog Favorites #3

Some other moms and I put together a big wagon full of school supplies to give to Mrs. B. along with a big Barnes and Noble gift card. We found out earlier in the year she had spent some of her own money to buy school supplies for our children so we wanted to give back to her! She was overwhelmed. It was so fun!

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This gives some indication of the type of weather we were having in the middle of June! The kids were pretty bummed - usually the last day, Mr. Rosetti puts all the cafeteria tables out on the blacktop for a fun outdoor lunch - but it was too cold! Crazy!

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We love Mrs. Smith, one of the recess teachers. Her Eskimo coat on June 17th cracks me up! It wasn't THAT cold! But she spends a lot more time standing outside than me so who am I to judge? (o: She is such a sweetheart and really loves the kids as you can see.

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Sarah and Elizabeth coming in from recess.

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Sarah and Abby.

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Sarah and Jensen - signing each other's yearbooks.

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Sarah and Lindsay. She had so many good friends in her class this year!

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Natalie giving her reading teacher Mrs. Lionetti a little gift and hug.

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The inseparable duo - Natalie and Emma. (o:

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The "duo" with Mrs. B and Angela. (O:

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This is Tylin - she was one of my cute YW and our neighbor and friend. (o: At the end of the last day of school, there is a tradition for the everyone to come out and line the halls to cheer for the 6th graders. The principal makes and announcement when it's time. We waited anxiously by Natalie's class for the 6th graders to come down the stairs. It sounds cheesy, especially because I don't even have a 6th grader yet, but it makes me a little teary. The moms of the 6th graders take pictures and cry a little. Some of the 6th graders are crying and most are just really excited! (o: It's a neat tradition. They also have a special breakfast and slideshow in the morning. We were excited to cheer on our 6th grade friends.

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Oops - I overexposed this one a bit, but had to include Mrs. Elison - the greatest music teacher ever! She does such a fabulous job, I have been so impressed with her. She genuinely loves the kids too. At the 3rd grade end of year music performance - which was so adorable - she got choked up as she talked about her students. It was very sweet.

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One more pic with Mrs. Smith without her coat! (o:

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Mr. Rodriguez does everything - helps in Kindergarten, oversees reading groups (Natalie was with him every day for part of reading), translates in Spanish, does crossing guard duty, and anything else the staff need him for. He is great! The kids think he's so funny. Natalie was so excited to give him a great big candy bar because she knows he loves candy!

Last Day Celebration

From Blog Favorites #4

On the last day of school, we called daddy and met him for lunch at Wendy's to celebrate the official beginning of summer break! Yahoo!

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Look at that smile! She's not excited at all.

Silly Kitty

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Look where I found Twilight when I left our cabinet open above the desk. She gets into all kinds of crazy places. What a silly. She's been closed into cupboards by accident more than once. We'll notice a little scratching noise from inside and realize - sometimes quite a while later!

Field Day!

From Blog Favorites #4

Natalie, Emma and Annaliese

Field Day usually brings thoughts of sunshine and warm summer days - it's the end of year celebration that summer break is about to begin! This year, the field day was anything but warm and sunshiny. I consider it a small miracle that the kids could even have field day at all. The day before was FREEZING (I wore my big winter coat) and it poured rain harder than I remember it raining all year. Torrential rain! I doubted that they'd even get to go outside on field day. That morning it looked threatening. It was cool and very cloudy. Luckily, the rain held off in the morning when they had all their activities outside. The kids didn't seem to mind the cool weather at all - they had a blast as usual.

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Mrs. Elison, the music teacher, led the parachute games - she's so fun!

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From Blog Favorites #4

Sarah and her best class buddy, Jensen.

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Angela loves field day too!

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One of the most favorite activities - it's not in the picture, but the kids played this funny version of "soccer" with a gigantic ball.

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Tug of war, of course! Boys against girls!

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This was funny. . . Every year, on field day, the Booster club hosts a snowcone party during lunch recess. It's a tradition the kids love and look forward to on a hot summer day. This year, a hot chocolate party would have been more appropriate. The kids shivered as they at their icy treat in the 50 degree weather! Look how cold Natalie looks! They didn't complain and still thought it was fun.

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Carrie was making me laugh so hard. 80% of the kids wanted blue, rather than orange snowcones. So there was a huge line for blue and no line for orange. Carrie decided to try and recruit orange fans by making double deckers for those who would come to the orange side!

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These girls even got a triple decker! I don't know if they were able to keep it from falling all over!

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Katie was busy on the blue side!

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Angela, Matthew and Rachel enjoying their blue snowcones, much to Carrie's disappointment! (O:

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Carrie and Terri making an especially gooey snowcone just for fun.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

From Blog Favorites #3

I heard about the local Parks and Rec free lunches from some friends and decided it would be a fun thing to try. Every weekday, they serve lunch for kids up to 18 years at local schools and parks. It's part of a federal grant to provide free lunches for children through the summer, but anyone can go. While I'm not sure if I agree with the whole thing - it seems a little wasteful (most of the kids who go don't need the food) - politics aside - we decided we might as well take advantage of it.

So I planned to meet some friends at a nearby elementary school. We made a bike ride out of it and had a lovely time. Unfortunately, I guessed wrong on the time and they had just finished up as we got there. The girls were really disappointed and hungry. I had a little snack to give them and we ended up riding back home for lunch. We did get to visit with friends for a little bit and got some free books that the janitor was trying to get rid of. Plus Brooklyn rode back in the trailer with Angela, so that was fun.

The next day, I promised the girls we'd give it another try. This time we went to Shadywood park and we made it in time! There were several moms and kids from our ward that we sat with, which made it extra fun. Plus, the zoo had a group of teens come with some creepy crawlies to show the kids! I think our second try made up for the first failed attempt!

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Natalie looking a little unsure about petting this guy.

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Eeeek - Angela actually thought this hissing cockroach was kind of cute!

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Not the best picture of the hedgehog - Natalie thought he was so cute.

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Ewww - another gross creepy bug. Fascinating to watch though. I bet Cory* saw bugs like this on his mission in Vanuatu. In fact, I know he did - and I think they were bigger and more dangerous. At least this one doesn't spit venom!

Rose Colored Glasses

From Blog Favorites #4

Natalie had a substitute at school her last week and she had the kids make "rose colored glasses". Of course, as she always does, Natalie went ALL OUT! I think Elton John would have paid big bucks for these designer specs!

Sunday Stations

From Blog Favorites #4

Even Twilight gets into Sunday stations (see background)

So in our church, we are taught from the time we are little to keep the commandments. One of them being to keep the sabbath day holy. Now there is no official list of do's and don'ts, but there are some things that we really try not to do - shopping, recreational activities, go to movies, etc. Basically, we try to make Sunday a day when we can focus on the Savior and our family. In our family, we try not to watch TV, jump on the trampoline, play video games or play the fun music that we listen to the rest of the week. It may sound boring, and sometimes my kids think it is, but I think it's really nice. I love to listen to peaceful Sunday music - classical or MoTab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) or other LDS artists. I love having a break from the TV, commercials, worrying about shopping or running errands, etc. Sometimes we watch a Little House on the Prairie or a church movie.

A friend of mine shared an idea that my kids have loved on the Sundays we've done it. She set up stations like we did in preschool with little activities the kids could do. So I tried it that next Sunday and it was a HUGE hit with my girls! I had a writing station where they wrote a letter to our missionary friend Justin, who is serving in Mexico. We had an Art station where they decorated a Liahona with glitter and sequins - (a Liahona was a compass of sorts from a story in the Book of Mormon - it's an awesome story if you ever want to hear it!), I had a blocks station where the girls had to build a temple using legos, a reading station where I pulled out some old Friend magazines and a Research station where the girls had to look up and answer some questions about a scripture story. We played Sunday music and the girls were entertained for almost 2 hours! They beg every Sunday to do stations now!! Thanks for the brilliant idea Tina!

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Abigail's Graduation Party!

From Blog Favorites #3

These are the best neighbors in the whole world. Seriously, I don't think that is an exsaggeration. We love this family so much! Abigail graduated from high school this year and we are excited for her to spread her wings and do great things in her life! Sarah is excited she is going to OSU - apparently, Sarah is becoming quite the OSU fan.

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Natalie and Elizabeth are such a pair - they have recently become the best of friends. (o: They LOVE to play together and no play date is long enough - even if they're together hours and hours it's always sad when it's time to go home. They are both adventurous girls and love Polly Pockets.

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Caryn and her parents. I was taking pictures to give to Abigail for her scrapbook, but I'm glad I got these. You couldn't ask for a sweeter friend and neighbor than Caryn. She would do anything for anyone and takes good care of us! From last minute fingerprints for a science fair project, to cringing with me as Vern* scrapes moss off the roof, to helping her kids watch the house when we are gone. Our most recent trip, I had some people in our ward run over to the house to get something out of the garage. In my haste, I forgot to warn Caryn they were coming. Before the garage was all the way up, she headed over to make sure everything was on the up and up! (o: I was talking to my friend Randie on her cell phone and could hear her saying, "Well you guys don't look like you're trouble!" (O: What a sweetie.

Ice Cream!

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In June, I did a photo shoot at a birthday party at the zoo. I brought Sarah along since it was the family of one of her good friends, Eaden. We had quite the adventure just getting a parking spot. It was ridiculous! We drove around for a half hour and when we finally found a spot and signalled to get in - waiting patiently for the car to leave - another driver came around the corner, looked at me and snuck right in! I couldn't believe it! I was flabbergasted that this old man would be so incredibly rude. Sarah did not see the best side of me that day, but I did resist the urge to leave a 'thank you' note like she suggested. Hmm, do you think the two of us need some anger management? When we finally got in the zoo - after 45 minutes in the parking lot - we had a lovely time taking pictures of Grace's 3rd birthday party. We even enjoyed a fun train ride! When we were done, we called daddy and the girls to meet us for ice cream because it was hot! It was nice to relax and cool off together.

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YW Leader's Waffle Party

From Blog Favorites #4

At the end of my time in young women's, one of the things I was very sad to lose was the close commradery I felt with my amazing young women's presidency and advisors. I wanted to thank them in a special way for the service they had given the girls and support they gave me. They are such wonderful women and I grew to love them so much.

The Saturday after being released, I hosted a Waffle Party for my sweet friends. A few of the ladies could not make it, but Kelly, Janae, Elizabeth and I had a great time talking over our yummy brunch. Christopher* gave me a Belgian waffle maker for mother's day this year - so we made delicious waffles with all kinds of toppings and I had to make Egg Stuff for a special treat too.

We had a fun time hanging out and talking. It was so nice to have a moment to celebrate the time we spent together! I love these ladies so much!

Sarah's Piano Recital

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Sarah has been taking piano lessons from Sister Stott for almost a year. She really has a love for playing the piano. It has been so neat to watch her talent blossom in the two years since she started taking lessons. For this recital, Sarah played a really cute song called "The Spinning Song". When I told my own teacher this she was surprised considering that Sarah has only been taking lessons for 2 years. So she gave me a copy to practice with and I can say, because I've tried to play it - it is not an easy song! (o:

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I need to get better at uploading my videos on here - pictures don't do these recitals justice. (o:

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Marilyn's cute students. Her boys standing in the back played the most amazing duet!

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We love Marilyn. She's been great for Sarah!

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Angela supporting Sarah and getting some yummy sweets at the end for her reward of sitting quietly!

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Poor Nat had a harder time making it through the recital. She got some barkdust in her eye during recess earlier in the day. It was a sad day for her - when she got her owie - she had to wait in the office for mommy to come get her. (I was at Out of This World with Angela, Tina and Tori - thanks to Tina for taking Angela so she could stay and play - we had only been there a half hour when I got the call from school.) Then we ran her to the doctor to make sure everything was okay and worked hard all day to help it feel better.

Twist Her

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The girls have discovered the fun of a classic game. I've played a couple rounds with them and it felt a lot like Yoga! Great workout! (O: The girls are WAY better than me!

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Young Women - Sewing Night

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After BillyBob* was called into the bishopric, I knew my time in young women's was short. It was so sad to think about leaving my girls, so I was grateful that it took a few weeks for things to get sorted out. I continued to be YW president for another month after initially finding out I would be released. I was grateful for the time to let it sink in and soak up as many more memories and hugs as possible. This was my last hoorah - our sewing project. We worked on sewing pajamas with my sweet seamstress friend, Rebecca. It took three weeks. I didn't get to go to the very last one, but I heard they were a hit and turned out so cute. I really wanted to go and get one more picture, but at that point I really felt like I needed to step back and let go. Plus, after taking all three girls with me to YW 3 weeks in a row, I was burned out. It helped me to realize that it really was a wise thing for me to be released. Two big callings in one family is too much!

I love the picture above of Natalie, Angela and 'big' Natalie. (she's not big, just bigger than little Nat!) My girls really love and adore the young women. That was one of the wonderful perks/ blessings of my calling. I loved them looking up to my YW - good girls who know how to have fun and be happy. Great role models for my little young women!

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Look at that concentration on Ellie, Tana and Heidi's faces!

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Hannah and her friend Michelle.

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I'll add this to my collection of funny Lizzy shots!

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I'm glad Kim pointed out Natalie to me while a few of us were chatting. Here was my Nat - who found a creative use for the fabric scraps - overlooking the activity. (O: Such a trend setter!