SECOND grader?!?!!

She started the morning walk a little bit nervous...but, by the time she had waited for the bus for 55 minutes with her favorite neighbor, Abbi, she was pretty relaxed and ready for the day! (It was just a little bit late, 45 minutes! Good thing we had plenty of banana muffins and the weather was actually REALLY nice. Plus, it gave me time to convince her to either wear the new headband OR the new flower in her hair, so that way she would have something special to wear tomorrow too...)

finally

They finished this before Ty's dad even left...I am just REALLY slow at getting a picture taken and put on here. Isn't it incredible?!? I can't believe they made this out of a pile of boards! It's been a little too hot to test it out properly yet, but I think we will be spending lots of time out there once the weather cools off.

See the garden in the background? At least a few things grew... (well, other than the weeds that is!)

The squash plants are pretty, just not producing much squash...but check out our watermelon!

carrots and beans (and a raspberry plant struggling to survive amidst the weeds in the background)

cantelope...again beautiful, but no sign of a melon...and can you see all the rock in the background ready to be placed in the ground?

There are only two corn stalks that look like they will survive all the wind storms (ie they are still standing up straight)

And the awesome purple bell peppers and mild jalapenos that just keep on producing! Plus we have quite a few tomatoes, but the plants aren't the prettiest they are kind of brown and tipped over, but as long as tomatoes keep coming. (and as long as we can get to them before birds or bugs do...)

Speaking of SILLY...

Have I mentioned this kid is VERY into pretending? Like here he is as a "kid saver," because his cape makes him fly, and he's a lion so he's scary...and I never caught what the need for all of the jewelry was?! I'm sure it's important.

Well, lately, he has even been creating his own very TALL tales.

Like what???

When he is a little bit tired of being bossed around by 2 sisters, he says:

"At MY school there are 3 Coleson-buddies."

And in response to the fact that we are eating something he doesn't thoroughly enjoy for a meal...he reminds us:

"We eat CHOCOLATE donuts for lunch at my school, then drink apple juice, AND THEN...we eat MORE chocolate donuts."

When we quesiton him about why his arms have HUGE scrapes out of the crease of his elbow (where he won't stop scratching his eczema) he tells us:

"There are spiders in my bed, and they GET me! (and then his eyes get huge) They are scary, and BIG. But I stomp them with my feet, like this, and I whack them like this!"

What shoes do you want to wear, Coleson?

"My magic shoes"

And why are they magic?

"Because, I want them to be. And when I stomp spiders, they turn them into kids! Like magical"

AND the list could go on and on...I'll try to keep you updated.

The best is that he is SO incredibly animated as he tells these stories. We're pretty sure his eyebrows could tell these stories without any words. Come on over if you don't believe it!

summer sillies!

Apparently summer days seem to WIPE us OUT! I thought they were both working on their illustrations for the "fairytale" book their Nana made for them, but, when the talking/arguing hadn't happened in a VERY long time...I came down the stairs, in hopes of finding them actually working and being nice to eachother, but instead, I found this.

Sometimes this little man is SUPER cute...like when he comes down the stairs and peeks over the edge of the coach looking like this!
And sometimes he ends up pretty cute, even though he just spent the past hour or two throwing a GIANT tantrum that finally knocked him out, even if he is still standing...

End of a Season...

t-ball season that is, not summer, we wish! Starting next month, she is going to try her hand at coach-pitch...we'll see how her perfectionist personality handles that step towards becoming a professional ball player :)

Addellyn came dressed for the occassion (fairy crown and all!)...and entertained herself by coating herself in white chalk.

At least the glasses came off for the team picture. But who DOESN'T wear a skirt and sunglasses for t-ball pictures?!?

The moment they were waiting for all season...participation trophies!

MORE animal time

Another way to keep the house quiet for daddy, is heading to the ZOO!

Which is even more enjoyable when the older kids get to participate in a zoo camp so that only the smaller kids need to be toted around.

And then they get their chance at being the "Queen" of the mountain.

And to pilot the helicopter.

And even tame the elephants...

This polar bear looked much cooler and comfortable than we were feeling, luckily it was pretty overcast so a lot of animals were out in the open and we didn't feel quite as heat exposed because the sun wasn't beating down on us.

And then, in the end, we let it ALL hang out...There were giant buckets of water that had paintbrushes in them so we could "paint" the walls. But, somehow we ended up painting ourselves too...maybe to cool off like the animals?

What can be done so Papa Bears can sleep?

We go into hiding at the Natural Science Museum...mainly because the heat and humidity is OUT of CONTROL!

Kinzie touches snakes...not my thing.

We find beautiful peacocks.

And giant turtles.

We groom the sweaty sheep and goats...

And we JUMP out of our skin when the T-Rex roars at us...but when we finally realize it's just pretend, it begins to be pretty funny...

And then we come home EXHAUSTED...which is good, because then kids go to bed right when Papa Bears go back to work for the night. And that way mamas get a few moments of peace.