On to Better Things.

School is officially out for the summer. YAY! And Makinzie believes she is MUCH more mature now that she is a "second grader."

Her teammates for field day.
Mrs. R said she really hated her digital camera...so she is struglling here with it, but I loved how in the background Bailey and Kinz had their fishing poles catch eachother in the "pond."She might be my most cautious child, but she is still quite competitive. She loved making the other kids not be able to catch the splash ball...

Mrs. R was WONDERFUL, by the way...a perfect 1st grade teacher!

and she also helped her team win every relay race...

I have one shot of the Christmas party (making graham houses).

The only other time I took pictures at school: November's stone soup day.

Truck...Rock...Little Man

So, we borrowed a truck...

To get a LOT of rock like this... (Like 10 times more than I could fit in this picture)

To start making paths...

And do a few other landscaping things...

But then, once all the rock was unloaded, we had to sit in the "Bestest Trucky" one last time, after it was all clean again, because it was "Really Big" and was the "best truck to ride in to go on babentures..." And couldn't daddy please trade Mr. Chris? Because this truck was "way much better than your little car" ...According to our Little Man

Accomplishments

My lack of accomplishment: always being behind on my blogging and always seeming to forget to take pictures when we have visitors...I am just soaking in every moment and then I am sad when they go and I have no great captured moments!
Addellyn and Coleson: These two woke up, and quietly read books together (it even seemed like they enjoyed it). It was a wonderful morning! (notice the boots, ha)

Makinzie: finished spring soccer! And, sadly, had to tell a few more friends good-bye as they move on in life, like Lauren (and the super cute blond boy behind them, whom I LOVE).

Poor girl seems to keep losing good friends faster than she can find new ones...

On a happier note: she is VERY into fashion...what do you think of the shirt/belt/skirt combo and the creative hair piece? She designs it all herself!

When company comes...

We LOVE them and smother them until it's time for them to go home WAY too quickly. The week FLEW by! We had a wonderful, relaxing time: shopping with mom, not having to cook (thanks to dad!), walking through and soaking up the beauty all around us, trying to catch up on a year's worth of conversation, enjoying convenient babysitters for my "all too frequent" trips to the Dr, and just being in our home TOGETHER.
It was SOOO good to see them again. (It's been hard going from seeing them EVERYday, in the same home, to not seeing them for an entire year! Really, really hard.)

Papa, Tank and Ooper jumping from the cement to the grass! You should see our boy jump, HAha!

We spent our last day at the park riding the brand new bike Kinzie picked out and celebrating Nana's birthday (a few weeks early).

The kids LOVED spending quality "reading" time with Nana.

We took a hike to the lake...

Every day that they were here we went on some type of "bAbenture!" according to Coleson. (adventure)

...and then Ty ran back to the car while we played on the playground and waited for him to come pick us up. I guess 1.5 miles was about all the kids could take, ok, and all my "gimpy" body could take, but I like to blame the kids.

Enjoyed the GREAT outdoors

The weather was wonderful. It is so beautiful here!

We did a lot of walking...(we walked ALL over the place throughout the week).

And "ooing"...

And apparently a whole lot of pointing! It was so much fun to walk through the "Old" part of town on an overcast Spring morning.

a LONG awaited arrival!

It was a long day trip to Raleigh...to visit the temple one at a time and then to get our favorite Nana and Papa from the airport.

Good thing the airport had a fun little park to run around in and listen to the control tower. There was a lot of energy to release before the long ride home.

But what we really couldn't figure out is why it was over 90 degrees and 80% humidity in the middle of MAY?!? Oh well, welcome to the South!

Where do they come from?!?

Luckily he no longer wears diapers...yup, he is officiallly a big boy, or, according to him he makes caterpillar shaped bubbles in the potty now...

He ALWAYS is performing, dressing up, or pretending to be some type of fighting animal or character.

But, no matter what, he is ALWAYS in his cowboy boots. Silly kid! (And if my video uploader worked you could have heard the song he was singing into that pink microphone...stinkin' blog!)

Becoming Bikers

Our EXTREMELY cautious child has finally warmed up to the idea that she really CAN ride a 2 wheeler and she has been able to for a LONG time now...She just had a hard time trusting herself I guess.

After months and months of riding while dad ran alongside...

Can you see the shock on Coleson's face?!? :)

She finally was willing to ride alone...not without several tears and crashes because she was throwing tantrums and angry faces that stormed into the house...but she is FINALLY riding alone and earned a new bike.

So guess who wants her old pink one and thinks she can already ride a 2 wheeler WITHOUT anyones help AT ALL? Yep...she's a pretty independent girl, they could not be more opposite. We love them both a TON though!

Friday Night Baseball

So, Tyler's Birthday present has been fun for the whole family, at least on the nights that the games are before 9 at night. While Tyler is hitting well enough to get on base, and making some pretty sweet double plays, the kids are:

Riding 2 wheelers (more of Z's accomplishment in the next post)

Bathing in red dirt...

And playing with their FAVORITE friends...

And planning their future wedding (ok, so Aleeya has told Coleson every Friday night that she WILL marry him :)...they are pretty much made for eachother.)

Needless to say, Friday nights are full of fun, and LOTS of soapy showers!

A little creativity

Tyler's red coffee table...well I designed and painted it, but he built it.

Coleson's masterpiece, sent to someone he loves.

Addellyn's family portrait, found on the chalkboard bright and early one morning.

Makinzie's correspondence with her "best-friend cousin." Some pictures of her adventures were sent back with Flat Stella and the note as well.

DON'T WORRY! I dunna catch cha!

And then, this is what I saw:

HaHaHAhaHAHa!

Coleson is pretty afraid of this slide because it shoots him off the end pretty fast. So, in anticipaion of Addellyn coming just as fast down, he did feel like it was his brotherly duty to catch her, but he also had to protect himself. So he watched for her from behind his daddy :). And yelled: "Come on Ally-ooper, I dunna catch cha!"

SAsSy

Not my children, the caterpillar! Ironic that this is the name Addellyn chose for her very 1st and short lived pet, perhaps...;)

Ally is completely in LOVE!

Cole is not too sure...