Kade's Scout Camp

Kade spent a week at his first ever Scout Camp.  He and his troop went to Camp Loll.  His Dad went for the first two days with him.  He loved it.  He found out that he is really good at and really enjoys archery.  He came home dirty, smelly and with several merit badges completed!  Success!! 

Kylee Graduates from High School!!!

Wow!  I'm not sure when this happened...I guess in the last 17 years...but I cannot believe that we have a child old enough to graduate from High School.  I guess those sweet old ladies that told me over and over all these years that before I knew it my children would be grown, were right!!  It really is exciting because Kylee is so excited to move into this next stage of her life.  She has had a wonderful High School experience and is now ready to move on!! 

The teacher she is standing with is Mr. Parker...her favorite teacher ever.  If you can believe it, he was her CALCULUS teacher. Who likes their calculus teacher??  He really was so good.  He made what could have been a terrible class a lot of fun.

We are soooo proud of you Kylee!  You have set a great example for all of your younger siblings coming behind you.  You really did make the most of your High School years and we are proud of the beautiful young woman you have become!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Kylee's High School Graduation Party

A few days before Kylee Graduated from High School we threw her a graduation party.  Camille and Rohn and their family was here so we had quite the crowd.  We had it on Sunday in place of our usual Sunday dinner.  We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and had her favorite...4 layer pudding for dessert.  Our house was busting at the seams but it was a lot of fun.

 Yum...I think she will need this recipe to take to college.  She looves this stuff.  We had 2 pans and cut them into HUGE pieces.  She was in heaven, especially because there was some leftovers for the next day!!

 Grandpa and Grandma Southwick had given us this BIG present to store for a couple months before she graduated.  They were afraid they would not make it back again before graduation.  She got a very nice luggage set.  She will love it for many years.

 We gave her a laptop which she was very excited about.  This was our black Friday laptop.  We hurried home from Idaho on the day of Thanksgiving and waited in a 3 hour line at Walmart where we could purchase our laptop after midnight!!  It was worth it though.  It will be nice for her to have at college.

We had a houseful of people who love her and are excited for her as she enters this next stage of her life.  I am so grateful for such great family.  Chris and I both have wonderful families.

We are proud of all of your hard work Kylee.  You definately made the most of your High School years and we are excited to see what you will do as you go on to College!

We Love You!!

Quincy's Triathlon at School

Every year at Three Mile Creek the kids have a Triathlon in May.  They team up with a partner.  One rides a bike route, the other runs and then they both complete an obstacle course together.  The route gets harder as you get older.  Quincy is in 3rd grade this year so it was a bit of a challenge.  Her partner was her friend Lexi Parker.  Quincy did the biking and Lexi did the running.  They finished 5th overall!!  That was really good.  There were tons of teams.  These two girls looked like they were pooped afterwards.  They weren't too excited about my photo shoot! 

Brinley's Kindergarten Program

Brinley has been practicing for months at school for her big end of year Kindergarten program. She has been so excited for us to come and watch.  She has been singing the the songs at home...which I love to hear.

 She is on the back row in a black long sleeve dress...yes, it is May and she was super hot.  She insisted that she wear that dress and would not go for any other.  They performed once during the day and again at night and she still wanted to wear it again that night.  Crazy girl!!  She did look cute though!

 It was pretty funny...the boy next to her was pretty wiggly!  I am pretty sure that is why he is next to her!  She stayed stone still even as he began messing with her hair!  She would not even look over at him. She was the perfect person to have to stand next to him.

Very serious and professional!!  She is sooo much fun.  We love you Brinley!  I am just sad that this will be my LAST Willard Elementary Kindergarted program.  We have seen all 5 of our kids do this program.  Most of it hasn't changed a bit!!

Yet Another Princess Party!!

These are some of Kylee's cute freinds.  They are funny girls.  They have spent a good part of their time together having Pricess parties!  They have a theme and usually invovle some type of food (perhaps a tea party), sometimes costumes, and usually a princess movie. 

Kylee and Jessica have become professional at building amazing princess castles out of cardboard.  I wish I had a picture because they are masterpieces when they are finished with them.

I am so grateful that Kylee has always had such great friends...I love that they like princesses and want to have princess parties...and so do Quincy and Brinley!!

Ouch!!

I don't think the pictures do it justice, but this is Brinley with road rash!!  She is soooo competitive...and I mean about almost everything.  This year she has caught the bus to go to Kindergarten with 4 other little kids in our nieghborhood.  She has to be the first in line...at all cost.  So today it cost her the skin on her nose and forehead!!  She took off running so fast to get in line first and accidentally slipped on the sidewalk and fell.  It was a HARD fall.  I was watching from the door and I saw her fall and then saw her get up with blood dripping from her face.  I ran out and carried her inside and we got her cleaned up.  She took the skin clean off the side of her nose and all down the side of her face.  OUCH!!  It looked painful.  Needless to say...she never did make it to school that day!  Silly girl.  And as a sidenote...she still runs to the bus stop everyday to make sure that she is first in line!!

Mothers Day Gift!

Kylee loves to look on pinterest, and she gets some cute ideas there.  This year for Mothers Day she gave me the cutest thing that I absolutely LOVE!  She had Chris take me on a date one Friday night so she could work with the other kids without me being there.  She made these big letters that spelled out the word LOVE.  She had them hold the letters while she took pictures of them and then put them in order in a 4 opening frame.  It is priceless.  It hangs in our entryway.  

I just had to laugh as she recounted how much work it was to get the kids to cooperate and actually get good pictures.  I laughed when I saw the camera later.  There were a MILLION pictures to try to get 4 good shots!  

The looks on Kade and Quincy's faces here are classic.  I've seen them before during family pictures!!  What a great daughter to go through so much effort for her mom!  I do have great kids!! 

Emilee's Band Performance

 Emilee has really enjoyed being involved in the Band in school this year.  Her teacher has been really fun and she has really liked her.  She planned to have a big end of year performance with a dance group from our area.  They worked really hard getting ready for it and it was a great performance.

 Emilee plays the alto saxophone and I think she is sounding really great.

 This was such a funny picture.  As you can see, they had to paint their faces.  This type of a thing is really a stretch for Em and she was giving her Dad a look of death while he was snapping one picture after another of her.  She was not happy with him to say the least!!

They did a great job and it was fun to watch...even if it wasn't Emilee's most favorite thing in the world to perform in!!

Little Miss Brinley & her Bubbles!!

 First bubbles of the season!!  As soon as it was warm enough Brinley blew bubbles!  She had to be a little creative each day to find things to keep her busy while her brother and sisters were at school.  She had afternoon Kindergarten so she had a few hours every morning to herself.

Love this face...that is so her!!

So fun to be 6 and enjoy the simple things in life!!