Pictures for Wednesday

Preschool "Graduation" 

(even though he has one more year, still fun and is he not super cute?)

Kindergarten Awards and Talent Show

 A little Downtown fun!

 Hailie "enduring" the heat

 Baptism Invite Pics

Journal Entry

Only 2 more days of getting the kiddos (McKay and Kimball) out the door by 8:15.  I have high hopes that we'll all sleep in until 8:30 every day and that we'll wake up to a clean house and no dishes in the sink.  That would be delightful.  Maybe if I think about it at night when I'm going to sleep then I can dream about it.  That would be almost delightful.

Hailie (our Korean exchange student) leaves on Saturday.  She's going to Toronto for the summer to take English courses.  Then she'll come back for one more semester.  She told us the other day that she doesn't think she'll meet any Canadians while she's there!  That girl cracks me up.

It's been such an adventure having girl exchange students for the first time.  It was not at all what I imagined it would be.  Not necessarily in a bad way.  Just more taxing and emotional than I had thought it would be.  The two of them could not possibly be more different.  I think that was the hardest thing.  I wanted so bad for them to be "kindred spirits" and life-long friends.  I doubt they will even be Facebook friends after they go home.  On the flip-side, they will forever be a part of our children's lives.  They have both connected with the kids way beyond what I could have imagined.  Sometimes my kids treat them a little too much like siblings.  All in all it's been a good experience for all of us.

I should be showering.  Nash hasn't come and whined at my feet in a good 20 minutes, I'm seriously wasting some good bathroom time.  And heaven knows he's out there making some sort of horrific mess but he's entertained and its quiet so I'll take it.  The messes don't last forever... or so they say.

May, June and July

May has been so busy.  I don't remember it being this way in the past but I'm told that the more kids you have in school the busier May gets.  But it's almost over.  And then we just have to endure the hellish heat for a month before we get to head up to the beautiful northwest for a few weeks.

I am excited/dreading the summer.  I always have mixed feelings about summer break.  I am excited to not worry about the morning routine and homework and strict bedtimes and all that.  But my kids tend to get bored and tired of each other and I get tend to get tired of trying to entertain them.  We are doing swim lessons and we have our trip in July but I need to get in gear and try to figure out some more of a schedule for the rest of the time.

And that brings us to my question (I am hoping there are people out there who actually still read my blog) so What are your favorite summer time activities?  How do you keep your kids busy and entertained without spending a ton of money and/or dying from the desert heat?

Ready, GO!

Nine

Romantic and mushy makes me squirm a bit.  Not like on tv or in movies, I'm ok when it's fake but in real life I am not good at it.  That being said, I am  about to be a little romantically mushy.


Nine years ago today I married an amazing man and while I knew at the time that I was getting a great guy I had no idea what happiness and joy he would bring into my life.  I couldn't have dreamed it up because I honestly didn't know men this good existed (other than my father of course).  He not only loves me and tells me that daily but he also changes diapers, washes dishes, scrubs toilets, vacuums, gets up in the middle of the night with crying babies (while I peacefully sleep), watches cheesy girl shows with me and most recently indulges my crazy whim of getting a pedicure together!  


I wake up every morning grateful to have him laying next to me.  He really is my everything and I am quite sure I would be a complete and utter mess without him.  


I love you, Seth, thank you for spoiling me every day for the past 9 years.