Finally

 Welcome Home Boys!

 School is finally done and it couldn't have come soon enough.  The last few months have been crazyness and we are tired, done and ready for a break.

As I was picking Josh up from school, I realized this will be my last time that I pick my own child up from elementary and I was being a little nostalgic, this new phase of life that I'm headed into still feels so strange to me. Having said all this, I mustered my best smile it's summer and time to have fun and relax!

As Josh get's in the car the tears started to flow. "I'm going to miss this school so much."
Yes, I might have lost a tear or two on the way home too.

Although, it's funny how coming home to cookies and milk can make everything better. :-)

Let summer B E G I N!

More graduations

 Tuesday I went to Ben's graduation from Middle School (so many milestones for the kids in one season). Anyway, the graduation actually wasn't a graduation it was a "recognition" ceremony.  More or less they had a song or two, somebody spoke and then your child and their class stood when their name was called. If your lucky and got a good seat you got to see your kid stand up.  That was about it.  Yes, it was a little on the lame side. But look at that smile, that's worth looking at.

Afterwards I tried to get a picture of the two of us but the lighting was lame and the people we asked to take pictures had a bad angle.  So I hired Luke the photographer for a 5 minute (that's about all the patience Ben could muster) photo shoot when we got home.

I tried to just pick a couple of pictures to post but they all make me laugh so much that I'm posting them all.  This is the Ben that I love.

 Mom: "Ben can we take a few pictures?"

Ben: "Ohhhhhh really?"

Ben: "I'll try mom. Do I have to smile too?"

Mom: "Yes Ben, you need to smile too, you can do it"

Why we didn't stop here I'm not sure

Mom: "I love you Ben"
Luke: "You should kiss mom on the cheek.

Ben: "I can't handle this"

Ben: "really?"

There's hope for this kid

And the photo shoot was done.

He makes me laugh.

Family favorites

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

These are cheap, easy and feed a ton of people.

Pork Shoulder

Onions

Rootbeer

Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce or BBQ sauce if you don't have that kind

In the bottom of your crockpot add sliced onions, put the pork shoulder on top and add 1 cup - 1 1/2 cups of rootbeer depending of the size of your pork shoulder.  If it's a big one you can just add an entire small can.  Then cook on high for 8-10 hours. When done drain the juice, shred the meat add the bbq sauce, mix it, add it to a bun and eat!

Everything is white

 

 Good Morning to us

 Who toilet papers on a school night?

 In defense of our lovely decorators, it was a group of already graduated seniors.  One of the girls is a member the others, not members but still such good kids.  They hadn't ever been toilet papering and wanted to go so Erica (the member) called and asked me if it was ok if they used our house as a target. She also promised that they would come back the next day and help clean up actually clean up since none of us will be here.  How could I say no to that? Feeling some guilt, who cleans up their own mess?  I left a plate of cookies on the front porch. :-)

Graduation

 

My baby graduated from elementary today.
Please excuse me as I get my kleenex.

In one week and one day I will no longer have a child in elementary how did this happen? Ok not how but WHY does this have to happen? ugh. 

As I'm still trying to come to terms with this, let me tell you about the day.

I was proud to not be part of the parent paparazzi ok I was but I joined the not quite as intense parent paparazzi group. These guys were F U N N Y to watch. Waving frantically and shooting about 100 pictures per second while their spouse records the entire thing.

 I love the elementary that all of my kids have gone too.  We've been blessed with awesome teachers, teacher aids, specials teachers, principal and assistants.  All dedicated to what they are doing and it has been felt many times over the years.

Josh's teacher Mrs Beal took him to a whole new level in reading, writing and math.  He loves and is confident in all of those subjects. YAY! At the beginning of the year the thought of middle school was a little scarey for me after this year, I know he will be just fine. I'm so thankful he has grown the way he has.
His Principal Mr. Curtis - knows every kid on a first name basis.  He has a great way of helping the kids realize their potential and still lead the school well.  After the ceremony the first thing Josh wanted to do was have his picture taken with Mr. Curtis.  I didn't know until yesterday but during the Olympics when Josh was competing in the discus throwing event, it was Mr. Curtis that he beat for the gold medal. Josh has now earned the title from him and many teachers/students as "the discus boy."

 We are sure proud of you Josh!
We can't wait to watch all the many more mile stones you will achieve in your life.

 After the ceremony all of the parents lined the hallway. At the end of the parents line all of the kids in the school came out of their classrooms and lined all of the rest of the hallways.  They cheered and high fived all of the 4th graders as they walked through the halls.  It was too cute!

I know this picture is blurry but I love the look of joy on his face.

Family favorites

Cookie and ice cream

Our friends the Hiers introduced this recipe to us and I guess the rest is history.  YUM! Now that they're on they way to their mission we've found out that this recipe has a real name but we have no idea what it is. :-)

Make your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and fill a ramekin dish about half way with dough. Bake at 375 degrees until the top is golden.  You do want the cookie to be slightly under cooked.  After you've taken it out of the oven let them sit for about 5 minutes before you serve. Top with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge or chocolate syrup and viola. A fast, easy, and delicious dessert.

Rainy days

 I love those days when kids can spend the day being kids. 
Josh is proud of his castle building skills.

Medals

 

Remember Josh's Olympic opening ceremonies? Well this past week he had his field day or Olympic competition.  He was so determined to win a medal. When I dropped him off for school he said "Mom nobody in our family has won a medal at the Olympics and this is our last chance to have a medal in the family." "I'm gonna do it!" Since then Ben says that he thinks he won a bronze medal, but for the sake of the story we'll leave that out of it.

When we picked him up from school he was beaming from ear to ear. He won his medals!

He won the gold in discus throwing (a whopping 72ft) and the silver in football throwing and the other gold his class won it in a team event. They had medal ceremonies in between each event where they got to stand on the podium while they played the Olympic theme song.

Nope he wasn't excited!

Great job Josh!!

Emmett's toys

 
Last time I went to see Emmett I noticed that he always liked to have something in his hand. I went home and told the boys about it and they came up with some little toy ideas that he might enjoy holding.

 They tried to come up with a bunch of different holders, the kind that are fun to look at, fun to touch, feel, make noise etc. and of course they made him a lion, because those are his favorite. I was impressed with what they came up with.

 Emmett's family is also collecting cranes.  I believe it's a Japanese custom that says 1,000 cranes brings good luck.  Last time I went to see him, I brought a bag of cranes that Luke and Josh had made.  This time Luke wanted to make sure they had the largest crane (made from a poster board) and the smallest crane (made from a post it note).

Emmett loved his toys, especially the lion.

 He kept trying to blow the fan.  It was to darn cute.

 We pray for this strong, good natured, happy little boy everyday.  

Breakfast

I made pancakes for breakfast and here was the table talk

Josh: "I'm SO GLAD you made pancakes for breakfast, I'm STARVING."


Ben: "We're all starving"


Josh: "No I'm really starving, I've been hungry all morning, I even went to bed hungry."


Ben: "Welcome to my world."

Disclaimer - Before you think we don't have food in our house or that I never feed them, you'll just have to trust me when I say they eat PLENTY.

It's raining

It's raining.
Hard
This means
the lawn won't get mowed
the bushes won't be trimmed
the fire pit area won't be cleaned
the pool won't get cleaned
the pool cover won't be put away
or the weeds pulled


But it also means that


the inside of the house might get cleaned
the dishes might get done
baseball will be canceled
my blog might get updated
I'm making pancakes for breakfast and maybe cookies this afternoon
my room might get cleaned
and we WILL be having a pizza, movie, popcorn and ice cream night.


SO EXCITED