DB Family Blog: School is out!

This huge pile is our attempt at reverence in church :) Between Diana and Katy we are a busy little row!

Nicole's class did a wax museum and she chose to be Little Red Riding Hood.

Diana is using one of the magic wands that wake up the wax figures so they can tell their story. A cute fun way to keep kids engaged for the last week of school. It is incredible how after the end of grade testing there seems to really be nothing going on at school and they are just holding on waiting for the end of required school days!

Nicole's graduation! Most girls were dressed up but Nicole didn't want to get sweaty at recess :) She got the Three Musketeers award for working well with others.

Hooray for chocolate!

We loved her teacher this year. Ms Vogel helped Nicole make great strides in Math and Nicole was also blessed to have two friends from church and some friends from the neighborhood in her class as well. A great group of kids!

Michael at his Kindergarten graduation. They sang and danced to Shake It Off but with words about graduation to first grade. Pretty hilarious. I think Michael had the best Kindergarten teacher possible. She was totally not overwhelmed by all the energy of these kids and nurtured their love of learning. It would be awesome if Jake got her next year.

Mike got the President of Math Award because she said whenever they introduced a math concept he got it right away. He is a very smart boy and it's wonderful how his teacher was able to channel his energy and support his learning. Such blessings this year for Michael.

Katy eating from her cookie stash at Mike's class party.

Eating plate after plate of goodies.

Keeping Diana from the cookies was torture but we survived. She probably had three plates of cookies, cupcakes and marshmallows.

A page from Mike's end of school booklet. I LOVE the last entry.

My handsome Michael.

Did I ever tell you about the bird that flew into our kitchen from the garage? Michael wrote a story about it: "A bird used the bathroom in the kitchen! Mom freaked out! We all laughed except Mom" Yep. It's true. I did laugh later...after doing a deep clean of every kitchen surface.

Nicole wrote a story, but her biography was my favorite part.

For the last couple soccer games Nicole would bring one of her stuffed animals to "watch" her play. She would keep looking over to make sure the animal was watching, so I would be sitting there with a stuffed animal on my chair during the whole game. Who knows what the other parents thought!

Spike showing off his leg. We laughed when we saw this pose.

I had a girls lunch with Marian and some other friends. I didn't get a pic of us since I guess we were too busy talking haha. But I did get a pic of this lizard. Having the bearded dragons has taught me so much. This lizard was head bobbing at us so I figure it was a male trying to impress/intimidate us. This morning I also saw another lizard on my raspberry bush and it was doing an arm wave and I figure it was a female trying to show she was friendly/submissive. Kind of fun to think of new things I've learned from our little dragons.

Last week was the first week of summer. It is so incredibly busy with all of the kids home! I'm helping the kids learn how to pull their own weight in cleaning up after meals and stuff and that will help a lot. The summer learning plans I have totally work and they are about 95% excited to do their work each day.

Just like during the school year, they have morning checkoff charts and piano practice star charts that mark their progress towards summer prizes like a 30 minute date with mom or dad, a Friday night campout on the back porch, or staying up a half hour later before bed. I love watching them get faster on math flash cards and see them checking off and discussing what prizes they want.

Our backyard is still a work in progress. The drain system is working and we are waiting until we can acid stain the concrete until we do the grass landscaping. In the meantime we have a true Carolina clay mudpit after a good rain.

Saw this package and was over the moon!

Kiwis, Hosta, Burning Heart Dicentra, Walk on Me Thyme, Lweisia, St. John's Wort, Illumination Vinca, Fairy Pink Cushion Rose, Dwarf Dogwood, Hydrangea, Lenten Rose and Giant Double Peony. I took the kids to Lowes, bought a bunch of mulch and fertilizer (an adventure in itself!) and came home to play in the dirt planting for the rest of the day. I told the kids they could play and have as many pop-ice as they wanted. It was a delightful and exhausting day. I planted the upper terrace with the majority of what we got.

Then Saturday Daniel came over and he and Jim had their turn with the pick axe digging for the hosta, dwarf dogwoods and kiwis. We still have to build the kiwi trellis but we have a little time while it climbs the stakes :) Everything is super tiny, we paid a lot less for things that need a year or two to be pretty but I think it's worth it. I kind of enjoy watching a little tlc make plants flourish. Like my little stick that has grown several feet this summer already.

I am hoping the kids eat something besides sandwiches this summer so they will actually want to eat them again when school starts. They are learning to cook all sorts of stuff. Here Nicole is teaching the boys to make eggs.

We are still figuring out the balance of summertime naps, attention to the little ones, etc.

Jim asked how I was doing the other day and I texted him these pictures. Let's just say we ordered pizza that night :)

Nicole's last game! They lost in a shootout in overtime. Which was fine by me since the weather was going to hit the 90s for the next tournament game!

Jake calling for an inbounds pass. I love watching him pick up on the little things.

Last quarter of the season with the boys on defense. The coaches love having our boys on defense because they work so well together and stop pretty much everyone. Mike played goalie first quarter, Jake last quarter. Mike was hilarious as goalie. He had one great stop and was going to throw the ball. I yelled to him to drop kick it. I didn't know he'd never been taught what that was. So he bounces the ball on the ground and then boots it after one bounce. It was a great kick that went across the field and to a player who passed it and then in one kick they scored. A great play right? A few minutes later he gets another goal stop. Feeling bold from previous success he tries another one of his version of a drop kick. Throws if for a bounce and then kicks it. Except this time his kick makes the ball go straight up in the air and then curve back towards his own goal. Meanwhile the parents and coaches are all going crazy- Mike's about to score on himself! Fortunately he caught his own kick and then just threw it downfield. It was hilarious. On one play in the last quarter, Jake blocked a really good shot on goal and we were all cheering. Then an opponent was kicking it again and somehow Mike forgot he wasn't still goalie and used his hands to grab the ball. So poor Jake had to try and defend a point blank shot on goal with no help. The parent next to me joked that Mike must really love his brother.