Last Day of School...

As the school year ended we wanted to do something special for the teachers. I had each of the boys make a thank you card for their teacher. Lukas's card really touched me. He has done such a great job learning to write and try and sound words out for himself.

A Box of Sunshine! I found the idea here happymoneysaver.com

We just changed it up a bit and put in some fun items. Each teacher got some sparkling Lemonade, Wheat Thins, Gum, Pineapple Jell-o, chap stick, Crystal light singles, Crystal light candies, Yellow licorice, butterscotch candies, Banana bar and a scentsy bar.

Hopefully this will brighten up their day!

Some extra time outside. Everyone was trying to avoid the "lake" We have had a ton of rain!

                                                                       Bubble time!

                              A little sister loved getting to join in with class activities this year!

Another one of Lukas's best friends. He made some great friends this year!

One last Kindergarten story.

 Jaren and his teacher. She has really been great with helping him overcome some fears this school year. I will always be grateful for that!

                                                             We survived another year!

We went to Limeberry on the first day of school so no better way to end it but by returning to Limeberry! Here's to a GREAT start to summer.

Strawberry Time...

It's that time of year again. Our town has a Strawberry Festival every year. It's such a fun time and so many people come out to into the festival. This year we invited some friends to join us as we watched the parade. The theme was Strawberries around the world. With such an easy theme, we ended up having some really great floats! Here is some pictures of the parade.

Aubrey and her berry best friend.

Our Strawberry court.

                                          One of out Pastors wife was Woman of the year.

End of the year...

Our first year of Cub Scouts has came to a end. We had our last awards ceremony and Jaren earned a ton of new segments. He also earned 5 arrow head patches for all the extra work he has put in.  He is now reached the rank as a Webelo. After two more years in Webelos, he will become a Boy Scout. 

                       Here he is with his troop leader Jeff earning his beads towards progression.

Scouts has been such a fun program, and we have had some great experiences this year. We are excited to have Lukas join this Month and for all of the fun outings we will have this summer!

Graduation...

It's hard to believe that Lukas has wrapped up his first year in school. Kindergarten is such a wonderful place to be. He was so lucky to have an amazing teacher. The whole class came so far this year and all have blossomed into wonderful little people.

We had a hard time  sending Lukas off to school because of the fears we had with his nut allergy. Lunchrooms filled with peanut butter sandwiches is a scary place to be. The staff at his school went out of their way to make sure he was safe. I'm proud to say we made it through the whole school year without any problems. I even had some parent's call me at home to double check label warnings with me before they brought something to school. I worked with staff before school started and a peanut free table was set up. Being a mom, I was afraid he would be the only child sitting at it. Nobody wants their kid to eat alone. We were so lucky that the two peanut free tables were full all year. My little boy was never alone. That made this mommy very happy!

                         Lukas and his friend pushing an imaginary friend. They thought this was hilarious!

                                                                      Class of 2025!

                                                            Two of his best friends.

His friend Eryn who went through two years of preschool with him and are now in the same class.

Now if only I could keep him in Kindergarten forever.

Optimist winner.

We have been so proud of Jaren. The kid has had an amazing school year and really started to excel. He was honored this year by winning the Optimist award out of both 3rd classes. What a great honor. With this award, he was invited to an ice cream social with the Mayor and other leaders of our community. Once he is a senior in High School he is eligible to apply for a Optimist scholarship.  He also got a bunch of goodies from local businesses in town.Way to go Jaren!


                                               

A Snip Here...

My sweet sweet little girl decided to take matters into her own hands. She had went upstairs while some of my daycare kids were napping. Aubrey has always went to lay on her bed to look at books or play with her babies. WELL this time she had went into the boy's room and grabbed some paper and a pair of scissors that Lukas had left. She took them back to her bed and started cutting the paper. While cutting, the front hair was falling out of her ponytail and into her face.  What's a girl to do?

Cut that pesky hair out of the way of course. Right after she cut her hair, she came down stairs and instantly started cuddling with me. After a few minutes I realized that new growth was really starting to grow. Only it wasn't new growth.

When I asked if she had cut her hair she LOST it. The tears were flowing!

                                                   Doesn't this look like a guilty mugshot?

                                                          Here is some of the evidence.

She is now the proud owner of bangs and a few short strands on the side. Lukas is now the proud owner of zero pairs of scissors. :)

New Project...

After years of trying to get Justin to let me remodel the kitchen, he came home from a local home improvement store and suggested we remodel the kitchen. Of course I ran with it before he could change his mind.

We were on a tight budget since we don't have plans on staying in this house. This is the only room that had not been remodeled. We figured it could only improve the sell of our home. So why make the  stop at just the kitchen right? While we were deciding what changes we wanted to make, we decided to do a few changes to the dinning room as well. Both rooms got new paint and we also put down new flooring. The new paint really helped lighten up both room and the flooring made both rooms look so much bigger. I couldn't be happier.

Here are some pictures along the way. Of course I forgot to take a picture with the top cabinets still in but it gives you an idea of what it looked like.

          We ripped out all the top cabinets and the lovely teal counter tops. They were LOVELY!

                                         This picture shows the old paint color and flooring.

                          Justin was thrilled that I took his picture. He was labeling trim pieces.

             Here is a picture of the dining room when we started adding the padding for the new floor.

I will take some pictures of our final product and post them soon. It has been a great learning experience for both of us!

A Great Read!

It's about time I get my blog back on track! It's been a long time since I've posted and so much has happened.

Have you read this book?

If not, your missing out! You may have heard of the Pioneer Woman from all of her amazing food recipes. The lady knows how to cook.  I had no idea she was writing a book until it was suggested to me. I had a really hard time putting it down to get back to mommy reality.

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels is a true love story of how The Pioneer Woman ended up meeting the man of her dreams. She had been posting short stories on her blog http://thepioneerwoman.com/ about how they met. Readers were so in love with the stories they kept asking for more. She finally decided to sit down and write out her whole story.

SO... if your looking for a great summer read, pick up a copy. You won't be disappointed!