Happy Father's Day!

This is the most recent picture I could find of my Dad....he's like me, the one behind the camera and not in front of it! 

I was trying to think of words to say and I was having a tough time...sometimes they come easily and sometimes they get stuck. So I found this online and it fit perfectly. 

Love you so much Dad!!!! 

Happy Father's Day! 

Last Day Of School!

Did it seem like this school year just flew by??? 

A couple weeks ago I was looking back at my blog to see what we were doing this time last year. I do that a lot...it's fun to see how much the kiddos have changed. Anyways I stumbled across the last day of school and it reminded me how I printed out the first day of school pictures and had the boys hold those for their last day of school pictures. I would have been so upset at myself if I had forgotten! 

Jackson started 1st grade as a 6 year old and finished as a 7 year old. 

Owen had to photo bomb Jack's picture. 

You can see that did not make Jackson happy at all! 

Owen started 2nd grade as a 7 year old and ended as an 8 year old. 

It was a little chilly this morning...as you can tell by Jack's expression! 

Here's the whole gang! 

Per tradition I drove the boys to school and walked them to their classrooms. 

Since Jackson's classroom is on the backside of school we stood and waited for Owen's door to open first. 

This is Ms. Davidson...she took over Owen's class from Mrs. Golden at the beginning on the year. Mrs. Golden got a new job at the school. I was worried this might be hard on Owen, but he just went with it. Ms. Davidson is great and she's coming back next year so who knows she might end up being Jack's teacher next year. 

Mr Heintz has been awesome with Jack. At first I thought that a male 1st grade teacher would be all about fun and the kids weren't going to get anything done. I know I totally stereotyped him! His class was great though. Lots of the kids were already reading 2nd grade words. Every time I set foot in his classroom the kids were always so well behaved. Next year he's not going to teach 1st grade he's going to teach 3rd so he might end up being Owen's teacher next year. That would be so much fun! 

While the boys were at school Zeke, Ella and I headed to my chiropractor where I got my back adjusted and then it was back to school to get the boys. This cute boy was running all over the place. 

Can't believe that next year I'll be taking pictures of Ella after her first year of school! 

Ms. Davidson's class was the last one to let out...Owen got a hug in before he left!

On our walk to get Jack he ran into Mrs. Golden...Owen's 2nd grade teacher from September - December last year. I figured we should get a picture with her since Owen just ran into class on the first day of school and I didn't get a good picture of them together. 

Mr. Heintz's class had been let out already so Jackson was waiting over by the car pick up line. 

Since it was Tuesday I thought it would be fun to start our summer break with a trip to IKEA. Before picking up the kids from Smalland Zeke and I needed to go potty. The stall we were in had one of those kids seats. Zeke thought that was cool so I took his picture. Then he said he wanted to take mine....ummm...NO! 

Kids eat free is always so much fun! Of course I try to take pictures when they are trying to eat. 

I thought it was a little funny that we started off the summer with an indoor activity, but it's been so nice already that they've spent lots of time in the pool at home. 

When we got home Jack wanted to get out his trophy he got for being the highest miler in his class and he wanted to wear all his medals. He's actually missing one. He has a half marathon medal, full marathon medal and a second marathon medal. He also used some of his points that he earned at school to buy the Teachers 2nd marathon medal. I'm so proud of all that the boys have accomplished this year. Next year I'll have a 3rd grader, 2nd grader and a Kindergartner!! Crazy!!! 

Teacher Gifts!

Last year I was much more crafty when it came to the kids' teacher gifts. I had made these cute little pouches that had separate Ziploc pockets, a felt coffee cozy and a Starbucks gift card. The end of the school year just sort of snuck up on me plus I haven't been in a craft mood lately. So what do you do when you want to show your appreciation to your child's teacher and you want it to be clever, fun and useful for them? You look at Pinterest of course!!!! 

I searched for probably a half an hour and just couldn't find anything that would fit both a man and woman....I was going to make different things for different teachers...just bein' real!!! 

I finally ended up just combining two gifts together and making them into one. I found everything at Target....love only having to go to one store! 

I got these cute little boxes with handles from the Target Dollar Spot area....they have some pretty cute stuff in there. Then I bought two bags of 100 Grand candy bars and a Target gift card for $10. I wish I could have given them more money, but our gift fund was running a low since we just had Zeke and Jack's parties and we have Andrew's party coming up this month. 

Last year I bought a big roll of cellophane for making cute Christmas bags and I love having that stuff around. I just wrapped up the boxes....because Lord knows they would not have looked all cute once they made it to school in the boys backpacks! I used my Stampin' Up Tag Punch to make the tag and wrote..."Thanks a Million for keeping me on Target this year!" As you can guess there were 10 - 100 Grand candy bars in the box equaling a million! 

I let Jack pick out which one he wanted for Mr. Heintz since neither of them looked one way or another. I thought the one on the right looked a little more masculine and that's the one he chose. For a last minute I bought the stuff and made them two days before school was out gifts I think they turned out pretty good. 

Jack's Actually Birthday!

For each of the kids actually birthday's we always let them choose what's for dinner. Jack wanted waffles with strawberries and blueberries. He loves this!!! I think he ate 4 small waffles which is 1 big waffle from my old time waffle maker. He usually only eats 2...maybe. 

And of course they aren't complete without powdered sugar on top....go big or go home right!!! 

Just like Zeke he wanted my homemade chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Except he wanted a circle cake and he wanted toppings! I had some leftover strawberries and I had also bought cherries so he got to decorate the cake. 

He was so proud of his work!!! 

He could not wait to unveil the surprise since he had tricked Owen by saying there were carrots on the cake instead. Silly boy! 

Summer Learning Program!

Owen has been invited to the Summer Learning Program this year....AKA...he need to go to summer school. Don't you love the new name for it? The letter we got from school about it seriously was so well written and it made it seem like such a positive thing...which it is, but you know having some of your summer taken over by school isn't the first thing on every kids list. After I read the letter I called Michael and we decided that if the school thought he should go then we should take advantage of it. We told Owen that night and we used the same upbeat words that the letter used. Such as..."you've been invited to attend the summer learning program...they feel like it will benefit you and that you being there will benefit other kids...you will get to ride a bus to a different school and you'll get to eat both breakfast and lunch there." To top it off it was only being offered for 1st and 2nd graders and Jack didn't get invited. Oh my...this made Owen feel so special. Jack of course was super bummed. In fact just the other day he brought home a paper for his reading challenge through the library and it's title Summer Learning so Jack was telling Owen that he gets to do a Summer Learning Program too, but he gets to stay home! Stinker! Owen even asked the neighbor boy if he had been invited to the SLP and I said it was only for 1st and 2nd graders and he's a 3rd grader and the neighbor boy was really bummed he didn't get to go. It all just depends on how something is presented to you! 

The last day of school for the boys is on June 16th and then Owen gets 5 days of summer vacation before he starts the SLP. He will go Mon-Thurs from 7:45 - 12:15. The program goes from June 22nd to July 23rd. I really think it's going to be great for him. He gets so bored sometimes! Unlike Jackson who can entertain himself 'til the cows come home Owen struggles with this so much. He needs to be constantly entertained. He has gotten better over the years, but still some days are hard for him. I think having a half a day away from us and getting to learn and see other kids his own age will be really great for him. I did promise him that we won't go do anything like go to the beach or the sprinkler park until he gets home. Thankfully Ella and Zeke don't have to take naps anymore so this will actually work out.

Last week I did volunteer in Owen's class. I wanted to see how he behaved in school and also talk to his teacher and found out why he was chosen for the SLP. There were a few things I observed while in the classroom....first he very rarely participates. When Ms. Davidson asks a question he never raises his hand to be called on. I am so the opposite! I was always the first person to raise my hand. Also he was having trouble seeing the board. That's when I asked him where his glasses were. (Last year he wore glasses only at school and then during summer he didn't wear them at all. I figured that maybe his eyes weren't really that bad. Also the school does an eye exam at the beginning of the year so if he needed them again he'd come home with a note. He never did. Then earlier this year I decided the kids should have another check up. Ella had some troubles with her 5 year check up and they wanted her to see the Eye Dr. Why not have all the kids checked out! I was actually really hoping Ella needed glasses because we found the cutest pair at Costco and she fell in love with them. She didn't end up needing them though. Jackson's eyes aren't 20/20, but both his eyes are the same and they aren't bad so he doesn't need glasses. Owen's eyes are different. One eye is fine, but the other isn't. The Dr. wants him to wear glasses so his good eye won't get tired from working harder to compensate for the bad eye. So now he wearing glasses all the time and I think it's absolutely helping.) The third thing I observed is he will only do what is necessary. He won't do more than that. For example on the day I was there they were filling in information on what happened to the soil when they introduced water. There were a bunch of different scenarios and they have to explain what occurred. Ms Davidson told them they had to finish the first page, but if they went ahead and finished the second page then later in the day they would have iPad time. I would have been all over that, but not Owen. He just did what was required and then went over in the corner for his read to self time. 

After the kids left for recess I got to chat with Ms. Davidson and she said that she now uses reading as a reward for him since he loves it so much. As for why he was invited to the SLP...she said it was mainly due to his writing skills. He is an excellent reader! He will read books for hours....LOVES IT! But his writing is not that good and his spelling isn't either. She really wants Owen to be in a good spot heading into 3rd grade. It was so encouraging to talk with her and hear about it from her perspective. It's hard since Owen is my first I don't really have anything to gauge how he's doing on. I don't know what 2nd graders should be accomplishing since this is the first time I've had one!  

I'm truly excited for him and I hope he continues to be excited too. I'm sure after the first week the novelty of it will wear off a bit, but I'm hoping this extra time will really help boost his writing skills up to where they need to be to start 3rd grade! 

Jack's 7 Year Pictures!

This cute kid did great when it came time for his pictures. Mr. Jordan can just get him cracking up. 

 

We always ask the kids if they want to bring something with them. Jack picked No-No this year. I love that he loves No-No so much and he's not embarrassed at all to show others that it's his favorite thing to sleep with. So sweet! 

  

This year it was so much easier to get Jack to do a real natural smile instead of a snarl. He's got such a great grin! 

This is so crazy...how can he be 7 years old!!!! 

Everything Is Awesome...When You Turn 7 & 3!

For Jack's 7th birthday party I had always planned on doing a LEGO party, but for Zeke 3rd I was going to do a Toy Story party. Then plans changed a bit since Ga-Ga and Pa would be on vacation when I had scheduled Jack's party. Of course that was not gonna fly...he was in tears people! Second plan was to have two birthday parties in May one week apart so they could each have their own special day. Thank God that plan got thrown out the window!!!! Instead we decided to do our first ever double birthday party. Jack and Zeke are such good buddies that this worked really well...it was crazy, insane and exhausting, but super fun! 

Let me start off by saying it would not be possible for me to make any of the parties I throw a success if I did not have the My Memories program on my computer, Pinterest or access to the King County Library. No I was not paid for saying those things. It's true...I would be lost!

I designed the card using my My Memories program. You can't tell, but the yellow has little circles so it looks like a big flat LEGO. I thought it would be fun to include their ages since all LEGO sets have an age range on them. Of course the card was bigger, but I really didn't want our address on the WWW. 

At first my thought was just to have generic LEGO theme, but the more I planned I realized we just had to go all out and make it The LEGO movie theme. Emmett welcomed everyone at the door....the 'W' in Welcome must have gotten a bit rubbed off the screen door! :) 

I used my My Memories program to make all the paper crafts and decorations. I downloaded a LEGO font for free. 

I searched Pinterest and got tons of ideas for the party, but this one is all me. It's seriously an original idea! I decided to make each of the kids their own instruction manual. If you have not yet seen The LEGO movie you need to rush out buy it and thank me later. It is AWESOME!!! Some fun details about the instruction book...I gave it a serial number like all LEGO sets have. I used both Jack and Zeke's birth dates so the number is 65522 since Jack was born on June 5th and Zeke on May 22nd. Also the fine print on all LEGO sets say, "Warning: Choking Hazard. Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years. On mine the fine print says, "Warning: Excessive fun may be had by following these instruction. Only suitable for ages 1-100!"

Step One: Say Hi to the birthday boys! 

Hi Jack! 

Hi Zeke! 

Oh you might be wondering why he looks like he was drug behind a horse....he decided the night before his party to try to go down the easement on Jack's scooter and he ate the pavement. It looks awful, but thankfully other than a few scrapes on his face and another chip in his...praise the Lord...baby teeth, he's doing grand! Another plus is he's already had his yearly birthday pictures! 

Here's the table set up for the party. 

The kids helped me make these fun holders for all the paper/plastic products. I did find this on Pinterest. 

I had fun designing the sign...Jack was quite upset with the color yellow...he wanted red! 

Step Two: Enjoy yummy food! 

Again if you haven't seen the movie you have too. There a scene where some of Emmett's co-workers are asking if people want to go out and get food such as chicken wings, croissants and giant sausages. We had everything except the giant sausages. I did buy mini tacos though since Taco Tuesday is a big thing in the movie. We also had Vitruvious' Staff which of course were a bunch of suckers for the kids. 

Most of the kiddos hung out and ate in the garage. L - R: Anna, Josiah, Miss Kim, Caitlynn and Addison. 

Two of Jack's school friends came...Triona is on the front right and Jean is in the back right. Also Hansi from church came...he's in the left middle. In the front on the left is Caleb showing off his Cheeto and then Jack is between his school friends. 

Here's the all girl table. L - R: Lilyann, Reagan, Michael Leigh (Miss Rachael's cousin), Ella and Kendra. 

Step Three: Drink under-priced punch! 

Here is the under-priced punch as opposed to the over-priced coffee in the movie...AWESOME!!! 

I had printed out a bunch of minifigures from the movie. In dining room were some of the main characters. Vitruvious, WyldStyle...yes Wyldstyle and Benny! 

By the presents I put Batman with his dudes...Han Solo and C3PO. You know he needs to feel like he can party with a bunch of dudes! Just see the movie! 

I had found printables online so the kids could design there own minifigures. 

They did such a great job! Most of them even folllowed what the paper said to draw. Jean drew a Werewolf...he colored it half man and half werewolf. I thought that was genius! Donald colored his to look like an alien and he even drew a flying saucer next to it. Jack did the best cowboy....just like Woody. Andrew made his an Iron Man doctor with flames coming out of the feet and everything. Caleb made a mysterious superhero...that's why his face is black. Hansi's said Angel, but he crossed it out and made a cowboy instead. Josiah colored his explorer Seahawks colors...LOVE IT! 

Love this birthday boy! 

Step Four: Build something Wild! 

Some of the Master Builders were assembled in this area....some of you might laugh at the fact that I put Superman and Green Lantern beside each other! Quote from the movie..."I super hate you!" 

We laid a few blankets down, went over some master builder rules and then let the kids get to building. 

I think they had a little over 15 minutes to build and overall it went really well. 

Here are all the creations lined up. Dang back lighting! I numbered them and then put the kiddos name on the backside of the paper. Miss Norean was the judge since she does have any kids so she's not bias. 

#1 ended up winning. Andrew designed that awesome boat on the left with motorcycles on the side. I didn't noticed until after the party that the blue and while piece flips open showing you the guys sitting inside. He's seriously so creative! All the kids did really good....probably better than me. I'm just like Emmett I need instructions! 

For his Master Builder skills Andrew won the LEGO set that was Emmett's wild idea in the movie...the double decker couch! 

Step Five: Find the Kragle and defeat President Business. 

I gave the kids one clue and let them know that the Kragle was on the first floor. I was thinking I would have to give them a second clue and tell them in was in the room where President Business' picture was, but I didn't have too. 

Camryn found the Kragle...AKA Krazy Glue. I had hidden it under the coffee table. Our coffee table has slats under the top so we were able to slide it in there. I was sure a little person would find it since they are the ones usually rolling around on the floor. 

She won the LEGO set of Emmett getting the Piece of Resistance AKA the cap to the Krazy Glue removed from his back by a laser. 

After that it was present time! 

Since Jack had friends there we decided to have him open his first, then do cake and then have Zeke open his. That way Jack's friends could leave after cake and it would be a little less crazy for Zeke's portion of the party. 

Since there were so many people we just decided to do presents in the garage this time. It's always crazy when we try to open them in the living room. 

LEGO set - Super Heroes Captain America vs. Hydra. I think Triona gave him that set!?!?!

  

LEGO set - Ninjago Ninja Charger. This was from us....love the clearance rack at Wal-Mart! 

LEGO set - Super Heroes Green Lantern vs. Sinestro. I think this one was from Andrew & Josiah!?!?!

Spot It Game...can't wait to play it. This was from the Kuch Klan! 

LEGO sets - 3 Emerald Express sets so Jack can make the whole train! Mr Jim and Miss Norean got this! 

LEGO set - Ninjago ElectroMech. This was from the neighbor boys! 

Jack's present from the neighbor boys also included Zeke's present. He got the blue McQueen that goes in the water. 

LEGO set - Star Wars General Grievous' Wheel Bike. I think this one was from Hansi...it was seriously crazy!

Super cool remote control car that does tricks. Miss Rachael and the girls got this. 

Playskool Jedi Force - Freeco Bike with Obi-Wan. Uncle Ry & Aunt Stephie got this toy. It's been on Jack's list for months! 

Adventure Wheels Motorcycle and he also got a Power Ranger Toy. These were from his school friend Jean. 

New RED Y Glider! 

Black Bear from The Black Bear Diner!

New Bomber Jacket! The last three were all from Ga-Ga & Pa! 

Jack also got a gift card to Wal-Mart from Papa & Grandma Martin and $10 from Uncle Jon & Aunt Bekcy and $7 in his card from Ga-Ga & Pa! 

Time for cake! 

Let me start by saying I did not like any of the LEGO cakes I found on Pinterest. They were just not appealing! So I kind of took various ideas and put them together into my own thing. 

It started out like this....I saw a video on FB for how to make an easy ice cream cake in 5 minutes. Well they only used 9 ice cream sandwiches. I used....36!!! It took me over an hour to make simply because I kept having to put it back in the freezer so it wouldn't melt! After putting one layer of sandwiches down I put chocolate sauce on them and then another layer of sandwiches and then caramel sauce and then another layer of sandwiches.  

Then came the Cool Whip frosting. I wasn't sure how Cool Whip would do once I added food coloring. I thought it might make it too runny, but it was great! 

I frosted them in stages so it looked like individual LEGO's pieced together. The bumps are OREO's covered with Cool Whip. The candy is this LEGO candy I found online. It was fun and delicious and took less time for us to devour it than it took to make it. 

The two birthday boys! 

They are so cute! 

Zeke with his Pa! 

Uncle Ry, Miss Norean, Papa & Grandma Martin! 

I think I was in the middle of cleaning my teeth when Pa took this picture. Oh well...it's a nice shot of Christina, Stephie and Ga-Ga! 

After cake Jack's two school friends and one church friend left and then it was time for Zeke to open presents! Up until this point Zeke had been a clingy mess. I don't think he enjoys crowds so he just sort of shuts down a bit. Thankfully by this time he had come out of his shell a bit! 

His face looks awful! 

Even though I told Hansi's mom that they did not have to buy Zeke anything they still did. They got him two Dinosaurs from Jurassic World. 

We got Zeke this cool Crayola drawing board that lights up and does cool things. He loves to color, but he's always leaving the lids off the markers. This is like an electronic dry eraser board so we'll see how he likes it. 

LEGO set - City Dune Buggy Trailer. I think this was from Andrew & Josiah. 

The cool water gun in the background was from the Kuch Klan. The Duplo Planes set he's looking at was from Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie. 

Duplo Set - Animals is from Mr Jim and Miss Norean. 

Zeke also got Wal-Mart gift card from Papa & Grandma Martin, $10 from Uncle Jon and Aunt Becky and $3 in his card from Ga-Ga & Pa. 

The finale of course was his BIG present. When the kids turn 3 (except for Jack he was 2) Pa gets each of them their own Power Wheels. Pa was quite happy to hear that Zeke has finally taken a liking to them after wanting nothing to do with them so this came at the perfect time. 

This particular Power Wheels was so huge Uncle Ry had to come get it with his truck from Ga-Ga & Pa's. 

With all the other Power Wheels we've brought them in the house, but with this one we just decided to leave in outside. It is massive! It was so bright outside I wasn't sure if Zeke would even want to look up from my shoulder, but he got interested right away! 

Check it out buddy! 

Uncle Ry was so sweet and helped him unwrap his present. 

Ga-Ga & Pa have always covered the kids Power Wheels in a new set of sheets so that's another present on top of the cool toy! 

I love his cute body language! He is stoked! 

Ready to go truckin'! At first he called it a Jeep because of Ella's Barbie Jeep, but now he calls it his monster truck! 

This thing is amazing! It has a key to start it up, it has a radio, the lights on top of the windshield light up and so do the roll bar lights. The doors open and so does the tailgate and the back lifts up like a dump truck. It's awesome! 

Jack took Zeke for a ride in the street! 

Happy boys. One of the coolest things is what Josiah is checking out it's the charging port. Instead of having to take the huge, heavy battery out I can just plug the truck right in. It's seriously an electric car! 

So much fun! Pa simply outdid himself! 

We had fun hanging outside watching the kids play in the street! 

Ga-Ga with the big birthday boy! 

Owen wasn't feeling the best so since Sunday is an electronic day he played on the Kindle a bunch. We also had The LEGO movie playing in the living room so the kids could enjoy that. 

Ella was off playing with her girlfriends so I barely saw her at all. 

Jack and Caleb...such handsome dudes! 

And since it was a LEGO party we had to set up all the LEGO sets. 

Talk about hours of fun ahead for us!

Here were the little goodie bags I made for each kiddo when they left. It says...Thanks for coming we hope you had a GOOD time!!!

Yes...thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!