Wunder...Wunderland...I Want To Go To Wunderland!

My sister-in-law Jenell called me the other day to see if we wanted to go to Wunderland. Wunderland is a nickle arcade. We decided to be insane and take our total of 7 kids (1 was my great-niece). We actually had a pretty event less, fun time. We got there early so we headed down to the library. Behind the library is a little creek where there are ducks and even some creepy looking nutria. The kids had fun running around. Jenell took some graham crackers out of her car and the kids feed the ducks while we were waiting for noon to roll around.




Here are some pics of Jenell concentrating on her motorcycle game. Sawyer is having a blast! Go Jenell!

Happy Birthday Charlie Marvin!

I can't believe my baby turned 6! Was it seriously 6 years ago that I held my sweet newborn baby Charlie in my arms? My baby who didn't cry for the first 2 days of his life? He has sure made up for the 2 days though...

All Charlie wanted for his birthday was a BIG squirt gun. When we asked him if there was anything else, he told me "No...other people will get me things."


So here he is getting his BIG squirt gun. It ended up being 2 medium sized ones. Unfortunately my big 6 year old doesn't have the muscle strength it takes to get the trigger down all of the way :-( He just uses the little cheapy ones he got from Henry and is more than happy with those!

For Charlies b-day, we had a very casual get together with friends and family. We had it at what Charlie calls the Pirate Ship park. There is a play structure there that is shaped like a pirate ship. Charlie has had plans for a party for MONTHS! Once everyone got there he sat the guests down and went over the rules...no hitting, no kicking, no punching...then he went over his agenda...duck, duck goose, limbo, freeze tag and the egg game. Now, this egg game thing has been something we have been discussing for at least 6 months. I guess it's something they did in school, except with plastic eggs. It's just your basic egg on spoon relay race. However, Charlie's version is that you don't run, and it's not a race. So basically the kids just walked back and forth with their eggs on their spoons, trying not to drop them. It was a fun little evening.

p.s. Charlie decorated his own b-day cake...that was part of his "plans"

Art Show

Ellie hosted an art show this afternoon. She took the boys out back with some watercolors and put them to work. Here they are displaying their best pieces (notice she wrote the "title" on each of them). She wanted me to come out and judge them. On a scale of 1-10, I gave them each a 10.5! Henry got the extra .5 for his use of color and Charlie got his .5 for the display of action taking place in his work (it's an erupting volcano).

Here's a link to my 365 project blog.

Schools Out!!!

Schools out...how the heck did that happen...honestly!? Each of the kids had something special to help them celebrate their move onto the next grade.




Henry...onto 2nd grade
Henry's class was supposed to walk up to the park and then come back for Root Beer floats. Well, of coarse it had to rain. We ended up staying inside and playing. The kids still got to enjoy their Root Beer floats. I had 2 spilled on me. Well, not directly on me, but splashed on me. This is a pic of Henry and his teacher, Mrs. Hess. I LOVE HER!!!! She is amazing! She is one of those people born to teach. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Charlie gets into her class next year!

Ellie...onto 5th grade (what?)
The 4th graders got to go to Bullwinkles for their end of the year celebration. In the past, 5th grade has been at Kraxberger Middle School, so a big 4th grade celebration has always been a tradition. However, next year, they will be keeping the 5th graders at the grade school. Ellie is a bit sad, but I am happy to keep her there as long as possible. She's just my baby girl still!

Charlie...onto 1st grade
The Kindergartners do this program called the Flight Into First Grade. It's a cute little program with some special stuff going on! They perform a few songs they have learned in class...all in sign language. One of them is What a Wonderful World...I love that song and it makes me cry every time I hear it. Especially when this cute little pixie is smiling at you the whole time he is doing his attempted sign language. The last song they do is I believe I can fly (sweet). This one is not signed, but they put these wings on that they painted and then during the chorus they fly towards their parents. Hello tears! My baby is growing up :(

Kid Catchers

Both Henry and Ellie had chances this past week to play catcher. I think this is when they look the cutest! Henry got SO sweaty underneath all of his gear and he said that after a while, he felt like he had no legs. Ellie did really well, but wasn't too sure about all of the gear. It was fun to watch both of them...

My Life in Pictures...

So I have started one of those "Project 365" blogs. It's a blog where you post 1 picture a day for 365 days. Big moments or little moments...random items or random children...whatever. It's a way for you to go back and look at not only the big and exciting things you've accomplished, but also the little and sometimes forgotten things. I will have to become a daily picture taker, which could get crazy, but I'm going to try...here is the link

http://365daysofrachelle.blogspot.com

I will figure out how to get the link on the side of my blog page...

Okay, good luck to myself...

p.s. I just realized that my 1st day post was done just a few minutes past midnight, but that doesn't count as today does it?

Reflections....