Counting Down

Oh summer we are ready for you. Little by little we're getting more freedom. Both kids had no homework this week (lets hope for good!) Last baseball practice and game of the season. Getting close to the last regular girl scout meeting. Almost last awards assemblies. It's feeling good. So this week we happily welcomed...

Picnic dinner at the park after piano lessons (which was so nice and needs to be a regular thing)

Play date and popsicles with friends. Weather's been great and getting warmer.

The kiddie pool! First time this year. We just need tans.

Two weeks of school left. I will enjoy these last two weeks just me and Cole (although it's been getting hairy - he's so ready for school!)

Our Young Author

Tyler is a Young Author! It's a pretty cool writing award. Students submit their stories, then their teachers pick winners - the winning stories get published in the school library, and we keep a copy, too. The school district celebrated the Young Authors tonight. Tyler got a copy of his book (even signed one for the library), and read an excerpt out loud for the families. It was pretty neat. Tyler told me his favorite thing about 3rd grade was winning Young Authors. Super proud of our writer.

Reading an excerpt from "The Amazing Robo Adventure"

 Two friends from church, Hailey and Timmy, were also Young Authors and we were lucky enough to all be in the same room together so we heard both their stories, too.

 Love these two friends - hope they play lots this summer.

Pancakes!

We made it, bright and early. Last pancake breakfast of the year for reaching their reading goals. It's also Superhero Day.

Three amigos - Frankie, Tyler, and Kaiden. They pretty much ditched us after the line since they're too cool for parents now.

Super fun Ava:

We found all the girls. Poor Cole in the back by himself, promise I was sitting by him until this picture. The morning was kind of a blur for him.

These beautiful four - I see a little bit of high school in this picture. Someday we'll compare photos.

Ah, Long Weekend

This weekend was...

Cafe Rio kick-off

Spending the rest of birthday money

Old Navy sales

Enjoying lazy Saturday morning and donuts

Adam treating Tyler to Avengers, which pretty much made his weekend.

Yard clean-up, and new sand for sandbox

Introducing Audrey to the original Parent Trap and Parent Trap 2 (so 80s and awesome)

Sunday church day

Grilling twice and eating outside
Video game time

Ladybug for me

Hike and BBQ with Grandma and Grandpa, Mikey and Danny

Taking a moment to talk with the kids about Memorial Day and those soldiers and families who sacrificed it all for our freedom.

 Snoopy Snow Cone!

Farm Team Dodgers

Pictures are in!

A few kids missing because picture day was kinda crazy, but great season Dodgers!

Open House

One of the best nights of the school year. Crazy the year is almost over - it's been a great one!

Audrey and Mrs. Adachi. Our second time, and we sure love her. Hope to see her again in a few years with Cole - I even promised to be her room mom, that's how much I love her.

Audrey's desk filled with all sorts of cute projects. First grade is a pretty fun place.

Tyler's desk, full of stories galore. His teacher was very complimentary of his writing. Got to watch projects and presentations he did on the ipad, including his recorder performance I missed so that was cool.

Tyler's had a great year with Mrs. Lane.

Audrey and her 3rd grade buddy, Megan. Audrey and Tyler's classes were buddies this year, which was fun.

Art fair.

By Tyler:

By Audrey:

Fun night at a great school.

Baseball Season Ending

Today was the last baseball game for me, Audrey, and Cole. Tyler and Adam still have one to go. It was a great game to go out on - Tyler pitched, had a good hit, scored a run for his team, and the Dodgers won! We started the season thinking it might be Tyler's last, but not anymore. He's worked hard and grown so much. Its been awesome to have Adam coach, too. The baseball season can feel busy, but it's worth it, and nothing like hanging out at the field watching the game. Looking forward to next year, and Cole will play, too. We just bought tickets for a Dodgers game in June - should be fun to take the kids.

Our pitcher. Struck out his last batter in four pitches!

The two crazies I get to hang out with:

They basically live for the snack bar.

Way to go, Tyler. Proud of our little player.

More Weekend

Smartphones are so awesome when we can send pictures at bedtime, an hour away from each other. Too bad my selfie camera stinks right now - hopefully rice cures it.

Little girl and I shared a bed last night. With lots of stuffed animals. And read Berenstain Bears 'til she fell asleep.

More pics from the boys' camp out. Reports are they had a blast - lots of fun friends, marshmallows and hot dogs, sleep relatively well (for camping), and fishing in the morning.

Audrey is a fan of the bunny ears.

While the boys fished, Audrey tagged along to Ladybug (my families loooved meeting her), then requested our favorite hot dog train for lunch. Since we were in Studio City she wanted to drive by the old apartment, which I thought was super cute. She has a lot of memories of life there and often tells us she wishes we still lived there - mostly because her bedroom was ginormous. We also drove by our old favorite park and gelato place, and planned to come back for a "Studio City Day" this summer. Ended our afternoon together spending birthday gift cards, and playing with her birthday loot. Now we're all back together, boys are cleaned up, watching Indiana Jones. Great boys and girls weekend!

Audrey's Party

After school I packed these five gorgeous girls in the car for an afternoon of fun and celebrating Audrey. Audrey, Kallie, Mya, Presley, and Ava:

We had an M&M outing - manicures and Menchies.

Letting their nails dry. Miraculously no one needed fixes - nails stayed nice all evening.

Then off to Menchies. These girls loaded up, and we stuck a candle in Audrey's an sang "Happy Birthday".

We came back home and they played in Audrey's room and the yard. Opened presents, and we ordered pizza. They're a great group of girls - it was fun spoiling them a little.

Adam sent us these shots from the boys camp out. I guess they're having a blast, and staying warm so far.

Fun to split up boys and girls for a day.