One Big Chocolate Chip Cookie

Our house needed to be painted this year.  We went back and forth deciding if we should do it ourselves or hire somebody.  We finally decided that with the high, steep peaks of our house and the little amount of time we had this summer to actually spend painting that we should just hire it out.  So we had our good friend Greg and his crew paint it.  That was a good choice.  It took a whole lot of stress off of us and it went much quicker than it would have if we had done it ourselves.  That still left one hard thing for us to do…pick a paint color.  I am not very decisive when it comes to decisions like that and it was hard to pick just the right color combination.  It took a lot of driving around and looking at paint swatches to finally narrow it down.  Uggghhh…good thing we aren’t planning on building a house any time soon, that would be terrible for me!  We said goodbye to our green house, and watched the quick transformation take place.

Isaac was enthralled with the whole process.  He followed our friend Justin all around the house while he was pressure washing.  He talked Justin’s ear off and pointed out places he had missed.  Good thing Justin is an awesome kid (who just left on his mission) and was a very good sport about having a little companion hanging around with him.

We all got a kick out of the pictures and messages left for us on the plastic covering the windows.

Things got even better for Isaac when Lee got the drill out to replace the hardware on our front door.  He was in power tool heaven.

A few days later it was done.   Our house is now brown, maybe a little more chocolate brown than I had thought it would be, but we still like it.  Isaac and Grace described it best when they called our house a “big chocolate chip cookie”.  Since chocolate chip cookies are Lee’s absolute favorite things, he will always be happy to come home! :)

Last Day of 6th Grade

School got out really late this year (June 19th) so we were definitely ready by the time the last day rolled around. 

I went to the school early in the day for the end of the year assembly where the 6th graders were given medals.

Then the twins and I went back to see the traditional send off.  All the students form a tunnel and wave to the sixth graders as they leave.

Emma got one last hug from her teachers, Mrs. Olsen and Mrs. Ward.  I really wanted a picture of her with her kindergarten teacher, but she was on maternity leave.

And she said goodbye to friends.

Then I wondered how Emma went from this cute little first grader…

…to this almost seventh grader.  Wow.

Even though it makes me sad to admit she is getting older, we still celebrated by getting Slurpees.  Tenley and Kaitlin went with us.  Then, per tradition, we headed to the library to sign up for the summer reading program. 

Once we got home I hung up my Lee Elementary volunteer tag for the last time, at least for several years until the twins get there. 

One more year down!  Congratulations Emma on a successful elementary school career.

School’s {ALMOST} Out Party 2012

Of course the end of the year couldn’t come without Emma’s school’s {almost} out ice cream party. 

This years group was much smaller than last year, many girls had conflicts.  That was ok, it was not nearly as crazy as last years party either!

Emma was happy to have her friends at our home.

After ice cream the marshmallow guns came out and they had a huge marshmallow war.  It made a huge mess, but everybody chipped in and got it cleaned up quickly.  The best was when they all lined up to attack Lee when he got home from work.  He was definitely outnumbered.

After the games they huddled together on the trampoline and talked and chatted like twelve year old girls do.  They also played several rounds of Mafia.  It was a fun afternoon.  Hard to believe they are headed off to middle school next year!

Winding Down

It’s always amazing to me how quickly the end of the school year comes.  Since this year was also the end of Emma’s elementary school career, it was a little sad for me.  Emma got to have a tour of the middle school she will be attending, and Lee and I attended a parent meeting which made it all too real that she will actually be a middle schooler next year.  But before I get too ahead of myself, here are just a few pictures of some end of the year activities.

I made some fun cupcakes for a PTA bake sale.  I love an excuse to make cute things.

Emma and her friend Sierra worked together on their invention for the Invention Convention.  They made an “esca-ladder”, which was basically a safety ladder.  I thought it was funny that they came up with their invention in response to a time when Lee shook a ladder that Emma was on.  Can you tell they had just finished swim practice before this picture was taken?

I helped at Emma’s last field day.  I haven’t missed one since she was in kindergarten.  This year was pretty easy because the sixth graders actually ran most of the activities.  Emma helped at the face painting booth.  I kept the line in check and provided some crowd control since it was a very popular spot.  She painted a lot of faces!

Father’s Day

These kids (and their mom) sure love their dad. 

He got his favorite breakfast on the morning of Father’s Day. 

And he got lots of hugs and kisses.

The kids gave him his favorite treat, peanut M&M’s.  He had to show us how nutty he really is, but we know he is also pretty sweet.

He also got a boring shirt,

but wrapped up in that boring shirt was what he really wanted: a gift certificate for a massage.

Emma’s present to him was that she had learned how to play his favorite hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. 

After church we headed up to my parent’s house to celebrate with Grandpa Mike.

He is also very loved!

Emma played her song for him too.

We all got a kick out of the awesome card that Kristin sent,

and Grandpa seemed to like the BYU blanket that Emma and I made him.  Now he doesn’t have to steal everybody else’s blanket!

Happy Father’s Day to all of our dads!