C's Field Trip to a Nature Reserve

This is C's preschool class. Each mom takes a turn planning a field trip and since I have done so many years of co-op preschool I thought I have done everything around here but this one I have never done. This nature reserve is in the middle of Newport and you would have never known it was there. The kids had so much fun exploring the stream, trees and paths through the "wilderness".
There was a butterfly house and it even had caterpillars and cocoons.

D gets to tag along on the field trips and has so much fun with her brother.

The kids found so many butterflies in this spot.

This is part of the future co-op preschool group.

A's School Performance

With the end of the school year comes busy schedules. A had her music performance at school. The music program at the school is really good and teaches them a lot. It has really helped her with her piano too.
C and D get to go up to the school a lot at the end of the year and see the "big kids" do their thing. For the most part they are pretty good to sit through everything.

1/2 Marathon

Since the beginning of the year I have doing more running and really getting into it. I decided it was time to put all my running to use so I signed up for a 1/2 marathon. Somehow I was able to convince my sister in law to do it with me.
I had a friend running it to. She is faster then me but it was nice to have her help us figure things out at the beginning of the race and then be there at the end to cheer me on.

Big B brought the kids and found me on the course to cheer me on. A and B tried running with me for a little. The course had lots of hills and ended with one but it was still a fun race and I did it in 2 hours 54 seconds. I really wanted to do it under 2 hours but the hill at the end did me in. Now that I have that under my belt a full marathon is in my future.

Fathers and Sons Campout

B and C look forward to this every year. They get so excited that we really should go camping more often around here.
They got to go on a hike and they found some poly wogs.

They were only gone for about 15 hours but they didn't mind a bit. They had a blast doing "guy" things.

Our Last Days With Visitors

I wanted a cute picture with the kids in their church clothes because Miss J had a dressed that matched my kids but this is the picture we got. D wouldn't stay in the picture, C had to be gangster, and Miss J wanted to go home.
We let D hold the baby and she LOVED it. After the first time she kept asking and asking. It was pretty cute.

The next day we went to do some shopping. To be able to get our shopping done we had to bribe my kids. They love the merry-go-round.

All my kids love horses but especially these younger 2. D could ride this all day.

Miss J had a fun time on it too. Another first I got experience with her. We had so much fun the week they were here. It's nice to have visitors around. Glad summer is close and we can play like this more.

The Girls Birthdays

A wanted to get a feather in her hair for her birthday so we headed to the mall with mom, grandma, aunt K, and her best friend. We all ended up getting feathers, even grandma!
Then we went to Claire's to look around and I showed A some earrings and told her to buy them and she said they are for pierces ears so I said I guess we'd better pierce yours then. She was so shocked. Grandma made her call her dad and ask him and he said yes so she got them pierced. She didn't cry but her eyes did get watery.

She looked very cute! Here you can see her feathers and her ears.

That night we had a family party for both girls. (Good thing D is still too young to really get it because A's was the next day which was Sunday so we couldn't go do all of A's fun stuff. D didn't mind at all that her birthday was more about A this year.) D is already very obsessed with princesses. How in the world did she even know about them?! A hasn't been into princesses since before D was born. She got some dress up things and a little motor bike that she loves.

The girls had a great 2 days all about them.

Visitors Come to Town!

Big B's youngest sister came to town. We were so excited to have her and her baby come visit us. She use to live with us and we became really close. It was so much fun to hang out and experience so many first with my little niece, the beach being one of those firsts. We had to hit the beach even though the weather wasn't the best. The kids still had fun.
We spent a lot of our beach time on the swings.

Another first for Miss J! She loved the swings.

We got to go to an Angels game too. A was a little tired but woke up in time for the fireworks.

Another first for Miss J.