Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school. It has been an interesting year full of all sorts of adventures and fun. We ran a half marathon with our school classes. We learned to read and write, add and subtract. We learned telling time and counting money. We had all sorts of parties - Halloween, Christmas, Valentines, 100th Day, ice cream parties, birthday parties and pajama parties. We also had a few slumber parties. We moved to a new home and school. It was hard but we made new friends and still got to keep our old ones. We had fun with Flat Stanley and field trips. We lost teeth and grew new ones. We got glasses. We got prizes and awards and sang in concerts. We also played basketball and softball. Our year was full of learning new things. We have grown and changed through the year. Now summer is here and new adventures begin. Our learning and growth will continue - it just won't have to start as early in the morning!

More Ballpark Fun!

Here are some more pictures from Tuesday and Wednesday night. Maddi had a good game Tuesday night. It was tough though. She plays kid pitch and most of these kids can't pitch - although you have to learn at some point right! Anyways, Maddi's coach never explained to them not to swing at everypitch so the first inning it was 3 up, 3 down. The second inning they did much better at not swinging at all the pitches. Maddi second turn up to bat however, she didn't swing at all and struck out. She didn't know you could get a strike without swinging. It was a game of learning and she had fun despite the batting. Dillon played Tueday and Wednesday. He loves to play and has a really good swing. Tuesday night he never got a hit fromthe coach pitching and had to use the tee. Wednesday night he hit everytime with the coach pitching so he is getting the hang of it. He played catcher also Wednesday night. Makenna played Wednesday too. She had a good night. Got two hits and scored a run. Zane had fun as usual, hitting, running and sliding into home. Of course the snacks afterwards are also a highlight of the evening.

Fun at the ball games

This week starts our seven weeks of ball games. We will have 8 games a week until the 2nd of July. The kids are having fun and learning lots of new skills. Sometimes it is frustrating for them as they try new things or don't do as good as they wanted, but overall they are loving it. Here are a few pictures from the games on Monday night with Makenna and Zane. Makenna is the one batting - I had a fence in the way. Makenna started out a little frustrated because she struck out twice. She has to use the pitching machine and it's hard to get used to. Then during the third inning she was playing third base and caught theball on a bounce and got the runner out. She was very excited! Her next turn up to bat she hit a single so she ended the game on a happy note. Zane does coach pitch. He does really well. If you get three strikes with the coach then you get to use the tee. He hit the ball everytime with the coach pitching. In his league there are no outs so they get to run the bases each inning. He loves that. I tried to get a picture of him sliding in to home plate but the sun was in the way and it didn't turn out. I'm sure I will get more chances for that since he loves to slide and get his pants dirty! I will post pictures from Tuesday night when I get them downloaded.

Nothing like a little dirt!

Olivia discovered the dirt at the ball games the other night. She had so much fun playing in it. I have never seen her sit in one spot for so long. It was really hot too so the dirt just stuck to her. Here are some pictures of her throughout the evening.

Yummy!

One of the lovely things Zane has picked up from school is to say "yummy" or "delicious" every time he burps. He then taught it to his younger brothers. I have told them that it's rude and not to do it anymore, they think it;s funny and burst into giggles whenever they do it. The other morning Olivia was laying in bed with me (in Daddy's spot). She was trying to sit up and burped. What came out of that cute little mouth? "Yummy!" The boys were so proud (Daddy included) when they heard what she did. The things they learn! I tell you, little kids hear everything...

Race Weekend

Tomorrow I was supposed to run my first half marathon. I have been training since Februaury. It felt so good to be running again and I could tell my body was getting stronger each week. Two weeks ago my kness started getting swollen and it hurt to walk, go up and down stairs and run. Unfortunately I ended up getting bursitis and I am not able to run for a month or so. I also can't walk, ride bike or anything like that. It is very frustrating. This is a goal I have had for years and this is the first chance I have had to accomplish it. I was two weeks away and had to stop. My knees are still sore. I tried walking last week and they got sore again. Yesterday I moved furniture and carried things up and down the steps, today they are swollen and sore. Very, very frustrating! Anyways, I talk to the racew director and he is saving my entry for next years race. Hopefully everything will heal and I can start running again soon. If I take it slower this time around, hopefully I can complete a half marathon soon. Since I am not racing tomorrow, we are going to a different race - the horse races! Yes, the season has begun. It will be nice to get out of town. One of the horses that Michael broke in Astoria is racing tonight and favored to win. We will watch that race and tomorrow 2 more horses that he broke are in the sale so we'll go see how they do. The kids of course are excited and packed as soon as htey found out we were going. Even Zeke found his backpack and filled it up with all the necessities. We'll leave when they get home from school and get back late tomorrow night.

Dillon learned to ride a bike!

Dillon has been ready to ride a bike without training wheels for quite some time but was afraid to try. The other day at lunch Michael told him if he learned to do it then we would take him to Chuck E. Cheese. 15 minutes after we got back from lunch, Dillon was riding his bike! Poor Michael! He thought he would have a little more time before he had to make good on that promise. Of course the other kids want to go too so they have their own little challenges that they have to do in order to "earn" a trip to Chuck E. Cheese with Dillon. Looks like we'll be having lots of fun next week!

Best Buddies

Michael's Heaven on Earth

Michael was born many decades later than he should have been. He loves the old ways of doing things. He loves the slower, simple life of years gone by. Well, he's found a little of that here on the ranch. They have the draft horses that they can use to pull the plow, disc, manure spreader, sleighs and wagons. He absolutely loves it! If it weren't for the flat hats that the Amish wear (he won't give up his cowboy hat) he would join the nearest colony. He'd do it alone though because I wouldn't come, I enjoy the modern conveniences. Dillon looks like my side of the family but he has Michael's blood running through him. He would be out with the horses all day if he could.

Fun Friday

Friday was a crazy day for us, but very fun. Michael went to school with Maddi for "Donuts with Dad". They all ate donuts and the kids did a reading theater for the fathers. After that they came home, picked us up and we headed to Hendricks, my absolute most favorite place on earth! We stopped by and saw Orville and Ben and then we went to Olsens. Michael trimmed horses while the rest of us visited with Pam, Sherri and kids. In the afternoon we went to the dentist. Michael was the only one with cavaties, thank goodness. Pam picked up the girls from the dentist and took them to school. They got to go see their old classmates. They absolutley loved that! After the dentist we all went back to Pam's. Josie was having a birthday party so the kids had lots of fun. Michael trimmed some more horses and I got to visit some more. We left at 5:00 and headed home. We got home in time for the three oldest kids to get dressed up and head out to their spring concert. They did a really good job. Zane got to play the sand blocks in one of his songs, Makenna got to dance and Maddison got to play the chimes. When we got home, it was bedtime but before we went to bed we checked out the clothes that we had gotten from Pam and Sherri for Olivia. Olvia LOVES clothes and shoes. She was so excited. After we had gone through them she did a little dressing up of her own. She put on a Dora nightgown with Dora shoes,a princess sweatshirt and a white easter hat. She was ready for bed and she got really mad when we took it off of her before we put her to bed! The next morning, she got dressed and put her white hat back on with her Dora shoes and spent most of the day playing in those things. She is certainly Michael's child! They had to fight over which one got to wear the white hat. Unfortunately for Michael, Olivia can cry louder so she got the hat.