Haylie's Graduation Party

Haylie was in Pre-K this year. I was worried about her because she wanted nothing to do with learning at home. She didn't even like to color...what girl doesn't like to color? But, she had wonderful teachers who encouraged her to open up and to have fun learning and she really had a wonderful year.

At the picnic, she sang songs that they had learned and she was able to say goodbye to her teachers and friends. I am so proud of how hard she worked and how well she played with her class mates ( even the boys).

The whole gang doing " Muscle Man"

Addy with the snorkel Sydney and her sling shot.

This is Tui's " Muscle Man" impersonation.

Haylie with her snorkel mask.

Fun In The Sun

Summer is sneaking up on us and the kids are getting restless...Time to pull out the pool.

Pool time is much more fun with friends.

Catching Up
I am now in the process of trying to catch up on everything I have put off since my computer crashed. There has been so much happening, so please bear with me. For some reason my computer is still not right...there are little things not working right. One of them is my blog page. I have to work backwards...when I upload a picture, it goes right to the top of my page and won't allow me to move it...so all of my pictures will now be at the top of my post.

Baptism Day

so, Sydney is now 8. She has been looking forward to being baptised for a long time. In our church, we believe that in order to understand the difference between right and wrong and to be able to act on that knowledge, you must be a certain age. At the age of 8, children can recognize when they must make a choice. We let them choose to be baptised and to follow Christ's example. Sydney made that choice and we are so proud of her for always trying to be Christ-like in all of her actions. She was also very happy to be able to share her baptism day with her special friend Jayden. It has been so wonderful to see these two grow up together and now to be baptized together. We love you Sydney!

School's out

It is tradition for all the teachers to come out and wave good-bye and sing to the kids on the last day of school. " Na-na-na-na....Na-na-na-na...hey, hey, hey....good-bye"

Syd and her teacher

Best buds...Syd and Ali

Haylie and her school friends
School's Out!

Sydney and Haylie had an amazing year. Sydney was in second grade but in a 3rd grade class. She was not only able to learn the 3rd grade curriculum, but surpassed all of our expectations. She finished the year at a 6th grade reading/writing level and a 4th grade math level. She is such a hard worker and loves to excel. She also got several awards for physical education this year.

I was a bit worried about Haylie at the beginning of the year.

She was so stubborn and not eager to learn. But she had wonderful

teachers that encouraged her and helped her to open up. She also has surpassed

our expectations. She is even starting to read and can't wait for Kindergarten next year.

ANIMAL DEATH TRAP

Yup .....that is what my house is. I have been so lucky ( heavy on the sarcasm) to have found several dead animals over the past few months. First was a burrow filled with frozen baby bunnies at the beginning of spring. Then a few weeks later I had to put ant killer all over our lawn. I told the kids they could not play on the lawn for a day or two. I guess I should have told the animals also. I had to clean up a rather bloated chipmunk that had gotten into the poison.

Next were 2 dead birds...who knows why they fell on my deck.....it must be a thing like the Bermuda triangle. I have also found the skeletal remains of a squirrel in my garden...just laying there as if it died yesterday.

This morning was our latest dead animal sighting....on not only our front sidewalk, but also our back sidewalk, was a lovely arrangement of chipmunk guts. Actually the guts must have been the good part because all that was left for us to enjoy were the heads, tails and a whole bunch of fur.

So...if you have pets or pests you would like to get rid of....feel free to send them to my house.

I know I have not posted anything in a while....my computer crashed for a while. I do apologize that this disgusting post is my first one since I have been back. I promise that there will be more pleasant ones to come.