Memorial Day Fun

What better way to begin the summer than with s'mores.  Ooey and gooey.  Delicious.

Backyard Camping

The boys have been out of school for a week, but yesterday Derrick was finally done with post-planning.  We feel like we can really begin summer now.  What better way to celebrate the start of summer than to camp in our backyard! 

It began as just a Derrick and the boys idea.  Then, when Amanda insisted on participating, I decided to join.  After all, it didn't seem fair to enjoy a comfy bed inside while Derrick had all three outside.   Amanda was a little upset that we left Farley inside (as was he), but I just couldn't see him settling in the tent with us.  Someone would have gotten stepped on.  

Our beds were comfy...soft grass and warm sleeping bags.  We all slept great and I just loved waking to hear the birds singing in the trees.

Derrick and the boys arose early to make pancakes, while Amanda and I enjoyed our sleeping bags for a few extra minutes.  It was a delightful way to start summer.

Summer's Here!

We celebrated the last day of school today with parties in the classrooms!!!  Can you tell Andrew is excited about summer?

Grrrr...Pirate Andrew poses behind a cut out that one of the parents brought to his party.

 Here is a much nicer smile for his teachers.  Miss Falon on the left is a high school student who spent three mornings a week in the room to assist.  Ms. Susan was his lead teacher and Ms. Robbie was the assistant.

 Scott successfully finished second grade with Miss Katie.  Their party was a "build your own sundae" party.  The kids loved loading their ice cream with tons of treats.

We are SOOOOOO looking forward to summer.  We hit the ground running next week with a trip to the Lake with friends.  Then, we have friends visiting us for a week.  Such exciting times coming our way.

Andrew's Artwork

School is quickly coming to an end and the boys have already started bringing home loads of school "stuff."  Today, Andrew had all of his work from art class in his bag.  They were great!  I love the art teacher at their school.  She is young and loves what she does.  Below are Andrew's creations from Kindergarten.  

My personal favorite. 

Playing Beach

We are in full "anticipating summer" mode around here. With only 13 days of school left, we are getting excited about summer. Even Amanda is ready. She knows that the pool opens the day the boys get out of school, so she has her own countdown for that.

 Even though the pool isn't quite open, nothing can stop Amanda from running around the house in her bathing suit. "Beach" continues to be her favorite game.

 The only problem was that Merry did not have her own bathing suit. So weren't we excited when we saw baby bathing suits for sale at the Dollar Tree this week! Yep, $1.00 for a bathing suit.

It needed a bit of resizing, but that wasn't too much trouble.  After a few minutes with the sewing machine, we were ready to take Merry to the beach.

As I sewed, Amanda got the "beach" ready.  A few more friends joined us.  From left to right, you see towels for Merry, Megan, Baby Princess (who is using her hat as a blanket - Amanda thought that was so funny), Amanda, Anna, Hannah (the My Little Pony) and Abby.  My towel is the yellow striped towel in the back.  We also had a beach ball and several other toys to play with.  

Isn't it fun to snuggle with baby at the beach?

And while I had the sewing machine out, I worked on another outfit for Merry.  This was a find off of the clearance rack at Target.  They were so discounted, that I bought one for Amanda and an extra for Merry.  Now they have matching Peace Sign dresses.