California 2014

All 5 of us flew out to California last week to visit Kerry & Jeff.  We basically lived in the pool the whole time & it was glorious!  When we weren't swimming there was Wii Mario playing, Catch Phrase battles, a trip to see Jeff's new practice, and a visit out to see some peacocks.  It was relaxing, fun, and a little hard to leave.  Until next time!

Race for the Cure

Joel and the kids did Race for the Cure this year with Mom (I was wrapping up at a women's conference at church that morning).  Here are some photos from the event.

MasterChef Cookies

One of our favorite summer shows is MasterChef.  This year we've been letting the kids watch it with us too.  The premise of the show is that home cooks compete in a culinary competition to earn the title of MasterChef and various other awesome prizes.  So today we had our own mini episode of the show.  The kids and I all made our own basic cookie dough and then got to select from the "pantry" available to create our own, one-of-a-kind cookie.  Mine had chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and a little almond extract.  Katherine added mini m&ms, yellow food coloring, cinnamon, and sprinkles on top (because they make everything more fun).  Emily used mini m&ms, cinnamon, a squeeze of chocolate syrup, and green food coloring.  Jonathan's included blue food coloring and chocolate chips.  They all turned out quite yummy.  The last part was setting them each out for Daddy to try when he gets home, just like the judges do on the show.

Another Great trip to the Fatzingers!

We took a weekend trip down to visit our good friends, the Fatzingers, again earlier in the summer.  We had a great time.  The deer literally come right up to their back door there.  Katherine loved to swing on their tree swing.  The kids played beautifully together and the adults just enjoyed catching up.  I even got to help organize a game/book cabinet...it made me really happy to do so...it's one of my quirks.  Joy fed us very, very well all weekend too.  We miss them not being closer to us, but are so thankful we get to catch up and hang out like this!

First Grade Jon

Jonathan just wrapped up first grade.  We were so grateful to have him taught by the same sweet teacher Emily had for 1st grade.  She's a jewel and Jonathan loved being in her class.  She takes photos throughout the year and posts them online for the parents to get a peek inside the kids' days at school.  It's very thoughtful and I love getting to do so.  So here are some of my favorite pictures from Jonathan's first grade year!

Reading to Mollie & Boomer

Our library has dogs come once a month that kids can sign up to read to.  We did so this past weekend.  Jonathan got to read to Mollie and Emily to Boomer.  Katherine sat by Boomer and listened.  It was something fun and different!

Ballerina Kat

Katherine just started taking ballet class back in January.  She loves, loves it & wears her ballet shoes around the house all the time.  She just had her first dance recital and did awesome.  We wondered how she might handle being on stage for the first time, but she was fearless and loved every moment of it.  She smiled through the whole thing & Joel (who was stage dad for her class) said as soon as she came off stage her first words were that she wanted to do it again.  Now that recital is over she wears her costume around the house all the time.  She even wore it on a walk around the neighborhood the other day.  The first time she tried it on at dance class she gasped and told me that she was a real ballerina.  So precious!

 Her very first dance class.

 

Backstage and all ready to go!  She kept saying how excited she was.

 

Eating up the stage!

 

Curtain call!

 

With her yellow flowers from Nana.