Summer Haircuts

The mohawk has become the must have little boy haircut for the summer.  After a couple of boys began sporting one, Carter begged and begged.  Finally I took out the clippers and his little brother insisted on the same haircut.  I think they turned out really cute!

Carter asked Mike "Dad, do you want a 'hawk too?"  Mike told him that he would probably lose his job if he got a mohawk.  Too bad, might have been cute!!

Last Day of School

This morning I put on the bus a kindergartner and a first grader.

Now they are officially a second grader

and a first grader.

Time to celebrate!  We met neighborhood friends down at the pool for a party!

The kids had an absolute blast!  I found little water ball slingshots for the kids and they had a great time.

We ordered pizza and had ice cream cones.

Carter swam his little heart out and there was a very serious game of football.

I found a sweet little note from Ava:  Pichre to Mom. I love the pol prty! From Ava

What a fun day with these three little guys!

Pittsburgh

Over Memorial Day weekend we visited our family in Pittsburgh for a dual Graduation Party and a lot of fun.  My cousin's home was under construction and the kids were really excited about riding in the skid steer.

Dawson mentioned several times that it was his favorite part.

We had plenty of time in the pool, I could barely keep them out of the pool so here they are swimming at 8:30 in the morning.

We also visited "camp" with the two fainting goats and the donkey.  Mike's favorite part of the weekend was making the goats faint.

But I think that playing around with the log splitter came in a close second.

Then there was this kid "Robbie, I bet you can't do this."

Ava loved picking flowers and feeding them to the donkey.  Boy is that thing loud!

And of course, lots of cousin cuddles.  We love visiting!!

Memorial Day

We remember.  Thank you to all who have served our country.

Our Week

My week started off interestingly enough:  with pulling a tick out of Dawson's ear.  Yuck, not something I want to do again!  I guess it's that season, and as soon as Carter and Ava got home from school I made them come inside for a tick check.

This girl just kills me every day with her sweet smile and bubbly personality.

Dawson and I visited field day for Ava and Carter.  I liked watching Ava with the egg on a spoon race.  It was so cold that morning, in the 40's!  There were kids bundled up in blankets on the sidelines.

Carter in the wheelbarrow race

He was really disappointed that he didn't get picked to do the water balloon race.  I couldn't believe he would want to do it when it was that cold!

Dawson and I had to go get our tire patched, and the man at the tire store gave him a tire pressure gauge.  He also told Dawson that when he grows up he needs to come back and work for Goodyear fixing tires.  He has now checked the tire pressure in every tire he can find (including the bicycles.)  He also wants to work at a tire repair center now.  I asked him "What about being a construction boss or fire man" his two other favored occupations.  He told me "I want to do something hard like fixing tires."  The way his little brain works just makes me laugh.

Only one and a half days of school left!  I'm so excited for the lazy days of summer and spending all day long with my kiddos.

Dawson's Preschool Promotion

Today was Dawson's last day of preschool.  His school has a promotion ceremony and graduation ceremony for the student's on the last day.  Dawson remembers Ava's ceremony from last year and he was very excited for this day.  

Our School is an Ocean of Fun!

A picture of Dawson boy with a genuine smile!

They sang some adorable songs and then received their diploma from their teacher.

Miss Angela, Dawson and Miss Denielle

Daddy joined us and Dawson was so excited to see him!

One year down and one more year to go!

Summer vacation has begun for this little one!

Busy Busy Busy

May is a busy month with multiple baseball or softball games a week, wrapping up school, preschool and Cub Scouts for the year.

Dawson is very excited for his preschool "graduation" this week.  He has talked about it almost non-stop and after Monday, it's just going to be him and I until May 27th!

Dawson loved the little chick that hatched at school.  It was so adorable, he named it softie.  Makes me wish I could get chicks (and it probably makes Mike really happy that we can't!)

We finished up reading the book Beezus and Ramona.  With all the craziness we had a simple book dinner.  Ava helped me make homemade applesauce, just like they did in the book.  The boys didn't really want to be bothered, and who could blame them with the beautiful weather!

We made "Dancing Sun" cake on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.  I just had to laugh because my three little chefs LOVE to help with the baking process, and in all the help there was clearly a missing ingredient because it turned out like a custard.  Didn't stop us though, it was still enjoyed!

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures but it was so nice to have Bo and Grandma down for the weekend.  The kids loved showing off their new found baseball/softball skills.  Sunday was also a big day for Carter boy.  He received his Tiger Badge and moved up as a Wolf Scout.  I wish we could have had some pictures, but I was busy helping and forgot to get any pictures.  Oh well, maybe next year!

My three little ones, you guys are growing up entirely too fast.  I really can't believe that I'm about to have a first and second grader along with a preschooler all at the same school.  I really want to enjoy every minute of your childhood,  I Love you!

Ava's Spring Play

This week Ava had her spring play in her kindergarten classroom this week.  It consisted of different nursery rhymes and Ava played the Little Girl who had a Little curl.

Ava not only did a great job with her part, I also loved watching her saying the other nursery rhymes for her classmates.  

This day was also R for Radical Hair Day, so that is why Ava is sporting the crimped hair look.  Her very sweet teacher also provided pizza and cookies for everyone to enjoy after the performance.

It was so nice to have Daddy there for the afternoon!

You also got out your book bin and read a bunch of your books.  Thank you for the fun afternoon little Roover.  It's so nice to see you in your classroom!

Our Weekend

Friday night we were invited to go to the Akron Rubber Ducks Baseball Game.  The kids had a ball playing with friends, baseball dosen't really hold their attention for very long.  

Thankfully the game didn't go into extra innings, so we were able to stay for the fireworks.  During the fireworks, Dawson and Mike were one deck down from me.  I heard shrieking and I looked down to make sure he was ok.  He was shrieking from sheer delight!   

I found Battleship at a garage sale, and the kids love it!  We have been playing it all day, every day.  It's nice that as the kids are getting older we are able to play board games that are fun for an adult as well.  There are only so many rounds of Hi Ho Cherry-o and Candyland you can play in one day!

Nothing says I've got a handle on this whole motherhood thing quite like showing up to church and realize all your four year old has on his feet are mismatched socks.  Nailed it!!

And then I got spoiled on mother's day with some extra sleep, watching this little one play softball and opening cards and homemade gifts.  How much fun!  Then to top it all off, Mike made me a crab dinner.  So yummy!

Happy Mother's Day to all our family!  We love you all and are so happy you are in our lives!

Our Life in Pictures

Last friday Meme and Riley came to visit us for Grandparent's Day at Dawson's school.  We kept them busy, but they got to each lunch with Carter and Ava then go to Grandparent's Day.  The kids were so happy and excited to see them, thanks for doing all the running around with me!

Grandparent's Day

They left on Saturday morning and so we proceeded to have a weekend with two softball practices and one baseball game.  I was able to accomplish some much needed car detail, Dad you would be so proud!  Dawson loved buffing the van for me!  It's funny because the other two pretty much pay no attention to Mike and I when we are doing projects but Dawson is so interested.  

We also got to visit Jackson's one room school house.  The kids had a ball ringing the bell and there was a eye spy game too.

Ava girl in particular was very interested in it.

Just another afternoon.  It is so funny to me that Dawson and Ava in particular LOVE homework.  As soon as the big kids sit down to do homework he runs to grab his preschool workbook to practice writing letters and numbers.  Ava, after completing all of her homework for kindergarten has decided she wants to practice the first grade fluency notebook that Carter finished.  It's so funny to me that they ask for extra homework!

Other than enjoying the beautiful weather that's pretty much it!

Heard Around the House: Strange Theology

Last night Mike was reading a Bible story to the kids before bed and Carter said to Mike:  How did we get the Bible?  Did God tweet or text it?

I'm dying.  DYING!!!  But it shows he is starting to think a little deeper about his faith rather than just stories we read at night.  It has me excited for First Communion next year.  Hilarious!!   

Ava's First Softball Game

Tonight Ava had her first softball game.  The weather didn't cooperate very well, it lightly rained the entire time and they finally called it during the third inning.

But it didn't matter.  Ava, it made me so happy to watch you playing softball.  You have improved 100% since the beginning of the season when you didn't even want me to play catch with you.  

There's that smile!  We love to see it!

She was up to bat three times and got two good hits from the coach.  She only had to use the tee once!

Her team was down to five girls this day so she got to play pitcher and first base.

Go Ava Go!

These two had a ball running around in the rain.

Playing Football

and just becoming muddy messes.

May is going to be a busy month with all these games (five a week) but so far we have really enjoyed it!