Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Father's Day Drive In - Madagascar 3


We went to see Madagascar 3 at the Drive-Ins on Father's Day.  This was a great idea and a fun tradition that we have been doing for the past three years.  The movie was not really any of our favorites after it was all said and done, but the food brought, the party had was a blast.  There was a huge group of people and we had a big old tailgating party. :)  The funny thing was that when we pulled into our house after the long night and the fun festivities, I read the flyer we had been handed at the gate and it said that we were not supposed to bring outside food and / or drinks onto the vicinities.  Whoops!!! We had wondered why everyone was watching us from a far and giving us strange looks. :)

Isaac and Christian hanging out before the movie started, waiting for us ladies to finish putting out all the food we had brought.  Below, Sharon was doing exercises with Ava and Christian to try and get their energy out while we were waiting to get into the theater parking lot.  Fawn got a good rip roaring game of Rook going and of course we had Corn Hole there to play too.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Nature Walk with Westin

One day, while Westin came to spend the day with us, we decided to take a Nature Walk around our development and do a scavenger hunt. We packed drinks and sun glasses for all three kids and then off we were to find the things on our list. I had a little talk with the kids before we started, about how God created all the things on this list, so we were going to find each item on our list and then stop and thank God for that specific item. It was a way to show appreciation to our God for all he does for us. This was quite exciting to the kiddos.

Things to Find List
flower - tree leaf - flying insect - tree blossom - worm - dog - dirt - bird - blade of grass - cat - sand - rock - butterfly - crawling insect - hopping insect - pond or puddle of water

We found all of these things doing the loop around our development.  They seemed to have a blast looking, and discovering the things of nature around them.  Some of the things we could collect along the way, like rocks, blades of grass, tree leaves, but then some of the things we could just spot or stop and look at. Christian wanted to take the worm we found, home as his pet.  Ava was holding Westin's hand lots of times, because he wanted to walk with her. That made her feel really proud. It was hot, so we ended up coming back to the house and finding our sand box to find the sand and then we ate ice pops to cool us off.  Fun times and great learning experience for the three of them. :)

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Double the Blessings

We took these personality tests a few years ago. . .okay, who am I kidding. .  . it was 10 years ago, while we were dating.  Yikes. . . . TIME FLIES!!  Anyway, when we took our tests, the results were pretty freaky as to how much they described us to a tee.  The one thing about Micah's personality is that he is only 2% of the population, meaning only 2 out of every 100 people have his personality!  This is our running joke in our marriage because when he does something and gets frustrated that others don't do it like him, I remind him, that though he finds it completely "normal" and to be "nothing but straight up common sense" to do things HIS way, ONLY 1 other person out of 100 would agree with him.  HE says we are all wrong. .  and sometimes I agree. I actually find myself envying his personality because I wish I could be a lot more like him.  I do think he finds this frustrating at times because he does have a very set way of how things should be done and he often gets misunderstood.  However, all this said, without him in my life, I probably wouldn't function very well, so whether he knows it or not, God placed his 2% personality in my life for a very good reason.  I am soooo Grateful for that.
So, now, the funny thing is, the odds of having 2 out of 100 people all within a family of four (my family) is rare. .. wouldn't you say.  WELL, lets just say, God saw it fitting and blessed me with 2.  I have Micah and Micahette (Ava) to keep me on track.  I am NOT complaining. I love this.  She makes me laugh, just like her daddy.  She makes me smile, just like her daddy and she keeps me in line when he is not around.  I truly feel blessed to have these two AWESOME rarities, Jewels I shall call them, in my life!  Thank you God for loving me so much that you blessed me with Micah and Ava.
Okay, so now, the reason this blog entry was brought about.  Ava has just begun her first official summer vacation.  We spent months talking about how we were going to spend our summer and sometimes that was the only way to get her to get on the bus, to remind her of our fun summer that was coming soon.  She is a list maker (like her daddy) and just as he makes lists while sitting at business meetings at work, she too makes lists while sitting at school.  She would make lists of all the things she wanted to do this summer.  These lists usually included picnics, swimming parties, park play dates, feeding ducks, visiting pet shop, and many other fun things.  I told her that we had to make sure we fit into our busy summer, things like chores, cleaning, and a little learning.  She marinated on my suggestions awhile and then came to me the last day of school and this is what she told me. (p.s. -  one more background detail here . . .a few days before school ended I was driving Ava to drop her off at school.  Her and Christian were fighting and yelling and I had just about had enough! I started the lecture of how I wanted to do fun things with them this summer but if they didn't work on their attitudes, we would end up spending all summer staying at home and working on just that. I explained that I didn't appreciate their ungratefulness, selfishness, yelling, whining, and etc.)

"Okay, So Mommy, here is our schedule for the summer:
Mondays we work on our attitudes
Tuesdays we play in the sand box
Wednesdays we swim for wacky Wednesdays at Heidi's
Thursday we play outside or do fun things
Fridays we play games and stay in our jammies and just hang around at our house
Saturdays we clean the house
Sundays we go to church"

She was so excited about her new organized schedule, we tweaked it a little but she is still really trying to make me stick to her schedule. :)  So funny.  I suggested that we have some chores we  do each day, like make our beds, get dressed and clean our rooms.  She said she would think about it and get back to me. :)

I love that Girl!!!!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Last Day of Kindergarten

The LAST Day of Kindergarten was a glorious one!!! Ava was so excited and so ready for the summer off.  She had gotten to a point that she actually liked school for the most part, but she was ready for it to be over and to have a break.  It took us quite awhile to get to the point where we could get ready and get on the bus without crying, and look, there she is smiling away.  She wanted to wear her princess crown / tiara, and I didn't have the heart to say no.  Hey, it was the last day of school. . .what could I say?  :)  This year has been rough.  We had a great bus driver that would often call us and let us know that Ava was okay when she got off the bus at school, because she had been bawling when she got on the bus that morning. There were mornings Micah or I had to carry her up onto the bus and pry her arms off of us.  There were days we would get notes from the teacher saying she had a rough day and had been upset for the most part.  The sad part was, she was embarrassed to cry so much and be so sad, but she just couldn't help it.  It was silent but heart wrenching tears and we often cried too.  What a tough year. I think it was after Christmas until she finally announced to me one day, that she now LIKED school okay.  Looking back, even though we had wondered whether we should keep forcing her to go or home school her, I am really glad we stuck to it.  She is braver and more confidant in what she can do because she faced her fear and anxiety. I hated leaving every morning too, when I was little, but I did it and I am so proud of her for doing it too!  Mommy and Daddy and Christian are so proud of you sweet angel Ava Bean!!!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Field Day - 2012

Ava had a fantastic class this year and I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of the kids.  They were all very sweet and for the most part, very obedient.  They had a fantastic teacher, Mrs. Boward, and a fantastic assistant teacher, Mrs. Bowman.  These ladies kept them in line and taught them all about how to read!!! This picture is a picture of the class on Field Day 2012 after they had just finished signing each other's shirts. :)  Field day was a blast.  They were tired after the day was over but the games and the events were so much fun.  I helped out a little with Zumba and the kids loved the free style part of Zumba.  Below are a few pictures of the big day and it's events.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Ava's Post Kindergarten Interview

What is Your Favorite Color?
Pink & Purple & Green

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A mom and an Ice Cream Girl

Who was your best friend in school this year?
ummm, Trevor Shields

What was the funniest thing that happened to you in school this year?
When Mrs. Boward tried to put on her radio and it didn't come on and then when she sat it down it started singing and we all laughed.

What was your favorite thing about your teacher, Mrs. Boward?
When she laughs

What was your favorite Special this year and why?
Music because umm, I liked the music and umm, I love music because we get to watch movies and we get to dance around.  I liked my teacher too.

What was your favorite thing about Kindergarten?
When it was field day and when you (mommy) came to my classroom to help all day.

Who is your Hero?
Rebel. . . .because he was white and he was soft and we were friends.

Where do you want to live when  you grow up?
Beside mommy and daddy in a house.

What did you learn in school this year?
How to learn our alphabet because my mommy taught me before so then Mrs. Boward taught me more.  I learned to read!

Did  you like the Bus?
I didn't like the bus ride cause it taked a long time to get to the school, but I do like my bus.

What is your favorite food?
Chicken nuggets and French Fries

What is your favorite thing to do in the whole world?
Swimming & Grandma's house

What is your biggest wish / dream?
Getting a dog and getting a kitten

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Random Day with Baby J

We got the opportunity to keep little J for an overnight stay and he is getting around quite well with his crawling.  He is about 9 months old and still knows us when he sees us.  The kids get so excited to see him and the feeling is obviously mutual because he is all smiles.  He is not walking but he crawls like crazy fast and he gets into everything.  He loves to babble and laugh and he is quite the eater.  He loves to eat Cheerios and any other kind of food you give him to munch on.  His sleeping schedule is to nap in the late afternoon and then he is up until anywhere from late evening like 11:00 to early morning around 2:00 a.m. before he crashes for his good 8 hour big sleep.  He loves to party at night time, dancing, bouncing, and playing with toys.