June catch-up

The first half of June pretty much consisted of end-of-school year fun. That deserves its own post, but this is how Kyle felt about school FINALLY being over:

 

Yes, that's a cheer. Not a cry of agony. :)

 

Kevin finally built and launched his two-stage rocket. Let's just say that it was less than successful. I have video of the launch that still sends me into giggling fits, but this photo will have to do. Yes, that's Marie in the background, trying to pull the rocket out of the ground. Hil.ar.ious. However, Kevin would have you know that he's made adjustments and has successfully launched it many times since!

Marie had her very first dance recital, and loved it. I feel like this deserves its own post, too. Several highlights, and sooo many lows. Man, what a night!


This sequence of pictures makes me cringe and laugh at the same time:

She got her ears pierced for her 6th birthday. She's been wanting to for quite some time, asking pretty much every week. We've never had a certain age or rule about it, but I wanted it to be her choice. So she would ask, I'd say yes, and then she'd chicken out. For about a year now. Imagine my surprise when this day, she said. No tears, no nervousness, just excitement. She didn't even cry when they were pierced, just a slight whimper a few minutes later. And to say that she's happy she did it would be the understatement of the century! I will say that it instantly aged her and made both Kevin and I a little sad.

 

Kevin has an obsession with socks that must be documented. There's nothing better to him than fresh, new socks on his feet. But the old ones don't wear out, so he just keeps adding. I just had to give up one of my drawers to make room for his socks. The next person to gift him new socks better give us a dresser to go with it.

We floated down Pequea Creek, as part of Marie's birthday weekend.

Marie turned 6 - finally! My kids both have summer birthdays and are the youngest in their classes, so by the time their birthdays roll around, it seems like they've already been that age forever. Does that make sense?

 

Our sisters like to keep us in shape. And Marie liked showing off her biking skills. She gave Chavez a run for her money, while Lammy and I huffed and puffed behind...

Our summer has also been full of sleepovers, which I'm not exactly sure how I feel about. Actually, I do know. I don't really like them. I'm just not sure what to do about it. This was Marie's first away from home, and she had a blast with these sweet girls.

Kyle had Cub Day Camp.

 

And I finished the month off with a bang, turning the big 3-4. Friends came over. We laughed, we ate, and we got to humiliate ourselves with a pinata. Good times.

End of Year Wrap-up

The end of the school year is the best. Full of field trips, sports days, and very little school work. And luckily, I got to join my kids for most of it.

These little bandits had a field trip to Lancaster County Park. We visited the Garden of 5 Senses, collected insects, played games, and had a picnic.

Against all odds, Addison and Marie ended up in the same class this year. It will probably never happen again, so they enjoyed every minute of it. Unfortunately, Mia ended up in morning kindergarten, so they never got to see her. But they hit the jackpot that day and ran into her on the field trip!

They had a pretty fun little class this year, we'll miss these guys.

Our school district is unique in that we have district mascot, not school mascots. We're the Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers. And every year, the 5th graders get to have "Pioneer Day." Every 5th grader comes dressed as a pioneer (only one of 250 didn't this year) and participates in parlor games, panning for gold, orienteering, and several other stations. I was in charge of moccasin-making and they were pretty stellar, if you ask me! I don't know how much the kids love it, but it's better than math and reading, I guess. It's a pretty fun tradition, and I never would've thought I'd see something like this outside the state of Utah.

The 5th graders also go to Philly for a day. When it was Kyle's turn to go, it was a rainy, awful day. I wasn't able to go on this one, but didn't feel too badly about that after I found out they walked around Philly in the pouring rain, missed out on seeing the Liberty Bell due to long lines, and got stuck in traffic for 2 hours on the way home. Imagine that bus ride full of wet, smelly 5th graders!

Well, when sports day rolled around, it was another wet, nasty day. So, instead of full day of fun outside, they were stuck inside the gym for a whopping 60 minutes playing "Butterfingers." It sure freed up my schedule, but I felt for them getting gypped again. Somehow, these three neighborhood buddies ended up on the same team. Pretty fun.

And finally, (finally!) after 2 dozen snow days this winter, the last day of school arrived. There wasn't any program or fanfare for the 5th graders, but there also wasn't any sadness!

Marie, on the otherhand, had a cute little program, complete with songs, poems, and awards. It was sweet.

 

They also showed a slideshow from the year, where I caught these girls giggling, singing, and dancing along. There's a lot of personality there, I can't wait to watch them grow up (or can I).

 

It was a great year, and I couldn't have asked for a better start for Marie!

A colorful, HAPPY day!

I'm not really a runner. I don't run dozens of miles every week, and I'm not very fast. I have no desire or intention of ever running a marathon, or even a half. A sprint triathlon sounds pretty fun, but only if I can improve my swimming. That being said, I LOVE a good 5K. Short and sweet, with a fun energy about it.

   

So when the COLOR Run came to Hershey, I jumped on that band wagon pretty quickly. And when Kevin said he wanted to do it, too, I covered my shock well, said "Great!" and registered him before he could change his mind.

We registered just in the nick of time, literally minutes before it was filled. I had no idea how popular it was, or how packed it would be. Call me naive, I guess. Unfortunately, it was so packed, that I could've walked faster than we ran, but oh well. Once we saw the type of race it was, we really wished we would've brought Kyle with us. Shoot, maybe even Marie could've done it.

We had a quite a few friends running, also. We ran into the Carr's along the path and partied with them afterwards.

We had a blast doing it, but I think next time will be a family affair. Our kids would love it.

Afterwards, we hit up Hershey Park (happy!) for some fun with friends. We're pretty lucky to have these guys. Greatest friends ever. Now, would somebody please adopt an 11-year-old boy so Kyle can have a friend?!

Someone, who shall not be named (ahem, KYLE) had a bathroom emergency while waiting in line for the Sidewinder. So we used the bathroom, then entertained ourselves during our looong wait for the rest of the gang to get off.

Matt is basically a fully-grown child and prides himself on beating other innocent children at amusement park games. He's been known to gleefully rub stuffed animals in other childrens' faces as he walks away.

So you can imagine Kyle's excitement when he crushed him at the water-shooting-game-thingie. Kyle was pretty stoked, although he did refrain from any celebratory dances or face rubbing. I was proud of him.