catch up (#1 the kids)

it's been a while, so I'm going to do some updates from the last few months...

Sydney and Ryan were in gymnastics class this year


yes, Sydney was able to climb all the way to the top

isn't this the cutest watermelon eater you ever saw??

Gretchen "helping" Dad mow the lawn

Ava's haircut

Ava played t-ball this spring...

in flip flops ;)

this was the closest we got to the tulip fields this year

Sydney decorated a cake in girls club at church

we studied ancient Egypt

I'm so proud

We started a home school co-op on Friday and the kids had a great time.

I was worried because Ryan and Sydney had 3 different classes and they had to go to different rooms. Ryan was especially worried, but they found the rooms and were so excited with their classes.I was especially proud of Ryan because he signed up for a cake decorating class and I talked to him before about how there might not be other boys in there (there were 2 other boys) and if some girls made fun of him to not get mad, just tell them that his dad likes to decorate cakes too.

Well, sure enough there were 2 girls who said he should leave and that the class was for girls only, and Ryan told them exactly what I had told him!! :)

Then he told them about some cakes that his dad had made for a couple of his birthdays and one of the girls said "cool" , the other girl wasn't convinced but that's ok.

The kids are so looking forward to Friday school, Ryan has a Lego class, cake decorating , and beginning Chess, I couldn't believe how well he can play after only 1 class.

Sydney has crochet, acting and drawing.

I don't have any pictures of the kids at Friday school, but here are some pics of them on a field trip with Travis from last week.

And Ryan's part 2 birthday picture, we had some cousins and friends (not that the cousins aren't friends) over to Grandpa and Grandma's shop to watch Jurassic Park.

Trip to Seattle Aquarium and Ryan's Bday part 1

Ryan turned 9 on Thursday (wow, almost double digits)! Travis took off work for Thursday and Friday, so we went to the Aquarium on Ryan's big day. For those of you who like the Seattle Aquarium, I'm sorry, we had never been, unless I had been as a kid and don't remember it, and we won't likely go back. The kids had fun , but Travis and I were very underwhelmed.

For the last few years we have taken the kids to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and we really like it. But, it's about 2.5 hours away so we thought we would try this since it was about 1 hour away.

I do really like the jellyfish,



especially THIS one!

I guess from looking at my pictures, I thought the most picture worthy things there were my kids! :)

I told you I was thinking about making something for Ryan, well, it all started with a pair of pj pants that little baby Ryan used to wear,

I saved them hoping that I could use them for something special, some clothes just remind you of your kids when they were babies.

Sydney was so happy to be helping make Ryan's special gift!

Ryan loved his new monster stuffie and it has a lot of friends on Ryan's bed.

second day of school

I don't know if this would be considered a day of "school" since I don't know that we really learned anything, but it come after the first day, so that's what I'm calling it.

Travis took Friday off work so we could go to the Science Center, I had high hopes of learning a lot , I even printed worksheets and fact sheets from their web site.

Once we got there, I realized pretty quickly that the kids just wanted to run around and look at stuff, so I gave up my idea and we had a good time.

We will try the "planned learning" another time, maybe without the 2 little girls.

Dancing and crafts

Last Friday we had a great time at the Bellingham Library, there is a great grassy area were there was a band and kids were selling crafts.

Saturday at the park

On Saturday we went to a arts and craft day at Hillcrest Park. We have gone for the last few years and the kids always have a lot of fun , and I always get some good ideas for crafts at home.

This is a fairy house that Sydney made.

Necklaces

Gretchen

Sydney's self-portrait



Sydney and Ava with the fairy house

Face painting

Magic wands