Swimming!

Drat.  We forgot to take our annual first day of going to the pool picture.  This was our second or third trip but it will have to suffice.  Nicholas is behind Samuel refusing to be in it.

Summer Project Fun

Whenever I say, "Let's do a puzzle!" I'm met with a chorus of Nos.  But if I dump it out anyway....

 Most everyone ends up enjoying it.

 We made a trip for truck parts and raided the clearance section of the Hobby Lobby by the dealership.  Philip loved coloring this bank.

 Nick painted an N.  Julia got a fun coloring book too!

I made the littles do some school work lest anyone completely forget everything they learned last year.

Philip decided to paint his Christmas gift from Augustine.

Samuel helped me to convince Nicholas to write his name.  He can do it...when he feels like it.  Which isn't often.

Nicholas built this table for his lunch the other day.  But did not want it documented with a picture.  Too bad kid.

 These were so fun we might do them in Kindergarten.

Wait, kindergarten?  Did I tell you about that?  We don't have a Kindergartner this year.....Read the previous post to find out!

Big Changes

Well all.  Big news here at our house.  Nope.  Not pregnant.  Good guess though.  :)  I'm going to be teaching again next year!!!!!!  Just part time.  There's a little Catholic school about 15 minutes from our house where I'll have Kindergarten for Reading and Science and also teach Computer for most of the grades.  My old friend and pastor Fr V is there and he was kind enough to make the position work for both their school me and my family as well.  They are so small that most of their classes are combined grades.  Next year they were set to have 23 kids in K/1!  That's a lot with just one grade.  Juggling two grades it's really a lot!  They were considering different options for what to do and thanks to lots of prayer, Father's confidence in me and a St. Therese novena, I got what I think is the perfect job for me right now!  I'll be there 3 or 3 1/2 hours everyday and Nicholas will be able to attend their preschool the same hours that I'm teaching so we won't need any childcare!  That's such a blessing!  With only 2 1/2 years of classroom experience (in 5th grade!) I'm a wee bit....terrified about being responsible for 12 kids learning to read but we'll be fine.  That's what kids do, right?  They learn.  And I really do honestly love teaching, watching kids learn to read will be a privilege.  Anyway say a prayer for all of us, it's going to be a fun but life changing adventure!

Mini Adventure

We were supposed to have an adventure yesterday because Jeremy needed us to drop off some truck parts and I figured we might as well have fun if we were driving that far.  Then his truck driver was going to be within a few miles of the shop we were headed to so Jeremy just sent the parts with him.  The littles were disappointed, the bigs not so much.  We decided to have a mini adventure instead.

 
I dropped everyone but Nicholas off on the southeast corner of the lake.  They biked the path across to the playground (a little over a mile) and Nicholas and I met them there.  Nick and I didn't go because his training wheel bike doesn't work well on the gravel path.

After we played at the playground, Samuel, Thomas and Philip biked on the path to the northeast side of the lake and Julia, Nicholas and I picked them up again.  Maybe next year Nick will learn to ride two wheels and we can all go!

It Was Time

She hadn't had it cut since the summer before 1st grade.  She definitely had enough to donate, if they want her slick, easily breakable hair.

 She's very happy with it and our wonderful hair dresser let her try a little hair chalk.

 See the tiny bit of pink there on the side?  Hair chalk is meant to come out easily and it sure did.  There wasn't much left in a couple of hours but she enjoyed it while it lasted.

I think we'll both be happier with less hair to take care of!

Super Hero Obstacle Course

Last week I taught most of my fun summer classes but the last two were Monday.  Philip really wanted to go to the super hero themed one but the three middles have Vacation Bible School this week and I didn't want to orchestrate all that extra running him around.  We'd already done the craft at home to see how it went so it was really only this obstacle course that he wanted to do anyway.  Being the great mother that I am, I brought it all home and let them try out their super skills.  

The more gear you wear, the better.

First you had to cross the flaming lava pit.

Then jump the buildings (which all the kids had helped me make last week).  Nicholas came up with his gear himself because he did not like the paper masks.

 Lastly you had to make it through the laser beams without cutting off any limbs.  Thomas lost a finger but everyone else made it through okay.  

They loved it and when it started to rain we moved it into the basement where they continued the game for quite awhile.  Thomas participated as Captain Underpants.  And I had to promise not to post those pictures.  :)

More Writing

This says Mississippi.  Why?  I have no idea.  Where did he learn that word anyway?  And then after I took the picture and went back to making dinner he gave himself tiger stripe "tattoos" all up and down his arms with the marker.  Thankfully they washed off pretty easily.  

Grandpa Roy Classic

It was Samuel's turn to make dinner and he chose Pineapple, Barbecue Chicken Kabobs.  He's actually made two meals, neither of which I documented with pictures other than this one.  Anyway, I hate grilling kabobs.  They always stick to the grate and the skewers burn even when you soak them awhile.   So I decided to pull out Grandpa Roy's old hamburger cookers.  I lined them with foil that I sprayed with cooking oil then we put in the kabobs.  (Those last two on the top didn't fit.)  They cooked great and turning them over was so much easier!  I did burn myself a few times because I kept forgetting that the handles get really hot too but I'll have to remember this trick.  And let Samuel do the turning next time, he could handle it.

And a side note, Thomas has made two nice meals too.  Pork Tostadas and Sloppy Joe tator tot casserole.  Yum.

Summer Fun

We've been busy with all sorts of summer fun.

Driving and riding.

Working on projects.  I really liked how these turned out and that they are pretty simple to make.

 Rock hunting in our own yard.  And when they started to get bored I pulled out an oldy but a goody.  "How about you wash them?"  Thank Grandma Irene for that one.  :)

Nicholas got to spend a few days with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Mike during the week I taught my classes.  He was there over the weekend so Jeremy decided it was the perfect time to take the bigger kids to a Latin Mass.  He's always wanted to do that.  So off we went.  It was interesting to see how well we could follow!  Afterwards we hiked a little at a state park.

Daddy's favorite (and most effective) way to keep the van quiet-ish on the way home from an adventure.

Lots of summer adventuring to come I hope!