Finished with Fourth

Kamryn Rae is officially finished with elementary school. I know it sounds trite, but it seems just yesterday, she was a little girl running around in Ms. Bunch's Pre-K class. Now, 6 years later, she is moving on up to the Intermediate. The theme of their graduation party was based on the TV show Survivor. I worked with a committee of awesome women to put this together. It has been another one of those year-long projects that pays off in the end... the party was tons of fun, with a steel drum band, 4 inflatables, tribal paint, cool challenges (including one with live crickets), and an annual tug of war to end the day. How my feather-weight child ended up at the front of the tug-of-war rope is a mystery to me, but what she lacks in weight, she makes up for in competitive spirit. Just look at those fierce eyes. Congratulations to our girl. We are very proud of her!!!

This Woman is Amazing

She is 97.
She is reciting a cheer she learned as a child.
And with much gusto and volume I must admit.

Besides not hearing my dad's question at the end of the video, can you believe the with-it-ness of Granny I? Please tell me this is genetic.

Old Dogs Can't Learn New Tricks

Or maybe it just takes them a really, really long time. Since I've had my new camera (don't think it's considered new anymore), I've been trying to channel Kelly Stocksen. I actually thought that if I got her same camera that I could take pictures like her. Ha! Silly me. As hard as I tried, I couldn't even come close to her shots. Never can, never will be able to do what she does. But what I (and probably trained monkeys) can do is check out tutorials and follow the step by step instructions to improving my pictures. Here is one of my favorite websites for getting tips about Adobe Photoshop (which I can usually apply to Adobe Elements - Photoshop's Stepsister.) I would like to eventually get Photoshop, but I think it costs a gazillion dollars. So, with my humble little pictures and my scrawny little program, you can see some befores and afters. Remember, I am just a beginner!!! I have probably sharpened too much and washed out skin tones. I've got a long way to go, but don't be hard on me! It just takes awhile for this old dog.No, this is not my son...

Things We Do at Grandma's House

Coming Soon: Grandma I Leads a Cheer

Kissing Cousins and Loving Mothers

Will they hate me in a few years for taking this shot and then posting on the World Wide Web? I just can't help myself. Lauren's expression is just so pained, which is quite funny, and I unfortunately have to admit it looks as though my child is getting quite good at this kissing thing. Whether it's just to annoy the girls or he really enjoys it (Lord help me) I don't know. At the tender age of 4, he has learned the power of kissing. And now that I think of it, that cookie Lauren is eating looks yummy. Maybe he'd just like a bite of it.
The famous porch swing, which you can't actually see in my not so nicely cropped picture. I promised you all I would get better at my photography, and although my subjects are lovely, I don't see much improvement. It looks like my son is hexing me. Maybe that is my problem. Well, the hex didn't last long because Tom won the quilt drawing, which really means that I won it!
At least that was what I thought until I went home and walked upstairs to see the quilt neatly folded in half on HIS side of the bed, an obvious dig that he was the big winner. His competitive streak knows no limits. But, like a true victor, I did find myself peacefully sleeping under a certain purple quilt that night! Thank you Grandma I! You are awesome!

Sweet Summertime!

Wow! It's exactly 15 days since school let out... and well... here's what we've managed to do....

One week of vacation - Big Cedar
Visit to the Zoo - The kids LOVED it!
Luke's 5th Birthday party - a bunch of boys at the park!
plus 3 other birthday parties - triple the fun
Visit to Granny I's - to see her rescued Blue Jays
Family Reunion - Dad's Side of the Family
Trip to Woolaroc - haven't been there since the 70's
Basketball Tournament - Kami's not Tom's!

and I've actually managed to feed my children, you'll be glad to know. The baths, however, have been few and far between! It's crazy busy SUMMERTIME!

Contraption

The Princess of Hearts loves boxes and strings and jump ropes and pocketknives and rocks and paper clips and little bits of nature. It is in her pockets that I discover all sorts of odds and ends that she has collected throughout her day... bottle caps, pieces of string and all sorts of other interesting stuff. On a good day, you could say she's an avid recycler and on a bad day, you could relegate her to a pack rat. Anyway, she also has great, creative ideas about what to do with all of her stuff, and a couple days ago, after school, she set off determined to make a contraption. Using part of her collection (a box, jump ropes, pieces of yarn and an old white plastic parachute from an ORU game) she created a state-of-the-art-box-parachute that was supposed to fly open at the tug on the yarn. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't going to work, but just allowed her to experiment over and over and over again. She thought the air by the fence may be a little different than by the fort, so she tried each place several times. She also attempted different ways of jumping. The parachute never quite carried her to the ground the way she imagined, but I couldn't help but get a kick out of her t-shirt that day. The message couldn't have been any more perfect: "Little girl Big dreams"

There's A New Rae in Town

Ida Hope Rae-Rae to be Exact - Nana and Papa's new little Yorkshire terrier. Is she not the cutest 4 1/2 pound thing you have ever seen? They're going to call her Hope Rae, and I'm a little annoyed that now even the DOG can get in the Rae picture and I....... I am left out!!!! And as you can see below, Cosmo is pretty annoyed himself. You wouldn't think that a 12 year old 15 pound male would be intimidated by a 5 month old 4 pound baby puppy. But... Cosmo... he's been known to be spooked by leaves before. We'll see if he gets used to his new cousin. :)

I Kid You Not

I must begin with this DISCLAIMER:

While I never condone outlandish behavior, I nevertheless embrace the Princess of Hearts and her offbeat personality. I am no fan of tattoos, piercings or the like (I have lots of friends with tattoos... who I adore... just isn't for me), and my posting of this subject is not meant to embolden her on this matter. However, I love my daughter dearly. I trust God with my daughter's life, and I believe with all my heart that he is leading and guiding her. She has a heart that is sensitive to his Will.... she cried in her bed at night for months because she wanted to be bap-uh-tized. Her words were "my heart is telling me to do something for God!" I think she cried because she hadn't followed through on it. All that to say that this daughter of mine just does and says some of the lovliest yet craziest things. Case in point:

Most of her friends have their ears pierced. Her sister's ears were pierced at 7 and recently, Hallie and Brooke had theirs pierced. People have been asking her about it, and she always kind of shrugs apologetically. She really doesn't want to do it . So, I thought I'd better back her up on that. I encouraged her one day: "Honey, if you never get your ears pierced, that is just fine with me! Mommy doesn't care if you do or don't. I think you will be beautiful either way." Without missing a beat, she looked up at me with her piercing blue gray eyes and said dryly, "so what would you think if I got my lip pierced? What would you think if I got my nose pierced?" At least she asked me what I would think about it, but at that point I didn't know what to say! Do I freak out and scream "NO WAY?" or say "Yeah, cool?" I chose to just brush it off and pray for the best... that was until I found her with a nose piercing! See below! It turned out to be a little, silver, sticky, scrapbooking charm that she thought would look just perfect decorating her nose.

Awesome Azaleas