Summer has officially started

 Look who is so excited to move up from Kindergarten to First Grade!!!!

 (this was right after they called his name to recognize him as moving up.)

 Singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider in English and Espanol.

 Jack and his reading and writing teacher, Mrs. Matela.  I was able to volunteer weekly in her class and loved watching all of the kids learn and grow over the year.  She is wonderfully patient and kind.

 Mr. Padron was the best kindergarten teacher.  He was thrilled with Jack's passion for airplanes and learning.  He found ways to engage with Jack on his level that were wonderful.  Jack loved Mr. Padron and had a great year.

 Outside the school.  I love that his school sits on the home site of Frederick Douglas and that they have a Frederick Douglas Club that puts on plays and has a speech competition.  Here's hoping that one of my kids will want to participate in this club.

Looking forward to 1st Grade with  a summer full of fun first!

Beach Time with the Cousins

 Just spent the week with the Patel and Perry cousins in Florida. 

 14 people in a beach house and 8 of them are 7 and under.  It was a great time.

 Heading to pool.

 Mike, Ryan and Jay all took turns throwing the kids in the pool. 

 Buried in the sand.

 Awesome face painting at Chik-fil-a.  Why oh why do we not have one in Rochester?

 Boating and no one got terribly sunburned this year!

Matinee with the cousins. Only 2 of the 8 were left standing at the end of the movie.

 Flying kites!

 By the end of the week, Ella was finally walking in the sand with bare feet and playing in the water.

All 3 men buried in the sand.

 Joshua flying through the air at the pool.

 I tried to convince Caleb to come live with us.

Another great week together!  See you at Thanksgiving!

Mother's Day

 All I wanted was a picture of me and my 3 little ones.  

I'll take it.

Bonus was the cute cards the kids made in primary and that Jack wrote that I am good at killing small spiders but not tarantulas. Life is sure an adventure with these three.

The Cherry Blossoms

We took a quick trip down to DC to smell the Cherry Blossoms and to visit some of our favorite parts of the Smithsonian.



It was gray but still beautiful. The I can't believe how amazing the blossoms look all around the Tidal Basin. This was one of my favorite parts of the day and the kids tolerated it.

On our way back to the Mall we stopped at the Tulip Garden. We were not the only ones to take in the delights of the day. There so many different types of tulips.

Then we took to Jack and Addy to the Air and Space Museum on the Mall. It was their first time to this specific Air and Space Museum and it was a hit. I am pretty sure that Jack's entire body was shaking with excitement the entire time we were in the museum.

Jack got to sit in a cockpit and try his hand at flying.

Addy found these SWEET Aviator goggles in the gift shop. She's been wearing them on and off since we returned. You may see her in Target or Wegmans with them on but I have not yet let her wear them to church. I chuckle every time she wears them. My favorite souvenir ever.

We then took a walk over to the Natural History Museum, rode the Metro back to our hotel to swim in the pool and then had dinner at our favorite Cafe Rio. (secretly, this may have been the entire reason for the trip. Sad, I know.)

The next morning we headed out to the BIG part of the National Air and Space Museum the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. We've been here twice before and Jack has the entire place memorized so he was our personal tour guide of his favorite parts of the place. It was like he was visiting his friends. "Let's go see Concorde." "There's Blackbird." "Addy, there's your favorite Orange Bi-plane." It was a great morning.

Loves Fighter Jets.

We'll have to go back to see the Shuttle Discovery now that it is being moved to this site. Can you see Jack pointing out his favorite Rockets?
This is my favorite photo of the day. Jack ran to the landing gear of his favorite SR-71 or Blackbird and sat in awe. The girls followed suit. We sat here for several minutes. Blackbird is Jack's absolute favorite airplane so getting to see it in real life is probably the most exciting thing in the world. If you don't know anything about Blackbird, I dare you to ask Jack. Just make sure you have enough time to hear all that he has to say.


We rounded out our trip with another trip to Cafe Rio, a visit to the Washington D. C. Temple and visitors center and were treated like celebrities in my Aunt and Uncle's temple missionary ward because we brought kids to a group of grandparents missing their grand kids. Absolute Celebrities. I recommend attending this ward quarterly:)

Accessorizing

Ella loves bracelets.
She often uses the cookie cutters as bracelets but this was something new . . .

She put every single pair of Addy's underwear on her arm.

I have to say that I was impressed with her ability to put them all on her arm.

Because it feels like a distant memory

Our winter was short and mild.

But we enjoyed every flake of snow by shoveling, making a snow monkey and going sledding.

Belle and the Beast

The kids met Belle when we were visiting Disney World and had no idea who she was because we had never watched Beauty and the Beast. That, however, did not stop them from being excited to meet this pretty Princess.

I checked out Beauty and the Beast from the library to watch for our family movie night this week. It was a HIT. Addy and Jack played Belle and the Beast by growing like the beast and dancing like princesses. Addy wore her princess dress and danced with Ryan during the ballroom scene. (melted my heart to watch) Addy has requested to watch Belle and the Beast every day. (she told me that is what she calls it)

Highlight of our current Beauty and the Beast obsession was on Monday when Jack and Addy had some friends over to play. Beauty and the Beast was on in the background as they played and when Belle appeared at the top of the stairs in her yellow dress, Jack silenced the room with a "Guys, Guys, it's the yellow dress. That's what she was wearing when I met her in Disney World." He made everyone stop what they were doing and watch Belle walk down the stairs. He even chastised me for walking in front of him because he could not see.

Needless to say, we are in high Princess adoration this week.