Thursday, June 21, 2012

Open House

The schools hold open house at the end of the school year for family and friends to see the students accomplishments during the school year. It was a fun activity for us as a family, we took a family picture at each school (which are on the external hard drive, so those will be uploaded later). The boys were excited to show their work, and it was fun to hear them talk about being in the same school next year, along with Elijah at the kindergarten school. It didn't hit me just how fast the school year went until I saw pictures from the beginning of the school year. Oh how my boys have grown!
 
This is what greeted us in Gabriel's classroom.

Rebecca's fascinated by the baby pictures, all from the students in the class.

Gabriel was proud of all his accomplishments in first grade.

Gabriel looks so young here, taken during the first weeks of the school year.


Matthew was showing me his art work which had been displayed in his class.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Summertime/update

***I thought I posted this a few weeks ago, and while changing a few things, realized I hadn't been pressing "post" Oops! I will be making those corrections, and getting the posts live. I am going to change the dates though, no reason why they should all say today's date when they were written weeks ago.***


Summer started two weeks ago at our home, and its been a slow and steady stream of fun activities. I am taking a different approach to the break, one I didn't expect to take, yet is working in our favor. My basic plan is to get out of the house everyday, whether its for a cold treat or a trip to the park. Only in thepast few days has it been too hot to venture out, but we've still made the best of it and have gone outside.

I have asked the kids about their favorite activities thus far, and I think for them it's a tie between time for legos and fort building. For me, its been family vacation bible school. For the past two weeks, we've gone to church on Wednesday nights, and have had arts and crafts, games, and a family dinner. It has been uplifting and carefree, and just open time for us to be together.

I have been taking pictures, yet have most of them on the desktop, or on my phone or facebook. We recently replaced our desktop with a new-to-us laptop, and I plan to add photos here so I can share how the kids have grown. It tends to be one of those things that have fallen to the back burner as of late, in part because the older computer was dreadfully slow. I am happy I'm capturing these moments, the kids are growing and changing right before my eyes. I wouldn't change a thing.


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Birthday

In May we celebrated Matthew's eight birthday. It seems like a lifetime ago we were bringing him home from the hospital-engrained in my memory is the drive him and I took when he was eight weeks old when we relocated to the Central Valley. He's an imaginative child, who has a thirst for knowledge, and a desire to see how things work. It has been frustrating at timees-but more because I don't know how best to channel that energy. Yet day by day, we work torwards finding that common ground. Happy birthday Matthew!


 My dad sent him a crystal radio kit. The love for building mechanical things seems to run in my family-and it carries to Matthew too.


 We gave Matthew a new to him bike-thanks to some friends of ours :)

I made cupcakes for Matthew's class-chocolate with vanilla icing and sprinkles on top. He was one happy kid.
 I took Matthew out for lunch on his birthday-his choice. He chose Carl's Jr and showed me just how his appetite has grown in the past year ;)


Our family went out for dinner for Matthew's birthday, his choice. He was one happy kid, no homework that night, cupcakes and lunch out with mom. The night was capped off by dinner out with the family. Life is good for this eight year old. We wouldn't be the same without him.