Royalty

The kids' imaginations are in full swing and we have a lot of fun pretending along with them.  This week, the kids were Kings and Queens for the day.  Each did an arts and crafts project to make these glistening jeweled crowns!   Here is Will just after he woke up and eating breakfast...he wanted to be King for the full day!

Natalie sports her masterpiece.

An not to be outdone, here is Amanda's work of genius!

 

Waterslide!

We purchased this great water slide (thanks to deeply discounted Internet specials!) for the back yard.  The brown truck delivered the fun last Monday, and the kids had to wait all week for us to put up the slide!  Every day we heard about how much they wanted to play on the water slide.  As you can tell, the kids were very excited to finally see the water slide inflate...

...and they had a blast once the sliding began!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to our wonderful Dad! We love him very much and appreciate all he does for us.
 
Here is the whole gang helping dad open his gifts (notice the great wrappings selected by the children....a flowery bags and candy cane tissue paper!).

 

 

We posed for the annual photo on the stairs.  We started with just the kids, and they were being silly.

The first photo of the family was the winner!

Dad and the gaggle.

 

We hope you all had a wonderful day, too! 

Summertime

Although the kids thought it was great fun to raid the coat closet and wear their winter hats, scarves and boots, it is now HOT here.  It was 107 degrees yesterday at our house!  Wow! 

 

Since it was so hot, we spent most of our day swimming in the pool.  All of the kids are taking swimming lessons and they are all making great strides.  It's nice for mom and dad as it means time in the pool is not nearly as stressful as it used to be.  We also spent some time in the kiddie pool, which is also fun.  Everyone took a turn spinning in the tube, which gets a big thumbs up across the board.

 

  

Miss Natalie shed a tear while waiting for her turn.  Luckily, the sadness did not last long and it made for a cute picture.

Miss Amanda, on the other had, was happy happy!

Before heading up to the tub, we decided to attempt a shot in the grass with all of three kids.  It was worth the effort.  This is my new favorite photo! 

 

Dreaming Big

The local pizza place we like best has not only yummy pizza, but also a store featuring some Italian items. Included among the Italian fare is a Fiat and a Ducati motorcycle. Obviously, it's not your average pizza place. Will took an immediate liking to that shiny, red Ducati on our first visit. He talked about that motorcycle all the time thereafter and, on occasion, he suggested that we take a trip back to the pizza place so he could see the motorcycle.

Will has also been saving up his pennies so he can buy new toys -- ones that are available in the dollar section. Recently, however, he decided he did not want just a toy motorcycle; he wanted the real thing! He asked us if we could go to the pizza place that night so he could buy the motorcycle. We were happy to oblige on the trip to the pizza place but warned him that he might not have enough money saved up yet to the buy the motorcycle. Undeterred, he packed up all of his pennies from his penny jar and put them into a little green bag that he carries all of his prized possessions around in. After we arrived and placed our pizza order, we went out to look at the motorcycle and flagged down one of the waitresses so he could ask if he had enough money to make the purchase. He was not the least bit shy. He walked right up to her and asked his important question. And when she nicely told him that he needed to save for awhile longer, he said "okay" and went on his merry way.

He is one happy boy on that motorcycle! It's good to have dreams! (Even if they are ones that Mom isn't particularly fond of!)

 

 

Natalie and Amanda think that the motorcycle is fun too!

 

 

A Day At The Museum

We have been meaning to take the kids to the Crocker Museum for some time and finally made it there this weekend. We had great fun. First, we checked out some art.

 

 

 

 

Will says, "look, Dad, that man (on the ladder) needs help."

 

 

And then we made some art.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We read some books.

And played with some blocks...

and magnets. 

 

 

 

 

And then we ate some yummy lunch in the cafe and took a few photos with Mom while we were waiting for our food. 

 

 

 

It was a wonderful and enriching day.