What We've Been Up To

We are finding ourselves coming and going these days. It seems like whenever I think I am going to sit down and make a post, the night is gone and I'm ready for bed...not ready to stay up longer. I am going to try very hard to post more since all my kids are now out of school. We have been very busy the last several weeks, attending award ceremonies, ballgames, and school events...you name it, we've been there! I hope you enjoy the pictures. Here we are at one of Caleb's ballgames...









The boys were each awarded a certificate for participating in Accelerated Reading at school this year. Justin made it to the stage since he read over 200 points and Caleb (the overachiever of the family) read over 780 points! He came in 2nd in the school and was only beat out by a 5th grader in the gifted and talented class! The cut off for AR was a couple of weeks ago, but Caleb was bound and determined to meet his personal goal of 800 points by the end of the year....and that he did. He finished with 800.3 points. I asked him what his goal for next year is and he promptly replied...900 points. He really amazes me sometimes!



Of course, the pool is open for business, so the kids have been in the pool everyday this week, even if it has only been for a few minutes before or after all the ball games....











On Friday Justin graduated from Hershey Elementary School. We had a little surprise celebration at home...



Justin and his teacher...



Group project - building a bridge...











Here is a picture of Justin batting...



So with that, I'm going to head off to bed. Tomorrow is a big day for us as we will be celebrating Evan's first birthday with friends and family. As I get older, I realize more each day, how important it is to make memories of all the wonderful milestones that God gives us through our children. I will share pictures soon!

Swimming Time

Friday night after the rain, we shocked the pool. I have been messing with it all week and haven't been able to get the water to clear up. On Friday I decided to take in a water sample to the pool store in hopes of getting the water clear by this next weekend. The answer: no free chlorine level, so we did a HUGE shock treatment. You can tell by the meter that we were way over the normal amount of chlorine. We usually swim when the yellow color matches the 2nd from the bottom. YIKES!



By today, the level had dropped quite a bit, so I let the kids get in and move the water around. This usually helps clear the water up faster and they had a lot of fun! Hopefully the water continues to improve since this is going to be a HOT week! Even Evan enjoyed sitting on my lap and kicking his feet on the top step.



The first swim of the season is always one of the best!

Evan's New Shirt

I bought Evan this shirt at a garage sale for $1.50....cute!!



Here he is showing off his sandals...



Today he decided to wave at Daddy when he came home...



Tonight I am able to post on the blog since both boy's ballgames were rained out. It's amazing how much time you have when something gets cancelled!! Now I need to go and sort pictures on the computer so I can make some prints this week and then sort out my coupons. Have a great night!

The Family vs. The Stump

We dug...





...and dug...



Then we paused for a picture...



...and continued digging...










When we could put our hand under the stump...(note: picture is upside down)



...we decided it was time to get serious...





...and the family won!

Working in the Yard

Tonight we decided to get some work done outside, and I'm really glad the weather is going to be nice tomorrow since we have more to get done. Tonight while Justin and I mowed, Evan slept in his swing...I guess we were boring...



Justin was happy when we were finished...



But then we put him to work on the stump...



...and Sean started the process of opening the pool. When birds start taking over, that's usually a good indication that it's time to open her up! I was going to take a picture of the bird, but it flew away...but here is a picture of Sean...



I also noticed that the cabbage that Caleb planted is doing quite well and the rhubarb is HUGE!!!





And I will leave you with a picture of Evan and some of our Friday garage sale finds....I think I paid $4.50 for everything!! I love garage sales!



Well, I guess that's it for now. I will post baseball pictures of the boys next week. We didn't get any good opportunities to take pictures this week, but they will be coming soon!! Have a great weekend!

Take Me Out To the Ballgame

.....at 8:00 p.m. on a school night??

Yes, that is when Emma and Erin's game was tonight in Delphi...nice....I'm sure tomorrow morning will be grand in our house!

Tonight was special because Nena and Poppy were able to come to the game. The girls thought this was great!



Both girls hit the ball at some time during the evening, so that was fun. Erin made two runs for the team and Emma made it to 2nd base.





After the game, Erin came up to me and said this: "Hey Mom....the coach says that the winning team gets a popsicle from the concussion stand!" "What?" "I mean the compassion stand!" "What?" (look of confusion). "Oh, you mean the concession stand."

They were pretty proud of the prize!



Tomorrow Justin has a game, so I will be sure to post some pictures. Good night!

Fun Deal

It's been awhile since I have had the time to post a good deal on here. We have been so busy with end of the school year activities and baseball games!!

Anyway, I have had so much fun at Meijer the last two weeks with this fun deal! Two weeks ago I was paying $1 out of pocket for 3 boxes of these snacks. At the beginning of this week, I was paying nothing (I found peelie coupons on the boxes), and by the end of the week, I was making $1 for every 3 that I purchased (due to a new Buy One Get One Free coupon)! Now, that's a cool deal....especially with all the snacks I get to provide for 4 children and their classrooms, baseball teams, swimming lessons groups.....the list goes on!!

We could start a small snack store in our basement, I'm sure!



The fun part of deals like this, is that the kids had several opportunities to chose the kind of snack they wanted to eat. It's always fun for them to have a say in what I buy and it's neat for me to see their excitement.

This week both boys will start playing ballgames, so I will be sure to find some time to post some pictures of everyone playing ball.

I will leave you with a few pictures of Evan modeling some of his favorite clothes. Check back later this week for more pictures of the big kids!