Happy Birthday Kira!

Kira's birthday was full of fun. We spent the morning at the beach.


It was fun for even those who did not go in the water.

And those who did get wet had fun, fun, fun.

After the beach everyone was so tired. Sam and Barbie played a game and Chloë for once took a nap on my lap!



That night Olivia, Kira, Barbie, Mike, Leslie and Jim went to Sea World to see the Shamu Rock show. I hope Mom will email me a picture.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Grandpa Mike. Our Dad had to stay in Mountain View, we miss him!!

Here is Kira seasoning the meat!

Sam helped make the mushrooms.

Here is our famous from with beautiful yellow sunflowers.

Below is Grandma Mimi with her great grand-daughter, Madeline.

love-love

It is tennis time in Phoenix. It was REALLY hot, but we had a great time. Kira, Olivia, and Sam thought it was just as fun to pick up the balls as it was to hit them.

Sam was pretty good. He had a LONG attention span. He would just stand there and hit ball after ball after ball.



Olivia also had a good time. She got much better as the hour went on.

the morning with Kate

One of my closest friends from high school, Kate, lives in Mesa. I called her to see if she and her kids wanted to come swim during the morning. It was fun to see her. She has 2 boys and a little girl. They are great kids. I hope we can have them over again. I would like to talk with her more.

Chloë had fun pushing Paige in the swing. I hear Paige can be a real terror. I bet she and Choë would get along just great!!!!

Here are Kate's boys and Sam and Chloë eating their popcicles.

Madeline was over also. She was very popular!

Phoenix Zoo

Here we are back in Phoenix and off to the Zoo. We did go on a train ride around the park to see the animals, but only after spending some time at the water park.

There was a small fountain that Chloë was getting close to, but a little afraid of!

This was a great water play area. It was a big mountain with water running all over and through it. Inside there were some "caves" and sides.

Sam found a peacoak he had to follow around.

Chloë liked sitting next to Poppy for the train ride.

Just before we left we went on a carousel ride. Chloë thought she liked it, until the ride really got going. She finally relaxed and enjoyed watching Leslie on the bench off the ride.

Historic Monument #1

My dad drove the kids and I to Phoenix so Daniel could keep working. I told my dad I thought it would be nice to stop by some monuments off the freeway. We always pass them, but never stop to appreciate whatever they may be. So of course he stopped at the first one we passed. It was for the San Luis Reservior off the 152 Highway.

We learned about this reservior that was constructed to collect all the water from the delta in the area.
We learned that it takes 698 1/2 gallons of water to make 1 hamburger. (At least that is what the vegetarians would have you believe. They are in league with the environmentalists to reduce infrastructure projects like building dams, reservoirs, and power plants, so that they can artificially create a water and energy crisis in order for government to step in to "control" consumption, thus forcing you to live their lifestyle.)

Jack and Rosie

We have two new members of our family.

Jack and Rosie. Jack is the fat black fish and Rosie is the white fish with a red head. Very cute.

SCHOOL IS OVER

Well, school is really over. The kindergarten class had a singing program for the parents. It was fun to watch.

On the left is Olivia's self portrait at the beginning of the year. On the right is her self portrait from the end of the year. You can see the difference. She has really progressed.

Joy School Graduation

Joy School graduation was a big hit with everyone in the family. We made a family flag, which Sam designed. He wanted a satellite. So I tried to think of qualities our family wants to have that a satellite has. That took some stretching to make a connection!! So here it is: our family- communicates between each other, is always learning, is actively moving and is happy (get it-not a sad light=sat lite)

Below is a better picture of our flag, but little. These are all the Joy school kids.

Sam is so CUTE!

Olivia's last day of gymnastics

Birds

This morning was very exciting at our house. A bird flew in the front door. Of course I screamed and Dory said, "What is the matter?" When I told her, she walked over to the little bird and picked it out of the horizontal blinds and gave the bird to Sam. You can see by the look on his face, he was very pleased to be holding this little bird. His eye is droopy but his smile says how excited he feels.

Chloë was also excited. She kept saying "Look Bird."

I was a little afraid that Sam was going to hurt the bird, but Dory said in the Phillipines on Sundays the kids would go buy these little birds called Mayas and play with them.

Guess who??

Maybe it is Daniel's bottom half of Lula's face

and the top half of my face

Field Day 2009

Today Olivia's class participated in Bubb's Field day. There were many fun events.

Such as bowling, hula hop races, gunny sack races and more!

This is Olivia's team getting ready for the hula hoop race.

Here is Cate and Olivia getting ready for the 3 leg run.

artificial marshmallow

Until this afternoon I have never had a Hostess SnowBall.

I am here to tell you, if you have never had a Snowball,
GO GET ONE!
I just loved it, but I also love the marshmallow chocolate pinwheels.
It must be the artificial marshmallow!!

Kindergarten Open House

Olivia just LOVES kindergarten. She is very sad that there are only 6 days left. Olivia has a natural love for school. I have never had to nag her to do any school work. She loves writing and coloring.

Paige and Olivia

Olivia also loves friends. After a few months of school her teacher said Olivia felt like she had no one to play with. The teacher said none of the kids have cliques and everyone plays together. After talking to Olivia we found that she finds it hard to approach a group of kids playing and ask if she can join in the game. I let Olivia know that is a hard thing for adults to handle and that she was very brave. We have prayed with her to help her have courage to approach kids and ask to play with them. Since then, Olivia has become better friends with most kids in her class. I am very proud of her!
Ethan and Olivia

Mrs. Engelhardt just told me that Olivia has the best penmanship in her class! Earlier in the year she classified Olivia as one of the "happy" children and was glad to have Olivia in her class.

Here are some more of Olivia's friends: Cate, Ally, and Sara.

One of these girls is a high functioning autistic. She has an aid that comes to class everyday. Her aid asked me if I thought Olivia would mind having a few play dates with the child because Olivia has such an even temper and is patient. The aid thought Olivia would be able to play well with the autistic girl. I spoke with Olivia and she said it would be fine. The two girls had fun and some good teaching moments arose for the girl. This is just another example of how great our Olivia is!

Uncle David

Here is Uncle David doing something he is good at- taking care of Loula... but...

Uncle David does get himself into trouble. He and the baby took a tour of the backyard, but then he let her eat some leaves off a fruit tree (which he says are not poisonous) and when she spit up the leaves he put them on her eyes. I don't know about this!!!!!!!!!

TOO Many

Someone once told me you know you have too many kids if you end up
away from home and one of your kids has no shoes on.
So today I took all 3 kids to pick up Olivia from school. When we got
to school I realized that all 3 did not have shoes on!
I guess I have too many kids. But I love them all, even if it
means a day full of shoesless errands!

...and yes that IS an Ariel tattoo on Sam's leg!