On an absolutely beautiful morning in early June, I took Eli down to the river to snap some pictures of him while he threw rocks in the river. He loves to throw rocks in water, so he was pretty distracted. I didn't quite get what I was going for, but here are a few.
Father's Day.
The picture below reminds me of one we have of Candice with a ball flying mid-air right towards her head, but this time it's a stuffed bunny.
Dan took an epic trip to Oregon to do some mountain climbing. I'd guess he'd want to write his own post about that...
Firefly season came.
Dan and the big kids slept in the tent in the backyard before Dan's trip so he could test it out.
When Dan was trying to pick a week for his trip, we thought a particular week would be good because we had nothing going on. After he booked it, we learned that Sam won an award at school for being respectful (which took place before school),
Sam and his amazing teacher.
Sam had a special event at a local high school where all of the gifted kids made products and sold them using fake money. Fortunately, Mom came that day to help out. Sam and his partners made stress balloons filled with cornstarch. Only one has exploded in my car, thankfully.
The same day, Afton won an award at her school for "commitment to quality."
I thought I would be smart and park in a small lot adjacent to the school with access to the middle school bus loop. Then I realized that it was time for their school to get out and I was stuck for 10 minutes.
That same night, Sam had his piano recital. Here's a clip of him practicing Harry Potter home.
The next day, our neighborhood had a community yard sale. We made a little money. Then the kids and I went to pick up Dan from his adventure! Hooray!
Sam's birthday was on a Thursday this year. He went to school and like I mentioned in the last post, Dan met him for lunch and brought Burger King (chicken nuggets, fries, and a giant soda). Sam LOVES Sprite so he was in heaven.
For dinner he requested baked potatoes. Dessert was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
He was really excited about that watch and has worn it every day since his birthday.
So many great presents!
We almost forgot to do our traditional picture, but we remembered right before bedtime.
For his birthday, Sam asked to do the ropes course at the Richmond Zoo. The Saturday after his birthday, I took Sam and Afton to do the course, and since Afton wasn't yet eight, I had to do it too. It was really fun and had lots of challenges that the kids liked, but my problem was that everything was built for a kid's height. So I thought it was really hard! The kids loved it, though, and it was fun to try something new and different.
Sam is such a sweet, sweet guy. He is so smart and thoughtful about things. He's also so innocent still, and we love it. At his dr's appointment, he was 75% for height and 50% for weight for his age. He loves soccer, reading, and the two games he's allowed to play on the computer. We love him so much! Happy 9th birthday, Sam!
The kids were looking especially handsome/cute one Sunday.
Below is Eli's smile when you tell him to smile. He likes to make this face at Dan when Dan's sitting up on the stand during Sacrament meeting.
Mother's Day.
The questionairre that Afton filled out at school about me said that I was very kind, we like baking together, and that I really love Texas Roadhouse rolls. She also made me a very large card with a hole in it that she sticks her face through and sings to me. Here she is. She forgot how the song went at first...
She's the sweetest. And so creative!
Sam hasn't brought home too many art projects this year, but the things he does bring home, I have no idea how to store. And he wants to keep them all. For example, he made a 3D "swordadile" which is a cross between a swordfish and a crocodile. It's 7 feet long and stuffed with newspaper. It's currently laying on the floor of his bedroom, and has been for the last 5 months. I keep saying we'll hang it from the ceiling, but it never happens. Here's something else he made - a mask using a milk carton, gatorade lids, and paper mache.
Dan sent me this cute picture of Eli while I was visiting with my parents and sister.
An FHE slap in the face, which I was oblivious to at the time.
And Sam's reaction.
Eli has started rubbing our shoulders during meals. He runs around to each of us and gives us a mini massage.
Dan met Sam at school for lunch on Sam's birthday. I'll do a separate post about that. Sam was in heaven with his giant cup of Sprite.
While Dan was at lunch with Sam, I was clearing a very small section of an old African-American cemetery with women from church. The cemetery has been neglected for the last 40 years or so and it is totally overgrown. We barely made a dent, but I actually found a headstone that was almost completely buried under a foot of dirt! So that was neat.
On a family walk around the neighborhood, Eli insisted that Dan take a picture of the kids together.
Another of Sam's school projects. He had to do a raised map of Samuel de Champlain's voyages to North America. The clay started to flake and fall apart before we even got it to school so I had to take a picture in case it broke in the car on the way. That thing was huge.
Sunday night Rummikub. I think I actually won this game. Only because Dan was really tired.
Thought this was funny. And true. I'd never heard of this fruit before. I googled it and it grows in Jamaica.
On a beautiful day, I decided to take Eli to the zoo. It's pricey, so we don't go often, but it was fun and he loved it all.
We celebrated Dad's birthday.
My newly manicured toe and the back of Afton's foot had an unfortunate collision.
For my Mother's Day present, I went to Homearama. It's a home show where 10 different builders build homes on one street and different designers design the interiors. It's a great way to get new ideas. We're planning on renovating the upstairs bathrooms in the near future, so I was mostly looking at that and lighting.
I was dying over this table. So beautiful!
Little brother waiting for big brother to come home.
