Finishing up school

The end of the school year is always a whirl wind.  In 3rd grade they hold a classroom store at the end of the year.  Of course, Ainsley Grace wanted to sell donuts!  We had so much fun making them together.  Unfortunately, the kids at school had never had a cake donut made from whole wheat flour. Oops.  But she had a great time...  She also finger weaved a bunch of strings to sell.  That worked out great! 

 

 

While running an errand to get supplies for donut making, Whit saw the rides outside Fiesta.  He proceeded to SCREAM the entire time in the store until we paid and left so he could ride.  He is training me quite well.

The kids now have a complete obsession with the Rainbow Loom.  I went to the store and bought Ainsley Grace one because she really was persistent on how bad she wanted one...   She was excited when she opened it.  Quickly afterwards, Lexi looked at me and asked, "Why didn't I get a Rainbow Loom??!"  So, I gave her the extra one I bought as a gift.  I didn't know she wanted one??  Now they can be looming sisters.  THEN, Anderson followed the girls around and bugged them sufficiently to earn his OWN Rainbow Loom.  And when Buddy's friend came over before soccer to play for a little bit, what did they do?  Hide and seek?  Chase?  No, they loomed bracelets......  And here are the girls looming with their friends.  

  

Lexi also has a school business.  Her and her friend found something to do with the millions of index cards they have at school.  They decided to color bookmarks and sell them.  One draws the mouth, the other draws the eyes.  She comes home periodically and uses my laminator.  They have quite a business going.  Here are two of the Dweebs as they are called.  Cute.

Here is a picture of a paper Ainsley Grace wrote at school.  It was such a sweet story, the teacher tells me her strongest area is writing.  

Here is Whit lounging on this brother.  And visa versa.  

Well, here they are on the last day to wear Uniforms.  This is AG's last day to wear a jumper!   

Whit and I ran by the library to grab some books the kids had requested.  It lasted for about 2 minutes.   Wild man, he cannot sit.  It's just impossible.  He must stand or move.  Or lay. 

Stan and I went to a party before school was out... We were the last to leave.    Doh.  And there is Stan doing the earthquake machine at the Perot Museum.  We went to a work party there, it was fun because there were no lines!  Stan could earthquake as much as he wanted....

Here is Lexi on the official last day of school.  She got her blue bonnet books award, she was very excited.

School is finally out!  I'm soooo happy to have my kids home.  My goodness, they are now 6th, 4th and 2nd graders.  WOW.

Porch Party

It was our turn to host our neighborhood porch party.  Every Friday everyone in the hood shows up at a designated porch.  It's BYOB.  It's simple, easy and fun.  It was a great turn out, great weather, nice time.  While this neighborhood makes me crazy, it definitely has it's perks.  Friday's are good here.

"I can do anything better than you, better than you, bet better than you..."

Anderson can bust a move.  He loves to dance.  When I found out there was a new hip hop class just for boys his age starting at the EXACT SAME TIME his sisters were in gymnastics, it was a no brainer.  His wonderful teacher somehow managed to get these wild, loud, energetic boys to follow choreography.  They were great.   Anderson's main move as always been to sit on the floor and spin around - a natural break dancer he is.   But now he has added more moves to his repertoire.

He started the dance by standing in the middle and beckoning them out.  I had a hard time getting it recorded.  So the recordings are of the rehearsal and I did get the finale recorded...  I LOVE watching him!

I can do anything better than you, better than you, bet better than you..........  SORRY FOR ALL THE VIDEOS..... feel free to skip.  ha!

The girls had their violin recital today.  The church where they hold the recital lost power.  So you will see the wind blowing because the doors were open.  Lexi played Long, long ago with the extra bowing... I love this song.  You hear the simple version first, then they play the variation.  Sweet.

 

Ainsley Grace played Minuet 1.  Not an easy piece for her 2nd finger.  C natural.  She finally got it.  Precious!

 Whit layed on tables and chairs.  Here are Anderson and Daddy watching....  I love their recitals so much, I love to watch them and hear them play.  Great job sweet girls.  I know how hard you have worked.

Someone is going to be mad

No matter what I cook, SOMEONE gets upset.  It is impossible to make 6 people happy at the same time.  Here is a picture of the dreaded dinner that made one of my children decide they would rather go to bed at 6pm without food!  Panko crusted talapia and a green salad with avocados, green onion, chopped up apple and a few cherry tomatoes.  Horrible, right?  

If I make Tacos (kids favorite), Stan's not happy.  If I make Italian Chicken - Lexi's complains and makes me do all kinds of work arounds.  If I make any sort of green vegetable - Ainsley Grace pitches a fit.  If I make spaghetti and meatballs, Anderson says, oooh GROSS, and refuses to eat.  And unless it's red, round and on a stick, Whit will not be pleased.  

It's always something..... But, I vow to you sweet children of mine, I will keep feeding you HEALTHY food, even if you get mad!  

What just happened?

It seems like we just finished celebrating him turning 6 at the karate place yesterday... (Of course he is still really into Ninja's, so after we had our morning celebration he opened his Sensei Wu costume that he insisted on getting.)  But, this year, he really really really loooooooves Football.  So we planned a super fun football party.

 Here he is with his brother who thinks he is big enough to just fit in the regular seat.  Imagine the screams when I put him back in his baby seat...  I think they are still echoing in space.  We got the favors, we got the cake, we were ready.  






















I often refer to my sweet kids as My Team.  Here we are.  We were ready and waiting for his friends to show up.  Lexi looked the same in every picture.  She is good at making that 'I'm homeless and standing with weird people someone help me' face. 

His first friend to show up was his favorite friend.  

Everyone arrived!  Here is Anderson telling people rules he made up.  They played football and dodgeball.... The girls played too.  It was cute to watch.

 We love you Anderbud. What has happened to my Anderbaby?

Happy 7th Birthday beautiful boy.

Underground, Cars

Stan and I went to an underground dinner in Lakewood. If you don't know what those are its where a chef cooks for a small group of people in different locations around town. I have been following this guy for a while and we thought this would be a fun dinner to try.

This dinner had a theme to acknowledge all 5 living presidents in honor of the George W. Bush library opening. 

The dinner was at a house in Lakewood. We met interesting people. We had a great time.  I didn't think fast enough to take pictures of all the courses darn it. But here is the menu and 2 courses. So fun.

---

As I was driving along yesterday, Whit was being unusually quiet.  So, once I realized it, I turned around to see he had taken the sunblock stick and touched every surface within reach with gobs of it that he had dug out with his finger.......  No, actually, I don't care that I made "the biggest mess ever" with the sunblock stick...   We hung out at the car wash for an hour yesterday while the people helped me degrease my car.  I had to degrease baby last night.  Maybe he did it because he was tired and not naughty..... He is just too sweet to destroy my car.

 Our friends are moving so they borrowed Stan's truck and loaned us their car.  Ummm, we won that deal.  

Bud's life

Anderson is the most wonderful kid.  He is finally getting a life.  It's hard being number 3 seeing his big sisters get to do everything...  He still can't do as much, but he is starting to have some fun.  

He has a super fab new soccer coach.  They were playing around after practice one day and he told Anderson how to do a Bicycle Kick.  Now that's all he wants to do...  So cute.  



The second video is a video I found much later than when it was recorded.  See, he can make his own videos now.  He does have a life.  Thank goodness I get to share it!



He loves to draw, build stuff and do setups.

And he loves the drums.  He is lucky, his Piano teacher also teaches drums.  So he has given him a couple of tips....

I love YOU Anderson James.  You are the best little boy anyone could ask for.