Tanessa's 8th Grade Graduation

Tanessa graduated from the 8th grade on Wednesday. I was exhausted from spending the two days before decorating for her dance, and yet, I managed to keep my emotions in check! We had a huge thunderstorm that came just a couple hours before. Luckily, it passed and the weather was nice and cool.

Tanessa after receiving her diplomma

Tanessa and her BFF, Cali

Tanessa and her favorite teacher, Mrs. Shaw

Tanessa and Uncle Corey

My mom, Tanessa, and I

Our family

Tanessa, we are so very proud of the young lady you are becoming. You are beautiful inside and out. You are strong in your faith, and you stick to what you know is right. You don't follow the crowd and you stand up for what you believe in. You have made great accomplishments this year like honor roll and student of the month. You are going to go far in life and high school will just be the start. We love you!

Happy 9th Birthday Ali!

Last Sunday was Ali's 9th birthday. She had a sleepover luau here at the house with her friends. They swam in the freezing pool, jumped on the trampoline, beat a pinata, and played the limbo. I lucked out because most of the girls were really tired and when they started the movie at 11:30, most of them fell asleep right away.

The girls playing Marco Polo in the pool

How low can you go?

A new bike!

The gang: Tanessa, Shayla, Ella, Samantha, Ali, Tayah, Maddy, and Spencer

Happy Birthday Ali! You are smart, funny, independent, athletic, and sometimes a little too sassy. You wear your emotions on your sleeve, especially when you are tired, and you always give 100% no matter what you are trying. We are so proud of you and love you so very much!

A little catching up to do......

......our month so far in a nutshell!

Ali's Day at the Farm

Ali went to the farm the same day as Spencer, just a little bit later. The older kids got jipped a little because they didn't get to do as much as the little kids. But she still had fun. Ali's favorite part of the trip was the bunnies, just like Spencer. Hmmm.....are they trying to tell me something?

Ali petting the miniature horse

Ali brushing up on her roping skills

Samantha, Ali, and Tayah

Ali loving the bunnies!

Spencer's Day at the Farm

A few weeks ago, Spencer went with his class to the high school farm. They watched a lamb being sheared, got some seeds from the green house to take home and plant (which dumped in my car and never made it to the ground), learned all the things they make from a cow besides meat and milk, pet pigmy goats, rabbits, and miniature horses, practiced roping and sitting in a saddle, and got to sit on the tractor. They had a lot of fun. His favorite part about the farm was seeing the bunnies.

Petting the miniature horse.

Spencer and Trey

The Pigmy goats were so cute!

Spencer's favorite.......bunnies!

Tanessa's Track Meet

A couple weeks ago, Tanessa had a track meet. Tanessa didn't technically qualify but her p.e. coach said that he would find a place for her because she was such a great team player. So he threw her in the triple jump and tug-a-war. Poor kid, she had no clue what she was doing in the triple jump but she did her best and kept a positive attitude!

Next was tug-a-war. At least this was a team event but her poor team did horrible. I think it lasted for a few seconds before the other team yanked them all over the line. They did get a second place ribbon, even though there were only two teams. That was lame. But she had fun and it was worth it to her to miss school for the whole day. And I got to hang out with friends so it was worth it to me, too! :)

Ali's Game Ball

Ali got the game ball in her game a couple weeks ago. First of all, she had a really good hit. Then she was playing second base and the batter hit a line drive right to her. She caught it and then threw it to first before the batter tagged up and got the runner out too! It was so exciting. All Ali cared about was that she finally got a game ball. Then I figured out that she didn't have a clue what she did, that the batter was automatically out when she caught the ball and that the runner had to tag up. She said, "I was just throwing it to first like I'm supposed to." I explained it all to her which must have sounded like, "Blah, blah, blah....." because a few games later she got out because she didn't tag up.

In more recent news, Ali has been wanting to try pitching. I told her that she probably wouldn't get to do it this year (her coach isn't one to try new things), so we've been practicing at home. Well, the other day at her game we were ahead and Coach Steve said he would put Sami in to pitch the last inning. Dany said that he needed to try Ali because she was doing good at practice. So, Ali got her shot at pitcher. She did really well. I was surprised.......and very nervous! She struck 2 girls out. She was very happy and she said she wasn't even nervous. Good thing I was nervous enough for the both of us! Of course I don't have pictures, go figure. Thank you Dany for helping Ali get her chance to pitch!

Rain Rain.....

Rain, rain, please stay. We want to come out and play! My kids love the rain. They love to go outside and play and splash. Of course, usually when it rains it is cold so I don't let them. But last Friday when it started to rain, it was still pretty warm so I let them knock themselves out!

They built this fort out of umbrellas

I told them not to get soaked....I don't know why I bothered!

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy!

Spencer lost his very first tooth the day after his birthday. His permanent tooth had been growing in behind the baby one for awhile so it wasn't getting very loose. Then he bit into corn on the cob at dinner and that really moved things along. But it still didn't come out on it's own. So we took matters into our own hands. When he came home from school Wednesday, I gave Dave the "look". He went and got the string. Yes, we are into torturing our kids. We've done it to the girls, too. They let the darn things hang there forever until we get tired of it and then I hold the kid while Dave puts the string around the tooth and pulls. Actually it's more like a tug or a yank but "pulls" sounds more........humane? It's really not as bad as it sounds. The tears stop after a few seconds and then they are excited to see their tooth and put it under their pillow. Spencer got $3 from the tooth fairy.No children were harmed during this event. (Well, physically anyway......hopefully no long term emotional damage exists either!)

I Wasn't Sleeping!

Famous last words. Or I should say, famous first words. Whenever Spencer falls asleep when he doesn't mean to (like when we're driving in the car or watching a movie or something), he wakes up and we'll ask him how his nap was. He gets mad and says he wasn't sleeping and then we argue and never get anywhere! So the other night when it happened while watching a movie, I got proof!