Back to School

Back to school already!  I can't believe it!  After a whirlwind of a summer, we're kicking off a new year.

Ali - 5th Grade

Emma - 3rd Grade

Meg - 1st Grade

Julie - Pre-K

The Fab Four!

Looking forward to a great year!

Happy Birthday Emma!

I can't believe how quickly nine years have passed!  She started out as my teeny little baby (6 lb 14 oz - seemed very teeny compared to Ali at 8 lb 5 oz!) and has grown to be our spunky, athletic, fun young lady!  Where has the time gone?? 

Happy Birthday, Dear Megan!

I can't believe it!  Six years ago today, little Megan Elizabeth graced us with her presence.  I enjoyed a little trip down memory lane today . . .

Happy birthday sweet girl!

Smile!

Meg lost her first tooth!  We discovered that it was loose a few days ago when she complained that her tooth hurt.  She wiggled and wiggled and wiggled, and then finally, I pulled it out.  She was a trooper, and is now very excited!

Here it is!

The tooth fairy was a slacker last night . . . but thankfully she remembered before Meg did.  And, thankfully she happened to have a Sacagawea dollar on hand.  So, now my little peanut running around talking about how the tooth fairy left her a gold dollar.

Right now she has a thank you note in her tooth fairy pillow "Thank you for the gold dollar" with a picture of a horse drawn on it.  So sweet!

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July this year!  We enjoyed several hours at Grandma Pattons house

Fun with the Slip 'n' Slide!

Meg had a great time with Anna (her 2nd cousin)

Ali & Emma decided to play softball this year.  Of course, they changed their minds before their first at bat, but not before Daddy could give Ali some batting tips.  I love it!

Once we left the Pattons, we came back to our house to swim.  Usually we spend the evening with the Alligood family, and we still did that this year . . . but we were short a few!  Jason was in Louisville, and Jonah & Karis were in Indiana with Grammy & Papa.  So we enjoyed our time with Amber & Aubrey . . . but we certainly missed the others!

Emma, Julie, Aubrey, Meg & Ali

The 4 Patton Girlies

There were no fireworks to watch in Pacific on the 4th this year, so Daddy shot off a few in our backyard (a first for us - I don't like fireworks!)  The girls loved watching that (from far away!  : )  )  We also did our usual sparklers, black snakes and whipper snappers.  It was great fun!  Amber & Aubrey even stayed the night, so once the kiddos went to bed, the adults enjoyed some fun chat time!

Pool Progress

Okay, so I've been a slacker in the blog department here lately!  : )

Basically, our lives have been eaten up with outdoor projects . . . namely the pool and the deck.  Here is a brief summary of our progress:

May 20, 2010:  After quite a bit of rain, this is what our pool area looked like.  We had started excavating it ourselves (or I should say, "myself") but Aaron's bum knee made that an insanely ridiculous goal.  We ended up paying our builder to bring in the Bobcat to do it for us!

I didn't take any picture in between these two stages.  Probably because I had no desire to remember what a pain in the rear end this pool was!  : )  A bum knee and RAIN made this a slow process.  Thankfully we have fabulous friends who helped us take down the pool (it was given to us by the son of our old neighbor in Eureka - Thanks John! - so we had to take it apart and move it), move the pool, and put the pool back together.  (A BIG thanks to Jason Alligood, Brian Elliott, Jim Younce, Joel Patton, Mike Thebeau & Craig Tweedy!  I owe you all a pool party!)

June 13, 2010:  The pool is ALMOST all the way together

June 17, 2010:  Swimming for the first time!  Of course, we are having to use Aaron's aluminum ladder to get in and out because we still have no deck to put our deck ladder on!

Four very happy little girls!

We finished the pool and moved almost immediately into building the deck.  (Because of the previously mentioned ladder situation.)  We workd through some heat advisory days (not so much a favorite!) but thankfully had a pool we could jump in every now and then!  : )  By this time, Aaron's knee is doing pretty well, so really, he has done most of the deck building.

June 30, 2010:  Our deck actually has some of the floorboards and the girls get to sit on it for the first time!

They immediately asked if they could name it!  : )  It has now been dubbed "The Cardinal."

I'll post again once the deck is completely done!

Fun with the McCauleys

We were so blessed to be able to catch up with the McCauleys again!  They are missionaries to Austria who we first met 2 years ago.  They are back in the States again for the summer, and it was great to see them!

The kiddos had a great time with the piano!

The McCauleys have had a new addition since we last saw them!  It was great to meet Elena for the first time!

Emma & Elena bonded quickly!  Emma loved holding a "baby" and Elena loved Emma's silky jammies.  Emma then got out one of her satin pillow cases and let Elena snuggle with it.  She LOVED that!  She spent a lot of time in Emma's arms, wrapped in a pillow case, sucking her thumb and playing with Emma's hair.  The sweet part is that Emma loved it just as much as Elena did!

All the kiddos together

Emma, Elena, Ali, Kati, Meg & Julie

Of course, I didn't manage to get a pic of Eric & Christy . . .go figure!

We had a great time and are so thankful for their service in Austria!

Let the Summer Fun Begin . . .

We are now almost one full week into our summer break, and we are living it up!  I have so much that needs to happen around the house, etc . . . But for now I'm trying to just relax and enjoy!

The big girls have taken to planning surprises for the little ones.  They spend lots of time planning and preparing.  It's very cute.  A favorite this week has been the makeovers.  Here's the set-up I found in my bathroom!  : )

Meg with her make-up on.  I must say . . . not bad for an 8 and a 10 year old.

Julie, waiting for her nails to dry.

Our next adventure this week has been at Route 66 State Park.  We've been heading up there to do some walking and biking.  It's always cool to see the turtles, snakes, birds, etc  . . . and the exercise in nice weather is fabulous!

This is Ali's first time on her new bike.  Sad, I know.  We bought it in the fall, and she never rode it! (Of course, we live on a gravel road, so the only time they bike is when we load up the bikes and go elsewhere.)  Anyways . . . Ali is really getting the hang of starting on her own.  I think this is the first time she has really enjoyed riding her bike.

Emma has been riding her bike proficiently since she was 5.  She zoomed around and had a blast.  (Sorry about the rotten pics, they are cell phone shots!)

This was Meg's first time on a real bike.  She had been using the Radio Flyer trike (which is strangely tall, so it fits her perfectly.)  Anyways . . . she did an awesome job, and was very proud of herself.  I think she was shocked at how easy it was.

And finally, we have Julie . . . this was also her first time riding a real bike.  In fact, hers is brand new.  (That's the problem with having 2 kids that are pretty much the same size!)  I was really impressed with how well she did.  She had a hard time getting herself going when her pedals were in an awkward position, but she quickly figured that out.  Her problem now is that she needs to watch where she's going!

(Figuring out that handy little pedal trick!)

Now on to our latest summer fun . . .

Today I told the girls that it was time to put on some junky clothes and go out and play in the mud.  At first they thought I was kidding.  Then I heard "Really!?  We REALLY get to play in the mud!?"  Ha!  It was quite funny!

Not so sure what to think of this . . .

Obviously Ali had a good time!  : )

They were very proud of their mess!

Now, THIS is what sisters are for!

Meg, sitting is what they affectionately called "The hot tub."  I assure you, there was nothing hot about it!  : )

Isn't she a doll?

Meg & Julie with their feet in the "hot tub."

While they loved playing in the mud, they didn't love getting hosed off afterwards!  : )  (And I didn't love the mess that it made in the house!)  It WAS kind of a cool day.  Well, it's supposed to get into the 90's this weekend.  Maybe we'll have to give it another try!

School's Out For Summer!

It's that time of year . . .  I am once again channeling Alice Cooper.  : )

School is officially wrapped up.  Papers are graded, hours are logged, report cards are filled out, and everything is in data binders for storage.  There is just something so satisfying to me about getting all of those papers bound up.  I take this same picture every spring, and I never get tired of seeing it!  :)  Of course, this year there are three of them.

So, summer here we come!

End of the Year Recital and Project Fair

Last night was our last "hurrah" for the 2009-2010 school year.  We finished up with our Spring Recital and Project Fair.  My girls have literally been working diligently on these projects for MANY weeks now.  Often even working on weekends.  They stuck it out and it all paid off!

Our Littles kicked off the evening by singing "Hey Diddle Diddle" and "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord."  Julie really felt the presence of an audience and was a total monkey on stage!  Oh Julie!  : )

Next our big kids performed "This Land is Your Land," accompanied by Mr. Alligood on the guitar.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, Bekah (my niece) opened with "The Star Spangled Banner"

Before playing, each kid first introduced themselves at the microphone, said how long they've been playing and what songs they were going to play.  Emma (having only played for one year) was the first to go!

Emma played "My Robot," "Indian Song," and "Horse Sense."

Then she played "Fairest Lord Jesus" in duet with Grandma Patton.

Next it was Karis' turn.  She played "Pedal Happy" and "First Sonatina Movement III"

Then she played "To China on the Black Keys" in duet with her Mom.

Next was my nephew, Blake.  He played "Morning Has Broken," "Robots Marching," "Roller Coaster Rhythm" and "Fur Elise."

Next it was Jonah's turn on guitar.  First he played "Buffalo Gals" in duet with his Dad.

Then he played and sung "Mighty to Save."

Next was Ali . . .

She played "Kum-ba-ya," "Alouette," "On the Bridge of Avignon" and 18th Century Dance."

Lastly, Bekah wrapped up our recital portion of the night with "The Hokey Pokey," "The Olympic Procession" and "Prelude in D(flat) major."  (Obviously I've already added her picture!)

Next it was time to head downstairs for our little "Project Fair."  The Pattons and Alligoods have spent this quarter learning about ancient Greece.  So, each of our kids picked a Greek god or goddess and did a project on them.  Bekah and Blake prepared projects for their project fair at school, and had them on display here as well.

I was totally a slacker Aunt!  I completely forgot to take pictures of Bekah and Blake's projects - so I stole Lydia's from her blog!  (Thanks Lyd!)  Bekah's project was on Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball.  She also made a website that she had on display on her laptop.

Blake did his project on George Lucas, complete with his little Star Wars figures and some pretty cool drawings.

Jonah chose Hermes for his Greek god.  He had great fun making his winged shoes!!  : )

Karis chose Iris for her Greek goddess.  She was very proud of the rainbow that she made all by herself.  She also had a paragraph on her board that started with, "Iris didn't really make the rainbow.  God did."  I love it!

Ali chose Athena for her Greek goddess and thoroughly enjoyed doing her project!

Here's the up-close pic of her board.  I can't even tell you how many hours this board represents!

Each of my girls had to write and illustrate a myth that involved their Greek god/dess.  Ali chose the story of Perseus and Athena killing Medusa.

They each painted a picture of their god/dess as well.  They are painted with acrylic paints on canvas.  I thought Ali's was pretty darn impressive!

Lastly, they each had to have some sort of 3D item that related to their god/dess.  Ali built and painted a model ship because Athena is said to have invented the ship.  The building part was much more complicated than we had anticipated, so Mom had to help with that quite a bit.  The kit arrived in the mail and the directions literally said "Look and the picture and figure out where the different pieces go."  So, yeah . . . Mom had to help with that . . . but other than that she did everything on her own!

Emma chose to do her project on Zeus.  She thoroughly enjoyed it, except for the fact that Zeus basically procreated with anything that had a pulse.  She pretty much came away thinking that he was really stupid.  : )

Here's her project board, close-up.  She had a lot of fun with those lightning bolts!

Emma chose the story of Prometheus for her myth. I have to say, I was seriously impressed with her work on this! It was hard work for a 2nd grader, and she did an awesome job!

This is Emma's painting of Zeus - he's sitting on his throne which has 7 steps leading up to it and each one is a different color of the rainbow.

And last, but definitely NOT least, we have Emma's 3D item.  This is the temple on Mt. Olympus, where 11 of the 12 main gods "lived."  (Hades lived in the underworld.)  Obviously, this temple doesn't actually exist, so she was able to use some creative license.  She loved doing this!  On the middle layer you can see Zeus and Hera's thrones (Zeus with the rainbow steps and Hera with the white ones - they were actually supposed to be made of crystal.)  The temple was said to be above the clouds on Mt. Olympus, hences the cotton balls.  She also has the other Olympians represented.

Sorry, I know that this has been an insanely long post, but you can't even imagine how much time went into preparing for this evening!  I have two thoughts now that it's over . . . the first is, I'M SO GLAD IT'S OVER!!!  : )  It's been a really long couple of weeks, but it all paid off.  The other is, that all of the kids did a fabulous job!  Seriously, I'm so impressed with all of them!  Way to go guys!