Earlier that day Evie was playing Never Enough from the Greatest Showman over and over again. I caught her intentionally (?) singing super off key. Then she and Terry proceeded to put on a show for me. We love this video.
A week or so later, on July 12, we made our annual trip to Sioux Park pool.
Little Dwidge
Samuel
Evie
Haircuts were had before we went to the pool. Although they look so cute with their long hair, they sweat like their daddy, and it gets all wet.
Who is that child?
In lieu of a summer job, we just tried to keep Noah busy with odd jobs (It wasn't enough. He needs a job next summer.). This day, July 13, he and Terry got up crazy early and helped Ed and Sue load up a trailer and truck of hay for their horses. Twice.
On May 8th, Evie, Samuel, and Ezra wrapped up another year of Awana. Grace is pictured here too.
Zoom of the boys.
Good job Samuel. He improved a lot this year.
Ezra did well too.
It was Evie's very last year of Awana.
She is an excellent memorizer. She and Noah have both been and it just blows my mind how easy it is for them.
Additionally Evie received an extra special honor as the girl Leader's Choice award. Noah won the same thing back in 2013 and though Evie wouldn't actually say it, she was really hoping to win. Like I said, she truly did a great job.
Already it doesn't seem possible Noah was ever this small.
Even though we all had eye appointments March 12, we didn't get Evie and Noah their new glasses til April 26. Oops. She got some nice blue ones. They complement her skin better than pink. I should know. She has pink skin like me.
Samuel tried on all the boy glasses that Noah didn't like. He's so cute. I don't know why I don't have a picture of Noah! Maybe because he already had contacts.
We had sold Terry's 1998 Malibu on Noah's birthday and got this from Terry's dad to replace it, his Equinox. It was mega dirty so he gifted us a cleaning detail coupon he had won on a radio action.
Good as new (it needed a few other things fixed too).
The next day, April 25th, I was taking the littles to a birthday party at the mall and while in route got the news that Terry's grandmother had just passed away. She had been sick in the hospital for a day or two and was going downhill quickly. I was in a super hurry to get up to the hospital to be with the family and accidentally brushed too close to a beautiful white truck while trying to park. I had been so distraught that I wasn't paying proper attention. Darn it. That made me even more upset. It wasn't like I could tell Terry about it right away like normal.
We went to the hospital, said our goodbyes to Gramma Dorothy and went back to the mall to pick up the boys.
Working on funeral stuff.
Jim came over a to have Terry help him put digitize of his home videos for the funeral.
During one quiet time that week I caught Ezra downstairs reading this beginning reader books aloud to himself. 💙 It was so great. Samuel did the exact same thing two years ago.
Ezra overheard reading and then a Samuel reading update. Love it.
Noah was also cruising through books. He finished his Algebra and second Science book. Thumbs up indeed. 👍
Noah had three of his seven track meets cancelled, including Custer's on Thursday, April 11th, due to crazy spring snow storms like this one that lasted for two or three days. Of course that wasn't the last storm we had. Just this last weekend in late May we had a storm that produced two feet of snow in the hills!
It was very heavy wet stuff.
I made my first attempt at gluten free cinnamon rolls (King Arthur). They had to be rolled out on waxed paper so that they could be rolled up by it too.
Like so.
They also had to be placed in muffin tins so they'd keep their round shape. Gluten free dough is just the worst (the gluten rolls to the left are clearly superior). However, the littles enjoyed the heck out of them.
Blizzard footage including the cat and dog and rolls.
The following day the littles got much needed haircuts.
He's so cute. I just want to eat him all the time.
Samuel has the sweetest eyes.
Also crazy eyes.
Bedtime bros.
The next day Ezra got pretty sick. I was worried about flu or strep but it was neither and he was fine.
Noah had his 8th grade standardized testing to do that weekend.
The following day, Saturday the 13th, Denise asked if I'd come along for a girls afternoon out. Um, yes. We visited the indoor rock wall for some expensive fun. Jazmin nailed this one.
Denise did the same move but her legs are shorter, which made her look cooler actually.
They all say I'm a natural climber but I don't know why. Clearly I can't do amazing stuff like this!
Back in March/April Terry and I watched Marie Kondo's Tidying Up on Netflix. We liked Clean House back in the early days of Gburg and thought we'd see what all the hype was about. It motivated Terry to declutter and clean his clothes out! Here he was trying to figure out if Luna "sparked joy" or not.
Again with the joy sparking.
A few weeks later we both went through our boxes of old things in our upper closets.
What is it about cats wanting to lie all over whatever it is you're doing?
Continuing the theme of tidying up, we got rid of two old couches, this green one we've had since 2007 when Noah wasn't even two yet.
And this gray one that was only five years old but was too cold for the schoolroom...and not durable enough for pets.
We bought a set of practically new and very gently used couch and loveseat from our friends Suzie and Eric.
We moved the old green loveseat and chair to the school room because they are in better shape and warmer.
I took the littles shopping one day during piano and got us all a snack to share. Look at them running for the Starbucks Java Chip frap.
It was funny how they were sharing.
I got them gluten free donuts and they were so pumped.
Back in November when Luna was last in heat, I threw out a plea on Facebook and Craigslist for a miniature poodle stud since the kids and I would love to have puppies once (notice how I didn't include Terry). I got a reply too late for that cycle from a local woman who has a mini poodle/mini Australian shepherd mixed male dog. She texted me in April to make sure I was still interested! This is her little guy.
I think they'll make cute babies. I hope it works!
Noah began spring track practices at the end of February and three of his seven meets were cancelled due to cold or inclement weather. His first one was March 28th at Sioux Park. My parents even came.
Noah ran the two mile in 14:26.
Some video:
He's getting so big and strong and fast. We raked the yard around that time and he was actually a great help. Genuinely good help!
Keeping with the theme of Noah growing up, I was going through old pictures while we were tidying up and loved this photo my sister took when we were hiking at the ranch.
Noah got his braces off on March 8th. On March 15th he got contacts. On March 22nd he got his first professional haircut (ie, not done by me).
We also got a driving manual that day too. He's growing up so fast!
After moving away from home in 2007, I became weary of emailing recent photos of our kids to the grandparents. So I started a blog. And even though we moved back home in 2012, I still really enjoy keeping track of our lives!
