How does she do that?

When I think of activities to do with my kids, they usually don't involve flour. In fact, I try to avoid anything that might cause a mess. Things like board games, soccer, coloring, and play kitchen come to mind as favorite activities. But not for the super babysitter/aunt Natalie. She recently tackled two activities that would probably be off limits for me.

1. Making homemade bread with 4 kids.

My mom and Natalie have been making homemade bread recently and are working on perfecting the recipe. Natalie decided to tackle this one with 4 kids who all wanted to help.

They all took turns kneading the bread and apparently didn't make a big mess - I'd have to see it to believe it though.

Claire was proud of her floury hands. The bread turned out great and the kids loved making it. They really like to help in the kitchen, but that usually leads to wanting to also help with the dishes which always leads to flooding the kitchen floor. This is why I try to stick to board games.

2. Homemade play dough

I've heard this is easy to do, but I've never done it. Lot's of gooey hands here. She even made Andrew's blue and Claire's pink.

I love this look on Claire's face. You can tell she is thoroughly enjoying herself. Maybe the kids could tackle some chores next. Can she teach them to clean the bathroom or mow the lawn? Maybe it is a bit early for that, but what about making dinner???

Cousin time

Last weekend Ryan and Erik were competing in a sprint triathlon in San Jose. Ryan brought Landon and Erik brought Taylor. My kids loved having their cousins here. Andrew and Landon had a sleep over on Friday night and played all day Saturday. Claire followed Taylor around and even wanted her hair done like Taylor's on Sunday. After the triathlon, my dad and brothers came over to help Danny install recessed lighting in our family room. This was long overdue. I am so thankful to have a handy family and we are thrilled with the results. Unfortunately for Ryan, it was the hottest day of the year so far and he got attic duty. While that was going on, I got out the slip and slide for Andrew, Landon and Claire (Taylor was napping).


Claire doesn't understand how to run and then slide on the slip and slide so, it was more of a push and slide.

Andrew and Landon had a great time running, splashing, and crashing.

Afterwards, Claire and Taylor enjoyed some goldfish together. We are so glad that our cousins live so close! Well, 5 hours is closer than 12...

The end of the baseball season

Andrew had a successful first season of baseball. It started out as t-ball, but near the middle of the season most of the kids could hit a ball pitched to them by the coach. Although the season seemed long to me, Andrew never complained about going to a practice or game. He really enjoyed playing and wants to play again.

Here is a shot of the team after the last game. The games were starting to get really hot for both the parents and the kids. It is amazing that we went from wrapping up in blankets to brining umbrellas and extra water to stay cool.

Here is Andrew with his "huge" trophy and his coaches at the end of season party. We are really thankful that he had a good experience and learned a lot.

Last week of Kindergarten

All of the Kindergarten classes had been practicing for a singing performance last week. They either sang songs or recited poems that they had learned through the school year. They also make the backdrop for the performance which were self portraits. Andrew's is almost directly in the center of the picture at the top.

They were so cute as they sang because they were so excited. It was hard to believe that they could remember all of the songs.

Every child got an individual part in the performance. He told me that he was going to be an "E" in recycle. I didn't know that is what is meant until we listened to the song. They spell out R-E-C-Y-C-L-E and each child held up their letter as it was sung.

Here are Andrew and Claire after the performance. It was hot in the auditorium, and Claire kept asking for juice the whole time, but she seemed to enjoy it as well. Both sets of grandparents came which Andrew loved.

For the last day of school Andrew and my mom made bread for Mrs. Rodriguez. They even ground the wheat! He wrote her a card and attached it to the bag. He was SO excited to show her what he had made.

On the label he wrote "Whead Bread" instead of wheat bread, but that just adds to the charm. Andrew is really excited about being in first grade in the fall, but for now he is really enjoying summer.

Final Kindergarten awards ceremony

Last Thursday Andrew's school had their final awards ceremony. Andrew got awards for doing all of his homework, passing reading levels and for turning in his monthly reading logs. Each month on the reading logs we are supposed to record how many books that we either read to him or that he read to us. Andrew was really good about remembering to turn in the reading logs each month and was very proud that he read the most books each month. Little did we know that the teacher kept track of how many books each child read (or was read to) for the whole school year. Andrew had the most books by far at 780. It was really hard to believe that we had done that many books. It used to be 3 per night and now it is 4 per night. I really hope that he will have a life long love of reading.

Here he is receiving his awards in the cafeteria.

Posing for pictures with his class.

Posing for a picture with his teacher Mrs. Rodriguez. Andrew has truly enjoyed Kindergarten. It is hard to believe how much he learned this year.

The Great Escape

Claire still sleeps in her crib and she really likes it. She only last week started asking for a princess bed. I'm not sure what that looks like in her mind, but recently everything is princess. I didn't think that Claire knew how to climb out of her crib, because she has never done it at night or in the morning or anytime that I am home. Claire and Elaina like to play in her crib during the day and Natalie was able to capture this moment on the camera as seen from Claire's perspective.

"Should I attempt to do this? Possibly seems dangerous. I'm sure Natalie will save me if I fall."

"Elaina does it all of the time, it couldn't be that hard. I am going to go for it."

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea. I might be stuck."

"I've got this, just a little farther."

"You aren't going to tell my mom are you? Is this something I should be proud of?"

Maybe it is time to look for a new bed for Claire, especially with the baby coming in the fall. I'll have to get a better idea of what a princess bed is though.