Summer is here!

Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer.  The pools open, school is almost out and . . . 

 . . . we eat fish with Grandpa.  Uncle Tommy sure does have a big hat.  That wide brim keeps the sun off.

 Every school day begins with morning assembly.  This was one of our last morning assemblies of the year.  It is amazing to see what 600 well trained children can do.  They all sit quietly and listen to the principal every morning.  On this particular day the 5th graders serenaded us with a song in Italian.

Ahhhhhh, finally --- the last day of school.  And how did we spend the first day of summer vacation. . . .

. . . in faculty meeting.  JD said that even though we got pancakes the meeting was too long and too boring.  JD did a great job of sitting quietly while the adults in charge went on and on --- see --- we have learned a useful skill at church!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

 Memorial Day means brisket!  George started at 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning and we had this delicious meat for dinner Sunday night.

 JD's new best friend Gumball came home on Saturday morning.  It seems to enjoy a little apple treat.

Jack's Magic Beans

JD's class performed their end of the year puppet show this morning.  I was lucky that the time slot fell when I had a conference period and was able to attend.  JD's puppet (in case you can't tell . . . ha ha ha . . . ) is the giant from the story of Jack and the beanstalk.

 All the kids did a good job.  They read their lines and moved their puppets from behind this fancy stage. 

I decided this lady in the red gets my obnoxious mom award.  REALLY - do you have to get so close to the show that you are in every other mom's picture?  Since JD wasn't in this particular show I decided I could laugh at her self centeredness without getting too upset about it.

Waterballoons and Cub Scouts

 What do you get when you mix water balloons with Cub Scouts?  A lot of wet boys!  Everyone brought their ice chests full of ammunition for the fight.

 JD put on his game face and prepared for battle.

The water balloon madness began.  Dad helped JD but tried to stay out of the line of fire.  Wet boys don't smell quite as bad as wet dogs - BUT - when we got home the boy took a bath anyway.

Book Fair

 This week is the book fair at JD's school.  We love book fair days.  I go and eat lunch with JD and then we go in and browse.  Today we left with several snake/bug/predator/monster books.  He's such a boy.

I know you've all seen plenty of pictures of our furry family member - BUT - I got a new, VERY cool camera for mother's day.  Look how zoomed in and clear her picture is!  I'm excited to be able to take pictures of all our summer fun with this new toy.

Meet Gumball

Meet Gumball.  She/he (you can't tell with birds unless you do a blood test) is the newest member of our family.  She is a yellow sided conure.  JD picked her out for his birthday but she can't come home with us until she is weaned and cage trained.  That should be next Saturday.  We'll let you know how she and Lulu get along with one another.  She and JD are already best friends.

Happy 7th Birthday

I can't believe it has been seven whole years since my baby was born. 

 The one thing JD wanted was a slip and slide.  He couldn't wait to try it out and then had a blast making a muddy mess.  Lulu did not understand why this was fun until I was cleaning up and she lay down in the muddle puddle to cool off.
                                    
 I made JD an Elephant Piggie cake.  If you don't know who Elephant and Piggie are you don't have
a little boy at home.  Elephant and Piggie are classic first grade literature.