Summer Adventures

This picture is actually from a few months back, but I just found it on my phone. I took the two oldest girls to the play Twelve Dancing Princesses. Their school did a fundraiser to sell mugs for $15 each and that's how much the play tickets were, so I asked the girls if they wanted us to buy the mugs or go to the play. I get frustrated with all the school fundraisers and the girls always come home thinking we'll buy everything. I would much rather see a play with the girls than buy a stupid mug I'll never use. We support them when they run the laps at school, but it's impossible to support every single fundraiser they bring home.

Some people from a local musical production sang a few songs at Bridge Street to advertise for their play so we decided to go watch them. It was cute seeing all the kids sitting together.

On the way out we ran into a man making animal balloons for all the kids. Cooper quietly said in awe, "He has magic hands!" The kids were all pretty pleased with their animal balloons.

There are a couple places around here that do movies in the park during the summer. We thought we'd try it out and went to a showing of Frozen. The kids were able to meet Elsa before the show and there were bean bag tosses and all kinds of food vendors. We ended up leaving early because the kids lost interest in the show and just wanted to play tag with all the other kids. It was too dark and crowded and I kept losing sight of them, so we decided to head home. Plus the movie didn't even start until after their normal bedtime.

Lindsey isn't in the pictures with Elsa because she was clinging to my leg in fear and letting us know she did NOT want to meet her. She's usually my brave one, so I don't know what got into her.

We splurged on Disney's Frozen On Ice since we really enjoyed the last Disney On Ice we went to a few years back. The kids seemed to enjoy it and they each got an Olaf snow cone. It was a good thing we brought their jackets and spare clothes because Olivia soaked herself with her snow cone.

Swimming Lessons!

Before I got called to Young Women, we had a Primary meeting with the Stake leaders, and I learned that one of the Stake Primary Counselors teaches private swim lessons at her home. I was so excited to sign the girls up! One-on-one is the best way to learn how to swim, so even though we could only afford one week of lessons, it was wonderful! The girls LOVE Sister Zitting and all they talked about was swimming lessons! They even made her some cute little notes.

I love how Gracie drew Sister Zitting as a big fish and her as a little fish in the picture below. 

 

We ate a picnic lunch while the girls took turns with their lessons and Sister Zitting even put out a sprinkler for the kids to run in while they waited. Her name is Mila Zitting and she is from Peru, so Tim has talked with her a bit before since he served his mission there.

We'll definitely keep taking lessons from her each summer as long as she teaches!

"Graduation"

My little Roo is all done with first grade! I can't believe that she'll be in second grade next year and that she'll be getting baptized. She is such a good, sweet, smart girl and she's always there to help me when I need. 

They had all the first grade classes get their awards at the same time and they called names randomly. They weren't in alphabetical order, or by class, so I missed them saying her name, but I at least got her getting her award.

She got to be right next to her friend Haley.

Her friend Alli goes to our church and was in Gracie's class this year.

Gracie's end of year class party . . .

She gave Cooper her robot drawing. She is such a great artist!

Cooper sat right next to Haley's Mom. He's not shy at all.

They danced to some YouTube videos for us.

Little Linds is all done with Kindergarten! She is such a sweet, funny, smart girl and she has just amazed us at how well she is reading! 

She is so cute and little! Here she is with her friends Lorin and Zaria.

They had several songs to sing for us parents.

No More Training Wheels!

I asked Gracie if she wanted to try her bike without training wheels. She got a scared look on her face and said, "I'll fall and bleed!" I told her that she probably would a couple times, but that's how you learn. I just left her alone about it, but then she asked me to take them off. She got a little frustrated with the whole process (especially when other bikes and siblings got in the way) but overall she picked up on it really quick. Now every day she begs to go out and practice. She is doing so well!