Summer has gone!

Somehow the whole summer has passed, and I haven't posted any pictures on the blog!

These are from the last day of school in June.

Laine had her 12th birthday in July.

She had a few girls come over for roller skating and cake.  They had a fun time!

And we cleaned out the garage and hung up the hummingbird feeder.  It's attracted a couple hummingbirds already!  Such beautiful creatures!

End-of-the-year events

I am woefully behind on updating our blog.  May is such a busy time of year, with lots of end-of-the-year activities.  I should have taken more photos, but here's a few of the big ones.

Mead had her piano recital, and she did a beautiful job!

Mead really improved in her sight reading skills this year.  It's really fun to listen to her practice her songs.

Laine had her American Heritage Girls award ceremony too.  She received several awards and badges.  Laine enjoyed her year with her AHG leader and friends and learned some great things along the way!

School performance

Cole was in a music school performance recently with the whole first grade.  He had been talking about it for weeks and was really excited about it.

He did a great job, recited his line well, and sang boldly along with each song.

It was so fun to watch him having a good time up on the platform.  Who knows if he'll do more performing in the future?!

Recent happenings

Cole finished up his basketball season with an award ceremony.  Each team got to walk up on the stage and was recognized by the organization.

He had a great time playing and looks forward to playing more basketball next year!

Laine and I went to an AHG lock-in at a rock climbing place just outside of Richmond a few weekends ago.  We had a good time, despite barely getting any sleep.  In fact, Laine stayed up all night, and climbed for most of the night!  I couldn't believe it when I rolled over and saw she never even tried to get any rest.  I guess I shouldn't be too surprised though!

Finally we got some warmer weather, and the kids were able to play outside at the park with some friends.  So thankful for beautiful days!

This year's Easter picture - the kids are getting so big! They all have cheesy smiles, but they're still cute. 

And Laine got some new glasses for school.  She really been enjoying wearing them - seeing all kinds of things so much better!

Spring break 2018

The kids and I went out to Smith Mountain Lake for a few days over our break.  We had a good time relaxing, make s'mores around the fire, and doing a few other things.

One afternoon we went out to play a round of putt putt.  It's been a few years since we got to play - the kids did well!

Beth came out to join us for an afternoon - so thankful for her friendship!

And Penny joined us for about 24 hours.  Glad for a little getaway.

Our last afternoon the weather warmed up enough for us to get the kayaks out.

Everyone did a good job and enjoyed being out on the water.

Mead and Cole got to feed some ducks from the dock - they had a blast!

Cole's first year of basketball

Cole started playing basketball this winter - his first season playing.

It's been fun to watch him learn the game and play with his team.

Got has gotten several baskets each game, and he's great on defense.

I'm excited to see how he continues to improve (hopefully), and I'm curious to hear which sport Cole decides he likes best after this year - he's now played soccer, basketball, and baseball!

Snow days

After Christmas break the kids went back to school... for a couple days.  We had a very interrupted school schedule in January - more days off than in the classroom!

Some of it was due to cold weather, and some of it was because of snow.  The kids loved playing in the snow.  But once it was gone we had to figure out other things to do.

Our last day of the unexpected week off school we went to the science center.

We had the place virtually to ourselves, and the kids had a good time checking everything out at their leisure.

Mead built this giant lego "house and wanted to get picture of everyone in it with her.

It made for a fun morning, and it was nice to get out of the house after so many days at home!