End of the School Year

This past Friday was the last day of "school" for the girls this year.  Eight weeks of homeschooling - hoping we never have to do that again!  The girls did really well considering, and I was proud of how they adapted to the new routine.  Now we'll have to figure out something else to occupy their days.

Evie had a little ceremony at school on Friday to graduate from preschool to kindergarten.  Everyone stayed in their car trunks while the teacher walked around with materials, gifts, photos, etc.  Evie felt pretty special, and seemed genuinely excited to call herself a kindergartner.  Jamie and I had a busy morning with work meetings, and totally missed Maggie's last Zoom call with her class... parenting fail.

Proud of our graduate

Getting her "diploma" from Mrs. Rowe

Spending  a few masked moments with friends before we left

Don't forget about me - going into 2nd grade!

We stopped over at the Rabine's to celebrate sweet Claire's birthday a couple weeks ago, and had a nice little visit outside to celebrate.  The girls were over the moon to see their cousins.

Happy Birthday, Claire!

Playing it cool with Pumpkin

Enjoying the cupcakes (yes, the girls insisted on
wearing their dance costumes for this auspicious occasion)

While the girls are still great companions, they are definitely getting closer to murdering each other as this goes on.  I feel bad for them... they spend all day together and they share a room, so they really have no alone time.  Trying to find ways to help out with that, and we opted to have the Rabine cousins over our house to lighten some tension.

Water balloon fight!  

Jamie wisely promised them McDonald's for dinner
if they picked up all the balloons 

Dancing on the tables

Maggie and Luke are so sweet together.  They like to sit and chat, draw, do art - no longer the wild ones in the house!  The three girls are their own little group, and I love hearing their conversations.

Discussing their Perler beads businesses
(Maggie wants to charge $5 per design, Luke wants to charge much less
plus surprise customers on their birthdays with balloons and music)

Vernors gingerale was surprisingly the highlight of their night

Today was a beautiful day, so we took the kids for a walk to our ice cream spot. 

I spent most of the time keeping him from walking
into 11 Mile

Patiently waiting for ice cream

I had to go check out an upcoming project for work, and we ended up finding a magical trail in our city.  I had no idea this was here, and it was so fun!  Ben just wanted to run the whole time.

Helping hand

Just let me run, Mom!

Big tree

Here's some others:

Love

Rejection

Conserving water?

Our little comedian loves to lay on his back right in my
way when I'm cooking dinner.  Cracks himself up

Soapy

Not a fan of the girls doing his hair

Personal space.  It's a thing.

It's empty....

Batman and Batboy

Mother's Day 2020

It was an odd Mother's Day this year, but still a nice one.  I took the girls to visit my parents' new house on Saturday.  It looks great with all the painting and finish upgrades they've added!  The girls had a blast running through the empty house and exploring.  Sadly I was not smart enough to take any pictures...

Sunday I was able to sleep in and shower uninterrupted, and then Jamie picked up breakfast from my favorite spot!  We watched church and relaxed most of the day.  Later we went to visit Jamie's mom which was really nice.

Didn't get a picture with all of my babies that day... 2/3?

My favorite gift of the day - Getty Challenge comparisons

Jamie made me a Michigan mask!

...and also swindled the car dealers to get me a new lease at a great price!

Dwight from The Office - thanks Maggie!

Well the dance recital date came and went.  We did not dwell on it too much.  Since we already paid for the costumes, their teacher dropped them off.  No joke, the girls wore these for two days straight... at which point I hid them so my neighbors would not judge me.  It was like 50 degrees outside, and they were running around without jackets; eh, picking my battles.

Doing their "negative space" art project for the week

Finished product

Loves my new car

Forcing her to wear a sweater against her will

We celebrated Grandma's birthday on Friday, and it was great to see everyone.  Her big gift from Dad was a trip to Disney planned for December.  We are all planning to go at the same time - hoping it doesn't get cancelled!

Socially distant gifts

Ready for some grub!

Just chilling

Very curious about each other

Ben had to go in for his 15-month check up visit.  He is doing very well, about 90th percentile for everything.  Our big boy is 26 lb 3 oz, and 32.5 inches tall.  He's met all the milestone except we need to work more on body parts... he really doesn't care where my nose is at the moment.

Buddha baby

Trying to escape under the gate... got stuck

Here's some others:

Hair is getting real long in this house

Time to work

Park day with Daddy

My first try at baked kibbeh... Jamie said it was good

Getting ready to drive to Yates for some cider and donuts

The look she gives before attacking her prey.

Love these two

Surprisingly fond of the hat

"Evie, smile!"

Ya'll come back now!