Spookas

On my last trip to NYC, Eric and I stopped at IKEA.  It was my first trip to IKEA ever, and it is heaven there.  They have everything you need -- for cheap!  They even have a child care area that you can drop your children off at, then go shopping.  They have a restaurant and grocery store, too!  I found these little night lights and got one for each of the kids.  They change color, and are super cute.  The kids love them!  This is Matt holding his Spooka:

Football Camps

Most of the first month of summer was spent at sports camps.  It's good to just get them done!  The boys enjoyed having the MSU football team come and teach them some good stuff.  Joey and his friend Reece went for a couple of mornings, and then Andrew and his friends went for two afternoons and a full day.

It was hard to get pictures because they were way off in the field, but I managed to get one of Joey when he was done.  He really liked his coach -- he was funny, AND had long hair!

Andrew worked with a lot of coaches, and they ran lots of drills.  In the first picture, he's getting up to go run over to the drill area, and in the second one, he's running.

And for a special bonus for Matthew, they stored all the equipment in garbage cans!  And yes, we looked in every...single...one... (twice).

Soccer Camps

Joey, Grace, and Matthew all did the British Soccer camps this year.  Joey and Andrew had done them a few years ago, and they had a blast, so we thought we'd give it a try again!  This year, Andrew had archery camp -- which he thoroughly enjoyed, even though I have no pictures of them (because I was always at soccer camp -- but thankfully we had Grandpa Jerry to shuttle him back and forth).

I wasn't sure how Matt would do, but he seemed to love it, and there were other kids in the class that were older than him, and they were the ones who didn't behave.  Grace and Matt were like little angels.  Their coach, Jon, said he loved how Grace watched over Matt all the time.  He said his own sister was never like that.  I told him that she loves being his little mommy.

Grace was very attentive during practice, and was always following directions.  Matt just followed her, so he did, too - indirectly.

They learned quite a bit, and had a lot of fun playing the games.  Sometimes they had to tap the ball with their toes, and I swore Matt was going to fall down, because the ball was almost up to his knees.  Other times, they had them kick the ball from one foot to the other, but the ball just barely fit between his legs, so he really just hopped in one place.  It was really cute.

Joey practiced in the field right behind them.  Every once in awhile I got a glimpse of him, too.

Each day there was a different theme.  The last day was "Soak the Coach" day, and we brought the biggest water guns we had.  Grace and Matt had a great time soaking coach Jon (I think he had a great time, too).  Joey was able to soak his coach later on (he stayed for an hour and a half past Grace and Matt did).

The British guys were hilarious.  They gave out trophies the last day, and this is the tiniest trophy.  You can't even hardly see it.

Joey's team won their game, and they were given a trophy and certificate.

Group pictures:

 Coach Jay:

 Coach Jon:

Matt's favorite games from camp were soldiers and enemies ("Soldiers...are...you...ready?"  "Sir, yes sir!" -- "Enemies...are...you...ready?"  "I was born ready!"); shrimps and crabs ("I'm a shrimp, wiggle, wiggle!" "Whammy! Bammy! Let's get crabby!"); and toilet tag.  For weeks, we've been hearing "I WAS BORN READY!!!" from Matthew, which is totally cute (for awhile, anyway).

Girls Afternoon

We always have a party going on around here.  Somebody is ALWAYS setting one up.  Grace decided it was Girls' Party Time, and made this banner, which she cut out and then taped back together with painter's tape.  It says, "Wellcome to Girls Afternoon. have a happy time together. be good."  Awesome.

We Let 'Em Go

After two weeks, we decided to untie the balloons.  I was very impressed with how long that helium lasted!  We've been busy playing balloon volleyball and kickball, sitting on them, and drawing all kinds of handsome faces on them.  Balloons are both versatile, and fun!

Gracie's Graduation

Kindergarten graduation is always a hoot.  I missed this one, but good 'ole Daddy-O filmed and photographed it for me.

Mrs. Gibson was Grace's teacher this year, and we all loved her!  She has been teaching for ever, and she is also one who trains other teachers, so we definitely got the cream of the crop!  She absolutely loves Gracie (but who doesn't?).  Grace loves her right back.

Grace got her diploma, and was turned by a magic wand into a 1st grader!

Oh My

Matt goes to a weekly play date, which is awesome.  He loves his little friends, and each mom takes turns hosting.  We always have a little craft for the kids to do, and the week before Mother's Day, one mom asked each kids questions about their mom.  Here's what Matt had to say about me.  I love the one about how I like to go get drinks.  I just about peed my pants when I read that one!

I'm a Little Boy

I guess having 5 little boys between the two of us turned my sister and I into little boys, because this is one of our Words with Friends games.  Yikes.

Tinkerbell Lilacs

My absolute favorite time of year for my yard is when my Tinkerbell Lilacs bloom.  It only lasts about 2 weeks, but the color and the fragrance that comes into my house is super awesome.  Can't wait until next year!

4 Year Old Birthday Party #2

After the friend birthday, we got ready for the family birthday.  We stuck with the rainbow balloon theme, and Haley and I made balloons out of fondant for the cake.  It was pretty fun -- like playing with play dough!  And Matthew loved his cake!

The little kids went with Grandma Nan to build at Lowe's, and then grabbed a couple of pizzas.  We made it a lunch party, so we ate the pizzas, then had cake and ice cream.

It just so happened that it was the day before I left for New York, so I was taking every spare minute I could to get everybodys' calendar ready.  It was the last week of school, so things were especially busy.  But we got 'er done!

Then came present time...

Matthew went right for the biggest one first, of course!  Grandma and Grandpa Jane and Jerry got him a plasma car, which all the kids love (thankfully, it holds up to 200 lbs, so no breakage!).  He got many, many Yoshi things, including a big Yoshi doll, a Yoshi bag, and a Yoshi RC car.  He was very excited about those things (you can always tell when Matt's excited -- he has quite the happy-face).  He got some new Crocs -- blue -- just like he wanted, some new Leap Frog videos, and of course a nice, new, crisp $20 from Grandma Bertha!