First Day of Summer

The day after school got out I took the kids to the Akron Zoo for a morning out. We were supposed to meet up with friends but ended up on our own. It was fun to be with all the kids again on outings and we always have a fun time at the zoo.

Getting one of the older kids to take a picture can always turn out interesting.

Truly's first time riding by herself. She got pretty excited when it started to move. A natural!

This otter found Hazel's hat and Pepper's stuffed elephant fascinating and chased them all over the window. The kids had tons of fun with it. Love the new otter exhibit!

Happy to be out of the stroller and playing with the big kids.

"The kids and I had a lovely morning at the Akron Zoo. We were supposed to meet up with friends but ended up having a great time by ourselves. We love our zoo!"

"It was fun watching the older three interact and entertain each other. I think Hazel is pretty happy to have more time with Pepper and Morgan."

"Truly's first ride on the carousel was a huge success. She had a huge grin and kept kicking her feet the whole time. I wanted to hurl like usual but glad the kids had fun!"

Morgan and Pepper's Last Day of School

Thursday, June 4th was the last day of school for Morgan and Pepper. As much as I love having the kids in school, I was very excited for the summer to begin and for us all to have some more free time together. Morgan and Pepper loved their teachers this year and made lots of good friends. Morgan is always reminding us that their are no bullies at King School! Thank goodness!

Showing off their teacher gifts.

I managed to leave the little two sitting in the van watching a movie and ran inside to take pictures of the older two. Pepper loved Mr. Clifford.

Even though Mrs. Jensen was gone half the year on maternity leave, Morgan loved having her for 2nd grade. And he loved Mrs. Tullis the long-term substitute teacher. He really lucked out with two great teachers.

"Wonderful year with wonderful teachers. I feel so blessed with the school of my kids are able to attend. Now on to 1st and 3rd grades!!!"

Pepper was picked to take a class thank you card to the school nurse. Not surprising since she visited her VERY often!

These pictures are from Nicholas' mom. Here are the kids giving a class gift to Mr. Clifford. 

"Pepper and her 1st 'boyfriend,' Nicholas. She's been calling him that since the first week of school Sigh. AT least seems like a very sweet boy!"

Cody's 36th Birthday

To celebrate this wonderful man on his big 36th birthday, we all met him for dinner at Chick-fil-A. Good times were had by all. Boy oh boy do we love this daddy of ours!

Presents time. Cody is super hard to shop for because he is insanely picky and particular. Maybe not insanely but it is a contributing factor! Anyway, I got him a little breakfast sandwich maker, which he loved. Thank goodness!

Here's to another great year of Cody!

Hazel and the Binky Fairy

I finally decided it was time to bite the bullet and get rid of Hazel's binkies or 'kinkies' as she calls them. I waited until the preschool year was over and until we had a bit of time before our summer vacations began. We prepped Hazel for a few weeks and had her pick out a few things she wanted the Binky Fairy to bring her. I, of course, was a complete nervous wreck about the whole thing but excited to get it over with. The other two had pretty easy transitions with getting rid of their binkies, but Hazel LOVED her kinkies and it broke my heart a little to think of her sad and missing them. She helped me wrap them up and then she laid in bed and softly cried. I felt like I was going to cave, so I asked Cody to take over. He went in and told her about when he was 3 and was on a safari trip in Africa. He was watching the monkeys and felt bad that the baby monkeys didn't have binkies, so he threw his out the window for the baby monkeys. And that was it. Hazel loved that story and for days and weeks after that would ask us to tell her the monkey story. So cute.

"The 'Binky Fairy' will be exchanging this doll and headband for the lovingly wrapped 'kinkies.' We told Hazel the fairy needed to take her binkies and give them to another baby who needs them, since she is a big girl now. In the end it didn't take too long for Hazel to conk out thanks to a very large stuffed monkey. Hopefully, she stays that way. I think I"m having a harder time with this transition!!!" 

"A very successful night with not a peep from my sleeping beauty. Again, I was worried (shocking I know) that she would wake up early, but I had to drag grump-gus out of bed like usual. Now, we will see what happens at nap time!"

"Someone perked up when she saw what the Binky Fairy brought her."

As much as I enjoy watching my kids grow out of the baby phases, I'm having a hard time letting go of some things with this one. Hazel has always been such a little snuggle-bug, sweet baby girl, and she's so little. I just want to scoop her up in my arms and keep her my baby forever!

Kindergarten Awards

On Monday, June 1st, I went to school to cheer Pepper on for the kindergarten awards ceremony. I'm so glad that our preschools and elementary school do not do big graduation ceremonies for moving on to the next year. That being said, this award ceremony was a bit funny because they didn't even announce individual awards different kids had achieved. They just read each kids name and had them stand up with their class. The kids seemed happy about the whole thing and it didn't take to long, so I guess win win for all of us!

"Cheered Pepper on at the kindergarten awards ceremony this morning. So proud of how well she's done and how much she's grown this year! Now, on to 1st grade!"

Here's a video of the event: