Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!  As we reflect on the reason for the day (and try to explain the importance to the kids!), it really is a wonderful gift that so many have served this country and paid the ultimate price in order to protect this country!  The kids loved being able to show their patriotism with new shirts!  Olivia, of course, was thrilled to be a twin to Faith!

 

Having Steve home with us for an extra day is a treat!  We started off the day by walking to breakfast! 

 

Next on the agenda was the beach!  It was our first day this year, so it seemed extra fun and almost new again!  The older two spent quite a bit of time in the (very cold!) ocean!  I was pretty amazed!  They also went over to the rocks and found a crab and some sea anemones!

 

Olivia did venture down to the water to check out the sand castles the older two built. 

She had fun playing with the sand toys, collecting rocks, and pretending to surf!

 

The kids always need a bath or shower after coming home from the beach, but some baths are more needed than others!  And Olivia made it worth our while after rolling around and lying in the sand!

 

Since she wasn't too hip on going on the water, she liked having the water brought to her in buckets!

 

This didn't happen today but is definitely worth mentioning - Faith got her ears pierced on Saturday!!  This was what she wanted from Steve and I for her 9th birthday.  When we went two weeks ago to the mall to do it, she decided it just wasn't the right day!  I think the screaming two year old ahead of her in line was the cause for that!  So on Saturday we unexpectedly had to go to the mall, and she asked if she could try again!  This time, a teenager (who thankfully did not cry!!!) was ahead of her, and Faith went through with it!  She loves her earrings and is so glad she did it!  It's hard to see in the picture, but she chose her birthstone for the earrings!

Wrapping up the Activities!

As we get further into the month of May, slowly but surely our weeks are becoming less busy!  Yeah!!  This week the kids completed another year of Awana - the fourth year for both kids!  We were very proud of Faith for completing her entire book!  In Sparks (Shane's current level) it is common to complete a book, so I was surprised to learn at the awards ceremony that only Faith and one other third grader finished the first TNT book! 

 

Yesterday was our final day of our co-op Better Together. We ended the year with a shortened class schedule, followed by an open house and BBQ!  As part of the open house, three of the classes made presentations.  Faith was the one student in the entire co-op who was in all three presentations as all of her classes did something!  For her, this meant three (well, technically four!) costume changes!!  In the picture above her Shakespeare class is performing a scene from Romeo and Juliet!  Faith played two characters - Potpan and Lord Capulet!

 

After the scene from Shakespeare, Faith's country dancing class showed us three dances they learned throughout the year!  It was very cute and well done!

 

The final performance was a wax museum containing historical characters from the middle ages, as that was the time period the class studied this year.  Faith is portraying Theodora, the most powerful empress from the Byzantine Empire! 

 

Some of the kids also sang one of the songs that they learned in chapel this year!  Of course Olivia had to be a part of that!

 

We celebrated a fun, successful, educational year of Better Together with a BBQ!  Olivia loved eating with the big girls!

 

Even though this post is about activities coming to an end, I have to mention something that is just starting for Shane!  Piano lessons!!  Throughout the summer he is going to have 15 minute lessons after Faith's lesson.  Once the school year starts again he will begin a full half hour lesson.  He is pretty excited, as you can see by him practicing before 8am!  That wont last for long!

Recital Pictures

While the actual ballet recital is still a month away, this was the weekend to have the professional ballet pictures taken at the studio.  Faith was excited to see her costume in person and try it on! She commented that it could be used as a snow princess Halloween costume next fall! 

The back!  She had fun prancing all around the lobby!

 

The one disappointing part of the picture process was that when we arrived they were running an hour behind schedule!  Faith finally had her pictures taken at 4:45pm, and she had the 3:20 time slot!  As we were waiting, very randomly princess Elsa (from the famed movie Frozen!) waltzed in!  The excitement in the ballerinas eyes was priceless! 

 

This one is no longer obsessed with Frozen, but the Sound of Music!  She was singing along with Maria!  "The hills are alive..."

 

Shane and I went to get coffee together yesterday afternoon as a special treat and to spend some time just the two of us!  He decided to forgo any type of drink so he could indulge in the chocolate chunk muffin!  Why don't they just call it what it is??  A cupcake!!

 

Finally, the girls are really into matching each other right now!  Since this adorable phase may be over tomorrow, I'm soaking it all up and taking many pictures!  It's cute to see how much they enjoy each other and dressing alike!

Just Life!

We are in the middle of May, which if you have school aged children you know is a busy, busy time!  Activities are wrapping up, school is a struggle, it's staying light longer, and summer break is within sight!  Life is no different for our family!  Thus, each day is just a "grind through and mark another day off the calendar getting us closer to summer!"  As a result, the level of doing fun and exciting things has gone down!  But even that being said, there have been a few pictures just too cute not to share from the past two weeks, including the above picture from this past Monday!

 

Our sweet, strong-willed Olivia likes to exert her opinion to do or not do things on an hourly (if not more frequent!) basis!  Most days she does not like getting clothes on, and she really dislikes having her hair combed!  That crazy curly hair sure can become tangled!!  So on a Sunday morning not too long ago when I was able to get her dressed and her hair done, when she wanted to wear her crocs to church, I had to just say yes as there was no fight left in this mom!  Of course everyone thought it was just adorable!

 

Getting pants back on after using the bathroom can be a real struggle!  The good news is that potty training has been a complete success!  She is even dry every nap and at night!

 

Today she really wanted eggs for breakfast, and of course she had to help make them too!  She didn't do too bad! 

 

Yesterday we ventured to the park with some friends!  As you can see from this picture, getting outside and burning a little energy before starting school was going to be vital to getting things accomplished!

 

Our little scientist!  She enjoys looking at things she finds in the backyard under her microscope!  And the best news is...only 16 more school days left in the year!  Yippee for summer and a much lighter, more fun schedule!

Friday Field Trip!

Our field trip today took us to the bluffs of Carpenteria (about 15-20 minutes north of Ventura), to a special seal rookery to observe seals along the beach!  While it may be hard to see in the picture, all those brownish dots along the coastline are seals!  The kids enjoyed seeing so many of them, as well as viewing some going into and out of the ocean!

 

The kids took turns with binoculars to view the seals more closely, but also to try and spot dolphins and whales swimming further out in the ocean!  Unfortunately, we didn't see any dolphins or whales!  We were told that we missed both animals by about 20 minutes!

 

As we made our way to the rookery, we ventured down towards the water!  Olivia and I did not make it all the way down!

 

For much of the walk to view the seals, I brought up the rear of the group!  Olivia and her birthday twin Kaylin had fun walking and talking together!

 

My favorite picture of the day! 

 

And this was from last night!  The three crazies pausing for a bit to watch Netflix together! 

 

Apparently this is Olivia's new way of smiling!  The past few days whenever I ask her to smile, this is the face she gives me!  This one keeps us on our toes!!