May videos

 

Nathan's first piano recital

Nathan only started piano lessons about 6 weeks ago. However, the semi-annual recital took place today. His teacher said he could memorize a few little songs and play them if he wanted to. He did! He's still playing on the black keys but he practiced them perfectly. I recorded the part he played and uploaded the video. 

All the piano students with Miss Karen

Nathan receiving his certificate and awards for memorizing songs and keeping a complete practice log! 

Nathan's 1st Piano Recital

Nathan's 1st Piano Recital

Artwork

Elizabeth likes to draw pretty pictures for me with dry erase markers. Here, she drew:

1. A picture of the two of us. Me in a purple dress and her in pink. 

2. A beautiful rainbow. Again, in our dresses. 

3. Some flowers with puffy white clouds. She just uses her hand to erase the blue to make the clouds! She was pretty proud of herself for that one. 

Building a fence for Grandma Pam

We went up to visit Grandma Pam. She needed some help with her fence. 

The kids enjoyed playing in her creek. Lots of rocks! Rocks are their favorite toy I think. 

The creek was not even ankle deep so no worries about drowning! However, there was just enough water moving through that it was quite fun!

Elizabeth busy finding rocks for her collection. Her favorite hobby seems to be collecting rocks. 

Laying out her rocks. 

Looking for deer poop. 

Here is the area being fenced in behind the chicken coop. 

Nathan helping Jeremy mix the concrete. 

Another post that's not going to move anywhere!

Water Park!

Even though school doesn't get out until June 10th, the summer weather is here so the water parks open! We headed out yesterday to have some fun. 

The kids all ready to go. 

Elizabeth loved to swim up and down in this little shallow spot. 

Nathan frolicking. 

Jeremy and Elizabeth in the lazy river. Nathan did the lazy river, but fell out of the tube and got scared so decided he is never getting in again. 

Floating around. 

Nathan LOVED the water slide. Even when the line was long, he would stand up there and wait so that he could slide. 

Climbing out of the water slide. 

Elizabeth graduates preschool!

Elizabeth's preschool had a ridiculously cute little graduation! 

First, all of the kids put on a show. They sang a whole slew of nursery rhymes complete with hand motions. It was adorable! Elizabeth is sitting in the top row (in a blue gown) with the white bow on her head. 

Here is everyone. There are 4 classes up there. After their songs, there was a short intermission so they could line up to get on their caps. 

The kids walked in!  Elizabeth has the white shoes. Her friend Ali is right in front of her. 

Elizabeth walked out to receive her diploma from her teachers. 

Everyone with their diplomas. 

Nathan and Elizabeth

Elizabeth and Ali

Family picture

Papa Ray and Kim came down!

Elizabeth and her teachers. 

After the graduation. 

Off to kindergarten!

School Carnival

Nathan's school had their spring carnival. 

The kids had their faces painted. They loved that! 

My station was the "Extreme Croquet" game. Jeremy took pictures of the kids at the station I was running. 

They did well making it through all the obstacles. 

The last obstacle was hitting the ball through the pipe. 

One of the stations was Angry birds. Nathan had just released his bird. 

Here is Elizabeth launching her bird!

A close up of the face paint. 

Rainstorm

The other day, we got over an inch of rain! We are not used to such rain. The kids walked outside in the rain for 2 minutes and were just drenched. After I took this picture, we jumped in the car and I drove Nathan to the bus stop so he wouldn't have to stand around getting soaked. It's only the 2nd time all year I've driven him. The other time was in December when it was 10 degrees that morning. 

The soil couldn't handle an inch of rain like that so we had a lot of flooding in the yard! I hope some of our poor garden plants will make it! 

Cascade Mountains

One of Elizabeth's school lesson from Nathan's school was about land features in Washington. They created the Cascade Mountains in the sandbox. Elizabeth said she is standing in Seattle and Nathan is standing in Ellensburg. 

Dogs watching movies about dogs

Last weekend, Nathan picked a show about dog facts for quiet time. All his dogs showed up to watch. 

Playing School

After school, Nathan likes to come home and set up a school for Elizabeth. 

As you can see from the picture, today the lesson is about ocean animals. He's lined up all his ocean books on the washer/dryer. He's set out his ocean stuffed animals. He's got the world map behind him where he's been quizzing her on the oceans. 

Today she wrote me a "report" about penguins. It was two facts she had learned about penguins. 

She also has specials  and recess outside. It's so cute! 

Baptism

The kids were baptized! A lot of family members came to share in the experience. 

After the baptism, we ate out at a restaurant with the kids for the first time ever! I had heard that Red Robin was the best place to go for food allergies. Nathan ate his burger and no hives (or anything worse) happened! He couldn't have the fries as they had milk in the seasoning, but he had a burger and fruit. I asked the server to:

1. Clean off a cooking space on the grill just for his burger. 

2. Use a flipping utensil for just his burger. 

3. Make sure clean gloves were used when grabbing the bun for his burger (in case the person had just put cheese on burgers or something). 

It worked! The kids were actually really patient at the restaurant and not too fidgety.