Fourteen

Nadya Mae turned 14!  She has officially been a teenager for an entire year.  What fun!!!!  I asked Hallie to wrap her gifts and this is what I got! 

For her birthday she requested Zuppa Toscana Soup and she helped make and decorate her cake.  She wanted lemon cake and lemon ice cream!  Smart girl!!!!  I've trained her well.

After dinner and cake, she opened her presents.

After presents we all took turns giving spankings!  She was a good sport!

Her birthday prompted a growth check for all the kids!  They are all getting so big!

Hallie isn't pictured because she is being a stink!  I told her I was going to insert a sleeping picture of her, but I never got around to doing it.  I am happy to report that we've painted our mudded wall though!

October Part 2

I was a little publish happy on my last post.  I forgot to look thru my iphone pics for October and I forgot I had a separate folder for my "October Skies" photos that I have been taking.

So, here is the rest of October.  

Carter actually lost TWO teeth in October.  

And in school they had a writing prompt of "What I want to be for Halloween."  

"I want to be a toilet for Halloween because you can put candy in the lid!"

 (And he later told me you could flush the candy down the toilet)  A toilet? So funny!

Aunt Misty sent the kids a huge bag of candy because she couldn't trick or treat with them.

I told her I'd be sending her the dental bill.

Nadya played basketball.  She's a great player!  Sadly, I only got this one picture as I didn't take my camera to any of the earlier games and  she ended up breaking her finger and had to sit out the rest of the season.

We had some amazing sunsets

October Skies

End of School Year

So, I am WAY behind on my blog.  

Sorry!  

The kids all finished off the school year with a bang!

Nadya graduated 6th grade.

It's sort of a big deal around here.

They had a graduation ceremony.

The boys had drive in movie day on the last day of school.

Carter revamped Alex's car from last year and 

Doug and Alex made a new one.

They both turned out great!

Our sweet neighbor, Grandma June, found a duck and we took it in.  

Alex took it on the last day of school for show-n-tell.

It was a hit!

As usual, the last day of school was field day which ended in the fireman spraying the kids.

The Elementary kids all had E's and A's and Hallie finished off the year on the high honor roll again.

They all came home with awards and Nadya also got a presidential physical fitness award too!

As for the Duck, we were worried it would be lonely so we got a couple of new chicks for it.

They are so cute together.  I don't think the duck realizes it's not a chicken or they don't seem to mind.

 They all cuddle up together to rest and the duck follows the chicks around.

And since it was a full moon I attempted another photograph. 

This one was much better.

April-May

Since I missed my Iphone post from April, I've decided to do April and May together. 

Spring has sprung around here!

Can you tell???

I swear this is a daily occurrence with both boys.

I am glad the weather is warm enough for shorts now, 

but Carter's knees are sure taking a beating.

(Yesterday, he rode his scooter with knee pads)  

Doug has been busy in the yard and has even had a few helpers.

We have been on several bike rides.  

It's so nice to be officially done with training wheels!

Our longest was about a six miler down the Jordan Trail to the Peace Park.

The boys  and Hallie were troopers but were too tired to make the trek back, so

Doug and Nadya rode back quickly and drove the truck to pick the rest of us up.

The boys' class went on a field trip and Big Buddah (News guy from Fox) was there.

Alex's teacher picked four students to be interviewed and Alex was 3rd in line.

He quit after the second interview, but Alex didn't seem to mind.

Speaking of school, both boys completed a power point presentation
and Nadya did a report on Russia.

All three of them completed the fit fun run.

Alex ran a mile with Laurence who was my honorary son for the day,

while Nadya and Carter ran 3 miles.

A few weeks ago Alex returned from a garage sale  proudly pulling

a set of golf clubs with a cart. Once Doug figured out Alex only paid five dollars

he quickly gave Alex five more bucks and sent him back down the street to buy the other one. 

Apparently, it's five dollars to just rent a cart alone. 

Alex was so extremely excited and proud of his new clubs. 

(He spent his own five dollars).

He and Doug enjoyed looking through all the pockets trying to
 one up each other on who got the best bag.
It's so fun to see kids get excited over such little things.
Alex found the rain jacket he is wearing among many other things.

Doug is planning on taking Alex golfing this week so he can try out his new clubs!

In other news, my boys took down two Storm Troopers.

Our local library celebrated Star Wars day.
May the 4th be with you.
Alex took his Star Wars book to get autographed.
I had my honorary son with again.

Mother's Day was nice.
After church we had my parents and sister and brother in-law over for a low key lunch.  Doug bought me a new outfit.  Nadya is modeling the shirt. (Nope, it obviously didn't fit me!)
 It's the thought that counts, right?
I am one lucky mom!

The boys won their first EBay bid.
They pooled their money to buy a couple of super cool  Pokemon cards.

Misty and Aaron took the boys to the Motor Cross Races.
They had a blast! Thank you both!

I attempted to photograph the Super Moon, but missed the eclipse as I didn't order a filter in time.

The boys and I are looking forward to the Transit of Venus!

And we have visited Insta-Care twice already this month! Geez!

Once for Doug, and once for Hallie.
Luckily, both times we lucked out.
No broken bones.