And away they go

We had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa this week.

playing scrabble

helping season the fish

 I also gave Emil a shot of freshly brewed espresso this morning to prepare him for the long travel day. He was appreciative.

The crew left about 10:30, and then there was...

one. =(

Grandma and Grandpa arrive

The kids couldn't wait for the car to roll up. Cheers to 3 weeks of summer fun!

Paul's mohawk

until he comes to Gettysburg...

End of the year picnic

It turned out to be a gorgeous day for the end of the year picnic. Paul and Kate and I arrived around 11am and we all left together at 1:00 after our fill of burgers, hot dogs, cheetos, cool ranch doritos, some veggies and fruit (!), snow cones and cotton candy, nutter butters, brownie bites, and probably a lot more that was sneaked when I was not around.  Until next fall, Ridgeview!

First stop: the bouncy house

she's blowing out a dandelion...

Cotton Candy Round 1

Which is bigger, her head or the cotton candy?

These kids are getting way. too. big.

I mean just a few years ago this is what we were up to. Where does the time go?

Crazy hat parade 2011

ERS in 2nd grade (Hannah's age now)

*sigh*

Year End Awards Assemblies

It is always a busy week as the school year wraps up. On Wednesday morning Paul had his awards assembly and later that day the class did a "carnival" on the school grounds. That is where he got his face painted (er... tatooed). Mrs. Bennett says one sentence about each child. She said of Paul that he is a great reader and has recently begun to add "voices" to his stories as he reads. Way to go Mr. P!

with his gift card to Fort Fun 

Check out that monster!

Hannah's awards assembly was this morning. Mrs. Jhones said, "Hannah is a spelling machine. She is the first student that made me go to all 30 words during our monthly spelling tests. She is also an impressive reader." Nice job Hanner McDanner!

1st grade - H is way left

And Elizabeth earned herself an Academic Award for the third year in a row. Miss Tillson spoke of Elizabeth's "ambition and continual desire to improve herself in every way."

Meanwhile at home today, Paul and Kate played with clean sheets today and pretended to be ghosts (Elizabeth did just finish Hamlet).

now she's a worm. Never a dull moment!

We are so proud of these kids!

Heather's Wedding

On Thurs Mom had a BBQ at her house with John, Kat and Matt.

Paul helps tie Kate's dress =)

Auntie Kat brought puzzles for the kids so we worked on those after dessert.

Friday morning a rare thing happened. Aaron, who was chaperoning Hannah for her field trip all day, drove the three kids to school. That hasn't happened all year. I did a happy dance waving to them as the garage door went down...Only 4 more days of school!

We had a great time at my cousin's wedding in Denver last night. Here are a few shots from the night.

Heather and Tony

Aaron, Kat, John, Amy, Rita, Matt, Mom, Sean

with cousin Amy

Amy and Aunt Rita

Amy, Heather, Bridget, and Katleen

Elizabeth's Track Meet

I forgot to post these from E's track met 2 weeks ago. The district did this for all 4th and 5th graders to give them a taste of track and field events. E placed 4th in the 200 meter dash, ran in a 200 meter relay (50 meters each) and did not like the long jump.

waiting (a long time) to practice long jumping

watchin her big sis

Play time

Kate had a friend come to play on Wednesday, her buddy Leah from the next cul de sac over.

Elizabeth's 4th grade Musical

Both 4th grade classes did a musical this week that covered Beethoven's life in 45 minutes. It was great! Here is a shot of them afterwards =)

goofballs

Mother's Day

On Sunday my graduation from Catholic Biblical School coincided with Mother's Day, so we drove down to a Denver parish for the graduation mass with the Archbishop. It was a beautiful mass and we then drove back to my parents house where I enjoyed margs with my mom while the men and children cooked up a lovely dinner.

Children's Day in Loveland

Last week we had Wed-Fri off. There was a nice event in Loveland we went to called Children's Day. There were a variety of activities the kids could try, like golf, casting into a pond, sword fighting, baseball, and we spent the bulk of the afternoon enjoying the ventriloquist show. Paul especially enjoyed it, he basically laughed his head off.

Sitting near one of Loveland's many bronze statues

 Hey .... Batta batta...

Check out the swords on these two

 And now a look at Paul watching the ventriloquist show. Such a dude.

This guy had more patience than I will ever have. He actually tried to teach the kids step by step how to made a balloon dog. Then one kid would pop the balloon and he's have to catch them up while the others waited. This would not be a job for me.

Face painting: Hannah has a peace sign, Kate a Mickey Mouse, Paul a dragon

E getting her face painted

"Mom! Can we play on the letters??!" This is what I hear every time we enter the library lobby. These are "the letters" the kids love to play on. Front to back there's a Pi symbol, a "Q" and a "Z". We'll be back today during gymnastics so these letters will get some play time again.