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