Fourth of July

Fourth of July this year was fun as usual. We had our second annual bike/bbq/parade party down in Huntington Beach. Nora has a nice friend who lets us come, crash on her lawn, and watch the parade. There is great food, an awesome parade, and great company. This year David and Kenna joined us with little Addie who at one month enjoyed her first bike ride. Uncle Stevie was down and of course Grandma, the Kochs, and us!

The Gang!

Josh LOVED the parade.

This was Alli's first time riding her two wheeler down to the parade. She did a great job keeping up with all of us. She is getting so big!

Zachary was bumped out of the trailer and rode on the bike attachment

Joshy was buddied up with June bug and kept taking her paci in and out of her mouth. She didn't seem to mind. It was better than the alternative of Charlie riding with Josh. Charlie was originally placed with Josh, but within seconds Charlie was whacking away and Josh was in tears. So..."solitary confinement" it was for Charlie boy!

Father's Day

Father's day landed the day before Ryan and I left for our big trip (I will post about it soon) so I was busy getting things ready for us to leave. I did make a nice dinner for him, but the only "presents" Ryan got were these cool ties the kids made for him. Alli and Zach were so proud of them and couldn't wait for Ryan to wear them to church. He had to wear both of course!

Last day of Kindergarten

The last day a Kindergarten was harder for me than the first day. It was saying goodbye to so many things. No more eating lunch separate from the rest of the school, a separate play ground, a special pick up and drop off area, an awesome teacher... it is making me tear up as I write this. Allison had a great Kindergarten year and I am sad to see it end. Allison on the other hand is more than excited to be in first grade. She is ready for the big playground, eating lunch with who she chooses and just being a bigger kid. She is ready, and I guess I have no choice in the matter! This year Mrs. Mitchell, Alli's teacher, was just perfect for her. She was loving but firm. She had so many great ideas and project and I know Allison learned a lot from her. We couldn't have asked for more. The day before the last day of school, her class had a teddy bear picnic. Each family brought food, we ate outside and the kids sang a few songs and poems for the parents. It was a great way to end the year.

Disneyland

In June, Emily came home with her family for a visit. The highlight of her visit was taking a trip to Disneyland. The whole gang went! I'm a little disappointed because for some reason my camera did not have a lot of pictures on it ( I think mom has ALL the pictures on her camera!) For having two infants (June & Abby) three toddlers (Grace, Charlie & Josh) and two "kids"(Alli & Zach) we had a great day. With Em, Ben, Nora, Adam, Grandma, Ryan and myself, that makes 14! Nora and Em were troopers with breastfeeding their babies on It's a Small World.! The highlight for me was watching my kids faces when I surprised them with cotton candy. Any place we ever go that has cotton candy they beg to have some. They are very good when I say no. They have been turned down countless of times! So, I thought I would surprise them at Disneyland. The look on their faces was priceless! I love the simple things that make kids so happy. It was a super day!

Zachary went straight for it!

Two happy kids!

Joshy meeting goofy (a perfect character for him to meet!)

It's a small world (Nora and Emily are hiding in the back!)

Chicken Coop

Right before school was out Ryan decided to take on a project. In Ryan's fashion he was looking through the Sunset magazine and saw an article on chicken coops and thought it would be fun to build one. Not that there were a million other projects that needed to be done, or finished (that was my two cents given.) Needless to say the kids had fun building the coop and picking out the chickens. The chickens were just days old when we got them and they had to stay inside with a heat lamp for a couple of WEEKS. Can you tell my joy?! Now they are outside and everyone is much happier. Eggs will be coming in about a month or so. If you are interested in fresh eggs please contact Ryan!

(pictures are out of order)


Finished coop

Messy, baby chickens

The helpers!

Blogging Slacker

I have been a blogging slacker to say the least. There has been sooo much to post and yet so little time, or desire, or whatever excuse I want to make. But I think I'm ready now to update anyone who cares on what we've been up to over the last few months. So stay tuned!