No more HOMEWORK! (For a minute.)

     The last week of school is DONE! I love this break from homework and making sack lunches! I also love these cool spiral curls for Charlie's hair and I'm finally getting the hang of putting in the curlers for the optimal curl. And she still loves 'church' day.

    I also decided to dress up my front porch to enhance this cute wreath I was gifted. I always love a potted flower plant but I've really been wanting lanterns so I splurged and got both.

I couldn't decide if I liked the jars or not so I tried it both ways. I've opted for 'less is more'.

     And look who's finally done with elementary school! Carter is ready for bigger and better at the middle school in August. Now only three more kids to get through elementary school!

The morning of his last full day of school.

     McClane had his last day of kindergarten.

   

    And Brock had his last day of 3rd grade.

His last time in this sad excuse for a gathering facility, I only wish it was my last time at an event where I can't see my kid because they refuse to use the stage and risers!

     So that's it, we're done for a minute with school. My older two boys were pretty much done last week so we didn't think to take photos of them on their 'last' day. Mark is working full time for the City mowing lawns all summer and got an early start and he'll also still be working part-time at Dominos. Isaac is dedicated to wasting his summer away watching YouTube but Tuesday there will be a rude awakening for the younger five kids when they learn the summer rules/chores. I hope they enjoy their few days of freedom before reality for all of us sets in.

Sneak Peek

      This week has been fairly easy going. All my photos are from last weekend.

This is one of the many places Greg has to monitor for the P.I. That's him cleaning out the head gate for the third time that day. He has a stressful job but the scenery isn't too shabby.

    I spent most of Saturday with Kayli bridal dress shopping. This is just a few of the dresses she tried on at the first store we went to. I won't share any more but we did have success in finding a beautiful dress and with a little altering it will be just perfect. Thankfully Kayli's soon-to-be mother-in-law is doing the altering so that's going to save us a ton of money.

I will say that this top left photo is pretty close to the exact dress she was looking for.

     Well another thing checked off the 'wedding-to-do" list. It was a fun day and maybe a tear or two was shed. Who said it was ok for her to grow up?! Oh, right, I did! And I still have 6 more to go! Maybe Tanner won't mind if they all move into their tiny one bedroom apartment after the big day!

Boy Scouts!

     So before the church made their announcement on the change/drop to the boy scout program we attended an Eagle Court of Honor Sunday. Carter got his first merit badge and we got to see Marcus, Mark's best friend, receive his Eagle award. Obviously the change to the scout program isn't going to affect us too much for the younger boys, at least not right now, but I for one, am so happy the church is finally making a change and hopefully it won't be much longer before they drop the whole program and do their own thing. I love the idea of scouts but the whole program is a bit much in my opinion. The activities and experiences are what really help these boys become men and awards and ceremony are not necessary in my opinion.

Carter's 11 year old scout leader has been awesome!

    These boys are pretty silly. We're super happy for Marcus though!

    And I know you're thinking, 'what is going on here', but sometimes you just have to give a little. In honor of Marcus' Eagle achievement he requested a motorcycle ride with his buddy and Greg very generously agreed to let Mark take our bike for a ride. Thankfully everyone and everything returned in one piece.

    And now I just have to brag on my youngest boy a little. Today at school his kindergarten class had their final library day and every child who returned their book got a bouncy ball from the librarian. One of the girls in McClane's class threw her ball up and it landed in a light fixture and the teachers decided to let her face the natural consequences of her bad choice to throw the ball and left her ball in the light fixture. Of course she was very upset so McClane gave her his ball. Proud-Mama-Moment for sure! He is a sweetie!

     So that's a few highlights from our week. Tomorrow I'm going bridal dress shopping with Kayli and her future mother-in-law, which is a little crazy but I'm sure will be fun. Stay tuned for photos! And only 10 more school days!!

Big start & finish!

     Mark turned 17 Sunday! He was happy with his card and cash (thanks G&G Baker).

    He also was happy with his 'old school' portable disc player, headphones and 80's classic rock cd's.

Even the dog was giving him extra birthday love!

    Then I captured this cute moment in primary. McClane thinks his primary teachers bald head is pretty cool.

    It was a big day for Carter as well. He's officially a deacon and an Aaronic priesthood holder. And before this Isaac was set apart as the Teacher's quorum 2nd counselor. (Lucky for Greg he just had to stand in the circle for that one.) Three out of five boys are priesthood 'men', only 2 more to go.

This was our selfie as we waited to meet with the Bishop.

     Then it was back to Mark and finishing up his big day with birthday cake and a visit from Marcus.

Believe it or not, the matching t-shirts weren't planned.

     Later in the week McClane had his 'end of school' kindergarten program. He wasn't too enthused but he was cute!

    Then we finished off the week with a fun neighborhood 'Cinco De Mayo' celebration. There was a piñata and an attempt at watching "The Three Amigos" on the out door movie screen but a lightening storm with a little rain cut it short. It was fun while it lasted!

The kids were in heaven.

There was more than enough candy for everyone thanks to our great neighbors.

Charlie was so excited to get a few good whacks in.

     So we started the week off big and ended it big. Tomorrow Greg gets to work on fixing our dilapidated fence and I get to clean up the 'after-shocks' from the Cinco De Mayo celebration. And if we're lucky and the weather cooperates we might be able to squeeze in a motorcycle ride sometime during the weekend.