Updates of the Girls

Basil giving Junie loves.

June at about three and half weeks old.

June at two weeks old.

Ready for Summer's birthday party.

Summer had her SEVEN year birthday party. This picture isn't a great one, but I love the look on Summer's face.

She got roller skates from Grandma Searle and was so excited. 

And the big thing this year was the offer of a birthday party with friends or getting her ears pierced (she's been begging for the past two years to get her ears pierced). Guess which she chose?

 

Summer was so brave. I could see here eyes well up with tears. She wanted to cry. She just looked me right in the face, took a big controlled breath, and smiled. WOW! I was so impressed.

Love this picture.

And this one too. 

My mom gave us a cd for Christmas with Primary songs on it. The girls love it and listen to it often. They have even memorized quite a few songs on it. One of them was a song written to the scripture "Alma 37:6-7." Summer asked Lilli Brunt (12 years old) to sing it with her in Sacrament meeting. So they did! I was so proud of Summer. She did excellent. She smiled through the whole thing. She was so excited to do it. The whole first verse was a solo by Summer. The second verse was half a solo by Lilli, then they joined together on the second half. It was beautiful. 

Produce from our garden . . . We've eaten a few not-yet-ripe vegetables because we are just too excited to wait. It's been so fun to see the girls get so excited over the fruits of our labors.

And our tomatoes are out of control. Our first red cherry tomato had to split five ways--I was not going to pass it up! It was totally worth it.

Summer made a seek and find picture for Claire. 

And Claire made a maze for Summer.

Pippy talking to baby Junie.

We got some hand-me-down dress-ups from a neighbor. The girls have spent hours getting dressed up--or dressing Basil up and sending her upstairs--to model them for me.

Little Junie sportin' the zebra print

This hair is out of control. We love it! We actually went to Claire's jewelry shop and tried different bows on her hair, but nothing tamed it. 

June--5 weeks old

Claire's been wearing Summer's fake glasses for the past few days. They actually look pretty great on her!

Love all these girls!

Priest Lake

After Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner left, we packed an overnight bag and our swim suits, and then loaded the van and headed out. We didn't have any plans of anywhere we were going, we just started driving! On the road, we decided to head up to Priest Lake and check it out. When we got there, we found these little cabins to rent and stay in. The girls thought it was so fun--just like a little playhouse for them. Haha. They got out the brooms and vacuums and started sweeping and cleaning. It was funny.

This was our two bedroom cabin--which meant Rhett, June (in her carseat), and I slept in one room, Summer and Claire slept in another in two twin beds, and Pyper and Basil got the couch bed. Well, that's how we hoped it would work out. In reality, it was just me and June in the one room, Summer and Claire in the other, and Pyper, Basil and Rhett on the couch. Those girls had such a hard time going to sleep! It was just too much fun.

We swam in the lake a little, but it was actually a bit colder than our lake, so it didn't last long. We had a nice breakfast at the resort. Then headed home. We love our mini exploring trips!

Kayaking

Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner came up over the fourth of July weekend and brought their kayaks. We had so much fun!

This year, Liberty Lake shot fireworks from the dirt field next to the school--which just happens to be between our house and the school. So we sat back in our lawn chairs and enjoyed the fireworks in our back yard. It was so fun!

Pictures of Girls

Baby June--a little over a week old

Summer--almost 7 years

Pyper--3 years old

Claire--5 years old

Basil--2 years old

School Pictures from East Central

I'm finally getting the pictures on my camera onto the computer. . . 

Here are the last-day-of-school photos:

Zoey and Claire. These two were best friends. They were in the same class for the past four years. The teachers always thought these two were so funny together. The teachers told me Zoey would talk about zombies while Claire would talk about prophets. These girls sat by each other, played together, and were best friends.

This is Teacher Jackie--Claire's main teacher. The kids were assigned into three groups of eight. Each group had one teacher. This one was Claire's teacher (and Summer's too, when she was in the class.)

This is Teacher Laura. She is the head teacher.

Cook Alla and Teacher Janet. Claire loved Cook Alla's food and would often ask her for recipes.

This is Valerie. She was the Family Services Coordinator. She helped with paper work, assisted with the kids, and became such a good friend to me.

Teacher Janet--She was another teacher in the classroom.

Teacher Paige in Pyper's classroom. Pyper's class had only 8 kids and two teachers. These teachers are amazing!

Teacher Mary, the head teacher. 

We love all these women. They have been part of our lives for the past five years. We are so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this great program and are sad that this was our last year. But we have made great memories and have learned so much from our experiences here.