Madison's project

Madison has been working hard on her personal progress for church. For her first value project she decided she wanted to plant a garden. Things have been very busy around here so today was the first moment that we had to go and work on it. I know that it is late for the season but at least she will get the experience even if we don't get anything out of the garden. We already had a raised bed from a few years ago when I took a second stab at a garden. Nothing seems to grow for me so I have given up. Hopefully Madison has better luck then me. There were a few issues with the box so we had some work to do before she could plant. Madison worked very hard preparing things. She was so happy when all the prep work was done and she get down the to fun stuff. Planting I think her favorite part of the whole experience though was the watering. At one point she looked at me and said "Can I?" She was asking if she could spray Allison. I of course said no and she listened. I was so happy because it would not have been good if she got Allison wet. It will be fun to watch her take care of her little garden and see what comes out of it.

Allison mowing

Kevin ask Allison if she would like to learn how to mow tonight. I think he was partly joking but she jumped right on it. A couple of years ago he taught Madison how to but I think he has control issues and she hasn't mowed since. I like that he is teaching them how to mow. Kevin says that Allison did a great job and caught on quickly to how he likes to have it done. He likes the lines in the lawn to be straight and not crooked at all. It was funny watching him instruct her and tell her that her lines were not straight. He says that by the end her lines were straight. I love these little moments that Kevin takes to spend some one on one time with each kid. They really treasure every moment that they get with him. Allison was on cloud nine when she was all done. I think she was quite cute out there. Now lets see if Kevin can give up some control and let one of them mow.

She got it!!!!

Kevin has been working on and off with Ashley on riding a bike and she got it tonight. She has been working so hard and is so excited that she can do it. They have just a little more work so she can learn to start herself and then she will be all done.

Fathers Day

Today we had a wonderful day for Father's Day. The girls always get so excited to give gifts and spoil people on their special day. Kevin ask if he could have an undisturbed nap. The girls did an awesome job staying quiet so he could enjoy his siesta. We made him a special dinner and got him his favorite pie from Marie Callendars. I have tried to make one for him but it never turns out so we are just going to have to buy a Banana cream pie anytime he wants one. Kevin is an amazing dad and the girls are so lucky to have his as their dad. Thank you Kevin for you all you do for me and the girls.

More moving.

Today we thought it would be fun to move stuff around again. I guess we didn't get enough at the beginning of the week. We finally decided to get Madison a different bed so we could put the bunk beds back together and get Ashley out of a toddler bed. Madison was so excited to get a new bed. We held off so long because we were hoping to have a bigger house so we could get her a queen bed. We did end up getting her a full bed so she is still happy. She loves having more room to sleep and is happy that she still has room to move around in her room. Allison is liking the top bunk. I think it brings some sort of power or something. Ashley just likes all the space that she has. She likes to sleep with a lot of stuffed animals and in her old bed there wasn't much room for anything more then herself. The girls are very happy with their new sleeping arrangements. Now they just can't wait till we can fix up their rooms and get cute things for their beds.

Girls camp

Madison got home from girls camp today. I was nervous to send her because she is so shy but I knew that she was in good hands. She left Tuesday morning and we got a call Tuesday night to see if she was up to date on her tetanus shot. The phone call did not help my nerves but she was ok. They were just making sure because she had stepped on a rusty nail and it went through her shoe. It only scrapped the skin and wasn't bad but they wanted to be sure she was covered. I have no doubt that she had a great time because she talked for over an hour in half about all what she did.

She told us about her sleeping arrangements. . . they weren't the most comfortable but hey she was camping what did she expect. She told us how she got to practice shooting. . .
Madison had lots of stories of all she did at camp. She had a great time and can't wait till next year.

It's summertime!!!!!

Today was Allison's last day of school. She is so excited for summer but is going to miss so many people from her class. She just loved Mrs. Blackwood. We are both sad to say good-bye to her but we know at least we will be able to see her in the halls next year. She was just an amazing teacher and Allison learned so much this year.

Allison is also sad to say good-bye to her friends. Unfortunately she probably won't be able to see a few of them until the year starts next year. Hopefully a few of them will be in her class next year. Allison had a wonderful 3rd grade year and we look forward to 4th grade.

We moved out. . .

We moved out. . . .
so we could get new carpet.
We have been in our house for 10 years and it was time to get new carpet. We have been wanting a bigger house but things just haven't worked out so we decided to start fixing things around here. Carpet was the biggest problem with our house so we started with it. It was a pain to move everything but it was so worth it. I love the carpet. The color is so warm and brings a different feeling to our house. Our old carpet was so bottom of the line that anything would have been an improvement. Thankfully we were able to get a think pad and a soft carpet. It is so different and nice.
The carpet installers were so fast and worked like clockwork. They were in and out in just over four in a half hours. Madison and Ashley cooperated with the restrictions of having the carpet put in. We hung out in our kitchen. Thank goodness for portable DVD players. It wasn't the easiest day but they made it through with shinning colors. They were so happy when it was all done and they could leave the kitchen. Once they were gone then it was time to move back in. Madison was such a big help and we got a lot done before Kevin got home. We got about 75% of back in tonight. I am sure that it will be all back in by the end of the week.

Poor Allison

Allison is a very devoted student. She has only ever missed one day of school since she started until today. Now she has missed two days. About 10:30 this morning I got a call from Madison while I was getting my haircut, she told me that the school called because Allison was throwing up. She only has 5 days left of school and she gets sick. I knew that she would be bummed when I saw her. Then I remembered that today was also the day for her Someday book presentation. She has worked so hard on this book and now she wouldn't be able to present it in front of the class for the parents. She wasn't as unset as I thought she would but it might have been because she could barely see straight because her head hurt so bad. She did a wonderful job writing her book. I think we have a little writer on our hands. She enjoys writing and does a wonderful job at it. She seems to be feeling better tonight. I am sad that she had to miss out on her day but glad she is doing better.

Science Fair Project

Last year when Madison did her science fair project I was glad that I had three more years before Allison was required to do one. It has always been open to the whole school but neither of them ask to do it. Well that changed this year. Allison really wanted to do it and knew exactly what she wanted to do. I told her I did not have time with everything going on right now but she insisted and wore me down. We turned in the sheet and then I forgot about it. She came home from school yesterday with the announcement that it was due today. I told I her that I couldn't help her and she needed to do it all on her own. She set up her experiment and typed it all out on the computer. I ran to the store to get the supplies that she needed and that is the only way that I helped her. I am quite impressed with how determined she was and how hard she worked on it. She did such a wonderful job.

Madison's last day of school

Today was Madison's last day of the 6th grade. She ask if she could bring the camera to school so I let her. It is kind of fun to see what she took pictures of. She took pictures of a few of her friends and then two of her favorite teachers.


As kind of a celebration I let her invite a friend over to spend the night. (Funny picture because McKenzie actually comes up to Madison's shoulders. Madison is squatting.) McKenzie and Madison had a great time and I am sure they stayed up way to late. I don't know for sure because I went to bed. It was a really great year for Madison. She grew so much this year.

So proud of Madison

On Friday we got a letter in the mail inviting us to an awards ceremony on Monday at the middle school. Madison was getting an award but it didn't say what. I was excited at the prospect and excited because Madison had no idea. The letter said to keep it a secret so we did. The first award Madison got was in PE. She received the National award in fitness. I am just amazed at her. I never did well on those fitness tests in PE and she scored 50% or above on all the tests. Only about 50 kids in the whole sixth grade did so it isn't an easy thing to do. Next she got an award for the most growth. I knew at the beginning of the year that she was going to make it through this year and shine. All of Madison's teachers were so concerned about her and invested a lot of time into her. I am so proud of her perseverance. The final award that she got was for her grades. She was able to maintain a 3.5 to 3.9 gpa for the whole year. That means that she was on the honor roll the whole year. Kevin and I can not express how proud we are of her. She is such an amazing daughter. She even finished the year out with a 4.0 for the final quarter. Way to go Madison!!! We are so proud of you. You are an amazing daughter.

Ashley's 5 year old pictures

I finally got around to taking Ashley's 5 year old pictures. I guess that it is better late then never. I am very happy with the way they turned out. She did such a great job at cooperating.