We Made it!

Lucy, Jensen and Mommy made it to the end of their school years. It wasn't easy but we did it! 

Lucy was the first graduate around here. She finished up in May which wasn't exactly the best thing for Mommy while she finished up teaching for the year. She sure missed her friends and wanted mommy to play with her. This is Lucy on her last day of preschool. They didn't have a graduation for her since she still has one more year of preschool (sigh).

I also snapped a picture of Lucy with her friend Wyatt. Remember they exchanged love notes a month ago? They might just meet up again for Kindergarten.  

She loved all three of her teachers Ms. Megan, Ms. Tami and Ms. Tanisha. 

Jensen had a few field trips and an unforgettable cockroach performance at the end of his school year. He got to go twice to the splash pads with both of his classes. I was able to chaperone both of them. 

As for the performance, all of the kindergartners dressed up as different bugs. Jensen was one cute cockroach. I am sure I will never say a cockroach is cute ever again. He was really into his mustache that they gave him for his costume. He kept feeling it and making sure it stayed right in place. His hat also liked to fall down so he couldn't see half the time what he was doing. 

The family attended Jensen's graduation ceremony. They read his name and he shook his teacher's hands then left the stage without his diploma. He got a good chuckle from everyone. This picture is blurry but is the only one (big sigh!)

Jensen was blessed to have two amazing teachers this school year. Ms. Sharp is his Autism teacher. She took great care of him and gave us a lot of support. 

Mrs. Lewis is his general education teacher. He would spend all morning with her before going back to Ms. Sharp's class. Jensen learned a lot from these amazing teachers! 

Of course last minute I was making their thank you gifts. These were bouquets of whiteboard markers with paper flowers on top. 

Jensen had his last day a week before mommy did. Lucy was so glad to have him home to play with her. Mommy was too. 

Mommy wrapped up her first year of teaching 5th grade in the second week of June. It was a great year and I really loved my class this year. You don't think you get attached to your kids when you teach virtually but you do! 

Jensen's and Mommy's summer break didn't last too long since we are both doing summer school. Keeps us out of trouble I guess!

Jensen is a Big 6 Year Old!

This happy kid turned six last month. He spent the day by going to school. I sent birthday Oreos in his backpack to share with his classmates. His teachers had said they didn't want anything messy which I totally understand. Right when he got on the bus I could hear him tell the bus driver that it was his birthday. Oh how things change when you get older. I am pretty sure most of us just keep that information to ourselves on that day. 

When he got home he had two crowns from his teachers. They take great care of him. We let him open his presents right away. He is all basketball right now so he got jerseys, basketball guys, headband, and even NBA Jam from us. But his cousins sent him a Mario game for the Wii and I think that was the winner. He is addicted and so is his daddy!

We kept asking Jensen what he wanted to do for his birthday. If you know Jensen he is a creature of habit. We went to Chuck E. Cheese last year for his birthday so he wanted to do it again.  We didn't want to disappoint him so we headed to Chuck E's. Quincy had an old roommate from BYU visiting that week so we asked them to come along. We had hung out with them earlier that week and our kids got along perfectly. They have a boy Jensen's age, a girl just a little bit older than Lucy, and then a 2 year old.

Here are the boys trying to beat the records on the hoop game. They spent all night and most of our coins on this game. Parker and Jensen are both into hoops as much as their daddies.

While the boys were shooting, Kambri and Lucy kept busy by going to the photo booth and many other games.

Quincy and Dave Snedaker

The Snedakers and the Walkers

Jensen had a great day and ended it by eating birthday cake. We can't believe that he is six already!

Mutton Busting at the Fair

We didn't know if we were going to make it to the fair this year since Quincy's parents are still on a mission. They are usually our fair hook-up and tour guides for the fair. But since Jensen has been wanting to ride the sheep all year long, we decided we better not miss this year. We actually didn't know if Jensen would really go through with it. He practiced on Quincy's back here and there but we had no idea if he would really do it. Quincy said that he did get nervous when it got closer to his turn but he did it. It didn't last eight seconds like we hoped it would but I am so proud of this kid for trying. 

My Brave Mutton Buster

For riding the sheep they gave Jensen a t-shirt and $5! 

 Bryson was Jensen's hero last year in the Mutton Bustin. Whenever we talked about it he would say he was going to ride just like Bryson.

Of course it wouldn't be the fair without basketball hoops. Kevin was the first and only Walker winner this year.

Quincy gave it a shot but just wasn't his year. Maybe the little boys watching him threw him off or his wife shaking her head at him.

Of course there were lots of rides for the kids. I had deja vu when I was watching them.  

Jensen and Bryson fair of 2010

Jensen was able to go on the big rides this year. He wasn't quite able to actually get in the swing by himself though. A nice girl helped him in and out of the ride. Quincy gave her a tip for her troubles.

We laughed so hard at Bryson's and Jensen's face on this ride. It was pure horror turned to smile turned back to horror depending on which way the ride was moving.

Lucy was more brave this fair as she went on some of the big kid rides. This one entertained us to see the kids spinning around squishing each other. We might of laughed too hard watching their faces. 

After the rides we took a break from the heat and sat under a tree for some dinner. Even Duncan got some nourishment. Jensen snapped this shot while he was not waiting patiently to get back to the fair. He even decided to go and try some of the rides by himself and got lost twice.

Happy Duncan. Jensen also took this shot. 

These two girls had a great time with their umbrellas thanks to Demsie's Grandma. These were great souvenirs since they provided shade for the girls and you could spot them in the crowd.

Last picture of the night.

We were so glad to head home after a full day at the fair. Not sure how we usually do three days of the fair. We sure missed Grandma and Grandpa Haworth. Just wasn't the same.

Summer of 2013

These pictures are from last summer. They have been on my phone and I keep saying I am going to blog them. Today is the day.  I thought I was going to do a blog at the end of the summer to wrap up our fun but instead I had lots of other things to think about at the end of summer. 

I am sad because some of these pictures are blurry but I just love them anyway. 

Quincy had tickets to the 51's game from work. It was fireworks night so we took the kids. They did pretty well to sit through the game. One lady in front of us gave us their extra pair of sunglasses that they passed out that night. The kids were all over those. Another lady behind us kept saying how good they were to sit there. She ended up being one of the player's girlfriends. She said Jensen deserved a signed baseball from her boyfriend. So after the game she took Jensen and I down to the dugout for a signed ball.  Jensen thought that was pretty cool and even slept with the ball that night. The fireworks didn't disappoint either children. 

Since I don't have work over the summer we decided to get a summer pass to the children's museum. We tried to go once a week. It was perfect since I was pregnant. I would just sit down in the nice air conditioned building while the kids played. Jensen's favorite spot is the car where you can change the tire on a car. Lucy loves the art area or the wind tunnel. They both love the new water room. The Kanets also had a pass and would join us often. The new museum is way fun and hopefully we will use our pass here soon before it runs out for the year. 

Our Tuesdays for the summer were taken up with dance and t-ball classes at the Hollywood Rec Center. Lucy would go first and then Jensen would have his class. Lucy loved her teacher and we loved watching her try to skip across the room, dance with their fairy wands and doing plies in the mirror. Jensen was pure entertainment in his t-ball class. I just wanted to bring popcorn and sit on the bleachers and laugh. He had the most patient teacher ever! Mrs. T. He was the typical 5 year old that would chase the ball wherever it was hit or he would have his glove on his head when a ball was hit his way. He did love running the bases and even got pretty good at hitting the ball off the tee. They even let Lucy in her tutu hit sometimes. This picture below is my favorite but of course it is blurry. These two can be the best of friends when they want to be.

Grandma Cindy sent a book to the kids about a girl who makes forts out of boxes. Lucy ate this book right up and wanted every box in the house to become a new castle or ship. Little did we know that we would be needing these boxes for our move. 

Our last summer adventure to share was to the park for a little splash pad. We got to meet two capybaras at the park that night. A lady had these two huge rats for pets. She let the kids pet them. I stayed a good distance back and took pictures. She said she lets them run around her house like dogs and they even sleep on her bed with her. I was glad the kids didn't ask to have one. They reminded me of those nasty rats on Princess Bride (Thanks Di for that reference!).