{What the Wii can teach you}

So today E comes in and says...."I can do this".....and starts to hula hoop.

Notice the arms...I think this is important to his ability to hula hoop...it goes from two hands straight up in the air to more of a muscle man stance to a bull rider look (one arm up one down).

Having two little girls in the house allows us to have toys we have never had before...like hula hoops. And so he continued for over 5 minutes standing there hula hooping. I wondered where he could have learned it from and realized....Wii. We have the Wii Fit and one of the "games" is hula hooping.

We think the Wii hasn't helped with bowling, baseball, and tennis as our children think in bowling you should bounce the ball off the edges even when you bowl in real life, when they are up to bat in baseball there is a lot of jumping as they hit the ball, and tennis well there is more jumping and spinning than actual hitting of the tennis ball. So I was amazed that he actually learned how to hula hoop from the game.

After he showed us his new talent all the kids had to have a chance.

L first and she can't really do it yet.

A just stood in the middle of the hoop while it was on the ground

And K couldn't be out done so he attempted to spin it on his neck (not to meantion that he can't hula hoop anyways...even on the Wii)

But then L held up the hoop and said "Jump doggie" to E and thus the circus act began. Luckily even Auntie was willing to get in on the fun holding the hoop higher and higher!

A good 30 minutes of running, jumping and laughing!

{the food runneth over}

With 8 of us here a lot of food is being consumed. It is fun having us all here but it feels like one of us is always picking up something at the store b/c we keep eating everything!

The pantry is really full!

and so is the fridge!

and it certainly isn't helping that Vannessa and I like to feed the kids fresh fruits and veggies...so Sams is becoming a great place to buy those items in bulk as all the kiddos love all those things too!

{Last day of 3rd Grade}

K's last day was fun and something he was really looking forward too!

For their awards ceremony the class stood and recited the whole Gettysburg Address. K got to stand in the front with two other classmates b/c he had learned the whole thing. Apparently not all the students passed it off. We were surprised thought b.c at home he couldn't do the whole thing. But he was always performed better at school than at home so we should have figured that out.

K has had a great year. He was happy to have his best friends return to school after starting school without him. He has become an avid reader, is still a math wiz, and we have learned that he can really memorize anything if we let him do it his own way.

{Last day of 1st Grade}

Here is E and his teacher on the last day right before awards....

He has had a great year. It was his first year in school all day 4 days a week. The beginning was a little rough but once he got used to it and got in the groove the year went a lot better.

This year he has learned to read, spell, and is great at math. He made some great friends that will be in 2nd grade with him next year and is really happy to have summer break!

He is definitely my homebody and loves to just be the 4 of us at home. So summer is just what he needs.

{pinewood derby 2009}

This was K's 1st Pinewood Derby....and it seemed like he had fun.....he came in 4th place after he decided to race his car backwards down the track.....

The Car.....

(last soccer practice of the season}

So for the last practice of the season, Chad had a water fight for the last 30 minutes of practice. One of E's old coaches did this and the team loved it so much we thought it would be fun again.

So a cooler full of water , 11 water guns, and a few extra gallons of water makes for a lot of fun!

{Guess what today is??}

Any guesses?

Thursday....the last full day of school for 2008-2009!!

All week we have been announcing the lasts....and this habit of mine really drives Chad crazy....

Tuesday was the last Tuesday of 1st grade for E and 3rd Grade for K.

Wednesday was the last working day of 1st grade for E and 3rd Grade for K. And the last time they had to take lunch to school for this year. And the last time to wear their polo uniforms to school.

Thursday is the last Thursday of 1st grade for E and 3rd for K. And the last field trip! (Both "read around America" so they earned a fun day out with those from their classes that did the same thing).

Tomorrow a half day!! with a class party and awards and we are done!! And the last time to wear their dress uniform for this year!

Bring on Summer!!

{Special helper}

So we still have our special girls here with us and A is always asking for Chad...I mean always...she wants NOTHING to do with me.

I gave her a lollipop and she ran off. I went looking for her a little bit later and this is where she was.

Happily watching Chad design. She sat there until she ate the whole lollipop.

{2 Birthdays in 1}

This year we celebrated both boys birthdays on one day. We decided on a May party since K's real day is in April and E's real day is in June. And this way all thier school friends can attend too.

We had a great afternoon at Bounce U (a building full of bounce houses, slides etc)

{fine arts week}

So this week at school is fine arts week. Students get to perform on their instruments, give

recitations, sing, dance, act...all kinds of fun!

E's class did a recitation "the Swing" by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Very fun!

Then today K's class did line dancing....yes you read that right! they did the macarana. When K told me about it he was disgusted and so embarrassed but after "practice" he seemed to be into it a little bit. It was fun and after the rest of the school started cheering and dancing with them he seemed to have more fun!!

And he'll probably be mad if he figures out I posted this picture....sorry it's so blurry but I think Chad was laughing and taking pictures while I videotaped!

{soccer and lei day}

Saturday was a fun day....another soccer game and may day lei day celebration in downtown Vegas.

Here is what K does during the games....

what would life be like without a cell phone to entertain you?

Here is Chad coaching the team!

And with out days warming up (we are close to 100 now) we had shave ice and watched some hulu and shopped a little bit at the lei day celebration

{look at this}

Never thought we'd have these in our house...

This one is pink....

This has princesses....

They very girly and when those are around so is she (and her big sister too).

That is the best part! (this is a great picture of how A is always trying to get E to share the DS with her or at least let her see what is going on)

We have my brother's family here with us for a while and they bring with them the two most wonderful little girls....so we get to have pink in the house for a little while!