This week we found out that Ethan is very far down the waiting list to get into a charter school that he was hoping to start going to this next year for 5th grade.  It was good to find out what position he is in and it helps me know what to plan out for this next coming year and keep preparing him until the day he does get accepted, which may be next school year (6th grade) or even the next.  We heard it takes about a year of waiting to get into the school, so we are willing to wait because we believe that this is the direction Heavenly Father has led us. 

Since we found out the news, I was relieved of some pressure to get him ready for “real school”.  We started our summer break early.  It actually made for a tough couple of days not having any plans and I look forward to this next week and hope to come up with a better schedule.  The kids will still be working on math, reading and Greek history during their break.  This will keep up their skills and keep us moving forward and catch up in some areas.  We hope to start our new year in late July or early August. 

With our extra time I made some popsicles with these new popsicle molds I bought on amazon. They worked beautifully and will have to orders some more.  Six is not enough for our family!

Other big happenings this week, Carly learned to ride her bike without training wheels.  Now I know she is older and should have already done this by now, but she never showed an interest.  She caught on so fast though and was riding her bike the first night trying and has been unstoppable now.  She wants to ride all the time!  We also took Gavin’s training wheels off and it has been a bit harder for him, but he does well practicing and I bet he will have it down in a week or two.

Dylan loves puzzles, I mean really loves puzzles, as much as he does the chickens I would have to say.  This kid is always playing with one or begging for a different one.  He knows where all the pieces go and was thrilled I brought more home for him this past week.

For Mother’s Day we had a wonderful day at church and then off to my grandma’s (a.k.a. MaMa).  We had yummy sandwiches, potato salad and Clark made a lime zucchini cake.  It was so nice to see everyone and the kids had a blast seeing MaMa’s chickens, riding bikes and learning to play pool.  Grandpa Don was very helpful in all these things!

  From Left to right:  My Aunt Susan, MaMa, My Mom, cousin Rachel (Aunt Susan’s Daughter), and me.

On a sad note this week, Jonathan got his first fire ant bites and they always make his feet swell up and he has been pretty miserable these past couple of days.

On a happy note, Clark caught a picture of a beautiful rainbow.

So here is the happenings of the past week.

Ethan:  This past week he was busy preparing for his piano recital and working on school stuff.  He did great at his recital, we are so proud of him and his hard work.  I love hearing him playing the piano and look forward to many years of listening to the music he plays. His current piano teacher is taking a break from teaching and we just lover her to pieces and so grateful for her encouragement to Ethan and love of teaching piano. We have video of the recital we will post later this week.

Carly:  She caught a monarch caterpillar a couple of weeks ago on our milkweed plant. She kept it and watched it grow quickly turn into a chrysalis and then today a butterfly came out and it was beautiful.  School wise she is moving along with reading much better now, we have to backtrack a bit for math and go back to a program I should have stayed with to begin with, is writing well and learning to spell (I love her creative spelling).

Gavin:  I should just group Gavin and Jonathan together because they are just handfuls of mischief. They keep me on my toes and along with Dylan are little tornadoes that roam through the house.  Gavin does like doing school work though.  He loves his math and is learning to read 3 letter words right now.  He is very proud of himself and it is cute to see him learning to read.

Jonathan:  Well Jonathan has really been proving to be a 3 year old lately and reminded me of why the 3’s are such a tough age.  He is sweet boy too and shows it by giving lots of hugs and snuggles.  He likes to try to do school and tells me he wants to do math in his cute 3 yr. old voice.  Lots of times you can find him hanging out with Dylan working terrorizing on a puzzle.  Jonathan also spends a bulk of his time outside with the chickens.  He loves to hold, cuddle, and kiss them!

Dylan:  Dylan is almost 20months old now and growing up too fast.  He is such a cutie and he receives lots of hugs and kisses from all in the family.  It doesn’t hurt that he has the bluest eyes ever!!! He is a shy boy when we are out and about, but not at home.  He LOVES to be outside.  He will stay outside and just sit and watch the chicks and try to feed them rocks.  Dylan also spends a lot of time on the table, it doesn’t matter how many times I take him down he likes to sit up there to work on puzzles or anything the other kids are working on, he has to be in the middle of it.  Another funny thing he loves is to find wet rags and carry them around the house in his mouth.  Sometimes this grosses me out because he might not find such a clean rag.

  (an old pic sitting with the chicks)

The Chickens:  We received two New Hampshire Reds (Lucy and Ethel we named them) from my grandma back in December and they were doing great here and then sadly we lost Lucy to a hawk.  Instead of buying another grown hen, the kids convinced us to get chicks.  We bought 7 chicks in February, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Ameraucanas (the tan ones), and 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes.  We bought 7 because I thought a chick might not survive or one would end up being a rooster, but so far they all have survived and they all seem to be hens.  Lucky us, we now have 8 chickens!  Ethel lays eggs, but the 7 others will hopefully start laying this July.  The chicks have been a learning experience.  They are not so cute now, they are already teenagers! Just this past week they decided they like to fly up to the fence and jump out, so we had to clip their wings this week. 

  Gavin loving Lucy #2(Ethel)

Clark and I have our arms full in this one.

Handsome Ethan:

Adorable Carly:

Serious Gavin:

Goofy Jonathan:

Cutie Pie Dylan:

Family with Grandma and Grandpa:

Family:

Clark and Crystal:

Ethan:

Carly:

Gavin:

Jonathan:

Dylan:

Well Jonathan had fun little birthday where we learned he was afraid of the candles.  Every time we lit candles to sing Happy Birthday he would start crying.  Kind of sad and funny at the same time. I ended up blowing out the candle for his birthday muffin, but as you can see he enjoyed eating the muffin very much.

And for his birthday cake he stuck to me and let Carly and Ethan blow out the candles.

He loved opening his present at snail speed. It was killing the other kids to watch him open it so slowly.

Ahhh, finally finished with a bit of help from Mommy.

Ethan was Darth Vader.

Carly was Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Gavin was Thomas again, but at least he wore the costume this year

Jonathan was a cowboy who didn’t want to wear his hat.

And Dylan was just cute!

Here she is with her morning cinnamon roll and opening gifts.

One of the things she wanted most this year was a birthday party with friends on her actual birthday.  They had a blast making fairy wands and necklaces.  They all dressed up and danced to music from Tinkerbell.  It was so cute to watch them dance and pretend to be fairies. 

This year Carly wanted a butterfly birthday cake and she drew out the design on paper and Clark copied it exactly for her in icing on the cake.

One of the biggest changes this year in Carly is how long her hair has gotten and she has matured in a lot of ways. She loves helping taking care of Dylan and Jonathan and she is such a blessing to this family and adds some girliness to this clan of boys we have in this household.  Her favorite things to do is to try to capture butterflies and play dress up with her friends.  We love you so much Carly girl!!!  Please stay little forever