JUNE 2016

June had to have been one of the busiest months! School ended and with all the rain we had at the beginning of the month and late last month, field day changed dates several times!  It was a little crazy, having field day inside, but most of all the boys had a blast and came home with tons of stories!! I was finally able to eat lunch with them on the last day of school and brought them Chik-Fil-A, which was a treat!! 

KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION 2016

We home schooled Zachery, so we never had an actual Kindergarten graduation ceremony, but I have to say it was very cute!  Since I was one of the home room moms, I had the privilege of cutting out the materials for the graduation hats.  I have to say they turned out very cute! As they were presented with their Kindergarten Diploma's their teacher would announce what they would like to be when they grew up ... Zayne would like to be an artist, because he likes to paint.  He took pictures with his friends Tea and Graham and of course his teacher Ms. Madison.  Zachery was even able to join us for the ceremony but had to go back to class.  Prior to the graduation ceremony, the dads were setting up for Field Day in the gym while the moms were setting up for the graduation celebration in the cafeteria.  

SCHOOL ARTWORK

ZACHERY

The pictures below are of Zachery's art work from his third grade year!  My favorite are the flowers using pastels.

ZAYNE

The pictures below are of Zayne's art work from his kindergarten grade year!  I love the silhouette!!

 

 

BASEBALL

Baseball season is in full swing!  But with all the rain, make up games were crammed into the last two weeks of June! The third week of June we had a baseball game every night! Zayne's team, the Yankees, made it to the finals but ended up getting runner up! Zayne played GREAT! He moved from being one of the last hitters in the line-up to the fifth hitter by the last game of the season.  Side note: Zayne is playing with the first grade team.  He played catcher twice a game and truly learned how to throw off his helmet when needed and to be ready to catch the ball, if thrown to him.  He played third base several times and made some key plays when it mattered most - a big throw to second and one to first.  He played right field several times and again made some key throws to stop runners from advancing! All and all he had a good season, well at least by the end of the season things seemed to be clicking more.  Oh I almost forgot Zayne had his first home run!! It was so much fun to watch!!  I wish the video was small enough to put on the website.

Zachery had a great season too!  He played shortstop all season! He is consistently fourth in the hitting lineup and has had several home runs and triples this season! I think and hope that we have found a team, the Diamond Backs, that we can be apart of for several more years!  It was fun to watch the team improve throughout the season, from last place to making it into the finals!! They got second this season, but for being a first year team with several players never playing before, I think they had a fantastic season!! During the last game Zachery had a home run and a triple.  In the field he had some truly key plays and missed some key plays! We continue to throw the ball sidearm and towards the ground.  I think the coach has a friend that was a major league player and will be providing a clinic to our team later this summer.  

General picture of the infield, Zachery is number 4, shortstop.  

Zachery running to third.

Zayne on first base.

Not sure why he has a grumpy face, could it be because they lost?  I am truly not sure!

NEIGHBORHOOD SWIM TEAM

I so wanted to find a "fun" swim team the boys could be apart of for the summer.  I started asking around and found out about the Richardson Neighborhood Swim Team.  It is perfect and just what I was hoping for ... I wish they were a little more concerned about keeping the kids organized and swimming during practices, but the kids are cheering their teammates on during swim meets and I think that is really what I was wanting for this summer!! They will swim two swim meets and will have a final swim meet at the end of July! So stayed tuned until next month!! I am not sure what their times are, but they are having fun ... look at those smiles!!

 

Zayne getting ready to swim the 25 Freestyle.

First place ribbon (for both the 25 Freestyle and 25 Backstroke).

First place ribbon (for both the 25 Freestyle and 25 Backstroke).

The boys with their swim coach.

Zachery with his best friend Will.

BLUEBERRY PICKING

We went blueberry picking last week and picked at least 10 pounds of blueberries and have enjoyed blueberry muffins, pound cake and cobbler!! Yum!! We met some friends at the blueberry patch, so it was fun to listen to them talk while they picked blueberries, "Oh, I found the mother-load".  Where in the world did they hear that phrase??

AROUND THE HOUSE

The summer is filled with school work in the mornings, a fun summer swim team (as mentioned above) and goof off time in the afternoon!  We decided to find a tutor for both boys this summer.  For Zayne just to try and jump start him into first grade.  He still struggles with recognizing letters and sounds.  The bad thing is he wants so bad to read the same books as Zachery, but he doesn't do the work to get there!! So needless to say it has been a challenge.  Zachery had a teacher this year that truly broke his spirit with reading and going to school in general.  We spoke to him about having to deal with all kinds of personalities in life, but when you son is scared to go to school because of the teacher it just breaks your heart!   Like I said, he lost the joy of reading, it became "work" and it just wasn't fun anymore.  So the tutor is helping him enjoy reading again and also helping him with common sense questions.  We are also working on slowing down this summer and learning how to read the entire question .... Yes we have a habit of not completing the question!! We are enjoying hanging out with friends and of course taking care of our baby sister!! Zachery is changing her diapers and Zayne enjoys feeding her.  It is CRAZY at times, but I wouldn't trade this time in the world for anything!!

Feeding Baby Zylie!

Eating lunch with Zachery!

Helping a friend play UNO!

MAY 2016

AWANAs

AWANA's came to an end at the beginning of the month.  They both finished their books and received their awards.  At the beginning of the ceremony this year the kids sang the AWANA theme song (with hand motions).  The pictures below are of course, one serious and one "goofy".  What is it about taking a silly picture all the time.  It was Jay and my first time back since Zylie was born, so it was so good to see all the kids!! We truly missed seeing them every week and helping them with their memory versus.  Zayne would really like it if I would help with his class next year.   

NEIGHBORS

We put installed a new fence around our property which included the driveway area and this made it easier for our neighbors to know or see us playing in the backyard.  Our kids would climb the fence to hop over to each others yards to play ... We loved it!  Unfortunately, they found a house in a new neighborhood that has taken them away.  We are hoping our new neighbors will love to come over and play!!  The new neighbors have twin girls a year younger than Zayne ... we were praying hard for a couple of boys Zachery's age!!  Since we live on a semi-busy street without a sidewalk, it has been hard to let Zachery and Zayne ride their bikes around the neighborhood to their friends house near the school.  Maybe I need to start riding my bike with them more, so I get more comfortable with them riding by themselves .... Hmmm sounds like I have come up with a solution.

NANA & PAPA VISIT

On their way home from their grandchild's college graduation, Nana and Papa came to visit for a few days.  They were able to meet Zylie, walk the boys to and from school, play Settlers of Catan (yes, one of our favorite games!!) and even come to swimming practice with us.  I am not sure how they escaped taking a picture with Zachery and Zayne or the whole gang, but we did.  I think they will be coming through Dallas on their way to my aunts wedding celebration in October, so we will be able to get more pictures then!! Anyways, we thoroughly enjoyed their visit and to hear how Mom (or Nana) is recovering from her heart attack in September.  We praise God that she is still here with us!!

AUNT BECKY & UNCLE DAVE VISIT

Aunt Becky and Uncle Dave also came to visit!! Look at those happy faces!! I am not sure how Aunt Becky and Uncle Dave escaped taking pictures with Zylie, but they did ... They were kept busy with swimming, school, mall walks (with the XBOX dancing game!), and having fun at one of the trampoline indoor parks!! 

AROUND THE HOUSE

We love watching movies! One can't watch movies without action figures ... so when the boys watch Star Wars, they can't watch without their X Wing Fighter (last picture).  The top one are the boys with their step sister and sister on our couch.  I included a couple of pictures from another swimming birthday party and have to tell a quick story! As you will notice, the cupcakes the boys are enjoying have very colorful frosting (and alot of it!).  Well the next morning, yes the next morning (the swim party was the night before from 6-8pm), Zayne yells out "Mom, my poop is blue!".  I had to check this out for myself.  Sure enough, his poop was the color of the frosting ... I know this is gross, but we literally stood their staring at his poop and laughing!  I can't believe how fast his metabolism is, makes me wonder if he is absorbing any nutrients at all?!  Zachery has been enjoying learning how to bake.  The pictures below are of him baking peanut butter Hershey cookies from a book he purchased from the Book Fair.  

I have a story, I wish I could say it was funny ... well it might be now.  Anyways, one Saturday morning Zachery woke up and wanted to make "something".  So he got my cookbook down and started going through the pages and found a coffee cake he wanted to make and asked if we could make it.  I looked at the recipe and it was going to take a couple of days due to the yeast (yes, yeast!).  I said, I think we need to find another recipe this one is a bit complicated for our first "baking lesson".  He was very determined to do "this recipe".  So I said "fine".  After some choice words we finished our first portion of the recipe (I am not sure he has fully grasped that baking, or cooking for that matter, is NOT a quick process, a lesson we are struggling with not only in baking/cooking but also in school ... we got through the first day, I wish I could say without frustration, but that wouldn't be truthful!).  He really didn't want to finish the recipe the next day, but I made him (we have to finish what we started!).  We anxiously awaited to have coffee cake that morning before church ... it was doughy but good.  I wish I could say we learned a little humility, but that wouldn't be completely honest.  I think he learned that we have to start with simpler recipes, just like baby Zylie has to learn how to hold her head up before she can learn how to sit or crawl before she can walk.  Anyways, I hope he truly learned a lesson, but only time will tell.  I am proud of him for being ambitious and for trying.  

The video is of Zachery hitting the baseball and getting out at first ... we had alot of rain this month so many of our games were cancelled, which will make the beginning of June very busy!

Oh I almost forgot, the baseball organization that we belong to had a night watching the Frisco Rough Riders minor league baseball game.  We enjoyed, or rather part of the package, was all you can eat hot dogs and bratwursts, chips and peanuts (yes, we all had tummy aches the next day!).  It was fun to watch a baseball game with our teammates.

Allison, the boys' step sister, is on a dance committee that held a fundraiser, Movie Night - The Little Rascals.  It was on a Wednesday night and we all helped setup ... the only bad thing was it wasn't dark enough to play the movie until 9:30.  We had to leave at 9 pm, it was a school night!  Both Zachery and Zayne found separate groups of high school boys that were playing football with them ... it was very sweet! But they were both very disappointed that we had to leave.