Proud

So much to catch up on not even sure where to start. To say that life has been BUSY the last few months, like 100 mph every day, is a bit of an understatement.  Things are not too bad and then BANG the kids get out of school each day and that starts a marathon of activities that leaves Mitch and I dead tired each night and amazed that the two of us pulled off another day of CRAZY!  The other night we were reflecting on the accomplishments of each of the kids these past few months we couldn't be more proud of them.  Each of them has done some amazing things since school has started.

This GUY!  I mean don't get me started.  FRESHMAN!  He trained hard all summer and this fall he started his first season ever of cross country.  His team is extremely good and we told Cameron ahead of time that for a boy to be on varsity with a team like this it was going to be pretty darn hard to impossible.  That being said he has run so awesome this season.  There are 10 boys that are fighting to take 7 varsity spots.  Of those spots 4 of them are pretty clear leaving 3 up for grabs.  Each week, it has been a dog fight for him to find a place on varsity for the next week.  With the last two meets of the season, the coach told the kids that these two races would decide who would be on varsity for league, districts, and state.  Cam ran his GUTS out and earned a spot on the varsity team.  It has been HIGH stress and Cameron seems to take it all in stride.  It has totally stressed me out, though!! HOLY COW.  This weekend is districts and next is state.  Can't wait to see how this goes! Go Bears!!

And by the way...the mom in me has to say, he is so handsome in his uniform!

My Jules!!  This girl tried out for the volleyball team on the first day of school.  What a scary thing to do.  She made the team and has been a starter for the Maple View Middle School team the whole season. She has gotten better and better each week.  Overhand serving is her nemesis but is practicing, practicing, practicing.  Her cheerful attitude is so fun.  Everyday she gets home and is all smiles.  She is so happy about everything.  It is refreshing!  She got braces and started in a new school this year that is huge, and is fully engaged in Young Womens.  She takes it all in stride.  Her schedule is busy, busy busy.  We are still getting use to having Julia have so many things each day going on.

On the downside for Mitch and I...she looks about 16 in her uniform!

Natters, Natters, Natters....

Natalie was in the school play, Treasure Island last week, she was Mother Hawkins.  She got a big part this year and was EXCITED.  She had over 30 lines and worked so hard learning and memorizing her part.  She was seriously the cutest.  She has also filled out an application to be on the "Leadership team" at school and is hoping to hear back soon. She is in zero hour volleyball and is starting rec volleyball this week. I love that each of these kids has been trying things that are scary and hard.  They are such examples to me.  I don't think I could have done that play, no way!

Lucy is living the Kindergarten dream and loving every minute of it.  She is reading and is getting really good.  She comes home everyday ready to play school and spends hours teaching her dolls and stuffed animals everything she learned that day at school. She also has been playing on a soccer team this fall.  She loved the fact that the shirt matched her glasses and her team is called the "Stars."  Lucy is the last glimpse of a small child left in our house.  The other day we were buying her a toy for her birthday and were getting a little nostalgic about how we don't go into the toy section every much anymore.  These day when I am walking with my kids, I look around and see people the same height as me not my little babies.  Thank heavens for my Lucy Baby, even though she isn't much of a baby and is turning 6 on Thursday.

Oh...and we got a kitten...  Meet Tate....

He and I are in the "adjustment" phase of our relationship.  I will leave it at that. 

Bike riding and the Crash

The past few weeks we have had nice weather so we have taken advantage of it and gone on some bike rides.  We rode to Lake Wilderness a few times, swam and then rode home.

On one of our adventures we decided to ride down into the golf course and visit our goats.  There is a very steep hill to get down there.  Natalie has switched bikes and is now using Julia's old one.  The brakes are different than she is used to and had a mishap going down the steep hill.  She fell right into a huge blackberry patch and had quite the problem getting out.  She was so scratched, I felt terrible for her.  She also got a bunch of mosquito bites that same day of which she is allergic to.  She was a mess for a week!

A little bit of bicycle fun....

Living the Middle and Jr. High dream

School is almost over!! 3 more days!! 

Cam came home with a t-shirt saying that he was picked as the PE student of the semester.  I made him put on the shirt and look cool while I took a picture.  I tried to convince him that he should wear it tomorrow to school but he said that was really uncool and that he would not.

Julia did pretty well at her school's awards night.  She received an award for straight As all year and a special award in Language Arts.  This came as no surprise.  Yesterday she brought home some of her writing that she wrote throughout year.  When I first started reading it, I didn't realize that she wrote it.  I thought it was some sort of assigned reading she had brought home.  She is good.

She also got a plaque for perfect attendance.  Cam was annoyed and wanted to know where his plaque was for perfect attendance.  I guess the Junior High doesn't give out plaques.  Imagine that. :)

Apparently my kids were all healthy as a horse this year and/or their mom is a stickler for going to school because all four kids didn't miss a day of school.

Few random thoughts:
Cameron has had his PE clothes stolen out of his PE locker twice this year.  I told him that I wasn't paying for another set so he better go to the lost and found pick some out and bring them home to make them his own.  Seriously, who steals PE clothes?

Julia came home today with her PE clothes for the year but lost two shoes from two different pair of running shoes.  So she had brought home two left shoes.  What in the world?!?

Cameron had to make a rocket out of a pop bottle for science.  We spent the better part of Saturday making it. Today they launched them. He said his didn't fly very well.  When asked where his rocket was, he said, "Oh, I threw it away after class."

Toothless

Lucy lost her 1st tooth!  She was pretty excited.   The first thing she said after looking in the mirror at herself was, "my smile will look really cute with a ponytail now." Always the fashionista.

She also said, Is the tooth fairy, really real?  Funny that she is questioning her existence but Natalie has been carrying on for months now with the Tooth Fairy as a pen pal.  Mercy.

Mr. Butters

On Mother's Day the kids were talking about Dale and Mr. Butters on the way to visit Grandma.  On the way home we found Mr. Butters had secretly snuck into the car with us for a road trip to Maple Valley.  

 

On Friday, May 19th  Mr. Butter's dressed up and threw a birthday fiesta in honor of Dale for his birthday. No worries....Mr. Butters is in safe hands until he can be returned home safely.

Michael Jordan #23

Natalie brought this home the other day.  I was dying!!  Love, Love, Love her drawing of Michael.  Ha ha ha

Co-Pilot Rider

We are loving riding our bikes but have had a bit of an issue.  Lucy is WAY to slow for the group to ride her bike and if we put her in the trailer she hates it because she is too big and it is boring for her.  I have known about the co-pilot bike since Julia was this age but could never pull the plug on spending the money.  This week I decided to go for it.  We have had the bike for two days and it is SO worth it.  Lucy is LOVING it. Family bike rides just got so much better.  On the test ride of the new bike, Lucy literally talked non-stop to Mitch about everything and anything that was rolling around in that little head of hers. She couldn't stop smiling and I couldn't either.

Lucy's newest picture she has hung in her bedroom.  It is of her running through the sprinkler with her new swimming suit on.  I think I love her side ponytail the best and the glasses....

20 more days of school

Look what arrived in the mail today.... our summer workbooks.  I am sure the my kids will be thrilled to hear the news when they come home.  Cameron thought he escaped the summer fun because they don't make a workbook for his grade, but instead he is going to be working on 4 of his last 6 required merit badges for Eagle this Summer.  He might be wishing for a workbook by the end.  I'm trying to come up with a grand prize for whoever goes above and beyond and finishes the whole book or earns the 4 merit badges.  Hopefully this will put a little fire in them.  I remember not too long ago when they LOVED the workbooks.  Times are a-changing.

Lucy and her pet snail

Lucy found herself a pet since her parents are unable to provide one.  Well that is until she held it so much that she crushed its shell.  Good thing it will live on in her memory.

The Stuard family pet situation is getting worse......

Track Stud

This guy's track season has started.  He is about the cutest thing ever.  He has had two meets and I think I am WAY more nervous for him than he is.

Our Goats

We have a walk we like to take as a family down in the old golf course.  On our walk are some goats that the kids have named Mr. White and Usain Goat.  This Spring new goats have shown up and boy was the excitement high.  There are now two small goats named Coco and Cookie Dough (As you can imagine Mitch says when we get a pet the girls are not allowed to name it!)  It will be a real disappointment if we ever find out their real names.

Four Leaf Clovers

Last Summer Julia found two four leaf clovers.  Since then Lucy has been obsessed with finding one too.  She needs to do everything Julia does.  On Sunday she came screaming up to me that she found a four leaf clover.  I didn't really think she had but sure enough, she did!  She was so excited.

Our kids are just a bit competitive.  Natalie was not about to let Julia and Lucy find a four leaf clover with her not having one herself, so she got down to business and found herself one too.  Now you might think that might be the end of that but the next day Cameron had his 1st track meet and the girls were playing in the grass during the meet.  Natalie found 3 more four leaf clovers and Lucy found 2 more yesterday.  We are either the luckiest family alive or four leaf clovers aren't as uncommon as you might think and people don't spend time searching clover patches like my kids!  I have a feeling it is the latter.

Pine cones

The weather around these parts has been horrifying terrible but we finally have seen some nice days.  Last Saturday we finally got around to doing some yard work.  Normal Maple Valley Winters are filled with notorious strong winds but this Spring we have had lots and lots of wind too.  Wind around here = PINE CONES.

As Mitch was trying to mow the grass he decided that he needed help with the pine cones.  He told the kids that he would pay them 10 cents a pine cone that they picked up.  Once they got started Mitch realized his MAJOR mistake in judging exactly how many pine cones we had on the ground. He then reduced the fee to 5 cents a pine cone.  That still was not within our budget because the kids picked up nearly 1,700 pine cones!  In the end we opted to pay them a small fee and take them out for milkshakes.  I think Mitch and I learned our lesson.

A random side note... We got these lights from Costco for the yard.  Really good deal and really cute at night.

Mother Daughter Activity

The girls and I attended a Mother- Daughter activity for our Stake.  They got to choose a cute saying and paint on a canvas board.  We had a fun time and Julia reminded me this is her very last activity like this because she is going into YOUNG WOMEN'S next month!

The road to 40

I am official 39 and as Natalie so lovingly put it, "On the road to 40."  Really is there much more to say about that?  I think not.

Kindergarten Orientation

Last Thursday, Lucy and I got to spend the evening visiting the kindergarten classrooms, playground, and practice riding the bus.  Lucy is ready to skip Summer and move right on to September.  I think her siblings might have something to say about that, but to say the least she is EXCITED!