The Pepin Family

december already???

2008-12-08T15:22:00.007-05:00

Yes, December...and it's halfway over already!!!!

Oh my, I have so many things I need to get posted on here. I may have to post the most recent and go backward since there are people in another state waiting (not so patiently, I must say;o) to see some pictures.

It was such a blessing that we were able to visit my family in Arkansas for Thanksgiving. We crammed a lot of activity into a few days, but it was well worth it. We arrived on Wednesday night at bedtime, then headed to my grandmother's house for Thanksgiving dinner at noon on Thursday. It was 65 degrees that day, so the kids had a really great time playing with their cousins from AR, OK, and FL. There was a lot of football playing and go-cart riding, more on that in another post (apparently these Weatherford kids can't get together without some kind of incident, but thankfully this one wasn't as bad as the last one a few years ago.:) Anyway, at dinnertime we headed out to see another side of the family and had a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner...again.

On Friday, we went to my Dad's house. He treated us to a yummy lunch in a little cafe in the town where he lives. All this time we were trying not to give away the surprise that we were planning on Friday night...a party to celebrate his 60th birthday! He was pretty cool with us leaving just about as soon as we got there, so I'm thinking he might have had a clue anyway about what we were up to. Hmmm.

Then we had to drive back to my brother and sis-in-law's house, change clothes, get our kids prepped for the party...then drive to the town where the party was being held, pick up some last minute stuff for the party, and then get to the restaurant in time to decorate the room we had reserved. We managed to get done in time, and all went off without any hitches that we know of. :) Pictures of that to come also.

My dad had a big week that week...on Saturday he got married to a very sweet lady named Sherri. I am so excited for both of them...they seem like such a good match. It was a sweet little ceremony, and I had the privilege of taking some pictures for them. Sherri, welcome to the (crazy) family of Weatherfords! Good luck with that (crazy) dad of ours. :D Here are some of your pictures... Love you guys!

Sherri...

My grandma...

Sherri with her sons Damon and Zack...

My dad with my brother, sister, and me...

The whole fam...

I have more pictures to come and lots to catch up on...I hope to get this up-to-date this week. We'll see. :) Lots to do this week, but we are so looking forward to Christmas and hoping to do some fun stuff. Ringo has several days off which is pretty exciting. See you all soon. =)

braden hits double digits...10 YEARS OLD!!!

2008-11-16T15:37:00.010-05:00

Hard to believe our firstborn is a decade old! I haven't been dedicating a lot of time to this blog lately, but I do have to post something about this big milestone! :) I put together this slideshow last year for Braden's ninth birthday, so I've just revised it with some pictures taken over the past year...

Click here to view the show

I have yet to do a birthday session with Braden (or Bella's from September)...been too busy taking pictures of other families. Now I'm just waiting for a nice day to do it, but I will post them when I get that done. Here is a self-portrait that Braden did yesterday. :)

Yesterday, Ringo headed out to take Braden and his friend Tyler (and his dad) to play laser tag. On his fourth or fifth birthday, he asked if he could play laser tag on his next birthday, but we told him he'd have to be older to do that, maybe on his tenth birthday. So he's been wanting to do that on his tenth birthday for all these years. So they got there and all their games were full, so they ended up going to...ChuckECheese. Oh brother! Of course they had fun anyway, so I guess that's all that matters.

Then last night, we took the kids to bowl and we had a blast. The last time Braden bowled was on his fifth birthday, and the other two had never been. We used the bumpers "so the KIDS would have more fun." Haha! Actually Braden had the high score of 102. Ringo came in next...and I came in LAST! Yep, got beat by a 4-year-old! He only beat me by one point though. :D Anyhoo, we did have a great time. The kids loved it, and we are going to have to do that more often.

I will post more pics from Braden's birthday, but for now I've gotta go get the cake ready (actually it's pie:). See you soon!

evan singing in "big church"...braden's soccer season...krispy kreme...

2008-11-09T13:44:00.015-05:00

Just wanted to check in here quickly. We've had a lot going on, so we've been busy. I've mentioned a couple of times before that Evan's choir was scheduled to sing in "big church" as the kids call it; but then Evan wouldn't get up there and sing. The last time he even made it right up to the step, but he wouldn't go any further. Of course this is old news now since it happened a couple of weeks ago, but here's proof that he did it and he did a great job!!! I was so excited for him. I could tell the moment he saw me...he broke out into a big smile. Whenever he would see my camera, he would give me a smile. He actually did a little singing and some of the hand motions.

So here he is...first time singing in big church. Wouldn't you know the shadow from the microphone would land right over his face. He's just to the right of the center of the picture...in an argyle sweater vest of course. :)

You can watch the video of these preschoolers singing by

clicking here

. Thanks to Jennie for posting this on her blog! :)

And here are a couple of pictures I took of Braden after his first intramural soccer game at school. I didn't get any pics at the games because I had Evan and couldn't leave him alone to take pictures, so I just took a few of him in his uniform. Our team had a so-so season, but Braden did a great job. He's a good little soccer player if I do say so myself. :)

Goofing around...

Can't believe he's getting so grown up...

And finally, here are some pics from our report-card trip to Krispy Kreme. They give out a free doughnut for every A your child gets on a report card...the kids got all A's, so we got a dozen free doughnuts! This is what being a blogger does to you...you take pictures of EVERYthing!!! :D Ringo posted these on facebook a couple of weeks ago, and I just realized I hadn't put them on the blog.

I'm trying to figure out why my four-year-old looks like Gene Simmons... :S

I actually find this kind of disgusting...

Bella awaiting more doughnuts...

Now I know where Evan learned to make crazy faces...

We are still enduring changes...I ask that you pray for us this week. "Exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think." We would appreciate your prayers! Thanks for checking in with us!

what we've been up to...

2008-10-19T14:12:00.005-04:00

This month marks two years of blogging for me, but I guess you could say I have the blogger blues. Just seems like no one else ever updates their blogs, so I just don't get on here that much anymore. Maybe it's because my life has been taken over by facebook and it's easier to keep up with people there, at least on a more personal basis.

Anyhoo, here we are with an update for the month of October. :) Ringo's training will be finished on Friday...praise the Lord!!! I know he will be glad, but I will be REALLY glad! Pray for him this week...he has tests on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. =S

Ringo got a break from studying last weekend, and we got some tickets to the "free circus" which means NOT the Ringling & Bros. or Barnum & Bailey, or whoever they are...but the other circus, the free circus. :D Looking back a week later, I'm glad we went because the kids will always remember it...at least until they get to go to a good circus, and then that memory will take over in their minds for the rest of their lives! Really though, they did get to eat cotton candy and see some things they'd never seen before, so it was a fun adventure for them.

Here are a few pictures of the kids at the circus...but something happened to me that has NEVER happened before. My camera battery ran out, and I had left the backup in the van cause it showed that the battery was fine. The battery died before the show even started! Oh well...

Here are some pics we took at the playground last weekend:

Bella braving the jungle gym...

Some dramatics for the camera...

She has just recently mastered the monkey bars...

Some b-ball with Daddy...

Evan wanted his picture taken upside down too...

He was just singing his little lungs out, motions and everything... :D

All Braden wants to do anymore is play football or watch football or talk about football. It's enough to drive me (not interested in football!) crazy. He loves every opportunity he gets to play catch with Daddy. :o)

And finally here are some pics of the kids dressed up for the mission banquet last night...

happy birthday to our little girl...

2008-09-17T14:39:00.009-04:00

Okay, folks, I have the best excuse of all...no internet service! It's really good to be back. :) Is there an InternetUsers Anonymous?!?

Anyway, while we were offline, Bella celebrated her seventh birthday. I've posted these on facebook too, so many of you have probably already seen them. :) I have yet to do the traditional birthday portraits, but that's coming. So Bella had a fun birthday. It was on a Saturday, so there was no rush to get gifts opened and pictures taken before school. No, we experienced the opposite...she kept trying to wake me up EARLY so she could start tearing into her presents. I was a little tempted to let her start without me, but then what kind of mother would I be??? :D Later in the day, I took her with me for a surprise...she didn't know we were going to pick up her best buddy Libby for a sleepover. That was her favorite part of the day of course.

Other than the fact that she didn't get a bunny for her birthday, she had a great day. She for some reason was sure she could spend her birthday money on a rabbit, and she's still telling people she's getting a rabbit. Just for clarification: she is NOT getting a rabbit!

I created a slideshow last year on Bella's birthday...I can't really top that, so I'm including it here again. I love looking at it myself! We are blessed to have such a beautiful little butterfly...she brings lots of joy, laughter (lots of laughter), and dramatics to our home! :D We love you, Sweet-sweet! (as her Daddy calls her)

Click here to view the show

In other news, after two long months of interviewing and waiting, Ringo GOT THE JOB! It's really a miracle how this job came about. He first sent out his resume in February, so this was quite a journey...though it's definitely worth it. I won't even go into all the details, but he started looking for and praying for what we consider to be the PERFECT job, knowing that there wouldn't be many positions available around here. Mostly that is because no one ever leaves this job. Anyway, we were looking at making a move to OKC for this position, then it looked like the company would hire him for south Jersey. We were praying that he could get this same position here in Knoxville, but the company didn't have a position in Knoxville, period.

Then all of a sudden, not so coincidentally, the company needed someone for the east Tennessee region. At that point, he had already interviewed in New Jersey and we knew they were going to give him one of the positions...after weeks of waiting, finally, we got an answer! He officially starts next Monday!!! He will be working as a field adjuster for an insurance company based in Cincinnati. They provide a car and a lot of other stuff, plus he works from home, makes his own appointments, and will travel throughout the east Tennessee area.

God answers prayer! I certainly want to thank the Lord for the peace He has given me throughout all of this. It's been quite a trial, especially the uncertainty of where we would be living in the near future. Now we must recuperate from the last few months, which I will not elaborate on, but please continue to pray for us. I know so many of you have been praying with us and encouraging us, and I want you to know how much we appreciate it! God has been good in so many ways, and one of them is knowing that we have caring friends and family who are holding us up before the Lord.

Well, my thoughts feel all disconnected and I hope I've made sense, but I think we are caught up now. I hope to be back soon! :)

first day of school...

2008-08-19T13:55:00.007-04:00

It's official...summer break is over. :o{ We certainly enjoyed it. We usually do a lot of running around and cramming all sorts of fun into our summers, but this year was much more relaxing. We had a couple of big trips, so we took it easy the rest of the summer. I've noticed over the past couple of weeks that the kids have definitely started getting bored and ready to go back to school. Here are a few pictures from drop-off this morning:

Braden with his 4th grade teacher Mrs. Padgett...

Embarrassed to be having his picture taken...

Bella with the 1st grade teacher Miss Qualls...

The snaggle-toothed first grader...(she's quite proud of those gaps, by the way)

And Evan thought he should have his picture taken too...

And here are some I took last week. The kids were still in their jammies, and they begged me to get the camera out and take pictures of them playing...

Braden and Evan run through the house shouting, "Fire in the hole!"

Bella doesn't play with her dolls too often so I'm glad to have a picture of it...

Blackmail material to be used in about ten years...

Some Olympic training in progress...practicing their entry into the pool... :D

I know I need to do a better job updating my blog. We have had a lot going on and many changes taking place over the course of the summer...all for good. We will know something more definite about the next step in our lives on the 26th of August. For the last two months, I have been praying for "exceeding, abundantly, above all that we ask or think." God is real and God is good.

Thanks for stopping by!

seaside park, nj...

2008-08-07T14:43:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, Ringo was in south Jersey with his mom, sister, and her kids. Here are some of the pictures he took on the boardwalk...

still going...

2008-08-03T21:33:00.005-04:00

Well, I'm still working on wedding pics, but that's not all I've been doing. I have taken more pictures during the month of July than any other month ever, and I thank the Lord for it! Here is a sampling of some recent sessions...

Had a mini-mini session with Baby Jackson and family...but he's not a such a baby anymore!

Here is a sweet one of adorable Baby Lindsey at three weeks old...

And two-month–old Baby Timothy...I love this child!

Here are a few from the session I auctioned at the charity auction benefiting the academy...thank you guys for the opportunity!

As for our family, we are all doing well. The kids and I have pretty much just been hanging out; it's been a relaxing summer. I just can't believe it's almost gone! I will be glad to get back into the routine though. It's good to be done getting school supplies and uniforms together. I guess we're ready! I took some funny pictures of the kids the other day, so I'll have to post those soon.

For all of our friends and family who have been praying for us, we thank you. God is good. See you next time! :)

haley + jason...

2008-07-22T22:10:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, I had the privilege of shooting Haley and Jason on their wedding day. They were married in an outdoor ceremony at the local botanical gardens...I could shoot there ALL day! Everything was beautiful, and I am honored to have been a part of it. I am still in the midst of processing, but I wanted to go ahead and post some of my personal favorites.

A few of Haley before the ceremony...

And a few of the bride and groom--after several hours in the heat...

Thank you, Haley and Jason, for the opportunity...I enjoyed every minute!

trip to the ER...

2008-07-18T19:30:00.004-04:00

It's been several months since Evan had a breathing treatment, but yesterday he had an asthma flare-up that landed him in the emergency room. He really seemed to be just on the verge of needing to go, and I really think he would have been fine if we could have taken him home, but doctor's orders. :)

On Wednesday, he had a runny nose, and by the time he went to bed he had a tight cough. He woke up at 5:30 the next morning in definite need of a breathing treatment. He had a very rough morning including a trip to the doctor. He was somewhat better by the afternoon, but we took him to the doctor to get his oxygen level checked and they sent us to the ER.

As far as emergency room visits go, this one was pretty simple. He didn't have to have an IV or any injections of any kind. (Praise the Lord...this kid is not a good patient...he doesn't deal well with adversity, period.) Basically he had a triple breathing treatment and then they watched his oxygen level for a while. We watched Cars while we waited and it went by quickly. We were only there for about three hours, and we tried to make it an adventure, so that's what Evan thinks it was. :D

It's been a year and a half since we had to take him to the hospital (for the peanut allergy), and we kept wishing we had taken the camera with us. So this time, we made sure to get his picture. :)

On a Xopenex high...

100% oxygen...that means we can go home! :)

Goodbye hospital!

Please pray for us as we are making some really big decisions right now. Thank you for stopping by. :)

happy anniversary to us...

2008-07-12T22:36:00.009-04:00

Two posts in one day doesn't happen very often around here! Just wanted to share a picture from our wedding...twelve years ago on Sunday! My scanner is not high-quality, but you get the idea. You can also click on the link below to view a slideshow I put together for our anniversary last year. So if you didn't get to see it last year, here it is...

Click here to view the show

Thanks for visiting!!!

congrats to haley & jason...

2008-07-12T07:23:00.002-04:00

Today is the big day for Haley and Jason...I'm headed out for the wedding in just a few minutes. Thought I'd share some shots from their engagement session...

(Click on the picture for a larger view)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

all around the town...

2008-07-07T22:51:00.004-04:00

While Braden and Bella were gone to NJ, we took Evan downtown one evening just to do something different. We had dinner at a quaint little restaurant and checked out EVERYthing at the general store. Here's a glimpse of the fun...

He's our clown...

Window shopping...

Vintage stuff...
(Aunt Cheryl, the "Happy Everything" is especially for you;o)

The old soda cooler...

Love this little sequence of events: Discovering something he wants...

Asking Daddy if he can have it...

Flying his new airplane through the skies...

Have a great week!

they're back...

2008-07-01T17:59:00.003-04:00

Well, the kids, got back home from NJ on Sunday. They had such a good time. They were definitely worn out. They've been home for two days and Braden still slept until almost 10:00 this morning! Ringo's mom did take some pictures, so I'll include some of them here.

The thing the kids did the most is swim, either at Grandma's house or Aunt Giselle's house. They also went to a birthday party, went to a county fair, and toured Giants Stadium. Of course we don't have any pictures of that...wouldn't that be something! They also had a trip to Toys R Us, where they were told they could pick out anything they wanted. Of course, they picked out stuffed animals of all things!!! Don't we have enough of those around here??? But that really is what they love, so that is what they chose. They came home with all kinds of stuff...had to bring an extra suitcase back with them. :) A great big thank you to Grandma and to Aunt Giselle for taking care of them all week. I know Grandma was really glad to be going back to work! She said she was going back to work to get some rest. :D At least I got a vacation out of it! I think we should do this on a monthly basis.

Swimming at Aunt Giselle's house...

Bella and her "favorite" cousin Nikki...

Bella with Grandpa...

Braden with his cousin Ronnie...

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house...

The kids with their cousin Michael...

Bella, our little dog lover, with Grizzly...

Bella with Nikita...

Bella with Aunt Giselle and Bailey...

Braden did end up with a bad case of swimmer's ear, which has now turned into a double ear infection. He is doing much better now, but please pray for him. We have to get his ears checked again on Thursday to make sure they are improving.

Thanks for visiting us...enjoy the rest of your week!

v-e-r-y quiet week...

2008-06-27T09:25:00.003-04:00

It's been a little while, so I need to catch up. Braden's baseball season started a couple of weeks ago. He seems a little more interested this year, but baseball really isn't his thing. He thinks it's boring (I have to agree:). So here are a few pictures of that.

Braden and his friend Tyler...

Batting...

Getting ready to head to 2nd... :)

On Monday morning, Ringo's mom and our friend Candy from NJ flew in to pick up Braden and Bella. They left back out for the airport on Tuesday morning at 4:30, and were back in NJ at 8:30! The plan is for them to fly back on Sunday afternoon. They are doing lots of fun stuff and I am sure, being spoiled rotten! :o) Yesterday they went to the county fair, so I didn't get to talk to them at all (I was also at work). The other nights we have been able to video-chat with them, so we can talk about what they've been doing and pray with them before bed. It helps me a lot to be able to see their faces each night.

So that's why it's been SO quiet around here this week. We miss Braden and Bella a lot, but wow...the laundry, the ironing, everything. My house is still clean since they left! Evan and I have been having a fun week together. I was planning to take him and do some fun stuff with him, but we decided to get him a "personal-sized" pool; so we've pretty much been home all week playing in the water. For me, it's been very relaxing and for Evan it's been a blast. He seems to be really enjoying his time alone with Daddy and Mommy.

If you think of it, please pray for the kids. They are having fun, but they seem very tired. If we get any pictures from NJ, I'll post some. Until next time...

before cancun...

2008-06-18T11:57:00.006-04:00

As part of our trip to Cancun, we flew out of Atlanta, so we were able to stop by and spend some time with some dear and precious OLD friends who happen to live there. :)

When my parents dropped me off at Crown College, I didn't know a soul. Julie and I met at registration that very first day of the very first year in 1991. We were taking all the same classes, so we kept running into each other. I was supposed to be in a certain room in the dorm, but another girl (Kristy) that I had also just met, asked permission to see if I could be in her room. So this room just happened to be the same room Julie was assigned to. I remember the heartsickness of watching my parents drive down the street, leaving me behind in a whole new world. Thinking about it now, it was the weirdest thing how the moment they were out of sight, Julie and I became fast friends and it was like we'd known each other forever. We were inseparable all through college and she has been the dearest friend a girl could want.

After we both got married, we still spent a lot of time together, making sure we got to see each other at least once a year. We still did a pretty good job of staying in touch after having two children...but when that third child came along, that's a different story. It was five YEARS ago that we last saw each other. Not sure how we let that much time get away, but it sure did.

So...we made plans to have dinner and spend the evening with them the night before we flew out of Atlanta. We had a great time; it was so good to catch up and we enjoyed spending time with them just like we always have. We did an impromptu photo shoot with the girls...they quickly changed clothes and we spent about 10 minutes shooting. Also, since we missed our early morning flight and didn't get to leave til the next day, we were able to have dinner with them again the next evening. The kids hit it off right away, so they had a blast too. Anyway, here are a couple of those pictures and some of the kids together. Okay, enjoy...

Three beautiful little blondes...

Lauren, Natalie, and Sarah...

Here's one of Julie and me...we're older, but better. :D
Actually, Julie hasn't changed a bit since the last time I saw her.

We gave birth to all three of our children within three months of each other, so we had to get a picture of each set. ;)

Braden and Sarah, both 9...can you tell they were embarrassed to have to sit together?? Haha
(Braden is three months older)

The 6-year olds, Bella and Lauren, hit it off and became fast friends...
(Bella is three months older)

Natalie and Evan, age 4...can you say third-child syndrome???
(Natalie is 6 weeks older)

Ringo said I've written a book...I hope you enjoyed it. I should dig out a picture of Julie and me back in the day. Now that would be funny! Thanks for visiting.

cancun - part 5...

2008-06-13T12:11:00.004-04:00

Dad with his kids...

Dad with his grandkids...

We were all snapping away...

My sister's family...

Mike & Alarra...

Ashlyn & Kyler...

We didn't try very hard to get one of us because it had already gotten so dark...so grainy. :( We should have just turned on the flash.

I'm not sure if I will post any more pictures. I'll probably just email the rest to the family. I did get some shots from the snorkeling site, but I didn't get any from the parasailing trip (which was amazing by the way.) I can't believe we didn't get any pictures of all of us in the water.

Not sure I want to ever ride a jet ski head-on across the waves of the ocean again, but seeing the world from up that high was still worth the jet ski ride to get there. So glad we got to do it. One time snorkeling is probably enough for me, but that was also an amazing experience. (I'm not so in tune with nature that I like being that close to it.:) My favorite thing to do was just riding the waves, but I never even took my camera down to the beach. I was afraid sand would get in it. :D Surprisingly, I didn't even take all that many pictures...I was too busy having fun.

Really the best part is that we were able to experience all these fun things with family. We have never gotten to spend that much time with all of us together; it was a blast. Despite the travel woes and missing a day of our once-in-a-lifetime vacation, it was GREAT! I still can't believe the water is really that color though...

cancun - part 4...

2008-06-11T09:07:00.002-04:00

I know I'm posting a lot of pictures, but I'm trying not to bore you by posting all of them. :) Here are some more of the family pictures we tried to get...

Kyler (8), Will (9), and Braden (9)...

Braden wanted to take a picture of Daddy and Mommy :-)...

Clan, Stephanie, and Will...

Clan & Steff...

Will...

This was my one and only attempt at getting a shot of my kids together. We had already had to step inside the building because it started sprinklling, then we were running out of daylight...so I gave up with this one.

More to come later...

cancun - part 3...

2008-06-09T20:58:00.002-04:00

Ashlyn and Kyler riding on top of the snorkeling boat...

These next two pictures were taken from inside the sightseeing submarine boat which tours the coral reef...

I didn't get many pictures of sea creatures (I was on the verge of puking:), but we also saw a lot of colorful fish, sting rays, and Ringo saw a barracuda. (He and Evan were on a different sub, so the rest of us didn't see it.)

Alarra and Mike on the way to the snorkeling site...

Kyler saying hi from the sundeck of the boat...

Me with my brother and sister (I'm the poor middle child:)...

cancun - part 2...

2008-06-09T16:17:00.003-04:00

Here are a few more pics from the trip...enjoy!

Had to get a shot of this McDonald's/Subway/Avis... :D
They have a Walmart Supercenter too, but we didn't have time for that.

We rode the city bus to the marina...

The boys "driving" the snorkeling boat...

It really looks like this...

My very favorite picture from the trip (my new screensaver too:)...

More to come soon!

cancun 2008...

2008-06-07T16:29:00.004-04:00

Wow...we had a FABULOUS time in Cancun!!! Unbelievably beautiful!!! I will post a lot more pictures later, but I thought I'd put up a few for now. Here's one of my dad (who made this entire trip possible), and one of the whole group. There's a lot more to come, I just have too much laundry to wash right now!!!! :) It's back to the grindstone, ya know?

L-R: Me, my SIL Stephanie, my brother Clan, and their son Will; Bella and Evan are in front of my dad; my sis Alarra with her hubby Mike and their kids Ashlyn and Kyler; Braden and Ringo

Dad...

Okay, I have to add a glimpse of the view we had. I never did put the zoom lens on my camera, so I'll have to get some pics from someone else's camera so you can see the whole thing.

And this is from the plane...I didn't even realize it when I took the picture (actually not until just now) that our resort is in the picture. It's the L-shaped building with the orange-colored roof. :)

That's all for now. Thank you to so many of you who were praying for us. We had a great time, and I will share more about it in a few days.

so much better...

2008-06-01T07:33:00.001-04:00

about to lose it...

2008-05-27T20:55:00.002-04:00

the end of the school year...

2008-05-23T13:48:00.006-04:00

The kids were SOOOO excited about going skating...especially Bella since she's been watching Braden skate for a few years and she couldn't wait 'til she was in kindergarten so that she could go skating too. They always take the elementary kids the day before school gets out, and the kids look forward to it so much. Bella must have asked me 20 times, "Are you coming too, Mommy?" She wanted me to get to watch her skate. They had lots of fun, and as always, were good and tired when they got in bed that night. :) Here are a few pictures from skate day:

This might just be their favorite part of going to the skating rink...

Here is a picture of Braden saying goodbye to Mrs. Ruwersma on the last day of school. He tied again this year for the highest GPA in his class.

So that catches us up to this week, our first week of summer break. Sometimes that first week or two can be quite the adjustment, and starting up a new routine is kind of dreadful for me. So far it's been good. Yesterday we broke out the water hose and enjoyed getting wet. I don't think they have as much fun with anything else as they do running through the water. And of course I have fun squirting them too. We're going to have to break out the Slip n Slide that we last used in October. :)

I was supposed to work today, but after going through six possibilities, I still couldn't find a babysitter, so I finally gave up and decided to work two days next week. So we have had a nice, relaxing day. As a matter of fact, none of us even got dressed until after lunch. :) Evan is resting, the other two are outside playing, and I actually have a few free moments of quiet to update my blog...for the second time this week!

Okay, we are up-to-date now. I've added some new links on the left if you want to check them out. Thanks for visiting with us...enjoy your long weekend!

bella's graduation...

2008-05-19T14:35:00.004-04:00

Bella's kindergarten graduation was quite the evening. The kids did a wonderful job...they have worked so hard this year. Really they are a tribute to two great kindergarten teachers. Now it's on to 1st grade!

Braden finished up school on Friday after the awards ceremony. We have pictures from the last day of school, but I'll have to post them in a few days. Today was our first day of summer vacation...SFSG, as Braden would say (so far, so good). :P After not being home at all last week, I am happy for a day with nowhere to go. We do have some stuff to do this week, but hopefully we can manage to be homebodies for at least one week!

Here are some pictures from Bella's big night:

Walking down the aisle in her cap and gown...

I think they were singing a song...

Taking part in the program...

Receiving her diploma...

Jack and Jill crying about Jack's poor head (she looks SO sad)...

Bella with her wonderful teacher Mrs. Ewing...

That's all for now! See you soon...