TLEB in Texas: June 2011

Thursday, June 16, 2011

First Daisy Camp Out

For the record, I have never been "really" camping (without running water/electricity, etc..) Thank goodness, we didn't "really" camp this time, either! We camped out in my backyard with all the Daisy's and their moms, complete with air mattresses for us moms!

It was pretty HOT when we were putting the tents up, but the girls did a fairly good job helping out.

Our camp ground, 3 tents set up for the 16 of us.

The girls all slept in this tent with our leader, the rest of us moms were in the other 2 tents.

We had dinner,

and later toasted marshmallows over the open fire (aka. grill - burn ban put a damper on the bonfire - plus the 98 degree heat).

Yay for S'mores!

City camping, my style! :)

The other leader and I got the girls together to sing some campy songs and tell stories.

The girls ran around and played until 11:30 - until they all finally crashed.

I was shocked that the entire time there was no complaining by any of the girls, no fighting, and no one begging to go inside and play. They all loved it - and we moms did too! We didn't go to bed until 1 am! A successful first camping experience I would say!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Kindergarten Graduation

Elizabeth had a kindergarten graduation ceremony the last week of school. I can't believe I have a first grader!

The kids marched in,

and got busy singing their hearts out.

The songs were super cute!

After singing the children all got diplomas - I wasn't able to get a good picture of Elizabeth.

After the ceremony Elizabeth and some of the kids in her class brought her teacher her end of the year gift card bouquet - a present from all of the parents.

Elizabeth and her teacher.

Josiah and Elizabeth

Elizabeth, Kaitlyn, and Emma. Both of the girls live in our neighborhood, we'll be playing together this summer, I'm sure!

We had our friends and family over after the graduation for an ice cream sundae party.

This is our friend Emma and her family. Nick is Ben's age - they'll be in kindergarten together in a couple of years.

Tom, Elizabeth and me. Ben was already outside playing with all the cousins.

It was a special way to end Elizabeth's kindergarten year.

Elizabeth's Last Day of School!

I came up to Elizabeth's class to bring a special last day of school treat to the kids.

Elizabeth's class

Goofy, excited kids!!

The last 10 minutes of the day was a dance party!

They ended with a giggling A Tootie Ta song - hysterical to watch!

Elizabeth loved her kindergarten class and learned so much! She is already saying how much she misses school, but I know she is very glad to be home. We're going to have a great summer!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ben's Swimming Lessons

Ben had swimming lessons again this year with the same woman we have done them with for the past 3 years. The first 2 years just Elizabeth took the lessons, last year they both took lessons, and this year just Ben took lessons.

Here is Ben last year in 2010 trying to figure out whether he liked the lessons or not (he did not and cried every day!)

The rest of the pictures were all taken by Elizabeth on Ben's first day of lessons. I was terrible and forgot my camera for all the other days. Ben cried a ton the first day because he had a tiny cut on his toe and the salt water stung for a second, so he just tried to keep his foot out of the water for the rest of the time (didn't work too well).

After day one he really loved it and never cried again.
We didn't sign Elizabeth up this year because she took lessons all year long at an indoor swim place - we figured she could take the summer off from lessons.

Elizabeth got a picture of cousin Drew,

and Ben floating on his back.

Cousin Zach was also in Ben's lesson - here he is on his back.

By the end of his lessons Ben was swimming almost the length of the pool and was actually able to get his own breaths! It's fantastic how quickly he improved!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Random!

Jessica found this great idea somewhere that I just had to copy it for our Fourth of July decor. So easy and I am a sucker for anything with my kid's feet and handprints on it!

We also had a playdate with friends today and we were lucky enough to have baby Campbell over, too! My kids love to hold Campbell, no one wanted to give him up!

Elizabeth had been crying about something - can't remember what - but she is showing off our peas that we just picked from our garden!

Here it is - our garden. (excuse the Sanford and Sons look about it - Tom kept all our old kitchen chairs to use for fire wood! :) We are growing a variety of things - potatoes, green onion, carrot, peas, basil, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, and peppers. We have eaten peas, basil, and green onion. The fruit isn't doing too well. I didn't really know much about growing any of these things, so I'm sure if I had done some research I could have had more success! We'll see how everything continues!