No Dying in Boise!

I have not blogged in many moons and so much has happened!

We have a lot of ground to cover.  I hope you have your party pants on!

1)  We went to visit Sister Meagan who lives many hours away in the great city of Boise.

Remember Sister Meagan?

(She is the one who looks like she is about to murder David, who was taking the picture at the time.  And understandably so.  He was exasperating us.)

My mother joined us for the awesome 8 hour drive with four kids in a minivan.  She was excited, as you can imagine.

What was really exciting was the fact that mother and I wore striped shirts and were twinsies without even planning it!  When we checked into our hotel, Sweet Pea changed her shirt and, as luck would have it, she was all stripey, too!  So, in the spirit of togetherness, Sister Meagan changed into stripes.

Could we be any cooler?  I ask you?

Yes.  I am taller than my kin.  I am like Ginormica.

So, we were visiting Meagan at her abode and she brought out sidewalk chalk for the dudes to entertain themselves with.  And it was during this visit that I realized just how un-city-like my boys have become.

Meagan lives in a duplex.  Little Dude does not understand this and he just tried to walk in the other people’s front door.

Also.  They don’t understand streets and just keep coloring and tried to color in the street.  Sister Meagan used her quick-like thinking skills and came up with a motto for the boys to repeat during their visit:

“THERE WILL BE NO DYING IN BOISE!”

And, so, everywhere we went, Little Dude would randomly raise his fist in the air and shout:

“NO DYING IN BOISE!”

It is a good motto, you must admit.

Whilst in Boise, we visited the Capitol.

I am pretty sure the boys have no clue what a Capitol is.  I care not.  I figure they need to first master the “th” sound without spitting all over me.  Then we will move onto the wonderful world of government.

Here is a family photo of the six of us posing with our good friends, Lewis and Clark, and their friend whose name I cannot recall.

David.  Ever so happy.

A kind passerby took this group photo from inside the Capitol building.

And I am just now realizing that Meagan is not in the picture.

Meagan!  Where were you?  We lost you!

We were clearly quite concerned.

We also went to the zoo and it was extremely exciting for the children.

Sweet Pea convinced me to take this fun photo:

I make a good tortoise.

Handsome Dude feeding the goats:

Raise your hand if you think we will get a goat someday.

Little Dude checking out the penguins.

Sweet Pea.

With a photobomb courtesy of Meagan.

Daisy Mae and Sister Meagan.  Plus two giraffes.

And that concludes my recap of the Boise trip.  And no one died.

2)  Handsome Dude graduated from Kindergarten.

The astute reader might recall that I was a bit worried about the education of the boy.  I am happy to report that he has come a long way from the beginning of the year!

He can read!

He can write!

He can tell time, add simple numbers, determine place value, and copy sentences.  He even remembers to include a period at the end of a sentence.

My son!  Properly punctuating sentences!  Holla!

Sadly, he still cannot properly aim into a toilet seat.  Perhaps that will be a first grade skill.

3)  The girls had a piano recital

 

Sweet Pea is in pink, Daisy Mae in the dress.

4)  We finished school last Friday.  On Friday, I was just trying to get through the day.  I started Sweet Pea’s grammar lesson.

Like I have done.  Every day.  All the livelong year.

Me:  Let’s say the definition of an adverb together.

Sweet Pea:  An adverb is a-

Me (slamming book shut):  I cannot do this anymore.  We are done.

Sweet Pea:  Seriously?

Me:  Yup!

And, so.  Our last day of school ended at 10:08 am.  And I wash my hands of adverbs.  Until September, of course.

5)  Last week I was doing laundry and I noticed my boys marching, very solemnly, down the driveway.  They were carrying a shovel.

After I folded the laundry, I went outside to feed the chickens and rabbits.  Because, have you heard?!

I am a farm person.  Not by choice, but by marriage.

Handsome Dude rode up to me on his bike, as he is wont to do.

Me:  Hey, what were you boys doing with that shovel?

HD:  Oh, we found a dead baby rabbit.

Me:  You did?

HD:  Yup.  A white one.  We buried it.

And then off he rode.

I didn’t know whether to cry, be proud, or sanitize him.

Happy Tuesday!