Ty's Graduation Party

We went to Castle Rock to celebrate Ty's high school graduation. We got to see lots of family on both sides, Piercys and Johnsons, as well as lots of Ty's classmates. The kids stayed in the house and visited while they ate pizza, but then were outside playing for the rest of the evening.

Older Robot

Jillian remembered that she had made a robot out of blocks when she was younger (3-years-old to be exact) and that a photo of it was on the blog. She decided to relive her youth with another block robot and photo.

Sand Play and Work Bench

 Yesterday this happened at least 4 times.  Tor would play in the sand and water for a long time and then want to come in.  I would strip him down and Papa would wash him off with the hose.  Most of the time he also dumped sand on his head so just left the brush outside.  I would dress him in clothes that had dried from the time before and then it wouldn't be too long before he wanted back to the sand box.  He didn't mind the cleaning up and neither did I since he was having a good time.

This is a big hit.  Aunt Dianne and Uncle Steve hit a garage sale that had this work center for sale.  Dianne text  me a picture and asked if Tor would like it.  I showed him the picture and he was excited.  When they dropped it off, he was all into it since it has a working drill press and chop saw, and even a Lowe's work apron.  He didn't want to take that off for a long time.  Thanks Uncle Steve and Aunt Dianne.

Bridget's Program

 It was the end of the year program for Bridget's pre-school.  They performed several songs and this one was the ABC song with the children doing it in Sign Language.  Bridget was all smiles after each song and she did a really good job during the whole program.

 They were called up front to say their name and get their badge.

Bridget was still all smiles for the picture with her pre-school teacher. Mrs. Takko says that Bridget is a good friend to everyone in her class.

The Student Becomes the Teacher

Bridget has been the student in Jillian's school for quite a while, so Bridget looks forward to being in the teacher role when she can. In this photo, Bridget is teaching the red bouncy horse the alphabet, telling time, math (3+3 as shown on her whiteboard) and geography.

Memorial Day

The kids got to see Papa Ken do the Memorial Day service at the Cowlitz View Cemetary for the American Legion. Tor was a little scared when they fired the guns.

Ball Player

Jillian got to be Daddy's teammate in Cale's Lawn Ball Tournament Friday.  She was the youngest one playing.  Her team didn't win but Jillian hit the ball almost every time and she make some great defensive stops.  The eventual winners were Ty and Karley (Ty's girlfriend).

Tierney was Grannie's teammate, whose team also lost their two pool games.  When she wasn't playing, she had Bridget and Tor attacking her and Mocha.  It was a fun tournament for all!

What a Mess!

Yesterday I brought up this sand-water feature from storage and they couldn't wait to make a big mess.  As you can see, Tor loves to get wet and dirty while the girls got their hands and feet all sandy.  When they finished I had them strip down and poured warm water over them from the sprinkler can (which they thought hilarious.) and then they had to go right to pjs. I can't ever imagine a kid keeping the sand and water separate.

Bike Jumper and Heart

 Ty was playing with the kids and showed Jillian how to jump the ramp with her bike.  She was all ready for some excitement.  She did it several times, smiling all the way.  She couldn't get as much air as Ty did, but she kept trying.  Luckily, no wrecks.

Meanwhile, this is the heart that Bridget worked on.  She drew it herself and wrote her name and Mom on it.  It looks like she's winking in the picture but really just squinting in the sun.

Swimming

 It was the last day of swimming lessons and it's open swim, no lessons.  I went through asking all the boys if they could go, but they were busy so that left me.  It was fun and the water was warm.  I mainly kept an eye on Tor and Bridget.  Tor kept jumping off the mat and Bridget did real well.  She is so much more comfortable in the water.  When we got home they had snacks and they were worn out just like Grannie so they went to bed easily.  Bob snapped this picture that wasn't very clear.

They all got their certificates to take home.  Jillian, as you can see, wasn't all that happy as she wanted to move up a level.  She is a little fish in the deep end but she has to work more on her diving to move up.  That will be her goal in summer lessons.  Bridget was happy with her comments.  Tor even got a certificate as he did all the beginner things.  On last Wednesday, the main instructor took Tor to the diving board in the deep pool and he jumped right in.

Mother's Day

Mommy had a very nice weekend for Mother's Day. On Sunday morning, Mommy got to have breakfast in bed (an iced coffee and some coffee cake). Jillian, Bridget and Torion joined her, eating their bananas and muffins while watching a cartoon on the portable DVD player. The kids had been so looking forward to this, talking constantly about how they couldn't wait to eat in bed. Shortly after, Mommy opened up the gifts that the girls had made for her, which brought a tear to Mommy's eye.

We then went to church and visited Papa Ken and Bev afterwards, before taking off for Castle Rock for a BBQ at the fire pit. The girls kept busy riding scooters, and Jillian managed to have a big crash when Bridget's scooter got in the way. Tor kept busy getting soaked in the Uhlenkott water feature. Mommy received some very neat gifts, including a Lego-framed picture of the kids from Grannie, and some small Coke cans with the kids' names on them from Tierney.

Pirate Park

Here's some photos of the kids at the Pirate Park. Jillian is climbing things that aren't meant to be climbed, Bridget is just relaxing, and Tor is going down a slide with the attitude of "do it, then worry about the consequences later."

Creative kids

 Rielee got to come down to play and they all got creative.  They worked on this scene for a long time.

The made a scene with lots of pet shop animals.  And even Tor took part and didn't destroy what they built.

Tor's Tea Party

Tor had Tierney all to himself so he had a tea party.  He made many trips into the kitchen to get tea(water) in his pitcher and cookies and crackers for them.

Then for lunch he and Bridget got to eat outside which he thought was very cool.  Not sure what caught Bridget's attention.  Probably a squirrel.....

Little Builder

When Daddy asked Tor what he was building, he said "house". Not sure whose house this is, but Tor was very deliberate in how he placed the blocks, making sure they were lined up. Many times, he would move the same block to different places until he decided it looked right. Looks like he is going to follow in Bridget's footsteps in being a very conscientious block builder.

Single Floatie Girl

The swim teachers are working on getting Bridget to swim more, so they took some floaties off. She is very proud to be down to just a single floatie on each arm.

Friday

 I was really surprised on Friday morning when I showed Tor how to ride the 3-wheeled scooter and he got on and away he went.  He can't steer yet so he needed help turning around.  He didn't feel real well, but as always, wanted to go outside, so I had him bundled up pretty good. He couldn't wait to show Daddy later.

 Bridget was so nice to sick Tor and let him sit with her while she played songs on the computer. He was pretty laid back so it went well, plus he likes the songs.

Bridget was busy building with the blocks so I told her those were her Daddy's blocks so I would take a picture and Daddy would be happy.  She made a farm and fences for all the different animals-or maybe it was a zoo. (Something like that.)

Olympic Carnival

Jillian, Bridget and Tor went to the Olympic Elementary Carnival tonight and had a great time playing all the games, and especially winning the prizes! It was outside again and was warm enough to stay there for about an hour. Even being a little sick, Tor still jumped right in and really liked the throwing games. Bridget was good at everything with a year's experience. And Jillian was excited to see so many of her school friends there. Here's a photo of Sweetie-Pie winning at the ring toss!

Little Swimmers

All three are taking swimming lessons in this session at the Rainier pool.  Rick and Heather decided to see if Tor could do it and he readily went right to the instructor and got in the pool.  Last night he wasn't up to par (perhaps, new tooth) but he went right in anyway and made many trips halfway across the pool to the ladder to get out and walk around to get in again.  He got out for awhile to sit on my lap but then went in again when the class went to the deep pool.  Bridget is in the same small class and looks comfortable there.  Jillian is a little "fish" and boy!, can she go fast in the backstroke.

Bridget has two arm floaties on each arm but halfway through the class, they make her only use one on each arm.  The classes are very small, 5-6 swimmers, so it really tires them out.  Bedtime was so easy.