a lesson in life

a few months ago, a momma bird made a nest in our flood lights in the backyard.. the wind came and off the nest went.. we found the remains of the broken egg, and nest parts all over our back patio when we came back from las vegas...

fast forward a few more weeks, and another bird ( had to be the same one.. and not a very smart one) made another nest in the same spot..

she would sit on the egg for weeks.. and last week we found an empty shell.. a nicer sign than the previous egg splatter. she has been dodging water gun squirts from the boys since the pool is right there. When we sit out there and turn on the fan, the flood lights come on too. I didnt figure the baby bird would survive.. the heat from az, and then the heat from a flood light inches away from the nest.

so i suppose there is a baby bird in the nest. we are waiting to hear the chirps, but all we can see is the momma sitting on the nest.. hovering over her pride and joy..

its been fun to watch this momma bird take such good care of her baby/babies...

so today we went to my cousins insurance office, and at first we were just sitting in the car, but i figured we would go in and say hello... on our way in, the boys spotted a baby bird hobbling along.. probably just a few days from leaving a nest. ( i really dont know much about birds im guessing here)... we admired the cute little thing, and in we went to say our hellos. The boys made their way back outside to investigate the bird. In comes Camden yelling " Case killed the bird".. he stomped on it.. Isnt that the saddest thing you have ever heard.. Did he think it was a large bug ?...( thats what makes me feel the best)
we went back to the car, walking past the poor little thing whose mom will probably be looking for it soon... we had a little life lesson on how we dont hurt God's creatures. I think Case felt bad... he was peeking through some binoculars that were in the car.. searching for his next victim?, or trying to ignore the constant.. "Case why'd you kill that bird" from his brother..

our little suspect is in his little nest in his room taking a nap as i type this..
life lessons are hard sometimes..

Take me out to the BallGame

While we were in Vegas this last time in June, we decided to go to a 51's game. The kids loved it and the weather was perfect. Here are pictures of our night..

Case and Blades

Pat & Dad


Case and Cori

Grandpa, Blades, Camden and Cori

Kyla and Camden.. cousins just 1 month apart in age

Jacob and Caser.. cousins.. just 2 weeks apart in age

like my hat?.. cute austin in the background.. Kyndal and him would be 3 months apart in age

before the game

Our future ball players

Caser

Camden

There were fireworks after the ball game which the game went on forever!! The kids had a great time and loved the fireworks. Uncle Michael passed out treats and all the kids were happy. It was a great time had by all!

our little graduate

The month of May brought graduation for Camden.. from Kindergarten...
Heres some pictures of his BIG day

waiting for his name to be called

Chloe and Camden.. one of his best buds.. theyve been friends since they were 2..

recieving his diploma

time for a "cookie"

proud brother and dad

Case, mom and Camden

his carpool friends..

all friends from our ward..

his teacher Mrs. Armendariez.

Never saying never again

So my kids have NEVER written with crayons on my walls.. til today.. the littler of the two found a red crayon that was leftover from yesterday's entertaining, and the older tattler came to tell me the little one wrote on the wall.. I looked but didnt see anything. I thought I was safe. I found it later, and made him scrub it off.
I'd say those are pretty good odds... 2 boys... 6 years of plenty of opportunities... Im glad to say they passed up on the temptation of the wall before..
maybe my kids just arent creative enough.. maybe the wall is too overwhelming.. whatever the "CASE" may be.... i can no longer say they have never written on the wall.

* names have been mostly withheld

Our new friend Summer

Summer replaces our old friend skoolyear.. who while she was nice, our friendship is on hold for a few months to make sure Summer feels included too...

Skoolyeer was a high maintenance friend with:

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  phonograms, learning new ones each week.. with a total of 71 learned this year ( a.. a... ah.. ph.. like phoenix...)


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  making sure the backpack was packed.. even picky about the snack ( rude huh?)


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  she was picky about the laundry and had to make sure there was a uniform clean and not too wrinkly.. although the wearer didnt mind.


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  she woke up early.. and we had to make sure her alarm clock was set nightly.


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  homework.. needs no more explaining.. just glad we are on hold for now...


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  carpool was fun with 3 other riders.. all being girls.. the conversations were priceless.


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  progress reports..


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  green/yellow cards.. for behavior reasons.. our recent graduate recieved his share of yellow's but i am proud to say he never got a red.. which involves the principal...


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  she liked to memorize these poems once a quarter or every six weeks.. although it was fun watching him recite the poem, practicing every night was .. um... no words..


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  skoolyear did teach Camden to read :).... I would say that was my favorite part about her.. What a good friend to teach him. I even cried when he read his first book.. green eggs and ham alone..


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  reading is fun, but making a mobile for a bookreport was not so much.. also due every 6 weeks.


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  skoolyear helped Camden learn to be a better friend, be a little more patient, and enjoy skoolyear.

Summer arrived today for the first time at our place. Since we are new to this school thing... summer has a new meaning to us...we are glad to welcome her

no alarm clocks to set.. no set bedtime ( atleast for tonight).. lots of friends to make plans with. swimming all hours of the day...

we celebrated with McDonalds... having a few friends over to swim.. many more of those parties to come... which had to involve a snack.. I had chocolate in the fridge.. warmed it up in the microwave.. brought out pretzels and giant marshmellows.. talk about a MESS.. a big one.. but only once do you have a last day of Kindergarten.. we celebrated alright!!.....

Summer hopes to take us to Wyoming.. atleast the kids and I sometime in July...