It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Summer!

It has taken awhile for the weather to cooperate, but finally it is feeling like summer! Yesterday we had our lovely bike ride, and Ben took the day off of work today and we went on an absolutely beautiful hike- get ready for lots and lots of pictures.

The hike has streams to cross over, logs to walk on, a waterfall, rock climbing- it has everything!

Unfortunately, it's also on private land so we probably won't ever go back. It makes me so sad!

 What a fabulous spot to stop for a snack!

Were it not for the shadows, this would have been a cool picture. Next time, we need to remember to bring our tripod.

 Much better:

I had to get a couple of pictures with Ben because the last time we were here was 13 years ago when we were dating. Here we are now:

And, here we are as babies on the same hike:

Ben had made us a special picnic lunch, with watermelon in the shape of a heart. Wow, a lot has happened in 13 years! He hasn't done that since.

Then, tonight we went to a Rockies game! The weather was PERFECT- we really lucked out because thunderstorms are all over the forecast, but not tonight. Other than driving downtown, it was a great night. Oh, except that the Rockies lost. They are actually doing incredibly well- one of the best teams in the league- but they played pretty horrible tonight. At least they lost to the Mariners, so we felt like it was kind-of a win since we love Seattle.

I have a lot of fond memories growing up of us going once a year to watch the Mariners play. I got to see Ken Griffey Jr. before he was the Hall of Famer we all know and love today. It was such a great family tradition of ours to go to the King Dome. Oh, the nostalgia of it all.

We really aren't baseball fans, but I am a sucker for nostalgia. I want my kids to experience baseball as an American past time. So we went, and we had a great time. Maybe, just maybe, we will even go again next year.

Flyin' B Park

Ben desperately wants for us to be a biking family. I'm on the fence. I'm not a big biker. But, there is one trail I have been wanting to do and we don't even need to load up the bikes- we just head out our front door. I told Ben we needed to do it because I was certain it would become one of our favorite bike rides.

I was right- we all loved the trail (except for Claire who whined and complained the entire time. But if you can ignore her whining- which we have almost learned to do- it was perfect). We have lived here for 8 years now and never gone on it before, but we will definitely be going on it many, many more times!

The best part was that there is a forested area next to the pond. The kids could play their all day- which I love because I want them to be out in nature as much as possible.

Claire really liked this mask she found:

End of School...Mostly

We have been slowly wrapping up school, and this week we pretty much threw in the towel for the year, except math. It feels good- we are ready for summer (if it ever shows up). Bring on the hiking, the swimming, the lemonade stands, and the care-free mindless days of doing nothing. We have earned it.

This has been a great year. There were ups and downs, but mostly ups. Both girls learned a lot and have really grown in their studies. They both have solid grammar foundations, are reading incredibly well, and their math skills are right on target of where they should be. Educationally, I couldn't be happier as I know they are both excelling.

Especially when I hear stories from other parents who send their kids to school (please know that I love and am a huge supporter of public schools- that's the reason I'm homeschooling, because my community does not support public schools and I was tired of fighting the community. So I'm not in any way trying to bash public schools- ever. I'm just trying to say that some of these comments from other parents made me feel better about our decision to homeschool). One mom told me that she had absolutely no idea what her 4th grader learned all year and was quite certain that his entire 4th grade year was a waste. Another mom who homeschooled her daughter through 1st grade and then sent her to a supposedly amazing charter school where all the kids were taught a full grade level higher (because obviously the average 5  year old should be doing 1st grade work, not kindergarten work-grr, The entire concept of the school makes me want to vomit. OK, so maybe I will disparage this particular public school just a little), told  me that her daughter's test scores actually went down from the start of the year to the end of the year- her daughter actually LOST knowledge at this supposedly great school.

Obviously, not all moms feel this way. Most moms know their kids learned a lot while in school and love their schools. These comments just made me realize that I do know my kids learned a lot this year and I'm glad they are doing so well. It's a lot of pressure to be completely in charge of your kids' learning, and I take the responsibility very seriously.

So it's nice to look back at the year and know that we had a great year. We worked hard, and now we are ready for some fun!

It's Not WHAT You Know, It's WHO You Know

Last night we got invited to attend an Alex Boye concert at a friend of a friends mansion.

Alex Boye is a Mormon singer, but he doesn't sing Mormon songs- he sings regular songs, and is amazing. But, he is mostly really popular in Utah. Oh, and he was also on America's Got Talent.

We saw him in concert at Red Rocks last year as he sang with The Piano Guys, and he was INCREDIBLE.

When we found out he was doing this concert we knew we had to go. I'm SO glad we did! He sings with his entire soul, his very being. And he is an amazing performer- he really knows how to work a crowd. In fact, the reason he was in town was for a Battle of the Bands at The Hard Rock Cafe- a major national competition, and he won. He did this concert because he is a family friend of this person and agreed to do an impromptu concert.

Anyway, it was awesome to attend a concert with him with only 100 people instead of 10,000. The view was much better!

Birthday Party Season Is Over!

Even though Claire's Birthday is not for another 6 weeks, I decided to do her party early because everybody travels! Summer Birthdays are way harder than I ever could have imagined.

Today was the last day of school for the local schools, and for Cloverleaf, so I figured most people would still be in town, so I scheduled the party for tonight. Even with that, some people left for vacation immediately after school so there were still some kiddos who couldn't make it. Such is life.

Anyway, last month when we began planning Birthday parties, both girls informed me they wanted a mystery party. Great- I started researching on-line. Then, Claire said, "I want a mystery where a baby pig is kidnapped from her mommy and daddy pig." Guess what? Shockingly, that mystery does not exist in pre-made form, at least that I could find.

I started thinking about it and came up with a scheme for the mystery. And, I have to say- I knocked it out of the park! It's almost worthy of my sister Stephanie, who does the most amazing parties on the planet, but not quite. I'll never get to that level. But for me, I was impressed.

I scheduled the neighborhood park- and thankfully, this time the weather complied. Which is pretty much a miracle because today is the only day in the 10 day forecast with decent weather. It was windy, but it was fine. Thank goodness! Unlike Audra's party, this was not one that could easily be moved indoors.

The party started off with each kid randomly choosing a name tag- each name tag was one of four animals, cow, duck, pig, or frog. Their animal became their team.

Then, I read the first clue:

Your PIGGY is stolen,

Now listen to me,

To find her again,

You must solve the mystery!

Work in teams to solve clues,

The teams are pigs, frogs, ducks, or cows,

Your first clue will be found as you look at the balloons!

Each group was given a bag filled with balloons.

They had to pop the balloons. Each balloon had a piece of a puzzle for a map. They then had to put the map together to figure out where their next clue was:

At the X they found a pinata (one that Claire and I made that I think turned out pretty cute):

 Here's Claire putting together the pinata- it turned out super cute. A pig. While we were making it she said, "Most people just buy pinatas." But what fun would that be? This is at least the 5th pinata we have made for a Birthday party, and the girls always have a blast making them. Plus, that means we have now saved over $120 just on pinatas.

Anyway, back to the party:

When the pinata opened, instead of candy there were sand shovels- another clue.

They had to go over to the sandpit and dig for their next clue.

They found a jar with a picture of a hoof print. 

From that, they needed to follow the hoof prints to the next clue.

They found a box with a chain around it (thankfully nobody thought it was a bomb and called it in) with another note:

You think you’re so smart,

But you haven’t yet figured it out.

To open these chains,

You need to go back to the start.

And there, if you search high and low, far and wide,

Perhaps you’ll find what you need to see what is inside.

They had to go back to the picnic tables to search for keys. They found a key chain with several keys, then had to work together to figure out which key would open it up.

Finally they opened it up- and there was Piggy, all the kids' goodie bags, and one last note:

I’m sorry I caused you such trouble and grief,

The thing is I wanted all the candy for ME!

I hid myself with the treats so I could eat them all,

But you’re too smart for me, and now I feel small.

I shouldn’t have been so greedy, you are all my friends,

And now this great mystery has come to an end.

Since you solved the case, I’ll happily share these treats,

I hope you had fun, now let’s PIG out and eat!

So in the end, she wasn't kidnapped after all- she was just really greedy.

Here's Camille helping me put the goodie bags together earlier today:

All in all, I think that the kids really enjoyed the mystery. They were running all over the place, laughing and working together to solve the puzzles.

After the mystery we had dinner.

I was pretty stoked about this cake. Claire really wanted it. Of course, on Pinterest it turned out much better than in real life. It's supposed to be pigs swimming in mud- here's Camille helping me put the cake together. She did all the KitKats and was quite proud.

It was really windy, so we couldn't light the candles.

Here she is attempting to blow out the one candle that was lit, but the wind blew it out before she did. Oh, well- such is life.

We ended up with about a half hour of dead time, but because we were at a park it was perfect. The kids just ran around and played and had a great time.

The party turned out perfect- and now I'm so glad it's over! Now I get a well deserved year off from throwing Birthday parties!