May

 One overdue project on our list was redoing our bathroom counter.  We previously redid the flooring and paint and the sinks in this counter were damaged to the point of never being clean.

We used the fabricator that did our kitchen and he let us know when he had a scrap that would work.  I really like how they turned out!

There was a sandfest at the Children's Museum.  They took the left over sand and made a big temporary sandbox.

This was Asher's last visit to the 3 and under room before his 4th birthday.  It seems like an end of an era since we've been taking our boys here since Ethan was a baby.

My compromise with Asher has been that he would ride on my back until my Grand Canyon trip, but he gets to hike the last quarter of a mile or so.

He loves it!  He is always saying, "I got this part!" and won't hold hands.

Happy Birthday Scooptacular!

Happy Birthday Asher!

Asher invited Tucker, Aden, Lily, and Payge.  We had pizza, Mac and Cheese, baby carrots, cucumber, strawberries, and watermelon.

And instead of a regular cake, a cinnamon roll cake!  Asher loves cinnamon rolls!

I made way too many and started them too late in the day, but, luckily, a neighbor helped me out when I ran out of flour and we were able to get the cake together.

Trip 5 to Wet N Wild was with the YW who won the Personal Progress Olympics.  Mike met me there with the boys, but I forgot to get a picture.

Trip 6 to WnW!

Mike pointed out this BYU truck on the way home and I made him maneuver so I could get a selfie because the AZ Alumni Association was offering free shirts to anyone who took a picture with a truck they spotted around town.

Asher's sunbeam teachers are awesome.  They do a great job every week.  The gave him a cute art kit for his birthday.

I received my Honor Bee.  It requires 40 hours of service and rereading the Book of Mormon.  I listened to it.  The Haynie girls were great examples of how possible it is to read the Book of Mormon quickly, so I followed their example and finished it in about 2 months.

Happy birthday Asher! 

He got cute dinosaurs, a helmet and horn to use with his new bike, and a fairy tale storytelling game.

Mike and I got him a bubble set, chalk stencils, and a cleaning supply caddy.

This horn from Nana plays over 20 different sounds and has a light.  It is super fun for his bike.  There is a remote button that allows him to make sounds while he rides.

I met a new neighbor while Asher and Aden were riding on his birthday.  While I was talking, Asher took off and rode his bike all the way around the block ("past Cooper's house") by himself.

Cleaning out back with his cleaning kit.  Melissa and Doug sells a set like this, but I put one together from the dollar store instead.

We spent Asher's birthday at the children's museum and then went to McDonald's for lunch.  I like having the kids wear buttons or hats so that people tell them "happy birthday" all day.

I decided to join the PTA Board for the kids' school this year.

My free shirt from the BYU truck selfie!

Asher making a rocket with binder clips in the office.

Aden's mom is not going back to work next year, and I will miss having him over so often.

Way to go, Ethan!  Highly Proficient in every category all year and he exceeded the math facts goals for his grade.

I couldn't attend Ethan's field trip to the AZ Science Center because it conflicted with a class I teach at the gym, but one of the other moms sent me pictures.

Peter Piper Pizza for a PTA fundraiser.

If Asher can do this, I really need to get Ethan on the job.

All the 3rd graders at Ethan's school were supposed to make four trips to the Kroc Center for swim lessons.  Unfortunately, due to the teacher walk out, two of the classes only got to go once and have free swim.  I was supposed to go to each trip, but I was glad I got to go to one. 

The foundation that provided the grant came to do some publicity shots the day we were there.  It was kind of funny having them hand out swim lesson certificates to the kids when none of them had gotten any lessons.

These comparison pictures happened on the 2nd to last day of school.

Later that day, Lisa arrived!  It had been almost 18 months since we had seen each other and over 20 since we'd spent more than an hour together.  Of course we stopped at Lou Malnati's on the way home from the airport, just like we did when we would visit Dad in Chicago growing up.

I tried telling Asher I was Aunt Lisa and he totally believed me.  His test to see who was who was to ask, "who are your kids?"  If I named Lisa's kids, he'd believe that I was Lisa.

That day we left for our Grand Canyon trip, which gets its own post.

After our trip, Lisa spoiled our kids with new Beanie Boos.  They are obsessed with Beanie Boos, mostly because Ethan loves stuffed animals and the younger boys love what Ethan loves.

Asher did not want to do Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons anymore, so we started him on Bob Books.

Every once in a while I remember to do dinner outside.

I had one day after Lisa left before Girls Camp!  We went to Lake Pleasant, and it was great!  The water was cool and refreshing, which was what we needed in the Phoenix heat.  The drought is bad enough this year that the forest our stake campsite is in was closed the week before camp, so stake camp was moved to backyards in Laveen.  Our ward camp was still at Lake Pleasant, but we only stayed one night instead of two so that the girls could make it to stake camp on time.

We had crafts.

And played in the water a lot.

The camp directors did a great job preparing meals.

 And we rented a boat!  I was so grateful to get great camp directors.  I came up with his idea and booked the campsite in December.  They weren't called until March, I believe, but made the boat and everything happen.

 We got a free upgrade on the boat that made it so all the girls could fit, but not all the leaders.  So, we went to Dairy Queen, of course.

 The leaders did get to go on a ride to return the boat.  We rescued a couple who had floated far away from shore on big inflatables that kept catching the wind.  They couldn't swim anymore, so we were glad we found them!

Kids?  What kids?  We spent most of the day having fun with other leaders.

 Then we all crammed into the Allen's car and went back to camp.  (There were leaders with the girls.)

 During our DQ stop we went to the grocery store and I found floaties.  The Beehives, especially, were in the water any chance they got.

I did not have an assignment at stake camp, so, after two trips away from my family in the first week of summer break, I decided to go home and get summer with the boys started.