The Great Outdoors

These are a few pictures of the kids playing outside last week.  The area that you see is the future spot for our new patio that is in the works.  For now...it's dirt...which in turn means fun for Isaiah.

Do you think he has enough yellow construction toys?

Dirt + Trucks = fun for Isaiah

I did an end of the year camping theme in my classroom and used some of Andy's old camping gear for decorations.  Ava and Isaiah had fun looking through the cooking pots, pans, and dishes.

Happy Retirement Mom! (...and Dad...my Dad's party is coming up soon.)

Family picture at Moore Park in Ames

Miss Isabelle in action going down the slide.

Ava thought going on her tummy would be fun!

Isaiah having fun too!

Isabelle loving Mommy's flip flops!

My Three Happy's:

1) The possibilities are endless...school is out...and summer has officially started! 

2) Enjoying a big cup of coffee before dinner...oh well if it keeps me up...it's only a work day tomorrow anyway.

3) "Cleaning House" (my classroom that is)...I have to move rooms this year and it's been 10 years since I've started teaching in this same room.  It's nice to go through everything...out with the old...in with the new.

...A Celebration

Today marked one milestone in Ava's life.  She had her last day of 3 year old preschool.  It's amazing how fast this year has gone and that our baby girl has one more year left and will be starting kindergarten next year. 

Ava's preschool class put together a cute little program filled with songs and dances that they have done all year and a slideshow of pictures from all the things they have done.  They presented this in the gym for family and friends.  Ava had 10 people there to watch today!  Here are a few pictures from the program...

Ava singing next to her friend Veda.

What a precious little girl!

Dancing away!

Ava with her wonderful preschool teacher Miss Tasia.

Who doesn't love refreshments...cookies and punch.

Our family...Daddy, Mommy, Ava, and Isaiah (he was a little grumpy because he didn't get the "exact" cookie he wanted from the plate).

Grandpa and Grandma Richardson, Aunt Jody, Mr. Isaiah, and Miss Ava Lynn

Mr. Isaiah, Grandma and Grandpa Van Slyke, and Ava

Ava lovin' that punch with Aunt Julie and Cousin Isabelle.

Ava sharing her preschool scrapbook with G&G Richardson

Ava took this picture herself!  She gets her photography skills from Aunt Jody.

Playing with toys

Ava and Miss Mary (one of the teacher helpers in her classroom)

Miss Veda and Miss Ava...two cuties!

Isaiah taking advantage of the exercise bike they have in the classroom.  He must have been concentrating because he has his tongue out just like Daddy.

Why we are proud of you Ava...
You have a smile that could melt anyone's heart....you are a great daughter, sister, and friend...you are a great listener at school and always try your best...you love to learn...you are great at coloring...you are so creative with crafts...you love to shop like Mommy...you love to bake...we love watching you splash and play in the pool with Isaiah...you do such a great job swinging by yourself...you have such good ideas and are very imaginative...we could listen to your cute voice talk and sing for hours...you make us laugh...you think of others and care about others...you take such good care of Jackson...you love God and Jesus...

...we love you!  Congrats sweetie!

My Three Happy's:
1) Watching my little girl today...what a rewarding experience to be a parent.
2) School is OUT tomorrow!
3) My Boo...he is growing up everyday...he will always be my little boy!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

...it's not Christmas...IT'S THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR!

Again I realize that I haven't blogged in 10 days...10 DAYS...but in all honesty, I have spent almost every waking moment either with my kids or working on school stuff when they go to bed.  For those of you who are teachers you know how busy this time of the year can be!  It's filled with with report cards and grades, finishing up those end of the year scrapbooks I made for each child in my class, printing out 100's of pictures of my class throughout the year, and to top it all off, many of us have to pack up our entire room and move to a new location in our building.  I do stress myself out a bit with all this....but I keep telling myself, "It will all get done."  One thing I will never do is jeopardize the time I have with  my family.  I could be at school tonight packing up my room or glued to my school computer to work on grade cards, but there is no place I'd rather be on a Friday night than with my family...having pizza...and enjoying a cozy, rainy Friday with movie night. 

To change the subject a bit...here are a few pictures of last weekend.  Ava went with me to get her flower girl dress altered.  It's absolutely adorable.  

I've never seen a bow sideways like this but I really like it.  It gives the dress some spunk and it's very unique.

I love how they altered it to be "poofy" around her knees.  Lindsey's Mom, Lori, bought a cancan to go underneath it so it's extra poofy.

How cute it that?  They will be wearing these cute socks and adorable off-white shoes.  Lindsey is having Ava and Maddie (Lindsey's niece who's a flower girl as well) get their hair done the morning of the wedding.  Ava will absolutely love that!  Isaiah was fitted a few weeks ago for his tux.  He looked adorable!  We can't wait for the big day!

Last Saturday the Vermeer's came over for dinner and to play.  The weather wasn't the greatest...pretty cold...so we stayed inside and played.  Here are a few pictures of that..

Cale loves the Cars Geotrack set.  The kids were driving around Lightning McQueen, Doc Hudson, and Towmater.

Miss Elliana...she was entertained by everything!

She loved "cooking" in the kitchen.

Cale driving the Lightning McQueen car.

More pictures of the kids and Andy.

Eric was giving Elliana a new hairstyle with the little blowdryer.  It actually works!

I was teasing Marissa and Eric because they both liked playing with "Spike" the dinosaur.  Elliana wasn't too sure about it but eventually threw Spike a bone.

Eric liked him too!

My Mom's retirement party was last night at Moore Park and I have some pictures of that to post later this weekend.  It was nice to see so many people come out to support her.  I enjoyed visiting with some old teachers and friends.  My Dad's party is in June.  Congrats Mom and Dad!

 Tomorrow it's off to Sesame Street Live in Des Moines and Ava has her ballet dance pictures...it's going to be one busy Saturday.

My Three Happy's today will turn into why "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year:"

1) School is out at 11:00 on Wednesday!  I really like my class this year but am looking forward to summer vacation.

2) I got my list for next year and it looks promising too!  Yeah!

3) I can't wait for the endless days of staying in our pajamas for as long as we'd like, not worrying about bedtime...it's summer, camping out in the backyard (we're going to try that this summer), small vacations, and time to just PLAY!  Ava and Isaiah are at such a fun age...I have so many ideas for this summer!

We hope you all have a fun weekend!

The Pool Has Officially Opened...That is The Richardson Pool

Below you will find numerous posts about our weekend.  I've gotten behind but used this evening when the kid's went to bed to catch up. 

When I picked the kids up after school today the car thermometer said 96 degrees...seriously...96 degrees!  Pool time!  You should have seen the look on Ava and Isaiah's faces when I said that Daddy was at home getting the pool set up.  They couldn't wait to get home.  Ava even said, "This is the best day ever!"

Time to dig out those swimsuits. 

Lots and lots of pool pictures...time to pick up a bigger one next time we go to Target.  I'm sure this summer we will spend many evenings at the Slater pool.  They have family swim time during the dinner hours and no one is ever there.  I think we may eat early or late and take advantage of that often.

This slide is too small for the kids to play on but makes a fun and safe waterslide.

Isaiah getting ready to slide down

Burr...the water was a little chilly at first.

Your so cute Isaiah!

For my b-day and Mother's Day I always ask for flowers.  I also had a few Lowes gift cards from my b-day too.  Here are some of the flowers we got on Saturday night...there will be many more to come.  Slater has their annual Gardener's Club plant/flower sale this coming Saturday.  I'm sure I'll be there at some point.

Jackson taking advantage of the cool water.

Jackson left the water a little dirty...time to refill with new.

Isaiah and Ava running into the pool.

Splash!

Daddy throwing Ava into the water.

"I'm going to get you Sissie!"

Dinner outside!

What we've planted so far...reds, yellows, and purples out front (the red looks good with our front door and Slater hosts a huge 4th of July celebration and I like the reds for that too)...pinks, yellows, and whites in the backyard.

Ava helping water some flowers.

Isaiah watering one of the "unplanted" containers...what a boy.  He did water some real flowers later.

I love decorating our shed.  I use an old window frame that came from a farmhouse, a metal flower from a local gift shop, and a few hanging baskets.

A few years ago Andy put together this little fire pit area.  It's great for summer nights and roasting marshmallows.

I think it was two years ago when Andy brought this "thing" home from a garage sale.  He got it for $2.00.  I must admit that I was kind of annoyed with the bulky rusty thing.  I LOVE IT NOW!  It turns out that it's an old vintage wash bin that in reality is worth about $80.00.  What a bargain and it looks so cute every year with planted flowers.

My Three Happy's:

1) Waking up to beautiful weather...even at 6:30 in the morning.

2) Spending the weekend with my family and lots of relatives.

3) Flowers, flowers, flowers