BEFORE AND AFTER - SORRY MOM!!!!

ST CLAIR SHORES FIREWORKS

On Friday,Aunt Shawn and Uncle Tom invited us to go on their new boat to watch the fireworks on the water. Jimmy had never been on a boat before so I wasn't sure how he would like it , but he LOVED it!! We left around 7:00 and had a nice long boat ride before the fireworks started.
Cody 5, Jimmy 4, Ryan 2 1/2 and Jenevive 6 1/2

Me and my favorite little man.

Jen spent almost the entire time in this seat. She was in her glory perched at the front of the boat.

The only spot she liked more was at the back on this lounger. She must have been royalty in another life, because she soaks this stuff right up.

Grandma Thornton and Ryan snuggling up with each other. For as hot as it was, it get cold real fast on the water.

All of the boys in the back of the boat. We were completely out numbered.

Uncle Tom let each of the kids drive for a bit. Jimmy could barley see over the wheel, but he had a blast anyway.

And Jen was on a mission to hit some big waves to get Grandma Thornton soaked. She had a little help from her uncle.

The moment they had been waiting for! We had perfect seats for the show. I would much rather be on the water than be in the park with all of the crazies. Jen was the only one who crashed on the ride back to the dock. Thank you Tom and Shawn. We had a great time and can't wait to do it again.

A DAY AT THE BEACH

Julie and I took the kids for some fun in the sun at Spencer Beach. The kids had so much fun playing in the water and sand. Jimmy was determined to make all of the dry sand from our towel down to the water wet. He must have made 100 trips with a small bucket of water to do so. He was on a mission. He actually got into the water this time, which is a new thing for him this year. He looked up at me and said " Mom I'm not afraid of the water anymore".That beach hunk is my nephew Kaiden.

Jen and Kaiden are still best friends. They take good care of each other. A girl had taken Kaiden goggles and when she wouldn't give them back, Jen went right up to her and got them for him. That's my girl.

Lanie was in her glory bouncing from the sand to the water.

Jimmy could have spent all day in the sand just playing. I think we'll be making a whole lot of trips there this summer.

Today we had what seems like our 100th trip to the zoo. Last year when I bought a membership Jim was not overly thrilled with the idea. He thought the kids would get sick of going and the excitement would wear off. I am so happy I get to give him a big "Told You So" every time the kids ask to go. We visit the zoo at least once a week during the summer. Today I had my sister's kids long with us and it was probably one of the more enjoyable trips we've had. It wasn't until the last 10 minutes of a three hour visit that they started to complain about the walking.

We left very early in the morning to beat the heat and to see the animals out and about before the heat set in. We were in luck because almost every animal was up and moving around.

The best by far was this HUGE gorilla that was playing with a duck and her ducklings in a pond. The gorilla would run and pounce in front of the duck, and the duck would return the favor and chase the gorilla down the hill. We watched them for 20 minutes.

At one point the gorilla had chased the duck away and he had grabbed one of the ducklings. I was a little worried until he raised it up to his face a kissed it. It was so sweet.

SPASH ZONE

Yesterday we got a great deal on this too cute for words Hello Kitty bikini. I paid $1.99 for this $29.99 bathing suit, so we had to go try it out at the splash zone.

The kids had so much fun running around and getting soaked. I think we will be visiting it a lot this summer.

This is the first time that Jimmy enjoyed the water. Usually he is very timid of anything to do with getting wet. I think he had more fun than Jenna or Spencer. The Toy Story bathing suit that he got for his birthday helped.

Jenevive's last day as a first grader was on Wednesday. I can't believe she is going into second grade in the fall already. This was a busy year for Jen. She has learned to read ( she was in the top reading levels) starting math and journal everyday. She has excelled all year with 4's in in subjects except gym class - I think that comes from Jim's genes. Ha Ha.

Her teacher this year was Mrs. Boesl. She is an amazing, I couldn't have asked for a better
teacher for Jen. Next year she will be at another elementary school, so I am very disappointed that Jimmy will never have her as a teacher.

Angel and Jenevive have been best friends since they were three and in preschool.Every year I take a picture of the two of them on the last day of school. Jen made sure I brought the camera to carry on the tradition. Now that school is out, we have lots of fun outings for the summer, and also some lazy days ahead of us.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY JIMMY!!!!!!!

This is the first picture of Jimmy as a four year old. Every year I take a picture of my kids when they first wake up. Since he is done with school, he got to sleep in and when he woke up I had his favorite new drink -Pink milk and chocolate milk mixed together - ready for him. We had his birthday party on Saturday, so today was pretty low key. We asked him what he wanted to do and he picked going to Jim's softball game and bring brownies for the players. Too easy.

He waited all day to open his present from us. I told him he had to wait until Jim came home, but at 5:30 he couldn't wait any longer. Please disregard the three different types of wrapping paper one of which is Care Bears. It was slim pickings in my house. Besides the whole 18 inches of actual birthday wrapping paper, I had to choose from the following : pink princess birthday, Care Bears, Hanukkah, Christmas and welcome new baby. Care Bears won. A long time ago when I actually had a second to breath and a few brain cells left to remember important things like wrapping paper, I would take great pride in picking out just the right paper with matching card. Well, two kids later that pretty much went out the window. I can't even imagine what would happen with one more kid. The Poor child would probably get the gift in the Toys R Us bag.

Jenna Picked out a school bus Monster Jam truck for Jimmy. As you can tell, he loved it.

He gave her a big hug and kiss - too cute!

Happy Birthday to my little Jimmy Bobby. You are a loving, wonderful, spunky and full of life little boy. You have mad us smile, laugh, and at time pull our hair out. I can't imagine my life without you!!!!!

Jimmy's Last Day of School

In a blink of an eye, Jimmy's first year of preschool has come to an end. He started the school year off a little shy boy who wouldn't look at anyone and now he is leaving a boy who loves to make people laugh - and he does it well.

Miss Adrienne is one of the teacher aides he had this year. She had her baby three months early and was gone for a while. Jimmy was very happy when she came back at the end of the year. He loved being her helper whenever he could.

Mrs Faller is everything you would expect out of a preschool teacher. She is warm and fuzzy (my husband hates when I say that it is a quality a teacher should have) loving , caring and and just a wonderful person. I can't say enough about her!!! Jenevive also had her during her first year of preschool and unfortunately the following year she stayed in the AM class and had a different teacher. Next year Jimmy will be in Mrs Faller's PM class and I am so happy he is able to continue with her.

Jimmy's First Tiger Game

Jim was given a set of Tiger tickets for Saturday and decided it was time for Jimmy to go to his first game. It was right after his birthday party, almost 90 degrees and was supposed to thunderstorm. He wasn't sure if he would make it through the whole game, but he was excellent the entire time.

While they were watching the game, Valverde threw a ball to Jim for Jimmy. Can't get any better than that!!!

The game went into the 10th inning and they had fireworks after, so it was a pretty late night for them. As soon as Jimmy woke up this morning, he raced to grab his backpack to show me his ball. As much as I don't like my kids growing up so fast, Jim and I both love the ease that comes with "older" kids.

This weekend we celebrated Jimmy's 4th birthday at one of our favorite places - the Sterling Heights Nature Center. When I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday he new right away and it's all because of this.....

Last August when Jenevive had her party there, he held a snake and has been talking about it ever since. For some reason, he's been into snakes lately.

So much so that he wanted me to make him a blue snake birthday cake. He wanted blue cake inside also, but I figured the blue frosting would be messy enough - and I was right. He was soo happy when I showed him his cake and I got a big "Thanks Mom!"

4 candles on the cake this year! I can't believe he is 4 already - the time has flown by.

In case you can't tell, he was so excited with every present he opened. This year it's all about Monster Jam trucks and Toy Story. He had a great party and has spent all day playing with his new toys.

NO LONGER A DAISY

Jenevive had her Girl Scout Bridging last week and is officially a Brownie now. Her ceremony started of with the Girl Scout Promise. I still remember it from when I was a brownie:
On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
She was very excited to receive all of her prizes from selling 303 boxes of cookies. She received a t-shirt, a deck of playing cards, a wallet, a photo frame, a tie dyed bandanna and a journal.

She also received a certificate and her brownie pin and bridging patch for her new brown uniform.

In the bag were a ton of patches she earned this year including horse back riding, camping, cookie sales and much more.

She has earned so many patches over the past two years that we had to put some of them on the front. I am very thankful for the great leaders she has had this year and last year. They have put so much time into making great memories for all of the girls.