Last day of school take 2

While I was cleaning out Ryker's room we found his map of Idaho that he made in the fourth grade. It was breaking apart so I took a picture of it and then with him holding it so we could throw it away. 

Wednesday was Avynlea and Rylee's last day of school. I do not let them wear flip flops to school, I don't think it is safe and they have to wear closed toe shoes. But on the last day of school I let them wear flip flops, such a nice mom! I remembered to take their pictures on this last day, they were so excited to finally have a start to their summer. My cute girls are getting so big. They will be in third and fifth grade next year.

Ryker wanted to get in the jumping for a picture action.

As a last day of school thank you for their teachers I made chocolate chip cookies and then printed out this cute tag and had the girls write a thank you note inside. I originally made sugar cookies to give their teachers. I make really good sugar cookies and thought it would be a yummy treat. But for some reason the cookies tasted weird and the frosting recipe I used was not one I had done before and it did not taste good. Basically the cookies were gross and so I threw them away and went with my delicious chocolate chip recipe. It was weird the sugar cookies did not turn out but whatever, I am glad I had a backup. 

At 11:30 I went to the school to meet the girls for the annual school wide picnic. After eating a little bit the girls wandered off to be with their friends and so I gave Avy my phone to take pictures of her and Rylee with their teachers.

Avy took a selfie with her friend Mia who was not going to be at Chaparral next year. We wanted a picture with Avynlea's teacher, Mrs. Montoya, but we could not find her.

Rylee with her bestie Maryn and Maryns little sister. 

Rylee and Mrs Bruck

She was a great teacher and Rylee loved being in her class. Ryle loves Art and it is one of Mrs Brucks  specialties so it was the perfect class for Rylee to be in. Mrs Bruck is actually leaving to go teach at a school closer to where she lives that has an emphasis on Art, we will miss her at the school but are excited for her to be able to go and do more Art.

Last time leaving the school as a second grader and a fourth grader

Happy 39th Birthday Kefford!

Keffords birthday was done a little bit different this year. We had decided a while ago to have Kenedy and Ryker switch rooms and on this day we had all of Rykers things downstairs in the Family room so that my friend Lana and I could paint the room that was soon going to be Kenedys. I went to the Temple that morning and while I was gone Lana came over to help Kenedy start the paint prep. When I got back I jumped right in with priming the room. We had decided that we would prime the first day and then come back the second day and paint. Lana did the edging and I did the rolling and I got done much quicker then she did and as I was watching her I looked to see how long we needed to wait for primer to dry before we could paint. It was only an hour or so and I decided to start painting because I had nothing else to do in their. Long story short I got done with the rolling of the paint and she had started on the paint edging but was not done and she really did not want to leave when she felt she was so close to being done. She knew it was Keffords birthday and we had some celebrating to do but she really refused to leave. She told me to go ahead with dinner she was just going to stay upstairs to finish painting. She was super insistent! I didn't know what else to do so even though it was a bit awkward we had dinner with Lana upstairs painting. After we were done eating I went back up and saw that she was almost done edging and so I stayed up with her while she finished the last part. She is such a good friend and I am so appreciative of her always willing to help me out with anything. 

After dinner and after Lana had left :) Kefford opened his presents and then instead of cake we decided to go get frozen yogurt from "Yogurtz". The four kids had coupons from school and I thought it would be a good time to use them. 

As we were driving down the road Avynlea yelled out that there was a turtle crawling down the sidewalk. We stopped and all jumped out to take a look. We knocked on the door of the house that it was crawling past and they said it was not their turtle. I did not feel right leaving the poor turtle on its own so we took it home and put it in the backyard with some lettuce and blueberries.

Kefford was anxious to get back to his basketball game, game 2 in the finals, and so we got our ice-cream and brought it home to eat. Plus the kids were anxious to hang out with the turtle in our backyard. 

Happy 39th Birthday Kefford!

We love you!

5 things I love about Kefford:

1. He is really handy and can fix and do so many things. He fixed my KitchenAid, my Kindle, replaced the dishwasher, put in the washer and dryer, replaced window screens (the actual screen part in the window screen frame). If something needs to be done he will try his hardest to figure it out himself before calling anyone else. I think it is great and saves us a lot of money.

2. He loves our kids and takes time to have fun with them. If he needs to go somewhere like running errands and a kid is home he will take them with him. He likes spending time with them and enjoys being with them. 

3. He takes care of me when I am not feeling well. He is really understanding on the rare days when I call him on his way home telling him I am sick, the house is a mess, and I can't cook anything. He comes home and fixes everything. I appreciate and love his understanding and compassion.

4. He is so funny and makes me laugh all the time! I really love his sense of humor!

5. He tells me I am beautiful and makes me feel good about myself. I was reading in our 2013 blog book about one day when I was not feeling so cute. I did not have make-up on and at dance one of the girls basically told me I did not look good without make-up. Was not a good day and when I got home one of the first things out of Keffords mouth was how pretty I looked without make-up on. It made me so happy to read that again and to remember how I felt before I got home and then how much better I felt after. I love that he loves me and loves how I look and that he tells me and makes me feel like I am pretty.

Honor Choir Concert and Family Movie Date

Avynlea had her final Honor Choir Concert of the year. This was the first time I have been able to go to hear her sing. The other concert I missed because of the winter dance show. She was pretty cute to watch and the songs were fun and entertaining. Kenedy stood off to the side so she could record and take pictures for me. What good, helpful kids I have!

Saturday evening Kenedy was at a friends house and Kefford suggested the rest of us go to the movies to see "Home". We ate dinner pretty quick and then headed off. We don't do things like this very often with the kids and so when we do it is more of a treat and way fun for them. We all liked the movie and thought it was a good one. My favorite part is watching my kids have fun and enjoying the movie!

We watched the movie in 3D and after the movie a couple of the kids kept their 3D glasses. Avynlea and Rylee bedazzled theirs with some bling and then wore them to school after taking out the lenses. Rylee was cracking me up with how cute she looked after school wearing her glasses and cutting up sheets of stickers she got from school.

On Monday night Kefford gave a lesson for FHE on the importance of reading the scriptures. He had them all pick a topic of a gospel principal that would help us in life and then had then all find a scripture relating to it using the Topical Guide. His purpose was to show them how we can find help using the scriptures. After that he printed off Book Of Mormon reading charts for each of them with the challenge to read the Book of Mormon. All the kids were excited about it and started right away. Kenedy decided to stay where she was in her reading and then loop back around rather then starting completely over. When I went into the girls room after they were in bed I laughed seeing the new addition to their wall. They put it their thinking it would be convenient to use them to color in their charts after they read. Silly and creative girls!

Last day of school, Friends and Awards

I always take pictures of my kids on their first day of school but never seem to think to take a picture on their last day. I thought about it after I picked Ryker up from school on his last day as a 6th grader and snapped a picture on our ride home. I wanted to get one of Kenedy but she had a bunch of friends over and by the time they all went home she had to leave for cheer stuff so that never happened.

I cleaned out the girls room and when I found this salt dough map of Idaho that Avynlea made I asked her what we should do with it. She was not sure and so I suggested we take a picture of it and then she could throw it away. She thought that was a good idea and so we took some pictures.

After the pictures were taken Avynlea had a change of heart and did not want to throw it away any more and so I said we could put it up in her closet.

Avynlea and Rylee's neighbor friends were moving to Oregon and the morning right before they left in their car they came by to say goodbye. The girls will miss their friends but are excited for the new friends who will move in soon.

Avynlea, Kyla Kirkpratrick, Rylee and Taylor Kirkpatrick

Rylee decided she wanted to go running on the treadmill and I thought it was cute how she was reading her book while running.

Ryker asked me if I was going to go to the awards assembly at his school and I said no because I never got a letter saying I needed to go, he was not going to be getting an award. After school that day I asked him about the assembly because he was supposed to be helping at it. He said it was good but kind of a bummer because everyone around him had certificates but him and that made him feel bad. Ryker asked his friend Tyler what award he got and Tyler said for having a GPA between 3.5 and 3.99. That got me thinking what Ryker's GPA was because I knew Ryker had all A's and B's and shouldn't his GPA be up there also. So when I got home I checked on Power School and sure enough Ryker had a 3.6. I emailed his vice-principal, Mr. Roberts  just to see if it could be looked into wondering if a mistake was made. This was the reply I got...

*I will be happy to look into this.  It is necessary for us to have a cut off date in order to calculate grades, print awards, and have them ready for the assembly.  This year the date was May 19th.  If for some reason his GPA was not in that range on that date he would not have received the award.

Let me check and get back to you.

I replied with a thank you and when I did not hear anything the next day which was the last day of school I figured it was not happening. Even though it would have been nice Ryker did not need a certificate to show him how great he is. The day after that I got another email from Mr. Roberts which said this...

*Mrs. Peterson:

I apologize for not getting back to you yesterday.  I did check on Ryker's GPA and you are correct he finished the year with a 3.6.  On the May 19th cut off his GPA was 3.45, 3.5 first semester and 3.4 to that point in the second semester.  Regardless of the cut off, which is necessary to make the assembly doable, we would like to acknowledge his hard work and academic success.  I have asked the counseling secretary to prepare the certificate for him.  What would be the best way to get that to you?  The office will be open through next week if you want to come by and pick it up, or I could mail it to you.  Let me know which works best for you.

First of all it is still a little strange to be addressed as Mrs. Peterson, I am more used to Sister Peterson and the Mrs. Peterson throws me a little when I see or hear it, I know, kind of weird of me. It was really cool of him to do this and I know Ryker was working really hard the last month to bring his grades up and I am glad that he gets this acknowledgment. After I sent an email thanking him again I let him know I would pick it up the next day and he responded with...

*I will leave it in the front office and you can pick it up from the secretary.  He is a great kid and we are happy to honor him.  Enjoy your summer.

Ryker is a great kid and does not give himself enough credit or confidence with how smart he is. He and I stopped by the school of Friday and we picked up his certificate. I had him stand by the wall so I could take his picture and then I gave him a hug and told him how proud I was of him. I hope that this will give him a little more confidence in his abilities and will want to work even harder next year. I love this guy!

Family Home Evening

I found a great idea for a FHE game and decided to try it out last Monday night. The kids were a little unsure but were good sports and everyone had fun. I forgot to buy additional shower caps and so we made do with the one I have. One person puts on the cap and after covering it with whipped cream everyone else has five turns to throw a cheese ball at their head to make it stick. I was terrible at this game and only got one to stick and that was only after I moved up super close to my target. Everyone else did better then me and after each round the person who had the most was the Target for the next round.

Since Kenedy was so tall she had to keep her head ducked to make it a little bit easier for the other kids.

I am loving the warmer weather which enables us to get outside more and do fun things. this was  great game and everyone really enjoyed it. Next time I will make sure to get some more caps and then we can play in teams.

Before and After

I have been wanting to repaint my front door for over a year now. I have loved the red that I painted it many years ago but was ready for a more bold color and a fresh change. Finally I had a day where Kefford was home and the weather was nice, so Kefford got my paint and took the door off the frame and I got to work. As soon as I started painting I remembered how much I disliked painting but I was committed and could not back out now so I had to finish the job. I also wanted to repaint the bench to match but was not thrilled to have to do that. Luckily Kenedy wanted to do it for a Young Women's project and she did it and got that done for me. 

It is a little hard to see the results but if you can't tell it looks amazing and I LOVE the new color. It is such a pretty pop to my house, it makes me happy every time I see it. I had a lot of friends tell me how much they love it and one friend even said it makes a person want to come up and knock on the door, it is that friendly looking. So happy I made this change!

Date Night and Team Bonding

Kenedy had her phone taken away and since she could not take selfies with her phone she resorted to stealing mine and using it to document her pretty face. 

My friend who does my hair was watching me try to brush out my wet hair with my regular paddle brush and then mentioned that I needed to get a "Wet Brush". I figured it was something to buy from the beuticians only store and didn't think much on it. While I was at Target a little while ago I was in the hairbrush section looking at brushes wondering if it was time to get a new one when I saw a "Wet Brush". I decided to get it and see if it made a difference for brushing my wet hair. I had it sitting on my bathroom counter and Avynlea saw it after her shower and asked if she could use it. I told her yes and then she came and told me how amazing it was. I only wash my hair twice a week and so I had to wait a couple of days but after hearing how Avy loved it I couldn't wait to try it out. Finally the day arrived and after my shower which included the washing of the hair. I towel dried my hair and went at it with the brush. Normally I start at the bottom and work my way to the top carefully brushing out the tangles. This time I started just brushing down from the top and it was seriously like magic. This brush went through my hair with ease and it was awesome. I suspect this was made by witches, that is the only explanation for the magic it creates when brushing my wet hair. All of us girls are fans and are now obsessed with this brush!

Kefford and I had a much needed date night Saturday night. We went to Dicky's Barbecue and then went to watch "McFarland USA" at the theater. The movie was really good and we both liked it enough to want to buy it when it comes out on DVD. I love inspirational true story movies!

Kefford wore his new orange Nike's and lets just say I will always be able to find him in a crowd while wearing these shoes. That is not a trick of the camera, the shoes seriously glowed.

Kenedy came home pretty late from cheer practice Monday night. I was getting pretty worried about where she was but Kefford was not concerned at all. I even texted a friend whose daughter was on the team and she told me her daughter was home. I was inwardly freaking out thinking of all the things that could have happened to her but did not let my fears show because of how calm Kefford was, I did not want to look like a freak. Finally after an hour and a half Avynlea said Kenedy was sitting out front in the car with her friend Sydni and her Mom. Ryker who must have missed our earlier conversations about where Kenedy was said that they have been out there for a while. Finally Kenedy came in and said they were just sitting out there talking about cheer. Thanks for making me worried guys!

Kenedy told us that at practice they were "kidnapped" by Varsity and taken to the park for pizza and games for some team bonding. I found these pictures online the next day. In the top picture Kenedy is on the right between the "m" and "e". In the bottom left picture I think she is the one towards the left by the girl in the purple shirt with Kenedy wearing the white shirt and yellow shorts, I am not positive that is her though even though pretty sure since that is what I remember her wearing:) And in the bottom right picture I think that is Kenedy right above the girl in the hot pink shirt. It looks just like the back of her head ;)

Rylee decided to get in on the selfies with Moms phone action, her camera working skills need a little work :).

Kefford sent me this picture he took at our ward building. He said that you can't tell in the picture but you could see the entire arc of the rainbow. so pretty!