Memorial Day Picnic

For the past couple of years, the kids and I have gone to Laura Walker Park for a picnic on Memorial Day.  We continued that tradition this year.  Hannah and the girls came with us last year, but Hannah had to work on Memorial Day this year.  Gigi was keeping her girls, so she brought them for the picnic instead.  We had sandwiches, bananas, chips, and granola bars.  While Gigi and I set up the picnic area, the kids played on the playground.

 After eating lunch, the kids wanted to go down to the lake.  Last year the kids did not want to do much in the water because it's not clear.  This year was a different story.  They played in the swimming area of that lake and had so much fun.   There were quite a few other kids in the lake that day, so they had plenty of playmates.  It wasn't long before they struck up a game of "Marco Polo".  There were also several boats / skiers out.  Whenever a boat would pass the swimming area, it would create a wake.  The kids got really excited when the wakes came.  They would run out and jump or body surf the little waves.  Needless to say, the lake was a hit.

 Julianna thinks that she is as big as the other kids and tried to go out in the lake, but she was just not tall enough.  She ended up having fun by "floating" (laying on her back) in the lake and by trying to splash Gigi.

Gymnastics Recital

 Ava, Olivia, and Claire all took gymnastics lessons at the same studio this year.  Their end-of-year recital was held last week.  Knowing that seating would be an issue, Owen and I arrived and hour and a half early.  This worked great because we ended up being able to score seats on the second row.  There were no seats left when the show started (people were standing and sitting on the floor), so I was really happy that we went early.  Even though our seats were good, a lot of my photos did not turn out well due to lighting and lots of movement.

Claire's routine, "Aladdin" was first.  She did a great job.  She hit all of her marks and did well with her tumbling.

 Following Claire's routine was Ava's "Pink Panther" number.  Ava is a really good gymnast, and she did a great job (as usual).

 Olivia's routine was later in the show (after intermission).  She was in the "Olympics" number.  She had been working hard on her bridge, cartwheels, and headstand, and she did well on those.  Even though I enjoyed the recital, I felt that it would never end.  It started at 7:30 and didn't get over until about 10:30.  It was a long night, but the girls did well and had a great time.

You Don't Work, You Don't Eat

If I had a nickle for every time I heard "you don't work, you don't eat" growing up, I'd never have to work cause I'd already be rich.  This expression was not only said constantly in the Walker home, but it was backed up with lots of farm work.  Not wanting our kids to miss out on all of the life lessons that a farm can provide, Hannah and I are eager for our kids to participate whenever a farm-work opportunity presents itself.  This past Saturday morning, for example, the kids helped dig potatoes.  The kids have helped with this chore for the past couple of years, and they are getting better at it.  There is still a little whining- mostly about bugs and heat- but they are learning that those things don't matter when there's work to be done.  Once we got out to the field, we realized that the squash, cucumbers, and onions were also ready- so we gathered those too.  The reward for the hard labor was a delicious lunch cooked by Gigi (using the fresh potatoes to make fries), and a chance to get to play in the irrigation gun.  The irrigation gun is always a favorite.

Not Our Cat

 About three weeks ago, this cat showed up on our carport.  She had a collar with the name "Purr" on it, but no address for her owner.  We ignored her for several days.  We didn't want to feed her because we were scared that she wouldn't leave if we did.  She didn't leave, though, and she was so thin.  We decided to just give her a little food until we could find out who her owner was.  This was a good plan, and it worked for about four days.  The next thing we knew, Purr was carrying her five kittens (that we didn't even know she had) up to our house.  This gave us even more motivation to find her owner.  The kids, however, could not have been more pleased with this turn of events.  Olivia is absolutely in love.  Hopefully, there will be a happy pet/owner reunion in the near future.

Blast Off to Summer

 The end of the school year is always packed with activities.  There was one day toward the end where the kids had "beach day" at school- complete with water slides, and then that night we had the "Blast Off" event at church.  "Blast" is the name of the children's Wednesday night program, and on the last meeting of the year there is a night of fun.  This year the organizers went all out.  Not only where there bouncy houses and bouncy slides, but there were also lots of carnival-type games.  Our favorite clowns, Slim and Doc Smiley, made an appearance and gave the kids temporary tattoos.  It was loads of fun.

Softball / T-ball

Mr. Murray, Kelly, and Daddy manning the fence

This has been an incredibly busy softball / t-ball season.  If you look at the picture above, you can probably see why.  That's right- four kids, four different jerseys.  I don't know how it happened that none of the kids were on the same team, but that's how it worked out.  So, we ended up spending A LOT of time at the ball field.  And, since the kids' games were often at the same time, we also spent a lot of time standing between two different fields watching two (or even three) games simultaneously.  

Olivia and Ava both moved up to "real" softball this year.  This means that they hit off a pitching machine, could strike out, and had winners and losers.  This also meant that practice was serious business.  I was so impressed by the progress that the girls made during the season.  I think they'll do even better next year since they'll be use to the new format.  Let's just hope they are on the same team.  

Olivia's team weas the runner-up in their league (Ava's team won the championship).  They were excited to receive the second place team trophy and individual trophies.

Owen and Claire were still in the t-ball division this year.  There is much less pressure here.  Since this is Owen's fourth year playing, he knew what to do- and so his coach put him at first base.  He liked playing this position.  

 Owen's teammates were presented with participation trophies following their final game.  Now that the season is over, I don't know what we are going to do with all of our free time (ha ha).  Julianna will be old enough to play next year, so we better start resting now.  It may be even busier next spring.

Olivia's Honors Day

We attended Olivia's Honors Day this past week.  Both she and Owen have been blessed with excellent teachers this year, and they have  had a lot of academic success.  Olivia received awards for having all A's, perfect attendance, highest AR points in her classroom, and three awards for scoring the highest in her class on the system reading, language arts, and mathematics exams.  We are so proud of our girl and how hard she has worked this year.  Let's hope she keeps it up.

Here is Olivia with her most excellent teacher, Mrs. Pearson.