The not so Itsy Bitsy Spider

One of Tom's Co-Workers brought in a bunch of her 'pets' today so Tom called me and asked me to bring the kids and the camera to his work! =) The boys liked the Orange snake, but the yellow snake apparently isn't so nice, but they still wanted to see it. It was hissing as she held it and Mommy was a little queasy, and after a bit Bradley said, "OK, you can put it back now". =) When we left Hallie told me, "I don't want to see that snake again". I sure can't blame her, I'd rather not see it again either. =)

GRADUATION DAY!!

Today is a VERY special day. Ryan and Tyler had their Preschool Graduation!! We are so proud of them. They had a wonderful year at Punkinseed! I know they will miss their time there. A BIG Thank You to Linda and Lori for another GREAT year. We're so thankful to have them part of our lives. The kids absolutely love their time there.

As Linda said at Graduation, "Ryan Kirkland is ready for Kindergarten!!" And, "Tyler Kirkland is ready for Kindergarten!!" We are SO proud of you and love you so much!!

Last Day of school celebration!!

Today we had a special 'end of school' outing. We took the kids bowling. Ryan and Tyler had their preschool graduation today and Bradley finished his schoolwork yesterday so we had a big celebration to welcome in the summer break. =)

Here froggy froggy...

Our neighbors went frog hunting today and brought some home to show the kids. They're going to take us sometime this summer so the kids can go catch some. They are looking forward to it!

Mommy and Hallie having some girl time!!

Sissy having her nails done.

A perfect day for bikes!!

We decided to give Hallie an early birthday present today. We bought her her first training wheel bike. We bought it last year on clearance and were saving it for her birthday. But, today we decided we'd give it to her early rather than wait until July. There's been so many nice days lately that she'll get alot of use out of it. She was VERY excited. She LOVES Dora and she did So great. She already figured out how to make it work. She was riding along side her brothers. She said she wants to ride it to church tomorrow. We're not quite ready for that yet. =)

Here's a video of her seeing it for the first time and then taking a ride. You may want to scroll down and hit pause on the music that's playing so you can hear this video.

Way To Go Bradley!!

I have to say how proud we are of Bradley! Last week he went and took a test for the State to see where he is academically and the test results came in the mail today. He did WONDERFUL!! He only missed two questions on the entire test. They tested Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Language Expression, Math Computation, and Math Concepts and Application. The level he tested at varied in the different areas, but varied between 2.1 (2nd Grade 1st Month) - 4.5 (4th Grade 5th Month). He's been such a great student. It's been a joy to be his teacher. We've had such a great 1st year of homeschooling. It's hard to believe we are almost done this year. He only has one more writing assignment left so we should be done on Monday. We're going to have a big celebration. Ryan and Tyler have their preschool graduation on Wednesday and we're going to take them bowling to celebrate every one's graduation!! =)

Sleepy Boy

Tom and I always go peek in at the kids when we head to bed. Tom had been called into work the other night and was gone all night and I had to take a picture of this to show him. Ryan didn't go to bed with this hat on so at some point, he must have found it and put it on. He's so silly.

Our Sweet Boy....

Ryan left us this sweet note on the dry erase board last night.

Tyler my artist

Tyler loves to build and design things. He made this yesterday and I had to get a picture. He's so funny!

A Day At School

I feel so fortunate to have four children who love to learn. There are days when one may wake up from their nap or from bedtime and they go straight to their desk and start working on their math or ask me for some work. Tyler is sitting on my lap as I type and he said, "I like math best". It's such a joy to watch them learn. I was working with Hallie this week and was just amazed at what she can do. She was asking for some work and I found a preschool book that I had at home and thought it'd let her give it a try and she amazed me at her understanding of what she was supposed to do. It's so fun to have them all learn together.

Ryan the builder

Ryan and his airplane he made.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Today is our Grandpa's Birthday.

We had a fun time celebrating with you!

WE LOVE YOU GRANDPA!!

We Love our Hallie

Hallie singing "Jesus Loves Me"

We had a fun filled day on Saturday. First the boys got to go with Tom to take some things to Albany. They got to ride in our friends truck and that was a big hit. Hallie and I got to have a mommy daughter date and had a fun morning together.

Later, we met my friend in Scio to watch a parade. This weather has been crazy. We went from a really long winter, to all of a sudden, it's in the 90's. Thankfully we happen to sit right in front of a really big tree so the shade was great.

After lunch we played outside all afternoon. As you can see, the kids had a ball. And by the end of the day, they were all tuckered out. Hallie's been a little trouper. We've been so busy these past several days, she hasn't had a nap since Wednesday. She's been such a good girl. The boys wanted her to sleep in their room again last night and it was the first night she stayed in there all night. Usually she wants to go back in her room, but we were all surprised to see her still in there this morning. It was pretty cute.