Summer 2015 Vacation--Part 1 (Family)

It has been WAY too long since we have been out east to visit Mike's side of the family...11+ years too long!!  So when his Dad, then his grandma passed away, we decided we simply couldn't wait any longer. 

The day we arrived, we met Mikes brothers and sisters and his Mom and Step Dad at the park.  It was POURING rain, but luckily we had a huge covered area for the grown ups to visit...and the kids just played in the rain...they didn't mind one bit!

The kids got to meet all their cousins (12 in all)!!  Tyson and Bradley really hit it off!  After a day of playing they were begging for sleep overs and very sad to say good bye:(

We all got to hold the newest cousin...Michael.  So sweet!!

Summer was a little shy...here she is warming up to Auntie Jessica...

...and she loved Uncle Jeffrey's necklace:)

 It was great to spend an entire day with Mike's mom at her place...some cousins and Aunts and Uncles stopped by too...

The kids also got to meet their only living Great-Grandparent!  It was wonderful to go to her house and visit with her and Uncle Tom.

 

The third day we were able to see all Mike's Aunts, Uncles and a lot of his cousins from his Dad's side of the family.  It was so nice to visit with them and meet a lot who we only really knew from Facebook:)  

Here is a picture of all Mike's Dad's siblings that were there...

And here's the group of us...minus a few of our kids who were playing in the rain and a few others who had already left.  

                                   

It really was such a great and special thing to spend time with Mike's family.  I am really looking forward to staying in touch and visiting more often!

And Jordan said we didn't do anything...

This past week my niece Becca came to stay with us while her sister Manda was at EFY.  This is the second year we've done this and I am kinda sad that next year she will be old enough to go to EFY too, because we absolutely love having our Becca stay with us!!  

When the week was over, I said something about how many fun things we did and Jordan (in true teenage, party animal form) said "we didn't really do much".  What?!  Well, judge for yourself...here's what we did:

The first day, Jordan and Becca went to see Jurassic World and then had Panda Express at the mall...

The next day we took a trip to Michaels to get all the stuff and made shirts for the One Direction concert...

 

 The following day we headed to the beach with friends (it was supposed to be Jetty Island, but when the boat over was full, we headed to Camino Island)...

We went for Menchies, and the kids slept in the tent in the backyard...

The final day we went to Alki beach in West Seattle...

 

We rented a Surrey...

...and had a bon fire to burn homework and make smores.  

We also got Cafe Rio take out, watched a different movie every night, and made memories to last forever!  I'd say that was something!!!

Kya's Party

As usual, we did Kya's birthday party a couple weeks early this year so all her friends could be here.  The forecast was rain and cool temperatures, but it turned out to be sunny and warm!!  Perfect for a 6 hour "water" party.

I always feel like I can only decorate one room, so this time it was the dining room. 

Presents

We planned 19 different water games, and got through almost all of them!  

This one is shoot water in the cup.

 Here they are fishing for marbles with their feet!

 Of course we did a couple rounds of water balloon toss.

And fill the cup behind your head was fun! 

Amazing how much fun a bunch of 12 year olds can have in a tiny kiddy pool!!

Kya saw a few cute ideas on pinerest she wanted me to do:

 I think this is my favorite picture from the party!!  My 3 girls!!

Or this might be my favorite...Big sister willingly braiding little sister's hair

 Here's a great shot of all the girls drying off in the sun!

This is what she wanted for her cake...or at least my lame attempt at it...whatever, she liked it and it was SO YUMMY!

Another great party for our great girl!!

2014/2015 School Year

And just like that, another school year is over!!  Crazy how fast time goes when you have kids!!  Both Kya and Tyson had such fantastic teachers...which made this year a breeze for me!

Tyson even liked his teacher enough to carry this big bouquet of flowers to school for her!  And for Tyson, that is HUGE.

He got an award for "Most Positive Attitude"--love that kid!

Kya with her flowers for her teacher!

 

I think Kya wants to grow up to be just like her teacher!  She's young, super sporty and beautiful...I guess she' practically there, right?!

And, of course, our 8th grade graduate did not take teachers' gifts to school, or let me take a picture with her favorite teacher...but here she is with her two best friends on the very last day of 8th grade!!

She really did graduate!

When Jordan finished elementary school in Los Angeles, it was a big deal.  She got a new dress, they had a graduation ceremony, we presented her with a flower lei, and I think we even took her out for a mani-pedi!!  It was a big deal, so big that I even blogged about it here.

Well, this past week Kya graduated from elementary school too (only it's 6th grade here in WA instead of 5th...which I love btw).  But her school here didn't do a graduation ceremony.  It's not that they didn't celebrate; they had a sixth grade picnic, they had a trip to the water slides for those on safety patrol, they got t-shirts with everyone's signatures, and they even did a variety show!  But no ceremony to buy her a new dress for or give her flowers at, or to watch her get some sort of diploma from her teacher!  I was a little sad about that, until I found out that Kya wanted to audition to sing in the variety show and guess what?  She wanted to wear a new dress!!

So Kya sang at her variety show, all by herself, in a beautiful new dress.  I couldn't be prouder of this amazing girl!  She has done so well in elementary school, I just know great things are in her future as she heads to Junior High!!

First Day of Kindergarten

Variety Show

 

 Last Day of 6th Grade

The First Birthday Party

I can't tell you how excited I was to finally have creative control over a birthday party again!!  Summer's first birthday party was so much fun to plan, and even more fun because the guests were family.  So here's what we did:

The theme was bubbles, balloons, balls...oh, and PINK!

It turned out to be a super HOT day, but the kids still played with bubbles, beach balls and hula hoops in the backyard.

 

The rest of us stayed inside most of the time, enjoying the air conditioning!!

Here are the boys, posing with my mantle decorations:)

 

And Grandpa posing with my "1" that took FOREVER to make!

My bowl of pink gumballs...

I found these cute cups and had to make them part of Summer's birthday (Sweet Sweet Summer)!

Summer was so sweet opening her presents!  She loved every single one!

I was planning on making a Finnish cake, but since I had never made one before and we were having so many people over, and the theme was pink, I changed my mind and made a rose cake.  I think it looked adorable for a first birthday cake...even if it was a little lopsided!

 

 

 And here's a little fun I had with the birthday girl...I couldn't resist:

One day & one year--my, how quickly they grow!

 

Because of Summer

The ache in my heart is gone, all because this little one joined our family!  I try to remind myself of that when she throws my make-up on the floor, wakes me up in the middle of the night, and won't let me do anything but carry her around outside!!  I am grateful every single day to have this little girl in my life and I can't wait to see the amazing person she becomes.  Happy Birthday Summy!!!