Fishing Derby

Kurtis has offically joined the Boy Scouts for next year. He is in Pack 481 and he will be in the tiger cub den which consists of other first graders in his school.

Wednedsay we went to the first function of many for this coming year - a Fishing Derby! Kurtis has been saying he wants to fish but I don't think he really knows what is involved in that. If you know Kurtis, he is neither quiet nor patcient so I don't know if he will really enjoy fishing or not.

This is one of my favorite pictures from that day:
Jeff knows nothing about fishing but he is trying his best to show Kurtis what to do.Joey thought the best thing to do was to throw rocks into the pond. Luckly no one wanted to fish by us.
This was just a beautiful day - before we had a little rain shower. Thought others might enjoy as well.

Kindergarten Graduation

Yesterday was Kurtis' Kindergarten graduation. He will be moving forward to first grade in the fall and all the fun a full day of school will hold. Here are some pictures from that:

The kids are singing a song to the tune of "New York, New York" with the words: "I want to be a part of First Grade, First Grade". It was really cute. They even did a kicking chorus line. Wish I had a video camera.

Here Kurtis is getting his certificate from Ms. Davis. She was a wonderful teacher and a joy to work with throughout the year. I don't know how many times she told me, "It's a good thing Kurtis is smart..." She was very understanding with Kurtis and he learned a lot during this year with her help.

Kurtis and his Kindergarten graduation certificate. We will be putting this in his scrapbook.

So much fun. The year is over. Now to work on writing and reading over the summer with him to make sure he improves.

"The Unit"

Here is a link to the Best Show on TV that is being Cancelled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4QraA0LF3o

I love this show and hope that the strong campaign to bring it back to TV is successful. I will not be watching any new CBS shows this season as a protest.

Birthday Party Pictures

We had a great time at the party. Here are some pictures:

Kurtis' Cupcake as we are singing "Happy Birthday"

We had neighborhood friends over - Nick (Batman Shirt) and Nathan (White Shirt), School Friends (Will - black shirt & Austin - not pictured)
And Old Babysitter friends - Jacob (from Ms. Theresa's house).

Kurtis got many cool toys - including this Slip-N-Slide, a Mario Kart game for the Wii, some money to buy his own toy, workbooks and flashcards to help with his reading, writing and math skills over the summer, a Nerf gun and swim trunks and a cool beach bag that matches them.

Family was also able to make it to the party. Above is Debbie with my nephew Dominic (Rachael's little one). Dad, Aaron and the kids were also able to attend.

One of the biggest hits seemed to be the craft that I got for all the kids to do while they waited for their parents to arrive after we had cake and ice cream. I had gotten several little wood model kits for the kids to put together. The bad thing was that we ended up working on them outside on the porch & several lost pieces between the slates. They all got to take the paint that came with the kit home so they could paint them later.

The cutest thing was when Joey was sitting on Dad's lap and Dominic got upset - No one could share his grandpa's lap, that was only for him.

Overall, the party was a success. Rain stayed away until we were grilling out hamburgers and hot dogs for family and friends in the evening (Steve, Anny and the kids, and Susan were also here). It only rained for a brief period so I was happy.

Newest Family Member...

Meet Zeva:

One of the neighborhood cats had kittens so we decided we would take one to make our own. We have a pet again. Hopefully we can keep her an inside cat - have not had that much success lately with that but all of our last cats have been males.

She is a sweet little lady who has taken to sleeping with Joey on his pillow at night. She has so much fun playing and attacking your feet as you walk by. She is very loving and purrs up a storm - which I love!!

Welcome to the family Zeva.