Elise's Baptism, and End of School Stuff

On the first of June, Evan graduated from his last year of Joy School!  The moms compiled a few photos, of which these were my favorites.  Evan loved, LOVED Joy School.  He was able to learn a bunch and make great friends.  They're all cuties.
  

  

The graduation party mostly involved kids playing on the swingset and jumping on the trampoline at our friend Kelsey's house, but there was a little bit of formality when they shared their favorite parts from the past year, and received their "diplomas."
   

My sweet girl Elise was baptized the first Saturday in June.  She was nervous and excited, both, but it was an amazing day.  We tried to spend a lot of time this year teaching her what baptism means, and making sure it was a decision she felt she wanted to make.  The program was awesome - a combined baptism with our friends the Bartys.  We'll keep the interview video he made of Elise forever.  Aunt Helena came, and gave the gift of her own childhood CTR ring, which Elise wore on a chain the next day for her confirmation.  She also got her own set of scriptures, and a giant cookie (of course.)  I'm so grateful for the things my children learn, and the help they receive from having the Gospel in their lives.
    

Elise had costume day, picture day, dress rehearsal, and her dance recital, which are kind of all the same experience.  She did a great job, and has gained a lot of confidence this year!
  

Instead of a Bouquet

Also, Elise attended the bridging ceremony for her Girl Scout troop.  She didn't bridge this year, but we went to support the other girls.
  

I found these crafts and decided to preserve them for history.  The only funny thing about them is that they're not by the kids.  They're by little Ryan Merrill Brown!  Thanks Helena, for the boxes of keepsakes!
    

As soon as dance recital ends, we consider summer officially begun.  The kids, with no prompting from me, got out a piece of poster board and made their Summer Fun List.  I think it was a bit too ambitious, but great nonetheless.
  

Ryan planted an avocado tree in the back yard.  To protect it from marauding deer, he careully placed a chicken-wire fence around it at deer height.  Unfortunately, we now have some adorable baby deer in the area, so they snuck under and ate the top off!
  

  

Some kid took these pictures.  They're kind of cute, though, so I'm keeping them.  (The pictures and the kids, I guess.)
  

One afternoon, Ryan went out to throw something in the yard waste bin, and saw a live rattlesnake looking up at him!  It couldn't have climbed in by itself, since there's a heavy lid and no holes, so we figure the yard guy must have scooped him up in some leaf litter and dumped him in the previous Friday.  Poor yard guy.  I showed him the picture, and he just laughed.
  

 

More Crazy May

After we returned from our week in Mammoth, I had to organize all of our activities and projects for the next few weeks.  We had about two days to recuperate and get stuff done before my brother's family came to visit.  The whiteboard helped a lot.

Connor's eyesight had gotten pretty bad over the past year or so, so we took him to a pediatric opthalmologist.  Despite failing the initial vision test, we were told that his eyes weren't "quite" bad enough to warrant glasses yet, but to come back in six months.
   

Elise finally finished reading the whole Book of Mormon!  We had set a goal that she read it over the course of the year, and her pre-determined celebration was Baskin Robbins (preceded by Togos.)
  

The Friday of Memorial Day weekend was the ward's Father-Son Campout, so Ryan took off with the boys while I welcomed my brother's family, who came to stay the weekend with us.  They were very brave to drive from Utah with three kids under four.  Even I've never done such a short trip based on such a long drive.  It was a great visit, though.  Ryan and the boys joined us the next morning, and we hung around the house, tried to swim (the weather didn't cooperate,) and played T-ball at the park.  I'm so happy my kids are growing up knowing their cousins.
   

  

  

Elise had a Brownie field trip to Theodore Payne that Saturday.

  

While she was gone, the other kids attacked Uncle Kyle.

Connor had just poked Elise in the eye.  Good times.

After the Murrays went home, we had a couple days to teach Joy School, get ready for Elise's birthday party, and prepare for Recitation night.  Ryan left for a conference in Chicago.  
  

Passed Out Nakey

   
The evening that Ryan left for Chicago, Evan got it into his head that he was going to go find a "special spot" and watch the sunset.  He went to the bottom of our hill with a makeshift picnic and waited.  Eventually, Elise got me to feel sorry for him, since you can clearly not ever see the sunset from our property, and it was still like an hour away.  So, I agreed to take all the kids to Deukmeijian Park for a real picnic dinner and a real sunset.  We played Uno and enjoyed being together.
     

Ryan likes to use Uber when he travels.

  

Such a interesting conference.

  

The next afternoon was Elise's Hawaiian-themed birthday party.  We had like ten little girls attending, so I planned ahead and hired a lifeguard, since I was doing this thing solo.  One of the moms also volunteered to stay and help, bless her!  Everybody had fun swimming and making leis, and Elise got a boatload of presents, so it was a success!  
     

  

   

 Friday had been the last day of co-op, and Saturday was the long-awaited Recitation night.  The two classes showed off the poetry and scriptures they'd memorized, and the older kids went through all their Latin grammar and astronomy.  It was very impressive!  Of course, there were treats at the end.  Ryan got home just an hour or two later - I hope he has the chance to attend it next year.  It's like proof the kids learned something!