Pool time

Summer time means daily pool time around here. Unfortunately, it becomes monotonous and boring even. But the heat makes other activities undesireable.

I told Shinara that after she turned 5 and when she could go under water without panic and trepidation (o.k. I didn't use that word with her!), she could stop wearing her "fat" swimsuit (as she called it. One with flotation devices sewn in). So, before her birthday, she began practicing. And she swims with a noodle close by so she doesn't get tired. I was pleasantly surprised at how strong and capeable she was. But I watch out so that others in the pool don't forget that she's not as strong as they are!

The day that school let out for the elementary school kids, I took them and our next door neighbor Chris and Mardi's friend Mimi to the pool.

The girls ganged up on him, but he held his own. The pool is more fun when we have guests. Mandi and her kids have been in Oregon for almost a month and we are really missing them! They come back next week!

Houston, you've got a problem

I took Tersa to the airport this morning for her flight out to Houston. Joel promised the girls they could go after their first year of Jr. High if they got straight A's (as final grades.) So, she is headed out there for two weeks and is looking forward to all of the things planned for her. Aunt Leann has a schedule all worked out and Aunt Lindsay and the boys will be out there for part of her visit too!! Hopefully they will take some pictures I can post later.

Keddi's last day of school

This is Ms. Rice. The reason I switched the girls to track 5 this year was so that Keddi could have Mrs. Kepner (Tersa's 1 &2 grade teacher). What we found out was that Mrs. Kepner went to a different school. When I asked the girls who Ms. Rice was, Tersa said she had been the student teacher for Mrs. Kepner. Keddi had a wonderful year. She is a soft spoken lady who seems to truly enjoy these young kids. Keddi loved her.
Ms. Osinelley was also well-liked by Keddi. She was the student teacher for part of this year.






Keddi, Kayla and McKenzie. McKenzie was the one Keddi spent most of her time with until Kayla moved in. Unfortunately that is when "girl" stuff started and Keddi struggled with these two about why they couldn't all be friends together. She talked to them about it and things got better.
But these are the people Keddi got the most attention from. Berkley, Gus and Christain are her friends and she would chase with them and what not, but Keddi is a "girl" friend kind of girl right now, so drama is more a part of her life than it would be if she spent the majority of her time with this group!

Mardi's Friends

The last day of school was only half of one and after cleaning up their room, they had a class party with pizza, treats and yearbook signing. And for Mardi it was picture time. As I said before, these kids really took her in and let her be part of their class. Many of these kids had been together for years. Chantal and Mimi were the two Mardi spent most of her time with.
Marissa (left) and Kylee (I think) (right) are girls who were in Mardi's kindergarten class.

Damian likes Mimi and therefore was privileged to have his picture taken.

And Oliver was often in Mardi's groups when a project was assigned. I guess Oliver got his picture because she complained about him a lot?!?!?

(As you can see, Mardi spent a lot of time with Mimi. Mimi came here from Thailand knowing very little english. She was in Mardi's class in 3rd grade I believe and Mardi took an interest in helping her and befriending her. So when Mardi joined this class, she and Mimi picked up where they left off.)

5th Grade Promotion

Before we were so rudely interrupted by a flaming car, I was telling you that we were at Mardi's 5th grade promotion.
This is Mr. Neimeier. Ever since Tersa started kindergarten we have been on track 3 but I wanted different teachers than the ones on track 3 for Keddi so we switched. Hard on Mardi since it was her last year. Turned out to be the best thing in the world for her too!! She learned a lot and did quite well with her grades this year. Mr. Neimeier said that he truly enjoyed her and what having her in there added to the whole class.
Mrs. Ball was fabulous too. Technically she is the 4th grade teacher but the fact is that these two teachers team teach and have each grade for half of the day. She was fabulous too and had the sweetest things to say about Mardi. It was obvious that both teachers really got a feel for Mardi and appreciated her. We couldn't have asked for better.

This is some of Mardi's class and the people she spent most of her time with. (Well, three or four girls jumped in that she doesn't hang out with, but what do ya do?)