Parker's allergies

We took Rielee to her game this morning, they won 7-2.  Afterwards, we picked up Parker at the church car wash and dropped him at Grandpa's to mow.  This is what he looked like afterwards at the fire pit, so miserable with his eyes nearly swollen shut.  He said he wore a mask and glasses but he was mowing tall grass.  Poor guy, he took some medication and was going to bed early.

Preschool barbecue, Happy Birthday Lexi

 The preschool had a barbecue for the last day, complete with a bouncy house.  Ava and Harper were very impatient waiting in line that first turn.  There was a sand table, water table and bubble tub set up outside for them to play with also.   They really had a great time.

They ate hotdogs with their good friend Boden. 

 Lexi had her 16th birthday party with family & friends at Who Song and Larry's tonight.  She was looking sort of mortified when the singing started, but handled it pretty well!  She got her driver's license today, too!

Oh, and Harper mastered the monkey bars today, she was one proud girl. 

Pre-school graduation

Ava and Harper graduated from pre-school tonight.  It was a very sweet program, they sang several songs and recited a Bible verse.  We were so proud of them, they did a great job.  There was a slide show before the program started of pictures throughout the school year and another at the end in which they had asked each child what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Ava was a ballerina and Harper a teacher.

They got a medallion first, then after they said their name into the microphone, Mrs. Dolan gave them their certificates.

They loved the roses they got from Mom and Dad! 

Harper was making some very odd faces, she takes after Daddy that way.

Three sweet sisters!

And three sweet cousins!

Shayla and Alysha's Mom wanted a picture with Harper and Ava, they posed nicely for her!

Volleyball, softball, badminton

Auna, #12

Saturday we went to the UW to watch Auna play in the Emerald City Tournament.  She played for Team Yakima, the coach is Emmy's old coach from CWU, his daughter Tia plays on the team.  They won that match and the next two Saturday, but didn't fare as well in the Gold level Sunday and Monday.

 

Lexi with a base hit

Then we went to Kent to watch Lexi's team play at Regionals.  Unfortunately, they lost both games there,  but overall their season was a very good one! 

Today we were invited over to the Dolan's, first for Scrabble (I beat Emmy, Dan and Laury), and then for the opening of Badminton season.  Emmy and Dan got revenge for the Scrabble loss, beating Uncle and I in two, it was ugly (it's rumored that Dan played college badminton which explains our first badminton loss in many years to anyone with the name Dolan).  



Kindergarten open house

 Ava and Harper went to Illahee Elementary today for a Kindergarten open house.  They sat at a table with another set of twins to draw pictures and play while Mom and Dad went to an orientation.  

Afterwards they went for a school bus ride.  We were impressed with the school, it's very nice.

Goggles

Their teacher put goggles on the girls today and they worked on putting their faces in the water.  Harper did pretty well until she went under for a second too long, swallowed water and got scared, then the goggles came off.  When Ava saw that, she took hers off, too.  She said they were too tight.

They got the goggles back on later in the lesson to pull themselves under on a pole, Harper got her nose under water, Ava her chin.  All through their lesson today, Harper was talking and the teachers would look at each other and crack up, I would love to know what she was telling themf!

Graduation card

 Harper and Ava brought home graduation invitations today that were so cute.

After school they were multi-tasking-having a dress-up tea party with Harper providing harmonica music and Ava straightening her hair with a play flat iron.  Great entertainment for me.

 

Rielee overnight

Rielee spent the night with us.  She brought over her snow cone machine so we made those.  She got to stay up late watching a movie with Papa,  "Ant Bully", which she liked so much she watched it again while eating breakfast.

Visiting Grandpa and riding bikes

 After school, Papa took the girls out to visit Grandpa Gourde.  They gave him pictures they made for him and some cookies and told him about their swim lessons.

This afternoon was all about bike riding.  They rode over to show Alan and Vera their bikes and worked on using their brakes and turning around.  For today we stuck with riding to the play fort.

Wormie

The girls were helping me plant some annuals today when Ava dug up a worm.  They were so excited and Harper even held it, that was huge.  They tried to find another one so they could each have one to hold but no luck.  Ava almost cried when I told her we had to put it back in the ground before it dried up and died from the heat, the girl loves worms.

Tuesday & softball today

 Tuesday-the twins played outside with Rielee before she and Papa left for their ukulele lesson. It was an intense couple of hours of super silliness that included chasing her with the Jeep, playing monkeys and having a very wet tea party, where they wore more water than they drank.

Today we went to watch Lexi play at Skyview.  They lost but are tied with Camas for first place in league, they play them tomorrow night for the championship. 

Hammock weather

 The girls were so excited when Papa put the hammock up, that means summer is coming, at least for a few days.

We got the Jeep out, too.  Wow, there was some wild and crazy driving going on, they were running into things, forgot how to turn around or back up.  Plus they kept driving around throwing their hands in the air and screaming like they were on a roller coaster or something!  Finally we told them they had to stay in the field on the grass.

Mother's Day Tea

 Ava and Harper's preschool had a Mother's Day Tea today and it was so special.  I was fortunate to attend it with Kelly and her Grandma.  The tables were decorated with canvases, placemats and  decoupage vases the kids had made.  Both 4 year old classes came out and sang "You Are My Sunshine" and we were shown a video of each of the children holding up signs with quotes from them about what made their Mom special.  It was so cute.  Then the kids served us fruit pizza and tortilla roll ups.

 Harper wouldn't eat the fruit but did eat the cookie crust of her pizza, Ava ate the roll ups, both drank only water, of course, even though there was lemonade available.  Their teacher sat with us and said Ava and Harper were the pickiest eaters she has ever known!  The kids also cleaned up all the dishes from the tables, and got to play a little Ring-Around-The-Rosie.  They were all so well behaved.

It was a special time with four very pretty ladies!

Swim lesson #2/Auna track meet

 Ava and Harper were  anxious to go to their swimming lesson this morning, they kept asking if it was time to go yet.  We wondered if Ava would change her mind once she got there and get nervous, but she didn't, she just sat right down and smiled at the teacher.  All during the lesson she was happy  and tried so hard, we were really proud of her.  Her fear is gone, she even put her face in the water.

She got a bloody nose about 10 minutes from the end of the lesson and Papa asked her if she wanted to get out but she said no.  They got it stopped and she went back in for some fun time around the Lazy River.

Uncle went to Auna's track meet in Kalama and took this picture of her with Emmy and Dad.  She won the 100 and 400.

James baseball

We enjoyed watching James play baseball today against Hockinson.  The Monarchs won both games easily and James had several hits.  He played first base in the second game and made some great catches, too. 

Swim lessons

 The girls started swim lessons at the Y this morning.  Harper was gung ho, loving every minute of it.  There were only 4 kids in the class with 2 teachers so they got a lot of attention.

 Ava cried the first 10 minutes or so, but nothing like last year.  She clung to the teacher and wouldn't let go of her hand but the teacher just kept making her do everything the rest of the class did while trying to get her to relax and have fun. 

At one point Ava's teacher brought her over and laughingly told us that the only person in the pool that was more stubborn than Ava was her!  That look on Ava's face sums it up, she was having fun but didn't want to admit it.  The pool is so warm that it is impossible not to enjoy it.  By the end of the lesson, the teacher let go of  Ava and told her to swim (with her float belt on) to the side of the pool.  Ava did it and was so proud of herself.   At the end of the lesson, the teachers took the kids around the Lazy River, which they loved because they were going really fast.  They had Harper hang on to Ava's waist and pulled them both along, so fun for them!

Monkeys

 After 3 days of being sick with allergies and staying inside, the twins were better today.  They went to school and afterwards, ran outside every chance they could when it wasn't raining.  Rielee came to play and they had a ball, ending up at the play fort playing monkeys and zoo keeper.  In the picture, Rielee is pretending to look for bugs in Harper's hair. 

This was so sweet, Ava fell asleep on my lap with her special Lil' Pony. It's "Pinky Pie" but Ava calls her Grandma Barb, she even showed me the label and told me "see, it says her name right here- Grandma Barb".  

Auna's track meet and 14th birthday

 Auna had her first track meet today, her 14th birthday.

 Parker went with us, he was surprised when Auna ran the 100 faster than he can.  Auna had a good meet, winning her heats in the 100 and 400 and her relay team took 2nd.  Didn't hear the results of the javelin.

She had a late birthday party afterwards, with a "Divergent" themed cake (her favorite book).  She got some nice clothes and a toaster from Dan, oddly enough that is something she has wanted for a long time since the family's toaster always burns her toast!