My housecleaner

Rielee was very disappointed when her job taking care of the neighbor's cats and yard while they were on vacation didn't pan out (there was a schedule change and she only got 1 day of work).  She was so serious about working that I hired her myself and it's been great.  Sunday she cleaned and organized the playroom closet and yesterday she worked on the books, sorting them so we could donate some to the library book sale.  She also keeps the cat box clean. 

Macee Rielee birthday party

 Rielee celebrated her 11th birthday and Macee her 21st Sunday with a little party at home.

 The cousins played in the pool all afternoon, they'd have to get out and warm up periodically, but they had a ball.

They all got out to watch the girls open their gifts.  Rielee was thrilled to get her own badminton racket, now she won't have to borrow Papa's anymore.  It was funny-when Macee said they could go back to the pool, they all jumped, cheered and bolted!

Lexi's graduation party

We went to Lexi's party this afternoon.  Had a great time, Lexi looked so pretty. The food was great, Diane made the cutest cupcakes that I wish I had taken a picture of, well, the girls are eating them in this picture.

  They were calling themselves the triplets because Macee put double dutch braids in their hair.  Later, all the kids took some quick dips in the very chilly pool, but were in and out pretty quick.

Rielee's 11th

Rielee turned 11 years old Sunday!  She came over after her cake and played badminton with me and somehow I won the championship .  She blamed the wind and having no lines on the court for her loss and wants a rematch today.  I'm in trouble.

Monkey bars and tree climbing

We had a fun couple of days with the girls.  Thursday they went to Aunt Cathy's to play with the kids and then Friday Jillian and Bridget came up.  They spent as much time as possible, between rain showers, at the play fort. 

They all practiced their monkey bar skills, working on passing each other in the middle.  We had put up a badminton net and Jillian wanted to try it so I played with her.  It didn't take her long to get the hang of it.  Ava, Harper and Jillian haven't quite figured it out yet.

This was funny.  Harper came running to get me today, freaking out, saying Rielee was climbing a tree!! I said that was okay and Harper couldn't believe it.  She said "you aren't mad?!"  When I said I wasn't, she said she wanted to climb the tree, too, and I said to go ahead.  She looked shocked, but got excited and then goes "ok, but don't tell Daddy!"  I assured her that Daddy wouldn't care, he climbed trees when he was a kid.  Well, as it turned out Rielee's tree was a little too high for Ava and Harper to get into, they couldn't reach the bottom limbs.  Rielee went way high though, wearing her birthday crown.

Ava climbed up a Japanese maple instead and was pretty happy with that, she still wanted to try climbing the bigger tree so I boosted her into it, but she quickly got nervous and wanted down.

Harper had fun in the maple and tried the big tree, too, briefly.  It was quite an adventure for them.

Last day of 1st and 5th

Papa got to pick up Ava and Harper on their last day of 1st grade.  They'll be off to King's Way Christian next year.  They were excited to bring home CDs full of pictures of their class through the year, yearbooks, report cards and a 'smores kit from Mrs. Miller, which we microwaved and they gobbled down as soon as we got home. 

Rielee's 5th grade awards ceremony was this morning.  Rielee got 3 awards - one for helping in the library, one for Sportsmanship, and the President's Award for Academic Excellence.  She was impressed to see the President's signature.  Rielee's last day is tomorrow, next year she'll go to Coweeman.

These kids are all growing up so fast, Luke is a sophomore and Parker and Auna are juniors already!

Lexi graduation, Lucy, Echo

Lexi's graduation was Friday night, we stayed home with the girls.  Love this picture, she looks so excited.  Her proud parents said it went great, no rain and not too long.

 Lucy gets so much attention having 3 moms, they all spoil her rotten.  It's a constant battle for "Lucy" time.  The girls slept in the living room while Lucy got their room all to herself.

Our Echo (voice-controlled speaker) was a hit with the girls.  They can ask "Alexa" to play any music they want, which is good and bad, I found, after I listened to one song about 50 times in a row while they worked out a dance routine to it.  They had so much fun though, having one dance party after another and getting their many questions answered.  They had one completely dark dance party, using Ava's light up Hello Kitty glasses as their only light.

Being silly at breakfast.

 Last time Ava and Harper were up,  I asked them what cereal they would like me to get, since we usually cook their breakfast.  They asked for Fruity Pebbles cereal.  This morning they told me that was the cereal  Grandma Barb always had for them. 

With these 3 in the rearview mirror, I know my trip won't be a dull one.

We went to one garage sale but it was junk, so I took them to the Dollar Store.  Ava was so cute, she wanted educational materials, and said "Grandma, I only want things that will help me learn" and was frustrated that she couldn't find any non-fiction books.  Harper and Rielee bought drawing supplies and a couple of toys.

Ava made Lucy a bed out of a shoe box, adding a pillow, blanket, and toy for her.  Lucy stayed in it and went back to it several times to nap, which made Ava so happy.

Game of Life

Thursday morning Rielee showed up early and raced around setting up Life.  First she tried setting it up on the kid's table, but Lucy got into it and made a big mess.  We managed to squeeze in a game before it was time to leave for school.  It was fun, Rielee really wanted to have twins and we both got them, she wanted a girl and boy, I took 2 girls.  She won, despite having a low salary card because she had more Life cards. 

Lucy's first bath

 Rielee has fond memories of bathing her old Kitty all the time, she just loved baths.  So on her nightly visit with Lucy, I finally relented and let her give Lucy a bath.  It lasted all of maybe 10  seconds but she did get a little wet.  Rielee figured she would probably have to get used to it and it would be best to start with short baths.

Rielee also said that Kitty liked to have her fur dried with the blow dryer but I knew that wouldn't work with Lucy, any loud noise freaks her out.  Poor thing was looking at me like she was thinking "help me Grandma".  It was time for Rielee to go home shortly after this, and Lucy went right down for a long nap.  Visits from her Mom always wear her out.

Illahee school carnival, tea party, pool

 Friday night we took Rielee and met Charb and the girls at their school carnival, Kelly stayed home to decorate for Becky's shower in the morning.  They had a ton of fun going down the slide and in the bouncy houses, getting tattoos, their faces painted,  hair sprayed and getting balloons.  Ava's theme was roses and red hair, Harper had a kitty on her face, blue hair and got a panda balloon, Rielee got a Smurf balloon and green hair.  There was a Storm Trooper and Darth Vader there to take pictures with, Daddy asked but the girls weren't one bit interested.

They came home with us after the carnival and we got up early to go to garage sales.  One of our finds was a new and bigger tea set, so they tried it out.  Note:  Ava is now smiling and showing her teeth again, ever since she had her tooth knocked out, she's smiled with her mouth closed.  She's getting over it, thankfully, just in time to start losing her baby teeth naturally. 

First time in Rielee's pool this year and Harper practiced her cannon balls.  The water was still a little cold and their teeth started chattering after awhile, but they played in it for a long time in the 90+ heat. 

After this picture, Ava got brave and took off her floaties, she's tall enough that she can touch.  They have a pool at home now, too, and are loving that.