Collier Party of 5

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Last Days

Nora and Ethan have been officially on summer break for over a week now! And we've kept busy. But first...last day of school pictures!

Nora's last day was May 17

Cute girl!

Playing with bubbles

Popsicles for snack!

First and last day of school!

Ethan's last day was May 19

No longer a 1st grader!

And he's happy about that :)!

First and last day of 1st Grade!

One day during Ethan's last week of school they went to the DISC. They played basketball, dodgeball, jumped in a bouncy house and climbed a huge climbing wall! Ethan's teacher sent me these pics of him on the climbing wall. He loved it (after a little convincing)!

Friday, May 27, 2016

Preschool Program

Nora's preschool spring program was on Sunday May 15. Her class sang 3 song and she knew the words to and sang them all!! She loves to perform and we love to watch her! She did great!

Before the program with some of her friends!

Nora in her classroom!

Ready to sing :)

Here's a video of her singing her favorite song! She sang it all the time at home too.

Cookies with Grandma Terri & Pop after the program

Pretty girl

Grandpa, Nora and Grandma Karen

And this was the best we could get of all 5 of us...could be worse :)!

Mother/Son Olympics

The Community Club (PTA-type) for Ethan's school hosted a mother, son olympics on May 14. It was so much fun! They had lots of fun minute to win it type games set up and a DJ! Ethan and I had a blast and it was so great to spend the evening with him!

Hula-hooping Ethan

Baby rattle game! Ethan beat me every time!

Stack the dice!

Tic-tac toss

Some crazy boys with their crazy mamas!

Love my sweet boy :)!

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Backyard Playground Re-Vamp

We've been planning to finish out the play area in our backyard for a while. It has needed mulch or gravel or something instead of dirt for a while now. Jared and I finally decided on pea gravel. So, I ordered it and an hour later we had 7 tons of gravel on our driveway! That quickly decided our plans for the weekend of May 14! We have some amazing neighbors! And with the help of a few of them, they had the driveway clear and the gravel where it needed to be before lunchtime that Saturday!

At this point I was thinking "what have we gotten ourselves into?!"

Nora had to go check that pile out!

This man worked SO hard getting the border/edging made and installed, the ground cleaned up, the weed barrier down and moving 7 tons of pea gravel from the driveway to backyard! He's pretty much a rock star :)!

Wonderful neighbors! Lending a hand, shovel and wheelbarrow!

A "thanks for all the help" picnic in the front yard!

Some of the kids ready to play!

Scooping some rocks! (Thanks Grandma Terri and Pop for the fun toy!)

Nora giving it a try!

AFTER! I love the way it looks and the kids love playing in it!
(Pea gravel is dusty! I'm told after a few rains, it gets better...I need it to rain soon! So many filthy clothes and children!)

Fishing Field Trip

Nora had a field trip on the same day of Ethan's garden field trip, so Jared went with her! From what I hear, they had a great time! And they caught the most fish...3!!

I love this picture of these 2!

Checking out a fish with Callynn

Nora and Callynn and some worms!

Fishing with daddy!

Love my worm loving girl!!

Birthday Cookies

Ethan really wanted to have some sort of birthday celebration at school. But since school is out before his birthday, we had to do it early. I brought him a happy meal and some cookies to share with his class to celebrate :)! It was fun to see him in his element and join him on the playground!

Mother/son selfie!
(I had just finished playing tennis, still sweaty and red cheeked!)

Crazy 1st graders!

On the playground with these 2!
Zach and Ethan

Garden Path Field Trip

Ethan had a field trip to a local garden center on May 9. (I know...that was a while ago!) Atley and I got to go with him. It was so fun! They learned about different plants and then had a fun scavenger hunt through the beautiful gardens there! I just hope all the kids didn't trample the flowers too much!

Field trip fun!

Checking items off the scavenger hunt!

A picture with my bookends :)

Getting to plant his own flower

This one is just for fun! I asked him to look and smile for a picture and the photo to the right is what I got. I thought I recognized that look and dug up the other one! Ha!