The BIG kindergartner!
The BIG 2nd grader!
This summer has been so relaxed and nice so far. The kids are getting along great, for the most part. I am keeping them busy with all the free or cheap things around town ($1.00 movies, free school lunches at the park, library reading program) and we also do something really fun every weekday that I call "school time." I went through all our workbooks and found kindergarten reading and math workbooks from when Julianna was in kindergarten that weren't all used--many pages left over (I'm not sure what she did in kindergarten...). So Blake is doing those, plus a handwriting practice one. Julianna got her 1st grade books sent home that aren't all filled in, either, so we're finishing those, plus some other workbooks I had. At the beginning of school time, I read them 2 or 3 easy readers--Julianna has TONS from school that have piled up over the years. I chose 3 the first two weeks to read every day. This past Friday on the 2-week mark I decided to see if Blake could read the book by himself. I was SO surprised when he read every word without help from me! Of course it's mostly from memory, but this is the beginning stage of reading! I tried uploading a video of him reading this book, but it didn't work:( Julianna of course zooms through these easy books, but she still loves the practice. At the end of school time, we do kindergarten sight words--so far Blake knows 8 of them. My goal is for him to memorize the sight words before kindergarten.
Something else that is cute--at night sometimes I catch Julianna and Blake whispering. When I come up, I find them reading a book together. Julianna was reading a book to Blake last night (Big Dog, Little Dog), and Blake said, "I wanted to help her read better." I can tell he's secretly jealous of her reading abilities. But he will catch up soon--in two weeks he has made TONS of progress. He can even spell simple words if I ask him--he will think about the sounds in his head and then spell the word. I'm glad I'm taking a little time each day for "school time," because it will certainly pay off when school starts again! I've even caught the reading bug--I've already read 3 books this summer and well into my 4th!
We're looking forward to seeing Joel's family this weekend for the 4th, running in the Orange Stake 5K, and seeing the newly engaged Briana (and maybe meeting her fiance?)
The preschool graduates (minus one). I have LOVED doing this co-op preschool for two years. I know Blake is totally ready for kindergarten!
They went for a boat ride.
Fishing for the first time.
They camped right in front of Lake Hemet.
I celebrated my 29th birthday. Last year in my 20's! Blake always has to do something silly in pictures now.
Some good friends "egged" our door as a birthday surprise for me. We didn't see it until Joel left for Priesthood session--we were inside watching conference, or in the backyard working. It was pretty sneaky, and it totally made my day!
My birthday present was a raised bed garden--I really want to learn how to garden this year. Here I am with Blake during our "groundbreaking" ceremony. We also went to a movie as a family and a few days earlier, Joel and I went to the temple and had lunch together. It was a great birthday.
When the yard was being done, we moved our trampoline to the concrete, and the kids thought it was extra fun to jump on it this way.
A "before" shot of our yard, just one side of it. The weeds were out of control!
And the "after" shot. We had the ground cleared, and sprinklers and grass installed. The other side of the yard is dirt for now until we get a swingset, and the trampoline is moved over there again, and there's room to expand my garden. We love having grass, finally! We will plant in the edges as we go--we just wanted the grass in for now. We also finally caught the gopher that's been living in our yard for YEARS.
We've also had lots of soccer during the break--2 games and a few practices. Here's Blake ready to go to his first soccer game.
Here's his coach talking to him before the game--the pictures are blurry because I was sitting far away.
Standing in his position. Whenever the whistle blew, he was VERY good at going back to his position. In fact, he might have been the only kid who did this. He seemed a little shy when the ball actually came within kicking range, but he was very good at chasing that ball everywhere. He played the ENTIRE 30-minutes (I think his coach forgot to switch him out). At the end of the game, he said, "I kicked the ball THREE times!" We asked him how many times he will kick it in the next game, and he said, "Um, like 20 times!" He is liking soccer and whenever we are getting his "uniform" on he says, "I'm a soccer player now."
We signed Blake up for indoor soccer. He's on a team with two boys from church. On the way to his first practice, he cried and CRIED and said he didn't want to play. When we got there, his friends were kicking the ball around, and he loved it within two minutes. He is so competitive and loves to play hard. When the practice was over, he said, "I won, Mom. I got a goal." He's never played any sport, so for being his first time ever kicking a ball or playing, I thought he did really well. Now we have a ball for him to practice at home. I'm excited to see how he does in his first sport. I can already tell he's going to be athletic. More pictures to come from Blake's first soccer team. 
This is what Blake does when I ask him to do a nice smile.
Julianna actually has a wiggly tooth! Much better than having it yanked out by mistake in the bathtub, like her first lost tooth in November! This one won't last much longer.
They love this little "laptop" and play all the games together, when they're not fighting!
We headed to Orange County on New Year's Day to open presents with Joel's family. They got spoiled rotten! Such nice presents that they really love. It was a fun day. Then Briana came to our house and went to church the next day and we celebrated her birthday before she went into the army reserves on Jan. 4th. 
In front of the Capitol Building.
In front of the Luxor.
At the play area of Legoland.
Blake's first experience in "driving school." He didn't like it much, but he got his "driver license."
Another cool Lego creation--the Excalibur.
On the boat ride.
The helicopter ride--Julianna loved going up and down. Joel took the picture from his helicopter.
Sunday morning before the primary program--they both had speaking parts and did well!
Singing Happy Birthday to Blake yesterday. He loves telling everyone he's 4 now.
Julianna's missing tooth smile.
Her little tooth in her hand.
(Don't you love the face?) Our fish died a few months ago after a long life. Still no new fish yet, but we found a new pet in the backyard. A big fuzzy caterpillar--the biggest I have ever seen. We put it in a jar and gave it some apples. Caterpillars really do eat apples! I asked Blake to give it a name and he thought for a second and said, "Paris!" So Paris it was.
Yes, there's the big caterpillar. We thought we'd keep it until it turned into a butterfly. We kept it about a week, and then I just didn't like having it in the house anymore, or living in a jar. So we set it free in our backyard. Maybe soon we'll see a butterfly flying in the backyard and say, "There goes Paris!"
Our neighbor's cat likes to hop the fence and play with the kids about once a day. Here was Blake today playing with the cat. He usually pulls a bunch of weeds and puts them in a bucket to give to the cat so it can play with the weeds. Or eat them, I'm not sure. He really likes playing with it.
And there you have it! Blake's backyard adventures. Another one of his favorite games is collecting sticks. We have quite an assortment of sticks from walks we go on, or tree trimmings in our backyard. He calls them his lightsabers. He's even got a stick for each Jedi from Star Wars. So we will play Star Wars with our sticks. He's such a boy.
Sorry it's sideways (I was too lazy to rotate it on my camera.) Now those blue boots are very special around here. Lots of his friends have rubber rain boots (don't ask me why they sell them here). So of course he's always wanted some. Well, I've always wanted to get him some, but they are not cheap. I happened to see some on clearance for $5 at Wal-mart, when Blake was with me. They are a little small, but they'll work for now. HE LOVES THEM! Now he can be a Jedi, or Batman, or whatever he wants, all the time. He used to wear my Ugg (not real Ugg) boots around and now those are ruined. I'm glad he has his own now.
Blake's first day of preschool--second year now. The co-op is in its second year and it's going to be great! He told me he had to wear his hat, because "we wear hats to preschool."
Her Kai-lan shirt from Grandma. She loves it! Especially because Rin-too (the tiger) is on it.
Better late than never! Here's Julianna on her first day of 1st Grade! (which ended up being Aug. 31st so we could spend more time at home potty training). It was also picture day, so even more reason to get her dressed up! I volunteered on the first day and got to stand next to the guy taking her picture and approve the smile! It was fun. I like her class and her teacher. I'm hoping it will be a great year. And I'm proud to say that this girl is a BIG GIRL! Only 4 weeks and she is fully potty trained. What a difference it makes around here.
It was hot enough today to do some trampoline sprinklers!
The BEST picture I could get of Blake at the preschool graduation (he finished his first year, of course. One more year to go!) He was not happy because all his friends were already playing on the playground--he was the last one to be announced.
In other Blake news, Blake is excited to wear his first belt to church. But then halfway through sacrament meeting, he wanted me to take it off. Oh well.
And just because it was cool, I wanted to share pictures of eggs laid by a bird that we discovered in a rock pile at the park. Pretty clever place!
This is the bird that was standing over her eggs. Every time someone would come within 6 feet, she would squeak at us and fluff her feathers! Can anyone name that bird? I've never seen one like it.