Kindergarten Graduation

Today Jackson officially graduated from Kindergarten at Eagle Valley Elementary. The kids wore green caps and gowns, walked into "Pomp and Cirumstance" playing, and received little diplomas. It was pretty cute to see them all beeming. Jackson made some really good friends this year and he seemed to be very well-liked. In fact, several of the other mom's came up afterwards and said that their kids were sad Jackson was moving.

Jackson with his teachers aid, Ms. Joy and his teacher, Mrs. Spaulding. Even though Jackson loved Ms. Joy, we never thought Mrs. Spaulding was a good fit for Jack. Hopefully he'll get a good one in 1st grade!

Jackson with his friend Mickie. Jackson thought she was cool because she told him she was a tom-boy.

Jackson with his friend Isaac.

Jackson with two of his best friends, Eric C. and Tyler B.

2nd Grade Dance Presentation

Noah participated in the 2nd grade dance presentation today. Each class performed a dance based on a different county and culture. Noah had a perma-grin the entire time.

For the final dance, the entire 2nd grade performed the "Chicken Dance."

Ladybug Metropolis

A couple of days ago the kids were out in the field behind our house looking for bugs when what did I stumble upon? Ladybugs... LOTS and LOTS OF LADYBUGS! I'm not talking about a couple here and there, but 44 in all that the kids and neighbor kids who joined us collected. It was a ladybug metropolis! The kids all loved collecting them and my garden thanks them.

Alora was an expert ladybug catcher.

Even Max got in on the action. I think he thought they were food.

Even though they were outnumbered, the kids found several bees.

Noah's First Show

Eagle Valley Elementary hosted a school talent show tonight at the school. The students could perform their talents or display their artwork or photography. After we convinced Noah not to sing a "High School Musical" song, he decided he wanted to enter some photographs. We posted earlier about the photos he took, so here are some pictures of Noah with his finished product. They actually turned out really nice!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

The boys' baseball season has officially begun. No longer do we get to relax after dinner or sleep- in on Saturdays... those times are now replaced by practices and games (not like the relaxing or sleeping-in ever really happened in this house). The boys's first game was actually cancelled due to rain, so this past Saturday was their first official game. Both did pretty well for only have one practice too!

Jackson at bat.

Jackson played short stop, which is good for him because he doesn't get distracted by the other players.

Jackson making his way to home plate. He did get distracted here (talking to the girl) and I had to remind him to run.

Noah's team is the Rays. This game was against the Tigers, who won.

Noah also played short stop and did great! He hustled every time and even got another player out.

We're Moving to Phoenix

As of early last week, Jeremy has officially accepted a transfer to Phoenix, Arizona. The District Manager there was let go and they needed someone who could clean up the district and bring it up to par. Jeremy of course knew he could do it and with his proven track record of top rankings in the company, he was selected as the new area District Manager for the West Phoenix Blockbuster Videos. He will be transferring down there the first week or so in June and the rest of us will soon follow.

Bird Eggs and a Talent Show

We recently bought the kids their own "critter homes" so they would stop using all of our Tupperware to store the bugs they'd catch. We also have a frog in one of our window wells that they want to catch and these homes would be perfect for it. That being said, what did Jackson find instead out in the fields behind our home? No, not eleven ladybugs like he had the week before, but four golf ball sized bird eggs!

After the find and capture, he ran and found us in the front yard. "Look at these cool rocks I found!" he said. Showing us his critter home, I quickly realized his rocks were NOT rocks, but eggs instead. I hurried Jackson back to the field and asked us where the nest was. However, Jack being Jack, couldn't remember where the nest was. After careful searching, we didn't find a nest, but instead a sad little bird that kept canvassing the area, sadly whistling. I knew that these eggs were probably its babies. For the next half hour or so, we tried to get the bird to come back to the eggs, but to no avail. She'd walk all around us, the critter house, and the eggs but couldn't quite ever seem to find them.

Her constant whistling soon drew the interest of a tom cat out from a neighboring yard. He was ready for a meal and the sad bird was oblivious. Knowing what was going to happen, Jackson and Alora tried to keep the cat away, but were both scratched on the face.

We never were able to reunite the bird with the eggs (Jackson even accidentally dropped one the next day, breaking it open to reveal a partially grown bird inside). The only good thing that happened was that Noah was able to capture some photographs for the school talent show he had decided to enter. The egg picture above the following pictures are his pictures that he will be entering.