Goodbye school days, hello summer!

First June adventure - much needed new carpet!  This is a view of our bedroom on the day we got it installed all over the house.  Yikes!

The result was beautiful, soft to the touch and on the feet, and so NEW  - the smell and look transformed the house!

Field day 2014 at Northwoods.  Sweaty faces, rosy cheeks and lots of fun with friends!

Poor Avery didn't get her cast off in time for that day - but here she is when it did happen.  HAPPINESS!

Kindergarten graduation program - here's the whole clan up singing their songs!

And afterward there were celebrations in each classroom.  Presley's class posed for pictures.  Dad and I were going back and forth, back and forth - and Caleb and Annalyn actually helped to spread the love too (Johanson family had just arrived the night before for their visit).  

Teeth adventures continue...Presley losing her first top one and Avery writing notes to the tooth fairy.  What's up with her luck?? :(

Caleb looking good on first base - he had a great baseball season!

Trying to rollerskate - it's soooo hard!

World Cup Soccer Party at the Patel's, our neighbors.  Manisha did this awesome table-top banner that the kids (and adults!) decorated with flags from all the countries - so fun!

This day was filled with some garden activity (it was our week to take care of the Northwood's garden).  We took Madelyn and Will with us and ended up harvesting quite a bit!

Then we hit the bowling alley for a couple of games and snacks of course.  Kolinski's are definitely favorite friends to hang out with these days.

May 2014

Mom and Avery spent several hours at the emergency room on a Saturday night/Sunday morning (Mother's Day actually) in May.  The picture of her laying on the bed was taken at 10:30pm and then the one where she has her sling was taken at 1:00am!  The x-ray shows her left wrist, the big bone on the left side is where the break was.  It was the kind of break you get when you land with all your weight on your arm...and I'm sure that's what happened!  She was upstairs playing around on the railing of the stairs and she accidentally flipped herself over and fell ALL THE WAY down to the wood floor below! Aaron and I didn't see it; Caleb was the one who let us know it happened by screaming bloody murder to come and see.  He was at the top of the stairs too.  She was pretty shaken and crying hysterically for a while and we just kept asking over and over again if she had hit her head, or her neck, any of her limbs?? etc.  It was really scary to think she had fallen that far, so I was watching her closely and in the end, the only thing she kept complaining about was her arm.  

The next day she chose a purple cast and it wasn't long before it was all covered with signatures!  In fact, she took the pen with her to school and came home a little distraught because it was so filled up and messy - "I can't even see people's signatures that I want to see".  Woops!

Sunday afternoon walk on the greenway on a pretty spring day...

But it's also these pretty spring days and green woods near our house that makes Caleb swell up like this...the kid and poison ivy do not mix!  Poor guy!  We're sitting in the doctor's office waiting to be seen because it had gotten so bad, especially on his face.

Mom walked/jogged a 5k with Stacy and Hannah Dalness and the kids came to see - it was all about purple, can you tell?

And the girls tried soccer!  This is their coach - such a fun, energetic guy that was so great with the kids.  They had a lot of fun!  

Grandma's visit and LPM recital

Grandma Jeanne came to stay for a few days at the end of April - hooray! We started with a super fun trip to the greenway. She had just purchased a smart phone and was loving the fact she could take pictures, so we took a lot! She also kept commenting on how beautiful everything looked - it really was a perfect day for a walk!

The Let's Play Music recital was held at a retirement home - a pretty drive out toward Durham.  All three kids were ready to perform...

The famous and loved Do, Re, Mi song (with hand signs of course!)

The girls on keyboards - they did a great job!

Oh, how we'll miss this talented lady - she has been so wonderful and has always gone the extra mile as a teacher.  We love you Ms. Jenny!

Here are all the graduating 3rd year students.  What a talented group!  For their recital, they each performed the piece they had composed themselves.  It was very impressive.  I didn't get a picture of Caleb at the grand piano because the parents were invited to come and sit right next to him while he played.  I do have some video that Julie got of him though.  He announced his piece "Jumping Keys" anddid a fantastic job - didn't even seem nervous at all!  Along with giving each of them a gold medal to wear, Ms. Jenny had everyone's song bound and put into a book for each of them.  What a fabulous idea!  

So much fun to have Grandma there to support the kids - so glad she could come!

And of course Dad is the biggest supporter of all!

Caleb with his gold medal the next day...He loves it!  Way to go Caleb (and mom) for finishing a three year music program!

We went out for dinner that night - see, Caleb is still sporting his medal!  Then church and a stroll around the temple the next day...

All of us playing Tensies... and then we ended the day with a walk around the block.

The next day before heading to the airport, we went and read to the girls during their lunchtime and then had lunch in the cafeteria with Caleb.   We had such a fun, long weekend with Grandma!

Spring favorites

One of our favorite places to spend time outside and among pretty things - the NC State Arboretum in Raleigh.  They have the best spring scavenger hunts!

And the same day I took them here for the first time, to let them taste some goooood ice cream.  They agreed it was amazing and loved all the different flavor names...especially Caleb.

The famous Easter shots outside in front of the house before (or after) church - how many years have I been doing this?  My favorite thing about these is Avery's cute pose throughout.

Happy Easter 2014!