Check This Out

You really need to check out this blog! This is a friend of mine and she has an awesome blog! I love to check it out all the time! I really think you will enjoy it!

http://www.thepilotswife.org/

Luke And The Trampoline

Luke LOVES the trampoline! Once he's up there, there's no getting him off! (Easily and without screaming, anyway!) Check out the little guy in action.


He has since learned how to really jump! It's so funny to watch him!

Being sneaky...

HA HA HA!!! Priceless!!!
Check out the electricity!


My camera battery died all of a sudden and we weren't able to finish, but I just thought this was cute!

Oklahoma Land Run - Ranch Heights Style

Every year around this time the fourth graders at Abby's school learn about Oklahoma history. As part of this they re-enact the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889. (Click on the link if you want to know more.) I really don't know anything about Oklahoma history, so I thought this was kind of neat.

Abby and her teacher, Miss Stubbs, are heading out.
Listening to instructions.
Here are the "husbands/fathers" and a widow or two registering for the land run.
Just waiting.....
This is Abby's "family": The Johnson Family. They are a struggling cattle farming family from the southwest. (Abby is a five year old named Mary.)
The Johnson family is ready to run!
Ready........ Set..........
GO!!!!!
The Johnson Family is very happy with their new piece of land! Here they are with their deed.
Reading the deed with Miss Stubbs.
You can click on this picture to make it larger and see what it says about some historical background of the land.
Luke finally persuaded me to let him out of his stroller! The kids had all moved on to another activity and the playground was empty.
Learning about roping.

Abby's First Softball Game

Abby had her first softball game this week. The pictures aren't the best, but I thought I would share anyway.

A beautiful night for softball!

Ready in the outfield.

Or maybe not so ready.....

A little pre-batting pep talk from Dad.

Swing batter, batter, batter!

Stealing second!

She made it home! SCORE!!

Abby looks exhausted! (It was late!)

Good game!
Our team lost (9-11), but they played a great game and learned a lot!

My Star Student

What parent doesn't cringe even just a little bit when they receive a letter from my child's school that is addressed "To The Parent's of....."? I have never received a bad one, but for some reason you can't help but have a quick bad thought. Well, the same thing happened when Jon and I received this letter:

Dear Parent:

I am pleased to inform you that your child, Benjamin Grief, has earned an Academic Excellence Award for the 2009-2010 school year. We believe that our students who display a high level of academic achievement should be awarded.

We are honored to recognize students for their exemplary academic achievement. The criteria for selecting these high achievers are:

*Students averaging 3.5 or above for the first semester. These students are eligible for an academic letter.

*Those receiving a 4.0 for the fist semester are also eligible for a star to be affixed to the letter. This emblem will serve to set them apart for the other lettermen.

The letter then goes on to say that after receiving the award that they can take it to a shop here and order their academic letter and that there would be an awards presentation on Thursday, April 15th.

WOW! I knew that Ben has done well in school all year, but this was so neat to read! I didn't know which category Ben fell into until we got there and found his name in the program...

WOW! I am so proud of him!!

Finally, after going through all of the the 7th and 8th graders, they made it to the 6th graders! Congratulations Ben!!
Dad and I are SO proud of you!!!

My Artist

I went into Luke's room the other night and found this set up on his changing table. I think Ben is an amazing artist!!!

Birdwatching

Easter Weekend

Before you start this, you might want to grab a drink, maybe even a snack. It's going to take a while to get to the end. This is what happens when we have a busy weekend with lots of fun things going on. Be prepared for picture overload! Sorry! Sit back, relax, enjoy!

We started our weekend with Resurrection Rolls. I didn't take any pictures, but they were fun and delicious! We will absolutely be making them again next year! (You can check out the link I found them on so that you can make them too!)

We couldn't let the egg coloring get away from us...Silly boys...
Ready to begin...
You're never too old to color Easter eggs!
The finished product.
I was bad and didn't have my camera with me later in the day. Jon's parents came down, we went to dinner and then went to the hotel they were staying at and went swimming. When we came home we put our Empty Tomb Cookies together. We have never made these either, but I loved that in the making of them, there were bible verses to go along with each of the ingredients and we were able to talk about Jesus and His crucifixion and resurrection. (Again, you will have to click on the link to get all of the details.) Such a great way to help the kids remember why we celebrate this great holiday!Jon did the bible reading for us.
Ben and Abby beat the pecans. (Jesus was beaten.)
Abby smelled the vinegar, but definitely didn't want to taste it! (Jesus was given vinegar to drink when He was thirsty on the cross.)
Jon is forming the "rocky tombs".
The oven had to be sealed shut for the night.
In the morning you can open the oven and take the cookies out...
I'm not sure what happened, but ours didn't turn out so great. They tasted good, just didn't look quite right. I would definitely try them again though. I love that you could tell the real Easter story through making them!

The goods!

Getting ready for church.
Luke is ready to go! How cute is he?! :)
Me and my baby girl!
My sweet family :)
Grandma & Grandpa and the kiddos.My sweet kiddos :)

The biggest help when trying to fix dinner: someone entertaining the little guy! Thank you, Jeanie!
Crazy boy!

After dinner Ben put on a concert.
He had a captive audience!
Ready to hunt for Easter eggs!
"I can't find any of mine!"
He finally found one! His were hidden good!
We took a time-out during the hunt. :)
HA HA!! She was searching hard! (I'm quite sure she wouldn't be thrilled about this picture! What she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?!)
Ben's eggs
Luke's eggs
Abby's eggs
My sweet baby girl :)
What a goofy girl!
All I wanted was a cute picture of these two. Is that too much to ask for?
That's better...
Apparently getting a picture of all three together IS too much to ask for...
We had a great Easter weekend!