A great weekend !!

Every weekend should be a 4 day weekend!

We got so much accomplished around the house and yet we also had plenty of time to relax and enjoy time with family and friends.

Saturday...my parents and my sister and her family came over for an impromptu backyard barbeque.  I set up our little bounce house and the girls had a blast.

 

After getting over heated in the moonbounce,

the sprinkler was the perfect way to cool down...

 ...and then Maura taught cousin Tatum some new tricks...

 

 Crazy cousins!!

I did actually offer them cold beverages.  I promise I didn't make them drink from the sprinkler!

Sunday...Sean installed a pond in one of our front mulch beds

Before...



(and this is after all of the overgrown, haphazardly planted, excess shrub and plants were removed...
so the real before was actually much worse!)

 

During...

 

After...



We put new edging stone along the walkway.  All the rock layered around the pond is stone we found while digging up another mulch bed area (more on that project later!)

Then fresh mulch and a some new greens behind the pond and...

Voila!

I sure made that sound easy didn't I ?!

Sunday...we also built a small retaining wall!

Before...

 The edge of that same mulch bed was {unsuccessfully} held in from the driveway with randomly sized {tipping over} cinder blocks.  It was certainly unsightly!

 

After...

 Oh, so much better !!

Monday...Memorial Day was opening day for the community pool...and this year we got a family membership!  I see lots of pool days in our future this summer. 

You'll find me in the lazy river with Audra,

Riley will be in the whirlpool until he gets dizzy,

Maura will be in the water works zone with all the fountains and water sprayers,

and Aidan will scaling the rock wall and hitting the water slides.

 

 

School Activities...Part 1

As the end of the school year approaches the weeks are filled with fun school related activities! 

April 24th:  BINGO with Maura's elementary school.  The winner of each game got to go up and select a prize basket of their liking and she had her eye on this particular basket from the very beginning.  About halfway through the games Maura got BINGO.  She was so exited!  And she was even happier because the basket she wanted was still available. 

Someone else, on the other hand, did not find bingo so exciting...

May 13th:  Carousel Night with Maura's elementary school.  We love any excuse to visit our town's carousel.  But having to carousel open to just Maura's school was so much fun.  The kids could ride over and over and over...  Not sure how they can do that--I get dizzy just sitting there watching them go around and around.  And the balloon artist clowns were a hit too!

May 23rd:  Special Olympics Day for Audra.  She participated in the district wide Special Olympics competition with her Life Skills classmates.  It was held at the high school of a neighboring school district.  The school gave each of the kids adorable shirts with their name and number on the back.  They looked like very official athletes, ready to take on the games!

Audra rocked the 50 meter dash and the standing long jump.  Her sweet principle joined all the kids for a picnic lunch and when the games were over they hopped on the bus and headed back to school for dismissal.  When they arrived back at school they were greeted with a super star reception by the rest of the school...

All the kids and teachers lined up outside and through the hallways to congratulate them.  What a sight!

 After a very long day she made it home with a shirt full of ribbons!

 

May 27th:  Maura's Field Day.  The kids love field day...why they wait to have it at the end of the school year when it is so hot, I have no idea?!  Maura is still at the sweet age where she WANTS her mom to come to all of the school events.  Luckily my work schedule is somewhat flexible and I can make adjustments so that I can be there.   

This year it was a really.really.really hot day! 

They had plenty of water events for the kids and drink stations set up, but they still decided to end the events early and take the kids inside for popsicles and a movie. 

Phew....because I was cooked and ready to go home to the air conditioning :)