I'm a Pro...

...well, not really, but I'll pretend!

I had my first paying paint job this week. 

I transformed Katie's room in 3 days... I'm 99% sure I had some happy "customers" by the end of that 3rd day. ;)

Riley turned 11!!

Riley is another year older... "sniff, sniff"

We started out with presents... More Star Wars Legos from Reece, and a new Mario Wii game from mom and dad. I think he was pretty happy...

We had a 3 hour realtor tour, so we needed to get out of the house. Jake took the boys fishing... Riley got lucky and caught a tiny one! Yay!!

Later, Jackson came over and we went to see Man of Steel in 3D... they all loved it!

 Afterwards they all played Riley's new Wii game for hours!!! I could barely get them to stop to eat!

We didn't light the candles until 9:30... they were having too much fun!
I made a cookies and cream cake. I made it once a couple months ago, and Riley LOVED it!
Look at all of those candles!! They had an extra glow to them.

Love that happy grin!! 

Happy Birthday, Riley! Hope this is a wonderful year! We love you!

***
Favorite dinner: Macaroni and Cheese
Favorite dessert: Cookies and Cream Cake
Favorite restaurant: Olive Garden
Best Friend: Terry
Favorite TV show: Spongebob (since 18 months)
Favorite clothes: ???
Favorite book:Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian
Favorite movie: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Favorite thing to do outside: Basketball
Favorite sport: Basketball
Favorite food: Macaroni & Cheese
Favorite animal: Dog
Favorite game: Super Mario Sports Mix (Wii) Stratigo (Board)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Video game designer

Father's Day

Sadly, Jake had to work on 'his' day. I did my best to cater to him the rest of the day...

We are about to go through a time with Jake in CO and the boys and I still here in KS. I got Jake a couple pictures from our rafting trip framed to take with him. His new position will give him his very own office, so he can have a picture or two of us... this will be new to him!

The boys babysat the couch, while dad was off working hard... so we sent him an "I love you" text.

His big gift will be a mini shopping spree... Jake just wrapped up his second round of Insanity (well, almost. He was just days away from completing it, but we got our house on the market and returned the DVDs to the owner.) Six months of Insanity means his clothes don't exactly fit him anymore. I had no idea what sizes to get, so we are going to go off together and get some "skinny Jake" clothes.

To end his day, we got him a Dairy Queen cupcake ice cream cake... just an individual size ice cream cake. He felt pretty special. Happy Father's Day, Hun! Thanks for all you do for us!!

Baby Boy Baby Shower

Last Saturday, we made a whirlwind trip up to Prairie Village for my sister in law, Kait's, baby shower. She is expecting her first boy, making me an aunt for the 19TH TIME! I can't wait... although, with my pending move, I need that baby to come oh..... 7 weeks early??? Unlikely. I'm a bit bummed.

So I snapped some pictures at the shower... 4 to be exact. And not a single human made it an any of them.... oops!!! Well, just to note, Kait is looking SUPER CUTE!! She is measuring 3 weeks big and they were worried about her having gestational diabetes, that was a 'no'... both mom and dad were large babies, so you do the math. Good luck with that, sis!!! I'm going to have a chubby nephew to love from afar!

These I loved! Party favor cookies. They are baby pictures of both mom and dad.

Looking at these, I believe my nephew will have some chunky cheeks to love on!
Come on baby boy!!!

Under Contract

 So our house went on the market Monday, we had 2 showings on Tuesday. With the first showing we got an offer! It has a contingency... They need to get their house sold, but they are going to do everything they need to do to make sure they don't lose our house. 

I really felt confident that our house would sell, but not after just one showing. We even got full asking price. I just hope this continues to go smoothly as well as the rest of the relocation process. 

The buyer is Riley's fourth grade teacher...it makes me feel so good that, that one person walked in and loved my house the way I love it. At the end of the day, it is still 106 years old and flawed, but to have someone see past the flaws just like Jake and I obviously did when we bought it, feels amazing!!!

End of Year Report

I got the boy's end of year report cards. Everything is about the same as usual...no surprises!

The boys get graded on a scale 1-5. 3 is meets grade level expectations...

Riley is at a 4 in reading.
Mrs. Viola left a nice note: "Riley has been a joy to work with. He has a lot on the ball and I have faith and certainty he will do well in middle school. I will miss him, yes, I will."

Writing: 3
Spelling: 97% which was averaged from his 95% core words and 100% priority words.
Math: 3
Science: 3
Social Studies: 3
Art: 4
     Mrs. Kibler wrote: "Riley is a teacher's dream student- friendly, attentive, and hardworking! I will miss him next year!"

Music: 4
PE: 3 and 5
     Mrs. Stockman: "Riley is a wonderful kid! Great leader and hard worker!"

Lastly, a nice note from his teacher, Mrs. Smith: "Riley, I am so proud of you and all your hard work this year! Your future is so bright and I am looking forward to watching you SHINE! Keep up the hard work in middle school and you will go far!

I also received his state assessment scores...
Reading: 86%, exceeds standards
Math: 93%, exemplary. (That makes 3 years in a row! woohoo!)
****
Next up, Reece...

Reading: 4
Writing: 3
Spelling: 97% test average, 100% priority word spelling
Math: 3, 95% test average
Science: 3
Social Studies: 3
Art: 4
Music: 3 and 4
PE: 4 and 5
      "Had a great semester in physical education! Reece is a good leader!" ~ Mrs. Kibler
Lifeskills: All 4's

This wraps up their 2nd and 5th grade year! Now on to 3rd and 6th in a new school and new town!

For Sale

Look what finally bloomed, just in time to put the house on the market.

It's official... sign and all!