Bubbles at the Park

Last Friday, we had to make a quick, unplanned trip to Yreka. (Sometimes, it helps to listen to your mom...when she says, "Don't wrestle on the floor with your little brother and sister," you shouldn't do it.  Especially when she adds, "Be careful of your glasses and don't let your sister get a hold of them."

Wire frames twist and bend very easily.

Thank goodness there was an optometrist office open that would fix your glasses (no charge, thank you!)

even if you weren't their patient. (Our eye doctor isn't open on Fridays)

We'd planned on going to the park in Etna that afternoon for playing and a picnic, but this kind of blew it.

So I bought a $5 foot-long sandwich at Subway

(the song is now in your head, isn't it)

for them to share and we went to the park.

I'd picked up these bubble wands off the dollar rack at Walmart.

It was a beautiful day and they had fun.

Eventually the boys headed over to the play structure, but that got cut short when Nathaniel needed a bathroom and the one at the playground was padlocked closed with a sign saying "Closed for the Winter"

But the bubbles were fun.

Joshua showing Grace what these strange things were and what they produced...she wasn't too sure at first, but then she thought they were great.
She loves to say the word "bubbles"

I was trying to get an action shot of the boys with the bubbles streaming behind them.
They didn't quite understand where I wanted them to run,
and Grace made it hard to take the picture,
but you can kind of see the bubbles behind them.

She loved the bubbles

Primary Scripture Posters

Each year Primary (the children's classes at church) has an overall theme. 

Each month has a more specific theme and a scripture to go with it.

The kids are encouraged to memorize the scripture.

I decided to make a poster for each month with the scripture on it, and decided to use our own pictures for the posters.

I only had to set up 2 shots with them,

and downloaded one piece of Church artwork from lds.org.

I started this in January, and then February, and then the next thing I knew it was June!

Last week I finished up the whole year (and went back and did the months I'd missed).

I printed them out on photo paper, put them in page protectors and slapped them in a binder.

Took it to church yesterday, and the boys seemed to like it.

I'd also included a set of Articles of Faith puzzles that I'd downloaded from Sugardoodle in the binder.  They loved those too, but I need to make another set so there's no arguing of who gets to do the puzzles when :)

These are not in order by month, I've got too much helping going on on this end to get them rearranged.

Nathaniel's Preschool Celebration

The last day of preschool was a cool celebration (it was cloudy and overcast and breezy...luckily, no rain for once).  The kids sang 2 songs for us ("You've Got a Friend in Me" and "ABC Rock"). Their teacher said a little about each child, and then they were presented with their scrapbook of artwork from the year and a certificate of completion.  Inside there was a very cool looking cake and lots of other food.  Nathaniel really enjoyed preschool, but he is so excited to be a kindergartner and go to the "big school next door" where Joshua goes.

Today...

Joshua had to go get a filling (hopefully the last one for a very long time!!!) early this morning. So Grace and Nathaniel got to go to Great-Grandma Darlene's. They love going to her house...whenever I tell Grace she's going to Grandma Darlene's she says, "Woo-hoo!" It's so cute :)
Nathaniel likes to go and put out feed for the wild turkeys on the hill.

Grandma asked me if I could bring my camera the next time we came down and take some pictures of her gorgeous poppies. I just happened to have my camera with me today, so I took the pictures today.
Later in the afternoon she came up to talk to Mom and I was able to show her the pictures and then we compared this year's pictures of the poppies with the pictures I took last year (on June 5th)...last year's poppies were just a little darker orange for some reason.

I love getting Mom's old playhouse (now used as a shed) in pictures. It's an old weathered building and just adds so much to the pictures weather it's of flowers or of the kids.

The bees were really buzzing around the flowers this morning...it took me a bit to convince the boys to stand in front of them for a picture!

This yellow rose is an old one grandma said. I believe she said it came from the Rainbow Mine. I'll have to double check that with her...and find out where it was.

Grandma's iris are always perfect. I take pictures every year that I can...and then put them on cards.

Grandma calls this a rocket flower and told me that it came from my Great-Grandma Beryl's yard in Greenview. We later took some and put on Grandma Beryl's grave, Grandpa George's grave and the graves of all three of their children. Joshua thought it was nice to put a little something from their earthly home on their graves.
I love that there is so much family history in this valley for me...even in the flowers!

Grace wasn't sure why I was taking her picture...she's as pretty as the flowers!

Trying to get all three to smile and look at the camera at the same time - pretty much impossible!

The kids and their great grandma...and flowers to go share with the relatives in the cemetery.