two tiny teeth

Saya has had these teeth for a while, but I haven't taken a good picture of them. 

Love

The Pioneer Woman is doing a "love" themed picture contest this week.  Clint took this yesterday, and although it's not the perfect pic, I can see the love between these three!

Stormy weather

We've had a really dry spring.  This week, however, it seems Mother Nature is trying to make up for the drought.  Wednesday night, it rained a ton.  It came down fast, all within an hour or two.  The thunder and lightning were intense and we were also under a tornado watch.  Luckily, we didn't have a tornado, but Wheatland to our north did.  Clint read on Twitter last night, you know it's bad when storm chasers are headed our way.

Some of our friends had water in basements and window wells that filled with water, causing windows to burst.  We were lucky to have no water in our house, but we do have a crack in one of our gutters that we'll need to repair.  One family in our ward had 5 feet of water in their basement. 

Last night (Thursday) we got another storm.  The clouds were amazing.  Then the dime sized hail started in.  Our garden looks a little beat up, but I am pretty sure everything will survive.  Saya wasn't a fan of the hail hitting the garage door.  She woke up and cried a bit, and sat up with Clint and I while we listened to the pounding.  After the hail stopped, she went right back to bed.  I think we're supposed to dry out for a few days now.

The Job Jar

Clint and I implemented a new punishment system for the summer.  We had a lot of bickering on Memorial Day, and we knew we needed to nip it in the bud right away.  I've filled a mason jar with jobs.  If the kids fight, they each have to pick a job.  It's filled with all sorts of jobs.  So far, Emery has vacuumed the kitchen and is currently doing a load of laundry from start to finish.  Chani has cleaned her room and swept out the garage.  Other jobs in the jar include:

weed a row in the garden
mop the bathroom floor
scrub the toilet
clean out the car
clean out the expedition
clean out under a couch
clean up all the trash in the yard
pick up ten toys
pick up ten things that are not toys
pick up ten pieces of trash (how on earth do so many papers/wrappers/garbage end up on the floor in my living room)
vacuum the living room
vacuum the bedroom
clean the basement
organize a closet

It's been fantastic.  Emery even thinks the job jar is kind of fun.  I'll take it!

It's official!

Emery passed kindergarten.  It's been such a fun year.  There were three research projects, teach the class about another culture, make a leprechaun trap (thank you dad, and a figure 4), and build a kite (Wolf Cub Scout Book, made out of a paper bag).

We've had 4 report cards now, and Emery has excelled.  He's now reading AR books at a 3rd grade level.  Last week he read "The Boxcar Children" all by himself.  He loved it.  We're off to the library to find books for him to read for summer break.  Any suggestions?  We've already done Junie B. Jones, and The Magic Tree House series.

We've lost some teeth this year, learned about kissing, and made up some whoppers about school.

We've been super blessed with an excellent program tailored (it seems) just for Emery and his friends.  You can read about the Trailblazers Program here because my friend does such a great job of explaining it (thanks Tia!).  Mrs. Schaefer has been a dream.  She was there the Friday before school when I was a pregnant bawling mess because my baby was going to kindergarten and we were going to miss orientation because I was due to have my baby any second.  She worked through exclusive playground "clubs" with us.  She was kind and happy every time I was in the classroom.  And there were some challenging kids in the class.  Bless her heart!  And she's the cutest pregnant person I know!

Emery has been proudly announcing all week that now he's a first grader.  I'm not old enough for this.  But, it's onward and upward.  Come August, I'll have a first grader and a kindergartner.  Sheesh!