Father's Day

We had a very nice Father's Day this year.  We had a nice breakfast together (although we did not serve Casey in bed--it's hard to do that and make it to 9:00 church!).  Then we spend the afternoon at my parents' house with them and Karen and Juan, as well as Casey's parents, Nick, and the McCauls.  We had fun playing outside and Renee took some great pictures of everyone.  It was a nice, relaxing day!  We are thankful for Casey and both of our Dads as well.

 

I snapped a few pictures while Renee was taking professional shots... her pictures will be much better than mine!

This is one of Renee's shots.
I LOVE this picture!

These cousins are such good buddies!

We ended the day with TCBY!

Esther's Family Birthday Party

Esther is having an extended string of birthday celebrations this year.  It started this weekend with her family birthday party, even though her birthday isn't until next weekend.

As usual, we had a great time with our families and were able to be outside since it was a beautiful evening! 

Nail polish set, journal and JoAnn Fabrics gift card from the K's
She also gets to go on a special birthday outing!

A cool freezable lunchbox from Uncle Nick!

Fun beach bag and matching towel from Jeff, Erin, Anna and Elizabeth

Snapfish Gift Card from the McCauls so she can do something
with all the pictures she takes!

Target and iTunes gift cards from Uncle Juan and Aunt Karen,
and the special popcorn she likes!

Desk organizer with little goodies inside and a JoAnn Fabrics gift card.
She also gets to have a birthday day with Grandma W!

Grandma K. made a fun beach themed cake

Happy birthday to our almost-10-year-old!

No More Braces!

Esther got her braces off this week!  The orthodontist have her a balloon, pencil and gum, which we thought was a cute idea. She is excited to be nearing the end of this phase of orthodontics!

 

Last Day of School!

Today was the last day of school for the kids.  It has been a fabulous year in 4th grade, 2nd grade, and kindergarten.  This was Esther's last year at the elementary building, so they did a very beautiful blessing/send-off for them in chapel and all the 4th graders sang a blessing song.  It was very touching and meaningful, and a wonderful way to end the school year.  They had a half day, so Peter went to a birthday party for a classmate at noon and the girls and I celebrated with lunch at Olga's!  It was a lovely day, so we enjoyed our lunch outside.

I have to work 2 more days next week, and then we are looking forward to lots of summer fun!

Miriam and Mrs. Sytsma.
She is retiring, so we feel blessed that Miriam
was in her last class this year!

Esther's 4th grade class

Esther and the awesome, funny Mr. Koop!

Special friends!

Peter and the other boys in his class left right away for the birthday party, so I didn't get a picture of him with Mrs. Persenaire.  She was the perfect teacher for him, and he loved being in her class.

Olga's!

Critter Barn, Take 3

Today was our last kindergarten field trip to The Critter Barn.  I always love this field trip, and even though it was a rainy day, we had a great time.  Miriam is our animal lover, so she was very into all the animals and wanted to hold and pet everything possible.