A Father's Day Tribute

Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name. ~William Wordsworth

I know I have used this picture before, but it is so great!

And now in no particular order...

Dad and Grace

Dad and Elliot (he hiked up a big hill like this!)

Naomi's foot on dad's arm

Dad and Naomi

Dad and sleepy Naomi

Dad and Naomi

Dad and Elliot decorating valentine's cookies

Dad, Naomi, and Maggie

Dad and Elliot

Dad and Grace, first day of preschool

Dad and Grace

Dad and Grace, first time swimming!

Dad, Grace, and Elliot-first Albuquerque snow

Dad and Elliot, go Broncos!

Dad and Maggie

Dad, Grace, and Elliot

Dad, Grace, and Elliot

Dad and Elliot

Dad, Grace, and Elliot

These VanderLouw kiddos are so lucky to have Ray for a dad. He loves them somethin' fierce. Happy Father's Day to the best dad around. We love you!

No More Pencils, No More Books

Summer is here!! (?) It keeps teasing us. It was so cold the last week of school, then miraculously we had a gloriously warm weekend. But today we tried to go to the park and it was soooo cold, the wind was terrible. Honestly, I'm getting a little sick of it. I just want it to be warm already! Grace just told me what my summary sentence should be as she is reading over my shoulder. So here we go. Well, at least it's summer! (She's just so smart, isn't she? She is a second grader now, after all. :) )

We went on a little hike, well hike is stretching it a bit-it was more like a nature walk, this weekend. The weather was perfect, and I was reminded again about what a beautiful place in which we live!

How perfect is that sky?!

The troops...why do I love this picture so much?? I don't know, I just do :)

Yep, she was there too :)

This picture would've been so cute if I had gotten the lighting right!

Naomi isn't impressed with all the jumping, she just wants to eat that strap...

Here are some more pictures, just 'cause my kids are so cute...

Show me your surprised face!

The end of things

School and such, that is.

Elliot had his end-of-the-year Kindermusik performance. I didn't post it, but his class put on the play "Peter and the Wolf". Elliot was Peter. He did such a good job! He learned so much this year and we are so thankful for his wonderful teacher, Ms. Teresa!

Then Elliot graduated from preschool! We will really miss the wonderful Miss Lisa, but Elliot is all ready for kindergarten. He worked so hard in preschool that he tested out of all the areas on his IEP, so his is starting school without one! We are really excited about this and are so grateful for all the help he got in preschool to give him that extra little boost he needed!

Grace had her end-of-the-year music program. She and her friend Aria had a speaking part.

Our awesome neighbors gave us their old swingset. Ray was against it at first (party pooper) but I can't even begin to tell you how much the kids love that old thing! He has since eaten his words. They spend hours on it. Naomi's favorite is the little carriage swing, all 4 kids can sit in it together and she just eats that up! Add that to the trampoline and our backyard pretty much rocks now!

I know that this has nothing to do with school ending, except that Naomi got in to Grace's school supplies that she brought home and I'm guessing she sucked on the black marker. I don't know how else her lips, gums and teeth could've gotten that black. Supposably those markers are washable (I beg to differ). But at least they aren't toxic!

Here are some cute pictures that Grace took of Naomi, just 'cause she's so adorable!

Maggie came downstairs the other day and told me she was all dressed. This is what I saw...

I think a little modesty talk is in order ;)

Here's to lots of summer adventures!!