The kids were in school until June 2nd. On the 1st we had last day of school parties, "awards", and kindergarten graduation.
Brek holding Bruce during their "awards." I was pretty unimpressed with awards at this school. There was never any awards assembly. Brek would just come home with her A honor roll certificate at the end of each 6 weeks (which is great because I think awards for every 6 weeks is silly), but they didn't even have anything big at the end of the year. We just sat in the classroom where she passed out awards while the students were talking and getting ready for their party. Oh well. I was really proud of Brek for working hard this year!
Brek with her award (notice her cute pink bandage on her arm from where she got burned. Poor girl)
She came home on the last day of school with another award...Future Teacher Award (must run in her genes)
These kids were so funny. I didn't even say that I was going to take a picture and the next thing I know they were all grouped together saying Cheese! Haha. Pretty cute, though. :) This was at Tyce's end of year party.
That night was Tyce's kindergarten graduation. Here is my little cutie.
Here is Tyce with his teacher Mrs. Guerra.
Ready for my next rant? I'm sorry. I seem so pessimistic. My kids are going to a different school next year in case you are wondering.
So....kindergarten graduation...the first 2 rows of tables were saved for the kindergarteners. We came early and were able to get to sit on one of the closest tables. The kindergarteners parade in and sit at their tables and then the first teacher gets up and announces the first student in her class. The kid comes up and then she pauses, looks around and poses for a picture, waits while the parent walks all the way up to the front and takes a picture of the teacher and student. And this continues through the whole graduation. Can you say ridiculous?? I have never been anywhere that would allow for pausing for pictures in between each student! I was shocked! I don't know why these things surprise me anymore. I wasn't even going to go up there to take a picture because I thought it was so stupid, but then I felt like the only bad parent who wouldn't take a picture. So I went up for the picture. Good thing we paused the graduation for me to take this wonderful picture (see above picture). Haha! Silly, huh?
But the part of graduation that bugged me the most was when it was finally time for the kindergarteners to perform. They started singing a song and doing motions (so cute!) and tons of parents came right up and stood up in front of the rest of us (so that our view was completely blocked) and took pictures and recorded the performance. Unbelievable. Here is picture proof...
School's out for summer!!! Time to play in the water and mud...
Brek's huge mud ball!
Bruce, Tyce, and Brek having too much fun in the mud
Brock had coaching responsibilities on Saturday the 4th so we decided to meet up with him in Belton and head straight to Childress! I was busy getting everything finished up at the house for us to leave when I came out to see this...
Bruce found my mascara! Good thing he only got it on himself.
It seemed like everything was going wrong and taking forever. I couldn't get the garage door closed, couldn't get ahold of anyone to leave keys with, and had to make a trip to the park to let loose a turtle. But we finally made it out and made it to Childress!
Radley, Bruce, and Asher
I hung out with these boys in nursery the first Sunday we were there which by the way....we found out that back at home our ward was getting split and we were forming a branch out in Elgin! Yay!
Trips to Childress during the summer mean lots of swimming for my kids! They love it! Bruce all ready to go.
Luke, of course, with fish. :)
The boys got to go fishing a few times while we were there.
Luke at the pool
Bruce cheesing
I bribed Tyce and Brek for this picture. Haha! But aren't they so cute?
Catching toads with cousins!
Tyce, Gentry, Luke, Asher
Wrestling with Brock!
That's a lot of bodies!
It's always fun until someone gets hurt! ;)
Brock told Luke that he looked good one day when he had his shirt tucked in, so now Luke thinks this is how you where your clothes if you want to look good. :) But he does look good, right?
Poor Brock never gets a break. Every time we come to Childress he ends up spending the entire time working on our rentals. One of our good friends Daniel offered to help Brock paint the house one day so my kids got to play with theirs for the day!
Collecting roly polies
And here a few pictures of the house BEFORE Brock painted...
And AFTER...
Doesn't it look so good?!
Brock was just going to do touch up painting, but since it had been about 6 years since he had painted the tint was a little different when he picked it up from Home Depot. That meant he had to repaint the ENTIRE house. He's pretty awesome. He also did lots of other repairs like replacing the front storm door, painting inside, completely cleaning out the garage/shed, and lots of other things. I'm so grateful to have a husband who is such a hard worker and takes such good care of his family!
Elizabeth was so sweet and offered to watch my kids one day for me to take a trip to visit my good friend Janet in Amarillo. I left all of the boys and took Brek with me. Tyce was wearing a shirt that Elizabeth had given him so Kyler put on his that he has! Thanks again so much for watching them, Elizabeth!
Next was the family reunion! Brock and I were in charge of it this year! Kevin and Kerry did such a good job last year that we pretty much had the same events as them! Friday was Keyan and Kelli's reception. It was a blast and fun to celebrate their wedding. I especially loved dancing! My phone died though so I wasn't able to get any pictures. I stole a few of these family reunion pictures from sisters and sisters-in-law!
Saturday was fun at the WAV (water park in Wellington). Unfortunately, Bruce was not having it. He was teething?... earache?... something! I sat out and held him for a while, and then we borrowed some tylenol from Diana. Brock held him after that where he fell fast asleep! Along with Brock...
Bruce still sleeping on the way home! Tyce, too!
That night we made smores with the Tipas, Perkins, Byers, Jones. It was fun to get everyone together!
Kacy and Brek
Can you figure out whose tiny hands were digging into this sheet cake?
Bruce Mitchell Payne!!! :)
Bruce, Tyce, and Carter playing on the cars
The Three Musketeers
Radley, Asher, Bruce
These 3 had so much fun playing together!
Tyce with the cannon ball!
I think Keyan had just launched Tyce into the air off of the diving board for this one
Keyan and Tyce
Awesome!
Monday night was jam packed full of activities (we ran out of time the other nights). I probably should have thought that one through a little better. We took family pictures, played outdoor water games, had skits, and then did movie night for kids and game night for adults.
This game turned out even better than we thought it might. So fun! I highly recommend it for a family activity. We also played water balloon volleyball and drip, drip, splash (duck, duck, goose but with a cup of water). Skits were really great! Thanks for everyone who participated! And thanks Tamra for the fun announcement! We're so excited for your growing family!
Popcorn movie night for the cousins!
The adults got to play a fun game that was recommended to me by Savanna. You wrap up candy/surprises in saran wrap and then everyone takes a turn rolling dice to get doubles. Then you grab the gloves, sunglasses, and hat and unwrap the ball. So fun!
We had to leave the day after the reunion to get home! Unfortunately for us, the AC went out on the suburban so we had to drive the whole way home in the heat. We stopped at a gas station to get some drinks, and we were all dying sweating in the car waiting! I turned around to see some funny hot faces...
Hallelujah for Big Gulps! :)
Tyce and Brek at home building a lego tower taller than they were!
We got home from Childress on Tuesday and that weekend Mom and Dad were at Lake Travis for their Edward Jones conference. We've been so lucky that the past 3 years the Edward Jones conference has been very near us! We get to go play at the hotel with Nana and Papa!
Brek, Bruce, Tyce, and Luke in Nana and Papa's hotel bed
Looking at deer out on the balcony
A lady in the room above us started dumping popcorn out the window for the deer, and they came over and ate it!
The kids were able to play in the Kid Zone for an hour. They had a blast!
Papa and Brock in a fierce game of ping pong.
This was Bruce's choice of toys for playing that night.
We opened the boys' door one night to see this. They had laid out every outfit to match their pajamas for that night. Haha! They are so funny. If you look closely you can notice the color matching combinations.
