Kindergarten Graduation

Can you believe it? Already? We now have a first grader in our midst. Yep. Elijah was promoted to the first grade during his kindergarten graduation ceremony last week. I still can't get over how quickly time flies. 

First they all filed in and then they recited "The Pledge of Allegiance." They sang "The Star Spangled Banner" as well as a little kindergarten song about the things that they have learned. They then started dancing to "Everything is Awesome", the theme song for "The Lego Movie". Then it was time for their diplomas. 

How cute, right?

I preface these photos with how extremely difficult it is to get all three children looking and smiling at the same time.

Elijah was excited that Gaga was able to come.

And this is Elijah with his teacher, Miss Morgan. She is from Michigan and loves the Red Wings. I think Elijah was attached to her. He cried the last day because he wanted to still be in her class. 

Super sweet! He came home with a huge book of all of his accomplishments as well as photos from the school year. How nice is that? Oh the digital age! We used to just rely on doubles!

The Phoenix Zoo

A friend and I took our kiddos to the zoo awhile ago before the summer heat set in.  I was surprised that the kids weren't as interested in seeing the animals as they were to go in the play areas and splash pad. 

Here's the spot I think they had the most fun...the splash pad. I think they would be thrilled with one at home. Did you know companies actually instal them in backyards. What a great idea. 

I'm not quite sure what Elijah was pretending to be scared of. He was being silly. 

On the way out we stopped at the carousel. Elijah wanted to sit on the eagle even though it didn't move up and down. It's his school mascot, so maybe that's why. 

What a fun day. 

New toy for me

I got a new toy!  Jake bought me an early Mother's Day present. A kitchen aid mixer!  I love it! I have made cinnamon rolls and bread and my favorite so far, strawberry muffins. I adapted a blueberry muffin recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I made it a little healthier and of course, used strawberries instead

Strawberry Muffins

Lemon sugar topping

1/3 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp lemon zest

Muffins

2c strawberries washed and stemmed

1 tsp sugar plus 1 1/8 c as well

2 c flour

1/2 c wheat germ 

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

2 lg eggs

4 tbs melted butter

4tbs applesauce

1 c buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside

2. Preheat oven to 425 and prepare muffin tins (makes approx 18)

3. Bring 1 c berries and 1 tsp sugar to simmer on stove. Make to jam like consistency then remove from heat. 

4. Cream remining sugar and eggs then slowly add butter, applesauce,buttermilk, and vanilla. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients and strawberries. 

5. Spoon into muffin cups and then drop teaspoons of the jam mixture on top. Use a chopstick to slightly swirl in the jam. 

6.  Sprinkle the lemon sugar on the muffins. 

7. Bake until tops are golden and just firm. 17-19 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Handsome men

Jonah's big cheese grin. 

Elijah handsome as ever. 

Noah. Reflecting on something. I think he may have been in trouble for something. 

I know I haven't posted in a long time. I do have other pictures to share, just not a lot of time to do it! Also, if anyone would like to contribute to my own personal laptop, that would help too 😉. 

Untitled.



I don't even know how to title my posts any longer. It's always the same thing. "Behind." "Updates." "More news." "Here's the Kids." And again, for the millionth time I will say that I wish I was better with words and could write something that was much more interesting. Heck, for now I would settle for figuring out why for the past few posts I haven't been able to type anything unless its posted as a photo "comment". I am SOOO not computer savy.

I feel like I don't have many good photos. I guess that's because I don't. I have a camera with me at all times, but as you can see, pictures just don't ever turn out quite right. Noah always smiles nicely with a big "cheese", but he cannot sit still for anything so he's always slightly out of focus. Elijah just always seems to get annoyed or blinks. And Jonah. Well. Jonah just cannot look at the camera. He is CONSTANTLY looking the other way. It's a little annoying that apparently to get a good photo I need to go on a trip to California. If only we had gotten a whole family shot it would have been perfect. Oh well. C'est la vie!

Everyone always asks how the kids are. They are great. As far as kids go at least. I mean, Elijah is already acting like a teenager. Very moody. Crys at the craziest things. He gets frustrated with his little brothers. He's on more than one occasion asked me why I didn't have a playmate for him that was his age. Today he added to this and said he wished that he had an older brother and wasn't the older brother himself because he wanted someone to play basketball with. I tried to tell him that he was special because he was the oldest but he didn't believe me. He's doing well in school and enjoys kindergarten, but also can't wait for summer so that he doesn't have homework.

Jonah is all about Batman. He just wants to be Batman. The problem is...he's a big scardey cat! This was today's conversation.
Me- "Jonah, go get your clothes on."
Jonah- "I can't. I scared."
Me- "Scared of what? You're clothes?"
Jonah- "No, the dark."
Me- "Dude, it's daytime and you curtains are open. It's light. Go get your clothes on."
This went back and forth until I finally agreed to hold his hand while he walked to his room. So we get into his room. This is the NEXT conversation.

Jonah (very upset)- "Where's my black Batman shirt?"
Me- "It's in the wash. You wore it yesterday. Here's your grey Batman shirt, wear that!
Jonah (in a VERY annoying whining voice)- "NooOOoo. I no want THAT shirt, I want the black one"
Me- "You can't wear the same shirt every day. You have a lot of cool shirts. Pick something else."
Jonah- "I no want something else. I want my black Batman!" Huffs off.
Augh. Kids and their favorite shirts!

Then Noah. Noah, well, Noah is crazy. He is constantly telling me no and when he gets into trouble, he is sure to tell me how much he hates me. Then five minutes later he tells me how he loves me so much in his heart. Really? Because I'm pretty sure you gave me death glare like, two seconds ago.

Children. Gotta love them!